Taking Upper Level Courses in the 1L Year?

Vermont Law School offers a joint JD/Masters in Environmental Law & Policy degree program for students wishing to maximize their time spent at VLS and in our environmental law program.  We have just revised our program to offer students the opportunity to take Environmental Law in the first year.   An empirical question: Are other schools adding upper level courses as electives to the 1L curriculum?

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Infuriated by the challenge, the Mafia began turning on its former friends in the political world. First to die was the former mayor of Palermo, Salvo Lima, Giulio Andreotti's key contact in the Mob. Falcone and Borsellino were murdered months later.

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How worth is this course JD/Masters in Environmental Law & Policy degree program and how long it will take to complete this ?

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[raivo pommer -eesti.]

In 22 years in Parliament I have opposed all pay increases for MPs that are out of line with the rest of the public sector. In 2001, along with about 60 colleagues, I opposed the 42 per cent increase in the additional costs allowance which is the source of so many of our present troubles. I do not seek to pretend to be holier than others. The truth is that just about all of us are vulnerable in the current climate.

However, the sight of the Telegraph's political correspondent, Benedict Brogan, on Question Time last week, pompously refusing to disclose his sources when no one was asking him to do so was almost too much to bear. What, he was asked, had his paper had paid the person who stole the now famous expenses disc. A minor matter maybe, given the wider issues at stake, but not an unreasonable question in this age of transparency.

The Daily Telegraph has never been above practising a little fraud on its readers. When I first visited Vietnam, in 1973, I was amazed to discover that the paper's Saigon correspondent, whose reports appeared almost daily under the byline John Draw, was in fact Nguyen Ngoc Phac, an officer working for General Cao Van Vien, chief of staff of the Southern army.

So blatant was the arrangement that Phac used to appear in uniform at the Reuters office to tap out his reports. It wasn't that his dispatches resembled the official line. They were the official line.

When I got home I raised the matter with the then Telegraph editor, the late Bill Deedes, but I couldn't get a straight answer out of him.

In 1976, after the fall of the fascist regime in Portugal, someone walked into the Ministry of Information in Lisbon and emerged with a file on a journalist who reported for the Telegraph from Portugal's African colonies, where fierce wars were raging. The file – a copy of which I still retain – showed he was in the pay of the Portuguese secret police.

True, under the editorship of Max Hastings and Charles Moore, the Telegraph enjoyed a period of respectability, but lately – having fallen into the hands of the Barclay Brothers – it has become little more than a broadsheet version of the Daily Mail. Indeed, many of the new masters, Mr Brogan included, were recruited from the Mail.

Under their tutelage, much of the Telegraph's political and economic reporting has become, frankly, doo-lally. My personal favourite among the many ludicrous stories that in recent years have adorned what passes for the Telegraph news pages was headed "Brown raised taxes to the highest level in 20 years". Pinch yourself and then ask "Who was prime minister 20 years ago?". Why, none other than the Telegraph's beloved Margaret Thatcher. And for how long had she been prime minister? Eight years. Good God, if all a Labour government managed in its first 10 years was to raise taxation to the level that it was under Mrs Thatcher at the height of her ascendancy, Middle England can surely sleep easy in their beds.

Among the many falsehoods that we poor, inadequate, despised representatives of the people have had to put up with over the years is the oft-repeated suggestion that when Parliament is not sitting we are all sunning ourselves in the south of France. (I have lost count of the number of times, on a sunny summer's evening, even coming down the steps of my office, I have been slapped on the back by a passing constituent remarking, "All right for you with your three months' holidays".)

More serious is the suggestion that we are all somehow pocketing the money we are given to employ staff and run an office. This is an old favourite with our most loathsome tabloids, but lately it has migrated. This, for example, was an ignoramus called Ian Cowie in the Money section of the Telegraph on 4 April: "Now that the average MP claims £135,600 a year for expenses – yes that's right, more than five times national average earnings – this means they avoid paying £54,000 a year tax which HMRC would demand from anyone else lucky enough to receive such payments."

