Blog Prompt Post #4: Considering Delivery and Style

 

  With the ever-continuing expansion of technology, a plethora of data has become readily available for those seeking to learn about their field in depth. A person can now access information that until recently was only available to professionals in that sector. As a result, I wanted to see how much insight I could actually gain about sexism in the legal profession by looking at various articles on the internet and comparing which sources were the most helpful.

    I began my research with a scholarly article from the American Bar Association titled, Sex Discrimination in the Legal Profession. This article was very research based and discussed the most common forms of sex discrimination. I became highly informed and shocked at the things I learned, for instance many top law schools actually admit to scrutinizing women applicants harder than men (Dinerman 1).

    I continued my investigation with an article from Ms.JD, which is a nonprofit organization that dedicates its success to aspiring and early career women lawyers. The post I focused on was titled, What No One Tells You Before You Go to Law School: You’re Entering a Sexist Profession and it described a woman’s experience with sexism in the legal environment. The post was both personal and informative, it gave specific details of her encounters of being treated unequally as well as referenced statistics from Yale Law.

    In terms of reliability, obviously the article from the American Bar Association contains the least amount of bias since it focuses on fact based research. Although I gained a lot of knowledge from this piece, analyzing it was mind numbingly dull since it was meant to be read by peers in that profession. On the other hand, the Ms. JD blog was a pretty enjoyable read for me since I am basically their target audience and it allowed me to obtain a new understanding from one person’s perspective.

    There are pros and cons to each source and at the end of the day they both educated me on my desired topic. If you are doing actual fieldwork, I would suggest using google scholar or a library database to get accurate information. Aside from that, legal journals and blogs are great sources too because they give you a summarized version of those scholarly articles mixed with an opinion, which can be helpful.

By: Jasmine Shafquat


American Bar Association Logo. Digital image. Ms. JD. ABA, n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2015

Dinerman, Beatrice. “Sex Discrimination in the Legal Profession”. American Bar Association Journal 55.10 (1969): 951–954. Web..

Monahan, Alison. "What No One Tells You Before You Go to Law School: You’re Entering a Sexist Profession." Ms. JD. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2015

MS. JD Logo. Digital image. Ms. JD. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Nov. 2015.

Economic concepts that economics graduates should know!

   

   
       Economics has an impact on every moment of our lives. Basically, we need to think economically when making decision whether can benefit us in the future or not. Hence, an understanding of economics is vital to our lives. Now, we will discuss some economic concepts.

1) Scarcity
Everyone has their own preference. Therefore, problem such as scarcity arises because people have unlimited wants but resources are limited. Because of scarcity, various economic decisions must be made to allocate resources efficiently.

2) Supply and Demand
Let say that people need to have winter clothes since winter season is coming. Thus, the demand for winter clothes increase and firms will supply more because firms can gain more profits. Because of that, a lot of firms start making winter clothes and after a few production cycles, the price of winter clothes will plummet. Hence, people will demand for clothes that suitable for spring season and again, firms will compete to sell and produce more clothes for spring collection.

3) Costs and Benefits
In any situation, consumers will decide to buy products that benefits them. Besides, they are willing to pay for the products that less costs but in good quality. Producers also will make the same decision. They will produce products that can benefits them means that they can get a lot of profits by selling the products. Thus, producers will always produce products that are highly demanded and less costs.

       In conclusion, I hope that everyone can understand some economic concepts that mentioned above and try to relate it when making any decision. Ask yourself whether the decision can provide incentives to you or do the products give you satisfaction. By that, I think you will not regret of the choice that you make. To be master in economics, you should know the basic language of economics and thus you can imply when working as an economist.
Thank You


Andrew Beattie, "5 Economic Concepts Consumers Need To Know",  http://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/11/five-economic-concepts-need-to-know.asp

Clothing in the Courtroom

By: Katie Nagy

        It seems that certain professions have a “uniform” that comes to mind when you think of the apparel people in that field wear. Doctors and nurses wear scrubs, pharmacists wear lab coats, construction workers wear bright vests, etc., but what do lawyers wear? Or maybe the right question is what should lawyers wear at a formal event like a trial or a meeting with a client? I investigated the do’s and don’ts of lawyers’ outfits, and came to this conclusion:

