KU Law Blog

Living With The Bluebook: 4 Quick Tips

The story of Sisyphus is a Greek myth, one that concludes with Zeus condemning Sisyphus to Tartarus and forcing him to push a boulder to the top of a hill. No matter how many times Sisyphus brings the boulder to the peak, however, the boulder falls down the other side, dooming Sisyphus to an eternity of boulder pushing.

On an unrelated note, bluebooking can sometimes seem like a daunting task. Thankfully, with my Five Star Bluebook Tips™ in tow, you can learn how to stop worrying and ~~love~~ not loathe everyone’s favorite somehow-not-obsolete citation guide!

Tip #1: The Quick Reference Table Is Your Friend

Located on both inside cover pages is the Bluebook’s Quick Reference Table. This table provides an example of a properly bluebooked citation for every garden variety source variant that you’re likely to stumble upon, including cases, legislative reports, and, my personal favorite, pamphlets. By looking to this table first, you may save yourself a trek through the spiral-bound hellscape that is the Bluebook’s actual text.

Tip #2: “The Power is Yours!” Go Digital!

Recently, I learned that the Bluebook has a digital edition. After enrolling in a free trial and spending some time working on some citations for Law Review, I can say with certainty that my life has been made easier. The display is clean, the Ctrl + F capabilities are life-changing, and best of all, as I cite Law Review articles that discuss how best multinational oil corporations can escape liability for their contributions to global climate change, I get to feel good that I’m saving paper! With an annual payment of $39, you too can live life with my peace of mind.

Tip #3: Don’t Trust Anyone

Sometimes you’ll hit a wall and catch the urge to coast off the work of judges and scholars to complete your citations. The temptation is understandable; these are high credential individuals citing the exact source you’re needing to cite, so why not just lift it straight from the case text on Westlaw or Lexis? Among other reasons, you shouldn’t do this because, unbelievably, one can be an extraordinary legal mind and not pay much heed to the conventions of the Bluebook. For one illustrative example, you can look to Judge Posner, who states that the Bluebook “is 560 pages of rubbish,” and states that that a proper first step for our profession is to “burn all copies” of the noble uniform system of citation. Unfortunately, such a cavalier attitude toward conformity with the Bluebook will result in a less-than desirable grade on your Open Memos, so just trust your knowledge and do the work yourself.

Tip #4: The Bluebook is Inevitable, Suffering Is Optional

Duḥkha is the First Noble Truth of Buddhism; it tells us that suffering is inextricably linked to the human experience. For the Buddhists, the paradoxical first step to disengage oneself from suffering is an acknowledgement of its inevitability. In many ways, this wisdom applies with equal force in learning to accept the Bluebook as a fixture in your life. The Bluebook is inconvenience in corporeal form; it is hundreds of pages of idiosyncrasies, counter-intuitive rules, and opaque explanations and examples. You could spend every waking minute of the next couple years trying to memorize each one of its inexplicable rules and exceptions, and even if you succeed, you’ll have just minutes to celebrate before a joyless cabal of Ivy Leaguers decides it is time to change a dozen or so rules and force everyone to pay for a new edition. True, you may never fully escape from the Bluebook’s gaping maw, but with each year your grasp on it will improve, your sense of where the proper rule is located will develop, and God willing, an unitalicized comma will matter less and less. Embrace its absurdity, understand its inevitability, and feel the stress wash away.

— By Griffin Albaugh, a 2L from Lawrence and a KU Law Student Ambassador.

Alumni gift creates new scholarship fund

A new scholarship fund at the KU School of Law will provide support to law students from diverse backgrounds.

Nathaniel Davis, L’76, has established the Nathaniel and Floydie Crawford-Davis Memorial Law Scholarship with a $50,000 gift to KU Endowment. Davis named the scholarship after his parents, who were public school teachers in Greene County, Alabama.

“I established the scholarship fund as a way to honor the memory of my parents by providing financial assistance to minority students seeking a legal education,” Davis said.

Davis graduated from KU Law in January 1976, attending two summer sessions to earn his J.D. early. He also completed academic requirements for the Master of Public Administration program. Davis started his career in private industry before joining the Parole and Community Services Division of the California Department of Corrections. He served in roles including state training director, chief of the Audit Division, and parole administrator before retiring in 2004.

Davis earned his undergraduate degree from Howard University in 1966. Before enrolling at KU Law, he served in the U.S. Army, and worked as a social worker and parole agent in California. When he decided to apply to law school, he reached out to campuses across the country.