Mr Cowie expounded on this thesis over the best part of two pages and returned to the subject last week. In what other profession would staff salaries, office rent, utility bills, the rent of photocopiers and so on be counted as income? In 22 years, not a penny of that money has ever touched my bank account.

Perhaps the most outrageous recent example of the growing culture of impunity when it comes to discussing alleged corruption by the political classes was the front page of the Daily Mirror on 31 March under a banner headline "THEY ARE ALL AT IT". The story, by one Bob Roberts, began "Greedy MPs pocket an average £144,176 in expenses on top of their bumper salaries, shock figures revealed yesterday..."

Actually, we are not all at it. The only place I have ever worked where they were "all at it" was Mirror Group Newspapers in the 1970s. There, at the end of the first week, my expenses were rejected by the man who was supposed to vouch for their accuracy on the grounds they were so low they would embarrass everyone else in the office.

[raivo pommer -eesti.]

Whichever way you look at it, the announcement that Nick Griffin, the leader of the British National Party, might attend a royal garden party at Buckingham Palace is a milestone moment in British politics. For it marks another stage in the transformation of Britain's biggest far-right party from a past of street thuggery to the brink of electoral breakthrough. Griffin could next month become the party's first member of the European Parliament.

The real question is whether it has done that by shrugging off its neo-fascist antecedents and entering the extreme right of mainstream politics – or is it being done by the perpetration of long-running confidence trick upon the electorate? The answer to that lies in the one man whose personal writ runs authoritatively throughout the party. So has Nick Griffin really changed?

There can be no doubting the unsavoury background from which Griffin emerges. It is deep rooted in his family history. His parents met while heckling a Communist Party meeting in north London in 1948. Nicholas John Griffin, who was born a decade later, was as a boy reputedly given by his grandfather some of the more anti-Semitic literature of Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists. While at private school in Suffolk aged 13, he was reading Hitler's Mein Kampf and making notes in the margins. "Adolf went a bit too far," Griffin conceded in 2006.

[raivo pommer -eesti.]

Before those killings, accommodation was the rule. The Mafia was Italy's secret vice: it kept Sicily in order, doled out rough justice and provided safe Sicilian seats to politicians cunning and ruthless enough to do deals with them. Falcone and Borsellino were given the task of bringing the Mafia to book and ending Mob rule in the island, and unlike their predecessors they went about it vigorously.

They organised the first mass trials of Mafiosi, and cajoled the government into giving convicted gangsters uniquely tough conditions in jail to prevent them continuing to run the gangs from inside. The Mafia had a beginning, Falcone argued, so it must also have an end.

Infuriated by the challenge, the Mafia began turning on its former friends in the political world. First to die was the former mayor of Palermo, Salvo Lima, Giulio Andreotti's key contact in the Mob. Falcone and Borsellino were murdered months later.

But now the man who killed Falcone has testified in court in Rome that, even after Lima's death, the politicians had not given up hope of sweet-talking the Mafia into another cosy arrangement.

The testimony of supergrasses is often suspect, but if an authority as important as Antonio Ingroia, a top anti-Mafia magistrate in Palermo, gives credit to what he says, it is to be taken seriously. In their last months, both Falcone and Borsellino felt that the political establishment had hung them out to dry. "In Sicily," Falcone said, "the Mafia kills the servants of the state that the state has not been able to protect." He saw it coming. Now we know chillingly that he was right, and that he had been abandoned. The survival of the political establishment was considered to be far more important than the breaking of the Mafia.

Months later both men were dead and for the first time the ordinary people of Palermo took to the streets in furious protest. This was partly out of sympathy for the dead men and their families, and partly because the autostrada bombing could easily have wiped out innocent Sicilians along with the magistrates (one reason the Mafia had been tolerated up to that point was because they only killed their own kind). With a start, the Italian state woke up: finally it saw that its very existence was at stake. A new age was under way.

[raivo pommer -eesti.]

