I’m scheduled to take the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE) in a couple of weeks at USC. I’ve been studying some BARBRI materials a little, but instead of going to the “live” course they offered last Sunday, I opted for the online version. Same three-hour lecture, but you get a handy pause button and the added bonus that you don’t have to drive anywhere.
Anyway, I did the class yesterday morning, and I was pleased that the lecturer was Erwin Chemerinsky. Chemerinsky is considered one of the foremost scholars in the nation on both Constitutional Law and Civil Procedure. He is currently the dean of the law school at UC-Irvine, and it’s pretty cool that he and Dean Starr are going to lecture together here at Pepperdine in a few weeks at the Judicial Clerkship Institute (extra value is that they are opposites on the political front, yet very much alike in that both are respected and brilliant).
My old buddy, Martin, from summer work at Public Counsel Law Center, posted a link to an op-ed Chemerinsky has in the L.A. Times that reflects on a little incident they recently experienced at UC-Irvine. In so doing, he gives a good basic primer on Free Speech.
Free speech is one of those core American values that just about everyone thinks is a good thing. However, like so many core values, most of us aren’t always exactly sure what it means. As expected, Chemerinsky does a terrific job of making it understandable to all.
Minutes to Memories 