* Holy Lawsuit, Batman! Professors sue Ave Maria. [AveWatch.org]

* TMI indeed; spare us talk of that burning sensation. Just say you have a doctor's appointment, and leave it at that. [Nasty, Brutish & Short]

* Just because you're a 46-year-old man who has never been married doesn't mean you're gay. Plamegate prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald -- whom we met earlier this month, btw -- is engaged. Congrats, Pat! [WSJ Law Blog]

* Milberg Weiss and the Democrats: politics makes for not-so-strange bedfellows. [Overlawyered; Overlawyered]

* Some undergraduates earn cash by selling their class notes online. How long before this trend takes hold in law schools? [Conglomerate]

* Who says Yale Law grads can't be funny? [Wonkette]

Warmest congratulations to our friends Junko Ozao and Jason Choy, whose lovely wedding was written up in this week's Vows column. Jason is an associate at Kirkland & Ellis, but Junko is a normal person, and that shortcoming cost them a spot in this week's Legal Eagle Wedding Watch. The news will likely ruin their three-week honeymoon, but such are the ruthless decisions our readers expect LEWW to make.

Here are the six finalists (all lawyers):

1.) Amanda Trivax and Brian Burnovski

2.) Anna Skotko and Ben Vonwiller

3.) Amy Tovar and Benjamin Horwich

* As a judge, Michael Mukasey cited Shakespeare in snarking on -- and striking down -- the federal sentencing guidelines. [AP]

* Speaking of district judges, the well-regarded Judge Paul Cassell (D. Utah -- at right) is resigning from the bench -- partly due to low judicial pay. [Sentencing Law & Policy via WSJ Law Blog]

* What not to wear when you go to the airport. [Boston Globe]

* Unlike, say, the Ninth Circuit, the Second Circuit follows on-point Supreme Court precedent. [TaxProf Blog]

* Your submissions for Blawg Review #127 are respectfully requested. [Deliberations]

Update: The citation for the Mukasey opinion is United States v. Mendez, 691 F. Supp. 656, 663-64 (S.D.N.Y. 1988).

Back in this post, in which we incorrectly predicted that Mukasey wouldn't get the AG nomination, we wrote: "We'd also add that Judge Mukasey probably isn't solidly conservative enough for the White House. See, e.g., his views on the federal sentencing guidelines."

As promised, here's an update on the recent, sudden passing of a first-year student at Yale Law School. From the Yale Daily News (which we alerted to the story):

A first-year Yale Law School student was found dead in his apartment Thursday night.

"From what we know at this point, we only have reason to believe he died of natural cases [sic]," Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh said in an address to the entire law school community Friday afternoon. "We need to draw on our sense of community."

More details -- although not many more, since right now so much is unknown -- appear in Andrew Mangino's article.

Our condolences go out to the family of this student and to the Yale Law School community.

Update (9/15, 2:30 PM): Additional information appears in this YDN article, as well as in this Facebook group.

Law student found dead in apartment [Yale Daily News]
Joseph Hanzich LAW '10 found dead in apartment Thursday [Yale Daily News]
For Joey Hanzich, In Memory and Love [Facebook]

Earlier: Breaking: Yale Law School First-Year Found Dead
What's Up At Yale Law School?

A first-year student at Yale Law School was found dead in his apartment last night.

You read it here first; the story is developing. More details to appear in this space; refresh your browser for the latest updates.

Update (12:40 PM): We just got off the phone with Bliss Bernarda in Yale's Office of Public Affairs. She confirmed that a Yale Law School student has died but said the university does not have further comment at this time. We provided her with our contact information, and we will let you know if and when the school issues a statement.

Update (1:05 PM): We are hearing that the death may not have been violent (as some people appear to be assuming) -- that he may have died of natural causes. But we don't have confirmation or details.

Further updates appear after the jump.

So maybe being from Yale Law School doesn't make you God's gift to the legal profession (at least according to this commenter). But we still care about developments at our alma mater -- and were intrigued to hear about an urgent meeting, to be held at YLS later today:

TO: The Yale Law School Community
FROM: Harold Hongju Koh
DATE: September 14, 2007

RE: VERY IMPORTANT: PLEASE ATTEND 12:30 P.M. MEETING TODAY.

If you are in New Haven, I ask you to please attend a very important meeting of the Yale Law School Community in the Law School Auditorium at 12:30 TODAY September 14, 2007. I am sorry not to be able to give you more information at this time; that information will be provided at the meeting. Let me reiterate that this is a very important meeting, and if you are in town and are able, I would ask you please to attend.

Thank you

Harold

What might this be about? We asked our tipster to opine:

My first thought was Doe v. Ciolli. Then I started thinking positive, like someone got appointed to a high position. But Koh as AG under Bush? Nope.

Then I heard from the grapevine that something sad has happened and they need to let certain people know before they inform the whole student body. So now I think it may be a death or rape or something. Hopefully not.

Please feel free to speculate (but responsibly) in the comments. We will let you know when we have more.

Update (11:35 AM): We understand that something serious happened to a first-year law student. Please keep your comments in good taste. Thank you.

Update (12:40 PM): As noted here, a first-year student was found dead in his apartment last night. We are closing this thread to new comments. Please continue the discussion in the new post.