Germany, the land of Goethe, Thomas Mann and Beethoven, has an unlikely pop culture hero: Donald Duck. Just as the French are obsessed with Jerry Lewis, the Germans see a richness and complexity to the Disney comic that isn’t always immediately evident to people in the cartoon duck’s homeland.
Disney

Comics featuring Donald are available at most German newsstands and the national weekly “Micky Maus”—which features the titular mouse, Goofy and, most prominently, Donald Duck—sells an average of 250,000 copies each week, outselling even “Superman.” A lavish 8,000-page German Donald Duck collector’s edition has just come out, and despite the nearly $1,900 price tag, the publisher, Egmont Horizont, says the edition of 3,333 copies is almost completely sold out. Last month the fan group D.O.N.A.L.D (the German acronym stands for “German Organization for Non-commercial Followers of Pure Donaldism”), hosted its 32nd annual congress at the Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart, with trivia and trinkets galore, along with lectures devoted to “nephew studies” and Duckburg’s solar system.

“Donald is so popular because almost everyone can identify with him,” says Christian Pfeiler, president of D.O.N.A.L.D. “He has strengths and weaknesses, he lacks polish but is also very cultured and well-read.” But much of the appeal of the hapless, happy-go-lucky duck lies in the translations. Donald quotes from German literature, speaks in grammatically complex sentences and is prone to philosophical musings, while the stories often take a more political tone than their American counterparts.

Whereas in the U.S. fans of Donald Duck tend to gravitate to the animated films, duck fandom in Germany centers on the printed comics published in the kids’ weekly “Micky Maus” and the monthly “Donald Duck Special” (with a print run of 40,000 copies), which sells mainly to adult readers.

Donald Duck didn’t always find Germany so hospitable. In the years following World War II, American influence in the newly formed Federal Republic was strong, but German cultural institutions were hesitant to sanction one U.S. import: the comic book. A law banning comics was proposed, and some American comics were eventually burned by school officials worried about their effects on students’ morals and ability to express themselves in complete sentences.

[raivo pommer -eesti.]

Gordon Brown’s authority is openly challenged today, as a senior minister tells him to leave Hazel Blears in her Cabinet post.

Caroline Flint, the Minister for Europe, says in The Times that Ms Blears, a fellow Blairite, should stay in her job amid growing fears among her friends that she may be the top-level sacrifice for the expenses fiasco.

Ms Flint risks angering Downing Street by saying that Ms Blears had technically done nothing wrong, despite Mr Brown’s branding her behaviour “completely unacceptable” after she failed to pay capital gains tax on the sale of a flat.

Friends of Ms Blears are annoyed that Mr Brown appears to have been far tougher on her than other ministers. He swiftly cleared Geoff Hoon and James Purnell of wrongdoing over allegations that they had not paid capital gains tax on their London homes.

Ms Flint also sides with Ms Blears, the Communities Secretary, in her recent criticism of the Government’s communication effort — seen widely at the time as an attack on Mr Brown.

Ms Flint says that Ms Blears is “one of the last people who would ever come into politics to gain some kind of financial benefit”.

Ministers rarely risk trespassing on the Prime Minister’s autonomy over reshuffles, particularly so close to the event. The show of ministerial indisciple is a further sign of how far the expenses controversy is altering the normal rules of political behaviour.

In a further sign of the febrile atmosphere at the top of government, some ministers are now speculating that Mr Brown could be persuaded to call an autumn election. They say that, with Labour apparently heading for certain defeat next year, the only way Mr Brown could rescue his party would be to be bold and go to the country on his plans to take Britain out of the recession and clean up politics.

One minister said that David Cameron’s hopes of a smooth ride towards the election had also been upset by the expenses revelations, which have reminded voters of an old-style Tory party “moats and all”.

“Of course it’s hitting us badly, but all the signs are that UKIP will hit them just as much as they hit us in the European elections,” the minister said.

Ms Flint, who is in charge of Labour’s campaign for the European elections, said that the party was “going to take a hit” at the June 4 polls. A government reshuffle is expected widely soon after.

The Times has been told by informed sources that Lord Mandelson will not be moved to the Foreign Office, and that David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, has been assured that this is the case.

