SFMOMA reads my blog

SFMOMA is apparently curious to know why I say Hawk should sue them. They checked out my blog yesterday. That's good for them because over the next few days, I will explain why Hawk might be successful if he were to bring a suit for defamation. I'm not a lawyer and my posts are not legal advice. They will simply be my analysis of a defamation claim on the facts of the Hawk scandal.

I hope Hawk sues SFMOMA

Over the last few days, I have finally remembered why I went to law school to become a lawyer.

Several days ago, Thomas Hawk, a prominent blogger and photographer, was thrown out of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Arts. Simon Blint, a SFMOMA employee, accused Hawk of taking inappropriate pictures of female employees or guests. Hawk offered to show Blint his pictures to prove he was not taking inappropriate pictures but Blint refused to look at them. Blint ejected Hawk. Hawk blogged about the incident which attracted the attention of the blogosphere. Today, SFMOMA released a statement in which they fully supported the actions of Blint.

SFMOMA is wrong. I believe Hawk's version of the events. Why? He has evidence to support his version of the events while SFMOMA doesn't. Hawk has publicly posted the pictures he took at the museum at the time that Blint accused him of taking inappropriate pictures. These photos demonstrate that he was taking pictures with a wide angle lens. It would have been impossible for him to take the types of pictures that the museum staff accused him of taking.

In their statement, the museum fully supports Blint and again accuses Hawk of taking inappropriate pictures of the staff and of the guests. However, they do not address that fact that Blint would not even look at the pictures before ejecting Hawk. Further, they do not say anything that would rebut the version of events that Hawk gave. Also, they do not address Hawk's proof, that is, the pictures which show that he could not have been taking the pictures that they accused him of taking.

Wrongs like this happen all of the time and it infuriates me. Most people would simply have been ejected and it would have been the end of the story. Hawk happened to be a blogger who was able to attract some attention, but the average Joe would not have been able to. Furthermore, in their statement, SFMOMA appears to libel Hawk.

Anyway, I went to law school so that when shady stuff like this happens, I could do something about it. If I had a law license, which is hopefully arriving in November, I would be emailing Hawk right now and offering to represent him. I hope he hires a good lawyer and sues the hell out of SFMOMA.

Anonymous legal blogging

Most legal blogs are written anonymously; one big exception is law professor blogs. Why the anonymity of most legal blogs? In my case, I chose to be anonymous because most of the other lawyers and near lawyers online were anonymous. While I did not have any specific concerns initially, I followed the crowd. Perhaps the other anonymous lawyers recognized risks that I had not accounted for.

Watching the presidential race reminded me that one reason to be anonymous online is to make sure that nothing you write comes back to bite you in the ass later. Obama, despite having two books where he reveals much personal detail, still has the media researching every writing they can get their hands on. In fact, several media outlets published the syllabus and final examinations from Obama's Con Law classes at the University of Chicago Law School. Isn't this going a little far? I'm not planning on running for president. But I could see myself running for a local office of some sort in the future.

Also, let's be real. The legal profession is one of the most conservative. Being from a liberal place, it is not special to see two women kiss. In fact, it's a regular greeting in many countries. However, such a kiss got two summer associates canned in Minnesota, a fairly liberal place. Although kissing is different from blogging, I can see some words being pulled from a blog and being placed out of context in a way that could look real bad. In our profession, is that enough to hurt a career or to lose a job? My fear is that it is and that is why I'm still mostly anonymous.

I'm not totally anonymous. My facebook page links here, although I might change that soon. Also, several friends of mine know who I am. I also have my face in my profile and on several other sites with the same nickname. Doing this helps me remember that I'm never really anonymous. I'm sure someone could figure out who I am if they tried. After all, I'm not doing much to hide it. Knowing my identity is not truly hidden helps me watch what I say online and blog responsibly.

The bar is over, now what?

Now that the bar is over, most of the bar blogs have calmed down. One has even disappeared. This makes perfect sense. We all have the time and perhaps the desire to blog more. However, we also want to put the bar exam far into the past. At least, that's how I feel.

Thus, from now until the bar results come out, I'm going to branch out and try blogging about different subjects that interest me. I plan to blog about technology, the law, and maybe even a little about politics. In short, this blog is going to be more about life and my thoughts instead of about the bar.

Hopefully, you all understand. With that said, I hope the other bar blogs keep going strong, even if they are about something other than the bar. While I'm SO happy the bar is over, I do miss our online community.

It's finally over

It's about time I at least say something about the bar exam. Overall, taking the exam was not too bad. I thought I would feel stressed out in the exam. In reality, I felt pretty normal. Adrenaline probably kicked in and helped push me through. While I can't say I felt 100% prepared for the exam from taking BarBri, I can say that they prepared me with the test taking skills that I needed. That is, I never felt like I had a grip on memorizing the material, but I managed my time well throughout the exam. When I didn't know something, I didn't freak out. I just made up law.

More than anything, taking the bar exam felt like a type of hazing or rite of passage that I had to go through in order to get my law license from the state. I'm not too worried about the results. I prepared as much as I can, I'm a first time taker, and my school has a good pass rate.

Lastly, I had the good fortune of sitting next to a guy who probably should not have shown up for the exam. This poor guy had to fill in roughly 40 MBE questions at random because he ran out of time. He didn't show up for the last day of the exam. I'm not happy this guy didn't pass. However, sitting next to him made me feel more prepared and gave me a bit more confidence.

Awkward conversation with my Dr's office

Secretary: Dr. Smith's office.

Dtrizzle: Hi, my name is Dtrizzle. I'm calling to see if I can drop in or get an appointment for today.

Secretary: OK, what's the patient's name?

Dtrizzle: Umm, that's me, Dtrizzle.

Secretary: Umm, this is a pediatrician's office.

Dtrizzle: I've been a patient since I was born.

Secretary: Oh, ok.