Check out this interesting data about the campaign contributions of Yale faculty and staff, over at Instapundit. It prompted Glenn Reynolds to ask: "Why don't the Yale Law faculty like Hillary?"

Good question. And here's another: Even if the Yale Law faculty don't like this distinguished YLS alumna, why don't they at least send their (hopefully non-tainted) money her way? Don't they want her to remember them when she's President Clinton, looking to fill high-ranking Justice Department posts or spots on the federal bench? As the old saying goes, "Scratch a Yale law professor (or graduate) and you'll find an aspiring federal judge."

(The information originally appeared in this excellent Yale Daily News article by Andrew Mangino -- who, by the way, helped us out with the reporting for this piece on law firm economics and culture.)

Yale's Diversity Problem [Instapundit]
Profs donate heavily to Dems [Yale Daily News]

Now that law school is back in session, students are once again paying attention to those poorly-dressed people standing at the front of the room (assuming they're not focused on their laptops, where they read ESPN.com and ATL). And even if their law professors' wardrobes are underwhelming, students can always marvel at their brilliance and erudition.

And maybe at their real estate holdings, too. Although legal academic salaries fall well short of Biglaw partner profits, a surprising number of law professors live in luxurious homes, as revealed in past installments of Lawyerly Lairs:

* Harvard Law School professors Noah Feldman and Jeannie Suk, aka "Feldsuk," inhabit a $2.8 million mansion (which they recently renovated -- 'cause we're sure it was a total dump before that).

* Professor Sarah Cleveland, a recent addition to the Columbia faculty, lives in a $2.4 million, five-level townhouse.

* Her senior colleague, Professor Hans Smit, also calls a townhouse home -- but a townhouse worth over ten times as much, on the market for $29 million.

The latest addition to these ranks: James Q. Whitman, the Ford Foundation professor of comparative and foreign law at Yale Law School. Professor Whitman recently dropped $5.7 million on a New York co-op formerly owned by actor Treat Williams (pictured above right -- the apartment, not the actor).

More details, including photos, after the jump.

As Clarence Darrow once said, "Inside every lawyer is the wreck of a poet." Indeed, many lawyers harbor frustrated creative ambitions. Sure, they went to law school, and now they're out practicing. But they could have been novelists, or painters, or pastry chefs.

Or successful jazz musicians. From NJ.com:

Joshua Redman is quite the brainy guy, who very easily could have been some hot-shot attorney -- or judge, perhaps?-- living lavishly in New York City.

But the music bug took a big bite out of the summa cum laude Harvard grad, who scored a perfect 180 on his Law School Admissions Test to earn entrance into Yale Law School.

"I had moved to New York City and was on my way to law school," Redman says. "But during that year I had this incredible opportunity to play with some great musicians. The encouragement and support I got from them motivated me to continue. So, I decided not to go to law school."

And he's never looked back:

Almost 16 years later, it isn't a decision the acclaimed saxophonist has regretted.

"I probably wouldn't have been such a good lawyer," he jokes. "At the time, I essentially went to law school because, like others, I kind of didn't know what I wanted to do."

We can relate -- and we're guessing that many of you can, too. Law school was once described to us by Tony Kronman, then the Dean of Yale Law School, as "the great American default option." He added that law school is a popular path for smart and motivated young people "who can't stand the sight of blood."

So why did you go to law school? Are the reasons that you articulated for going -- in, say, your law school application essays -- ones that continue to motivate you today? Are you happy with your decision?

He's smart enough to skip law, and choose music [Hudson County Now via NJ.com]
Do You Believe in Life After Law? [New York Observer]

We're not being sarcastic. This course, to be offered at Georgetown Law in spring 2008, sounds awesome. To the average law student, it's probably way more interesting than securities regulation (or even ERISA -- one of our favorite law school classes). [FN1]

From the GULC course catalog:

The Law of "24"
Professor W. Sharp
LL.M Course 853 (cross-listed) | 2 credit hours

The award winning Fox Television drama series 24 explores America’s fictional response to international terrorism through the eyes of Jack Bauer, a U.S. counter-terrorism agent. Oftentimes without remorse or regard for the law, Agent Bauer is willing to do what has to be done when faced with the threat of kidnappings, assassinations, nuclear detonations, and bioterrorism on U.S. soil – despite traitors in his family, his unit, and the White House; partisan politics; sleeper cells; and hidden agendas.

This course provides a detailed understanding of a very wide-range of U.S. domestic and international legal issues concerning counterterrorism in the context of the utilitarian and sometimes desperate responses to terrorism raised by the plot of 24. Course requirements include active classroom discussion and a paper of approximately 25 pages.

If Jack Goldsmith's new book is correct, it seems some members of the Bush Administration legal team might benefit from this class.

The instructor, adjunct professor Walter Sharp, sounds pretty badass. He's a Naval Academy grad who currently serves as Associate Deputy General Counsel for International Affairs at the Defense Department. He previously served as Deputy Legal Counsel to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Pretty cool!

[FN1] We followed, with interest and amusement, this recent spirited commenters' debate over whether you can get a "real" legal education at Yale. For those of you who care, we offer some thoughts on that subject after the jump.

The Law of "24" [Georgetown University Law Center]
Faculty bio: Walter Gary Sharp [Georgetown University Law Center]