[raivo pommer -eesti.]

As India and France continue with their attempts to forge a strategic partnership, French President Nicolas Sarkozy congratulated
Manmohan Singh on his re-election as PM saying that his country wants to provide further impetus to their relationship in the near future.

Sarkozy also invited Singh to visit Paris as chief guest for France's national day (which falls on July 14) celebrations. "Through the elections which were recently concluded and which constitute a remarkable testimony to their attachment to democracy, the Indian people have chosen to repose once again their trust in the representatives of the Congress party and the alliance that it leads,'' Sarkozy said in his message to Singh.

"In this I discern a deep tribute to the action that you have undertaken at the helm of the government of India since 2004,'' Sarkozy said, adding that he wants India to become a privileged partner of France.

"I would be very pleased to welcome you in Paris on July 14 on the occasion of the ceremonies marking the National Day of France, at which I wish to make India the chief guest this year,'' he said.

Sarkozy had also written to President Pratibha Patil earlier this week congratulating India for successfully conducting the general elections. France was one of the key countries which helped India acquire last year the NSG waiver which allowed India to take part in civil nuclear commerce. A few weeks later, it became the first country, even ahead of the US, to sign a pact for civil nuclear cooperation. It has also backed India for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.

[raivo pommer -eesti.]

Die EU

Finanzgeschäfte in der Europäischen Union sollen sicherer werden. Dazu plant die EU-Kommission, die Kompetenzen der europäischen Finanzaufsicht erheblich auszuweiten. Künftig soll es drei europäische Aufsichtsagenturen geben: eine für die Banken, eine für die Versicherungen und eine dritte für die Wertpapiermärkte.

Sie sollen sowohl Ratingagenturen als auch den Handel mit Kreditderivaten direkt beaufsichtigen. Das sieht ein Arbeitspapier zur Neuordnung der Finanzaufsicht vor, das die Kommission am Mittwoch kommender Woche in Brüssel vorstellen will.

Mit diesem Vorschlag zieht die Kommission die politischen Konsequenzen aus der globalen Finanzkrise. Zugleich setze sie die Beschlüsse des Weltfinanztreffens von London um, schreiben die EU-Beamten. Die Vertreter der 20 mächtigsten Volkswirtschaften der Welt hatten bei ihrem Treffen am 1. April beschlossen, dass künftig jeder Finanzmarkt und jedes Finanzprodukt überwacht werden sollen.

Strukturelle Interessenkonflikte

Ratingagenturen gelten als einer der Hauptverursacher der globalen Finanzkrise. Ihnen werden strukturelle Interessenkonflikte vorgeworfen. Die Ratingagenturen hätten Banken und andere Institute zuerst bei der Bündelung von Kreditderivaten beraten und später diese Papiere ungeachtet der teilweise unkalkulierbaren Risiken mit besten Noten bewertet. Viele dieser Kreditderivate haben im Zuge der zusammenbrechenden Immobilienmärkte und der daraus folgenden Finanzkrise ihren Wert verloren.

Sie lagern nun als Schrottpapiere in den Bilanzen vieler Banken, sie sorgen für Misstrauen unter den Finanzmanagern und behindern somit die Vergabe von Krediten. Bereits im April hatte Brüssel strengere Auflagen für jene Ratingagenturen verabschiedet, die in Europa tätig sind. Sie müssen sich künftig in Brüssel registrieren lassen. Zudem dürfen sie nicht mehr gleichzeitig bei der Entwicklung von Finanzprodukten beraten und diese dann bewerten.

[raivo pommer -eesti.]

Dubai-Fonds des Gütersloher Anbieters Alternative Capital Invest (ACI) noch nicht. Doch deren Anleger bekamen vor kurzem Post, Betreff: "Verzögerung der Ausschüttungen". Vor fünf Jahren legte ACI den ersten Fonds auf, mittlerweile wurde bereits die siebte Beteiligungsgesellschaft gegründet und am Markt platziert. Über 8000 Anleger sind laut ACI an den Unternehmungen beteiligt.