Dos for formal wear-

•    Men should always wear a suit (Hill para. 12)
•    Suits must be tailored and fit well (Hill para. 12)
•    Men should be clean-shaven (Hill para. 13)
•    Women may wear a suit, dress, or skirt (Hill para. 14)
•   Women should wear flats (Hill para. 15)
•    Women should wear pantyhose if wearing a skirt (Hill para. 16)

Don’ts for formal wear-

•       Men cannot wear a dark suit and dark shirt together (Hill para. 12)
•       Women should not wear their hair in a ponytail (Hill para. 16)
•       Bra straps should never be showing (Hill para. 14)
•       Women should not wear a lot of jewelry (Hill para. 16)
•       Women should not wear a lot of make-up (Hill para. 16)
•       Women should not wear revealing clothes (Hill para. 16)
•       Women should not wear tight-fitting clothes (Hill para. 16)

      While most of these guidelines for lawyers’ clothes in formal events do not surprise me very much, I was interested to notice that there are many more rules regarding what women should wear than for men. The rules for what male lawyers should wear seem pretty standard for a lot of jobs, wear a suit that fits you and don’t have a long beard on your face, but the rules for women are much more strict about what one should wear. 

      One thing that actually upset me when reading the clothing tip for lawyers was the reasons behind some of the rules for women. Female lawyers were advised not to wear too much make-up because their looks could be threatening to jury members or the judge and that could cause a woman to lose the case (Hill para. 15). This rule makes women seem catty and competitive with each other about their looks, which is a negative stereotype about women. Another guideline not listed in the blog post, but in the article was if a woman’s engagement ring is too big, she should take it off because it could spark jealousy from other women (Hill para. 16). A lot of the rules for women are based on not making other women jealous about their looks, jewelry, etc. which is not a good basis for clothes guidelines. While I think everyone should look professional for their job, the rules for female lawyers are outrageous and in my opinion, sexist.

Hill, Kashmir. "Fashion Dos and Don'ts From the Windy City." Above the

Law. Breaking Media INC., 12 Apr. 2010. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.

The Good Wife Courtroom. Digital image. The Huffington Post. The Huffington Post,

27 Sept. 2013. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.

#Pre-LawProblems

Right after I tell someone I am interested in becoming an attorney they inevitably ask, “Nice, do you know what type of lawyer you want to be?” Here are a list of reasons why you should stop asking this question to pre-law majors!


1. We don’t want to become emotionally invested in a specific career when theres a chance that many of us might not even get accepted to a law school.

2. So many people go into law school thinking they are going to practice a certain type of law and leave interested in something completely different than what they expected to get into.

 
3. There are so many options to choose from, how can anyone decide what field of law they are going to get into without exploring all of their options? For example there are real estate lawyers, tax lawyers, adoption lawyers, divorce lawyers, corporate lawyers, and medical malpractice lawyers just to name a few.

On behalf of all my fellow pre-law peers out there, please stop asking us twenty-one questions because we’re probably already stressed out and we don't have everything figured out. Honestly, if I could look in a crystal ball and see what type of law I am going to be practicing in the future, I wouldn’t even want to because I feel like not knowing exactly what my future holds is exciting.

By: Jasmine Shafquat

I Don't Know Meme. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2015

Work Environment for Economics

     

       You might curious about how economists work like how their work environment. So, for this post, I would like to discuss about work environment for economists. Basically economists work independently in an office. Their work is mostly related to data and portfolio so they need to have a nice and calm environment in order to be focus while doing it. Besides, economists have tight schedules and always work under pressure of deadlines. Therefore, they need space that make them comfortable to do their work.

       Besides, economists may work alone writing reports, preparing statistical charts, and using computers and calculators. For economists in economics faculty, they have flexible work schedules, and may divide their time among teaching, research, consulting and administration. You can grab opportunity to work as a team in you are interested in becoming economists. Because they have research that they need to work on, working as a team is one of the greatest way to make the project success because they need to collect information as detail as possible.