“I made several inquiries to schools regarding possible minority recruitment programs. The University of Kansas offered the support that enabled me to attend law school,” Davis said.

“I give to KU Law because KU Law gave so much to me. I am grateful for the legal education that has been an asset both professionally and personally,” he said.

Make a gift

— By Margaret Hair

KJLPP Spotlight: Professor Jennifer Schmidt, L’94

Celebrating its 30^th Year in Publication, the Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy reflects on the public policy careers of alumni

With great pride, the Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy (KJLPP) celebrates our 30th year in publication. Since our founding in 1990, our singular aim has been to promote analytical and provocative articles through contemporary discourse on judicial decisions; legislation; and other legal and social issues. Thirty years of publication is no small task and the consistency of our goals and personality is due to the tremendous efforts of the preceding 29 Journal volumes.

Given the type of staff members we attract as a public policy journal, we have seen Journal alumni go on to have amazing and interesting public policy careers. Throughout the academic year, we will take a look at several of the public policy careers Journal alumni have pursued after departing Green Hall.

Our first spotlight is on KU Law Professor Jennifer Schmidt. During her time as a KU Law student, Professor Schmidt was a staff editor and the managing editor for Volumes II & III, respectively. After graduating law school in 1994, Professor Schmidt went on to have a successful career in Washington, D.C. and Kansas. In our interview, Professor Schmidt reflects on her public policy career. Please enjoy.

KJLPP: What drew you to be on the Journal?

Schmidt: The people drew me to the Journal. When I was in law school, Journal and Law Review held separate write-on competitions. At the Journal write-on info session, the incoming editors were interesting, enthusiastic and smart. They made the Journal not just a prestigious place to be, but a welcoming place to be. I wanted and needed that. Journal was an easy first choice and a place I wanted to spend my time. I did not even try to write-on to Law Review.

KJLPP: How did public policy play a part in your career after law school?

Schmidt: My career has centered on public policy both before and after law school. My Editor-in-Chief, Don Lee, and I first became friends working in Senator Bob Dole’s Capitol Hill office before law school. Working for Sen. Dole in Washington, D.C., was both of our first jobs out of undergrad. We remained friends while at KU Law and ultimately shared an office as the senior management on the Journal our third year.

After law school, I went on to serve as counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Courts, as senior counsel to U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and as chief of staff to the Speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives. I also hosted and produced “Ask Your Legislator,” a statewide current events television show on Kansas Public Television. Ultimately, I ended up teaching law and public policy at KU Law.

KJLPP: How has your public policy experiences influenced your work as a Professor?

Schmidt: Among other courses and duties, I teach the Public Policy Practicum, the Legislative Simulation and have the great joy of guiding students who are interested in working in policy, politics, government and nonprofits — many of whom are Journal students.

While on the KU Law faculty, I have had the opportunity to build and direct the Sixth Semester in Washington, D.C. Program — a law school program that places KU Law 3Ls in Washington, D.C. and allows them to live, work and learn during their final semester. The purpose of the program is to give students a running start on careers in Washington.

My great hope for the program is that it gives KU Law students equal footing for Congressional, federal government and national nonprofit jobs with law students from D.C.-based and East Coast law schools. I also hope that it ultimately increases the number and volume of policymaking voices from Kansas, other Midwestern states, and KU School of Law in our nation’s capital. It is important that our life experiences and priorities are represented.

KJLPP: What did and do you value most about the Journal?

Schmidt: The Journal — the friends, the work, the Symposia, producing the excellent product — was the centerpiece and a highlight of my law school experience.

Now, being a professor gives me a broader perspective of the Journal than I had as a law student. The Journal is an important asset to KU Law, our students, Kansas, and the country. We all benefit from having so many bright students who are interested in public policy and choose to spend their time and talents producing this great publication.

Justice Carol Beier retires from Kansas Supreme Court

Justice Carol A. Beier, L’85, recently retired from the Kansas Supreme Court after serving on the high court for 17 years. **Photo courtesy of the *Kansas Supreme Court*.**

After a 20-year judicial career, Kansas Supreme Court Justice Carol A. Beier retired on Sept. 18.

Beier, L’85, served on the Kansas Supreme Court for 17 years. Previously, she was a judge on the Kansas Court of Appeals for 3.5 years.