Allein die Fonds II. bis V. investierten etwa 300 Millionen Euro in Immobilienprojekte des Emirats. Eigentlich sollten die Fonds II. bis V. zum 31. Dezember 2008 aufgelöst werden. Dem sei nun nicht mehr so, wie die Anleger in besagtem Schreiben erfuhren. Die Objekte der Fonds seien zwar bereits vertraglich veräußert worden.

Allerdings könne der Käufer den Kaufpreis derzeit nicht zahlen, da er entgegen einer früheren Bankzusage keine Kredite erhalte. Also teilte ACI den Anlegern mit, "dass sich die Ausschüttungen bzw. Rückzahlungen Ihres Kapitals verzögern werden". Ein definitiver Ausschüttungstermin könne zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt nicht genannt werden.

Nicht nur die Ausschüttungen sind gefährdet. Sollte der Verkauf nachträglich scheitern, droht auch das Scheitern eines steuerlichen Konstruktes, das auf einem alten Doppelbesteuerungsabkommen zwischen der Bundesrepublik und den Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten beruhte.

Dieses Abkommen ist zum 31. Dezember 2008 ausgelaufen - und so unterlägen Gewinne, die aus einem neuen Kaufvertrag generiert und an die Anleger ausgeschüttet werden, vollständig dem deutschen Besteuerungsrecht. Anlegeranwalt Jens-Peter Gieschen sagt: "Wir gehen dem Verdacht nach, dass den ,Traumrenditen' von ACI nichts anderes als ein Schneeballsystem zu Grunde liegt. Das gesamte Geschäftsgebaren ist undurchsichtig." Anleger sollten, so Gieschen, auf eine außerordentliche Gesellschafterversammlung drängen - und zwar in Deutschland. ACI wollte sich auf Anfrage nicht dazu äußern.

[raivo pommer -eesti.]

Die Insolvenz der Bank United ist der bislang größte Zusammenbruch eines Kreditinstituts seit Jahresbeginn in den USA.
Bank United in Florida, Reuters

Die Pleite der amerikanischen Regionalbank United erinnert an die anhaltende Instabilität der Finanzmärkte. Nach Großbritannien fürchten jetzt auch die USA eine Herabstufung durch Ratingagenturen, was den Dollar am Freitag spürbar nach unten zog.

Die Aufsichtsbehörden schloss die größte Bank im Bundesstaat Florida. Die Bank United verfügte über Vermögenswerten von 13 Milliarden Dollar. Schwere Verluste hatten ihre Kapitalreserven aufgezehrt. Die Einlagensicherung FDIC fädelte den raschen Verkauf des Instituts an ein Konsortium von Finanzinvestoren ein, der jedoch weniger als eine Milliarden Dollar einbringt.

Die größte Bankenpleite des Jahres wird die FDIC somit fast fünf Milliarden Dollar kosten. Nur im vergangenen Jahr, als die Sparkasse Indymac zusammenbrach, musste die FDIC mehr Geld ausgeben. Seit Beginn der Finanzmarktkrise 2007 haben die Aufsichtsbehörden bereits 62 beim FDIC abgesicherte Geldinstitute geschlossen. Die meisten Kunden haben dabei kein Geld verloren.

[raivo pommer -eesti.]

Ermittelt wird auch gegen zwei Bankberater der Stuttgarter UBS-Filiale wegen des Verdachts der Beihilfe. "Der Ausgang dieses Verfahrens ist noch völlig offen", sagte Pfeiffer. Über die Zahl der Betroffenen und die Höhe des Schadens wollte der Ermittler nichts sagen.

Untersuchung nach Fernsehbericht

Die Ermittlungen wurden durch einen Bericht des ZDF-Magazins "Frontal 21“ im März 2008 ausgelöst. Reporter des Magazins gaben sich gegenüber UBS-Beratern in Baden-Baden und Stuttgart als reiche Immobilienhändler aus, die Bargeld am Finanzamt vorbei in die Schweiz schleusen wollten.

