Applying for Graduate School
Law, Personal, Professional, Technology Comments (0)
I’m leaving in a bit to go drop off my application for grad school. Here’s the essay that I had to compose for it.
War is never fun. It is less inviting when you find yourself coming late to a battle on a field friendly to your opponent. It is absolutely hostile when you find yourself outnumbered and relatively unarmed. Unfortunately, this is the position that attorneys find themselves in when they must confront the intersection of technology and the law.
Attorneys have to find new and novel ways to deal with the problems that advances in technology present by looking to the ancient past to find answer to the problems of the present. America OnLine, and others like them, have resurrected the old concept of “trespass to chattels” to deal with the problems presented by spammers. Companies like Habeas, Inc., have tried to create solutions to the problem of which bulk emailers do you trust to send bulk electronic mail without also letting in too much “spam” by turning to older and more settled intellectual property law. Unfortunately, looking always to the past for the answers to the problems of the present is not a sustainable solution.
The law must change in ways which will make it more technology friendly without having to rely upon novel interpretations of old law. But it will take people who are able to look at technology and law with an understanding of both. My work experience includes four years as a paralegal and seven years as either an abuse desk investigator and a consultant for attorneys.
I hope that obtaining a Master of Science in Computer Information Systems and then completing law school will better enable me to serve as one of those people who bridge the gap between technology and law. Then, perhaps, my technology clients will not feel outnumbered and unarmed when they are forced to look to the law to deal with their problems.
MickC @ November 29, 2004