“I will be ever grateful for the opportunities I have been given to spend so much of my legal career in service to my home state and its citizens,” Beier said. “Twenty years and thousands of cases since my children helped me put on my robe for the first time, I will pack it away with pride. This is possible because I can bear personal witness to the good faith and daily striving of our Kansas courts to be and remain fair and impartial guardians of the rule of law and the rights of all.”

Beier was the first female graduate of KU Law to serve on the Kansas Supreme Court and the third woman appointed to the high court. In 2012, she was named to the KU Women’s Hall of Fame.

“It’s lovely to be someone who is helping to blaze a trail for other women,” Beier said. “I hope that there are lots of future Kansas Supreme Court justices who are female alums of KU Law.”

In addition to her work on cases, Beier had many administrative duties. She served as a departmental justice for six judicial districts and was the court’s liaison for several particular areas of the court’s supervision.

“I had the opportunity to work with some wonderful people at the Kansas Supreme Court – folks who have become lifelong friends,” Beier said.

Kansas Supreme Court *Justice Carol A. Beier, L’85,* participates in a Q&A session with law students at the University of Kansas on April 1, 2019. Beier and her colleagues on the *Kansas Supreme Court* heard oral arguments at KU later that day. This was the court’s first visit to Lawrence in its 158-year history. **Photo by Andy White/KU Marketing Communications.**

Background

Beier is originally from Kansas City, Kansas. She graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in journalism in 1981 and with a Juris Doctor in 1985. Beier also earned an LL.M. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2004.

Prior to her judicial career, Beier was a partner at Foulston & Siefkin law firm in Wichita. She also worked in private practice in Washington, D.C.; served as a staff attorney at the National Women’s Law Center; and clerked for the late Judge James K. Logan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

She taught at KU Law during the 1989-90 academic year at the request of former Dean Michael Davis.

“I had the good fortune to teach for a year at KU Law, shortly after I came back to Kansas,” Beier said. “I loved my year teaching at KU. It was very fun.”

While at Green Hall, Beier managed the Defender Project – now called the Paul E. Wilson Project for Innocence & Post-Conviction Remedies – with former KU Law Professor Kim Dayton. She also taught an appellate clinic, Gender in the Law Seminar and Advanced Torts.

“I loved running the Defender Project,” Beier said. “It was like having a small law firm of my own.”

Former Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Lawton Nuss, L’82, and Justice Carol A. Beier, L’85, listen to oral arguments in a special session held at the University of Kansas on April 1, 2019. This was the court’s first visit to Lawrence in its 158-year history. **Photo by Andy White/KU Marketing Communications.**

Service

Beier has been actively involved with the legal community for many years. She was a founding member of the Kansas Women Attorneys Association in 1994.

“The Kansas Women Attorneys Association has continued to grow and strengthen over the years,” Beier said. “I’m very proud of my early and frequent involvement with it.”

She has also served as the District 10 Director of the National Association of Women Judges. While living in Wichita, she was the president of the Wichita Women Attorneys Association and involved with the Wichita Bar Association.

Beier has remained loyally involved with KU Law throughout her legal and judicial career. She has served on the law school’s Board of Governors for 20 years, including a year as president of the organization.

Beier received the law school’s highest honor, the Distinguished Alumni Award, in 2013. The award celebrates graduates for their professional achievements, contributions to the legal field and service to their communities and the university.

Plans for the future

After more than 35 years of public service, Beier is looking forward to retirement. She plans to spend time with her family and travel.

Beier is grateful to have spent the majority of her legal career in service to Kansans. She encourages fellow public servants to consider following in her footsteps.

“I hope that many of my fellow capable and dedicated lawyers who revere the rule of law, those who want to preserve reason and civil discourse, those who know that the elusive perfection of our union takes constancy and care from all of us – will consider taking a chance on becoming my successor,” Beier said. “Our system of justice needs them.”

— By Ashley Golledge

Law professor, alumni teach Legal Ethics CLE to more than 1,500 attorneys in six months

Michael H. Hoeflich has taught Legal Ethics Continuing Legal Education (CLE) programs to more than 1,500 attorneys in the past six months. Hoeflich is the John H. & John M. Kane Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Kansas School of Law.

Hoeflich taught the CLE programs virtually in conjunction with Joseph, Hollander & Craft LLC (JHC) partners Christopher Joseph, L’00, and Diane Bellquist, L’02.

“As a result of the pandemic, it became increasingly difficult to put on in-person CLE programs, so I approached Chris Joseph and suggested that we start a series of free online programs,” Hoeflich said. “We have been delighted at the strong positive response those programs have received.”