Daraufhin bot man ihnen dem Bericht zufolge die Dienste eines UBS-Geldkuriers aus Basel an, gegen den die Mannheimer Staatsanwaltschaft ebenfalls ermittelt.

Bei einer Razzia in diesem Monat beschlagnahmten die Fahnder zahlreiche Unterlagen und durchsuchten auch die Privatwohnungen der Berater in Stuttgart und einer Nachbargemeinde.

[raivo pommer -eesti.]

Rohöl deutlich teurer

In diesem Jahr fuhren bislang diejenigen Verbraucher am besten, die die extreme Niedrigpreisphase im März für Käufe ausgenutzt haben. Für weniger als 45 Cent war der Liter Heizöl zwischenzeitlich zu bekommen. Jetzt liegen die Kosten wieder bei 48 bis 50 Cent. Und trotz anhaltender Wirtschaftskrise raten die meisten Experten, mit der Bevorratung für den kommenden Winter nicht mehr lange zu warten. "Füllen Sie Ihren Tank noch vor den Sommerferien", sagt etwa Oliver Klapschus von Heizöl24, einem der größten Verbraucherportale zum Thema.

Tatsächlich haben sich die Rohölpreise in den vergangenen zehn Wochen um mehr als die Hälfte verteuert. Ein Barrel kostete zuletzt mehr als 60 Dollar nach 35 Dollar Mitte Februar. Dieser Trend könnte weitergehen, sobald sich die Konjunktur etwas belebt. Hauptgrund der bisherigen Preissteigerungen war nach Ansicht von Experten die Angebotsverknappung von seiten der dominierenden Lieferanten aus dem Nahen Osten.

So hat die Vereinigung erdölexportierender Länder (Opec) seit September 2008 ihre Lieferungen um 3,5 Millionen Barrel pro Tag verringert. "Die weltweite Nachfrage reduzierte sich jedoch nur zwischen 1,6 und 2,6 Millionen Barrel, auf rund 83 Millionen Barrel was den Preisanstieg erklärbar macht", findet Frank Schallenberger, Öl-Analyst bei der Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW).

Überzogene Ölpreisrally

Ob und in welchem Ausmaß die Preise im zweiten Halbjahr noch steigen werden, hängt von der Konjunktur als eben auch von der Opec ab, die immerhin für 40 Prozent des weltweiten Rohölangebots aufkommt. Kürzungen um weitere 700.000 Barrel pro Tag hat die Organisation laut Schallenberger bereits beschlossen.

Nur mit der Umsetzung hapert es noch, auch weil einige Mitgliedsländer wie Nigeria und Iran ihre Förderquoten nicht einhalten. Marktbeobachter wie Eugen Weinberg von der Commerzbank halten die jüngste Ölpreisrally vor diesem Hintergrund für überzogen und rechnen mit einer Preiskorrektur bis auf 55 Dollar je Barrel. Viel weiter nach unten wagt kaum jemand eine Prognose.

[raivo pommer -eesti.]

"Die Führung der Deutschen Bank hat Kenntnis erhalten von möglichen Verstößen in früheren Jahren gegen interne Vorgaben oder rechtliche Anforderungen im Zusammenhang mit Aktivitäten, welche die Abteilung Konzernsicherheit betreffen", hieß es in der knappen Pressemitteilung. "Die bisher vorliegenden Fakten lassen erwarten, dass es sich nur um wenige Verstöße handelt und Kontendaten oder andere Informationen über Kunden nicht betroffen waren."

Sonderprüfung der Bafin

Die Deutsche Bank hat eigenen Angaben zufolge die Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (Bafin) über den Fall informiert. Diese hat eine Sonderprüfung angeordnet.

Der Vorstandsvorsitzende Josef Ackermann und der Leiter der Internen Revision hätten in Abstimmung mit dem Prüfungsausschuss des Aufsichtsrats eine Anwaltssozietät mit einer unabhängigen Untersuchung beauftragt, teilte Deutschlands größte Bank zudem mit.