Since April, more than 1,500 attorneys have participated in the free CLE programs taught by Hoeflich, Joseph and Bellquist. For each CLE program, JHC produces a Legal Ethics and Malpractice Reporter newsletter.

CLE program topics and host organizations included:

“The History of Ethics and Comparing Modern Rules,” April 15, 2020, Greater Kansas City Society of Healthcare Attorneys (GKCSHA)
“Legal Ethics & Trial Publicity,” April 30, 2020, Joseph, Hollander & Craft LLC
“Tech Tips in a Cyber World,” May 28, 2020, Joseph, Hollander & Craft LLC
“The History of Ethics & Comparing Modern Rules,” July 17, 2020, Kansas Women Attorneys Association
“Assisting or Counseling Client Fraud or Criminal Activity: ABA Formal Ethics Opinion 491,” July 22, 2020, Joseph, Hollander & Craft LLC

On Sept. 23, Hoeflich will present a CLE program on “Representing Cannabis Industry Clients: Ethical Pitfalls” with JHC attorneys Christopher McHugh, L’00, and Andrew Goodwin. The program has been approved for 1 hour of Ethics CLE in Kansas and Missouri. To register, visit the JHC event web page.

Hoeflich joined the KU Law faculty in 1994. He served as dean from 1994 to 2000. He previously served as the director of the M.S. in Homeland Security: Law & Policy degree program as well.

— By Ashley Golledge

Raj Bhala selected for Department of State speaker program

Law professor also honored in ’50 Kansans You Should Know’

A University of Kansas law professor will offer expertise on a variety of trade issues through the U.S. Speaker Program.

Professor Raj Bhala — Raj Bhala, Brenneisen Distinguished Professor

Raj Bhala, the Brenneisen Distinguished Professor at the KU School of Law, teaches international and comparative law courses, and is among the world’s foremost authorities in international trade law. He was asked to join the program because of his scholarship, teaching and experience in areas including international trade law, Islamic law, and India, and on cross-cutting, vital issues of law and policy concerning China. His insights from his work at the KU School of Law in International Law and Literature also may help advance our nation’s public diplomacy goals.

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the U.S. Speaker Program makes available distinguished expertise to overseas groups in partnership with American embassies around the world. As the U.S. Speaker Program’s Fact Sheet indicates, the program “recruits dynamic American experts to engage international audiences on topics of strategic importance to the United States.”

“It is a great honor, and very humbling, to be asked by the State Department to provide impactful presentations to key audiences around the world on some of the major issues of our time,” Bhala said. “I look forward to this responsibility, serving as a two-way Ambassador between my fantastic students here at KU Law and those important audiences, and to gaining insights for my scholarly publications and sharing them overseas.”

Presentations are both in-person and remote via tools such as Zoom, covering “topics of strategic importance to the United States,” according to the program’s fact sheet. Audiences include public and private sector officials, academics, students and the media.

The U.S. Speaker Program Department conducts approximately 650 programs annually consisting of workshops, lectures, seminars and consultations. These events not only help “share ideas and information,” but also “build and sustain relationships with foreign audiences,” according to the program description.

’50 Kansans You Should Know’

Raj was also recently honored as one of Ingram’s Magazine’s “50 Kansans You Should Know.” Now in its 10^th year, “50 Kansans You Should Know” recognizes Kansas area residents “for their over-sized contributions to business success, civic engagement, philanthropic zeal and shared interest in moving their communities forward.”

Raj was recognized for a teaching style that “brings to his students a blend of insight, experience, rhetoric and oratory (laced with references to Shakespeare) that helps them break down barriers erected by cultures, religions, economic systems and political structures,” according to the article.

Bhala joined the KU Law faculty in 2003. He teaches courses including Advanced International Trade Law, International Law and Literature, and Islamic Law (Sharī‘a). Bhala is a senior advisor for Dentons U.S. LLP and writes a monthly “On Point” column for BloombergQuint (Mumbai). He is frequently asked by media outlets to share expertise on international trade law, with recent appearances in Fortune, PolitiFact, the Los Angeles Times and NPR’s Marketplace.

In 2017, Ingram’s Magazine selected his wife, Dr. Kara Tan Bhala, who earned her Ph.D. in philosophy at KU in 2009, as one of the “50 Kansans You Should Know,” making Raj and Kara among the first KU Law couples to receive the award.