Unter Verweis auf die laufende Bafin-Prüfung wollte der Sprecher zunächst keine näheren Angaben zur Art der Verstöße machen.

[Matt]

Vermont Law School and the University of Denver law School both offer a Master of Law Studies degrees where non JD students take upper level law classes such as Environmental law, Natural Resources law and many other courses along with second and third year law students.

Participants in Denver’s Master of Resource Law Studies degree compete with the law students in their classes under the same conditions, exams, grading criteria, and curve. The MRLS is basically identical to Denver’s LLM in Natural resources Law except a JD is not required.

I’m a graduate of Denver’s MRLS program I took classes like Water Law, Natural Resources Law, Environmental Law, Public Land Law, Ocean and Coastal Law and others to meet my 24 credit requirement. My first ever law school exam, Water Law, was a bit rough, since I had never even heard of IRAC before, but I still managed to do well and after that I quickly got the hang of law school exams. Even without having had the first year experience I took highest grade in my 60 or so person Environmental Law class.

I did not do so well on the LSAT so I hoped completing the MRLS and competing against law students would allow me to show my score was not indicative of my true abilities. I ended up with a 3.65 GPA when I completed the degree. After that I was admitted to DU’s JD program where I’m in my final semester.

Having had advanced law classes before the doctrinal ones I sort of felt let down by the survey nature of the first year curriculum. To be honest if I had not had a taste of classes in an area that really interested me, I might not have continued on past my first year. It was knowing that I found elective classes, especially those in natural resources and environmental law so interesting that got me through torts, contracts and civ pro. I look back at my year in the MRLS as my most interesting of all of law school, it was new, it was a challenge, and it was something I was keenly interested in.

I guess what I am saying is its not only doable for 1Ls to take upper level classes their first year, but I think it’s good scholarship, it allows law students to get a taste of something they might be really passionate about while taking the doctrinal classes. I hope more schools offer an upper year elective option in the first year.

[raivo pommer -]

Raivo Pommer
[email protected]

US Vertpapieren

Die amerikanische Regierung wird in dieser Woche ihren Plan vorlegen, wie Banken und andere Marktakteure von jenen giftigen Wertpapieren und faulen Krediten befreit werden sollen, die seit Monaten den Kreditkanal an Haushalte und Unternehmen verstopfen. Womöglich schon an diesem Montag werde Finanzminister Tim Geithner Einzelheiten zum Kauf fauler Hypothekendarlehen und damit verbundener Wertpapiere für bis zu eine Billion Dollar bekanntgeben, hieß es am Wochenende in Washington.

Berichten zufolge wird die Regierung eine neue Investmentgesellschaft mit dem Namen „Public Investment Corporation“ gründen. Sie soll mit einem Startkapital von 75 bis 100 Milliarden Dollar ausgestattet werden, die aus dem im vergangenen Oktober beschlossenen Rettungspaket für das Finanzsystem kommen sollen. Die Gesellschaft, die eine Reihe von Investmentfonds auflegen wird, soll eng an das Finanzministerium und an die staatliche Einlagensicherungsgesellschaft, die Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), angebunden sein. Ziel des Plans ist es, nach Möglichkeit auch privates Kapital zum Kauf der problematischen Wertpapiere und Kredite zu mobilisieren. Um privaten Investoren Anreize hierfür zu geben, will die Regierung nicht nur finanzielle Zuschüsse, sondern auch Ausfallgarantien geben. Die FDIC würde dann einen Teil der möglichen Verluste übernehmen. Die Schaffung dieser öffentlich-privaten Partnerschaft, die Geithner vor einigen Wochen in Aussicht gestellt hatte, ist aber nur ein Element des Vorhabens.

[Jake]

Yale has only one semester of required classes. All classes in the spring of 1L year are elective. Harvard allows student to take 1 elective in the Spring of their 1L year.

[NYU 1L]

At NYU Law, second semester of our first year we are given the choice of taking one of the following courses:

Property
Constitutional Law
Corporations
Tax
International Law

NB: We are required to take Con Law & Property by the end of our second year. The others aren't required.