       Other than that, economists need to good in critical thinking skills. Thus, working as a team can make work done faster. Travelling is one of the incentive as an economist. Mostly, they need to attend conferences outside the country to collect data and get extra information. They can use the collected data in their research paper and enhance their detail oriented skills. Hence, they can be on the same level as the other professional economists. Even though there are many working opportunity for economists in the world, to be the best among the best and to get the better jobs are quite hard cause you have to compete with other people who are much better or stand out than you. Thus, it is my desired that your determination to become economists are being fulfill and hope for the best.



Thank you.

By: Syarah Alya

Prompt #10- Recognizing the Truth

By- Katie Nagy

                                          

The TV Show, Suits, on the USA Network is a fun show that I personally love to watch, but the way lawyers and law is portrayed on the television show misrepresents the field of law.

To start, while all the characters on the popular TV show make six figure salaries and live luxurious lifestyles, but the truth is that entry-level salaries for lawyers are not luxurious at all, and the median salaries for all lawyers is around $120,000, so few lawyers make the big bucks ("Top Salaries" para. 3).

Another misrepresentation of lawyers in the show Suits is the portrayal of the lawyers’ ethics. While a miniscule amount of lawyers in the real world might lie or cheat in order to win a case, most lawyers follow the law, so they can keep their license to practice law. If lawyers are found to be extorting clients, taking money from clients then not defending them, etc they could lose their license and never practice law again (Wolfson para. 23). On the TV show, you see Harvey Spector, one of the main characters, blur the lines of the law, but there are little to no consequences for his actions.

               Finally, a huge misrepresentation of lawyers in the popular television show, Suits, is the main plot of the television show. One of the main characters, Michael Ross, never attended a law school, but is a genius and can remember everything he has ever read about law, so Harvey Specter hires him. While being a genius and remembering different laws and such may help win cases, there is much more to being a lawyer. There are some aspects to being a lawyer that you learn in law school that you cannot get from a book. In law school there are mock trials that help people learn the correct behavior and process in courtrooms and there are classes on legal writing, arguments, etc ("What to Expect" para. 12). It is very unlikely that someone who did not go to law school could easily become a lawyer, even if he is a genius. 

I do not believe that Suits’ main goal was to accurately portray lawyers, but to create a fun television show about good-looking and funny lawyers, and in that aspect the television show succeeded.

Harvard Law School. Digital image. Top-Law-Schools. PhBB. n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2015

Suits on USA. “Series One Official Trailer.” Online Video Clip. Youtube. Youtube, 31

May 2011. Web. 27 October 2015.

"Top Salaries of Associates." NALP. National Association For Law

           Placement, 9 Oct. 2014. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.

"What to Expect in Your First Year of Law School." Princetonreview. The 

        Princeton Review, n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.

Wolfson, Andrew. "Disbarred Lawyers Face Career, Personal Hurdles." USA Today.

          Gannett, 19 Jan. 2014. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.

Prompt #8 : Practicing Your Knowledge

       

My group members and I.

       Before I came to United States to further my study, I obliged to join five days four nights camp at the rural area. This program was organized by Malaysia’s government towards students who will going to overseas to further their studies. The purpose of this camp is to foster the spirit of patriotism and love for the country. We, as the campers, have to participate in all activities that they organized. Basically, talks given by several people who work as government officials and this routine continued for two days. The benefits that I got from the talks are I get to know what exactly happens in my country and how to fix it. Besides, from the talks, I realized that my knowledge about my own country is very shallow. It feel like I don’t belong here but the talks really motivate me to help my own country to become a developed country in the future. 

       Then, we also attempted many discussion session in group which gave us the opportunities to share our knowledge and doubts. This session helps me to have courage in presenting my ideas and thoughts. Other than that, we have a group competition in order to build unity among group members. Besides getting new friends, we also get to share our life experiences with each other. In one of the group activities, my group lost and we had to do our punishment which we had to dance and sing in front of other groups. It was very embarrassing but I tried to ignore it for the sake of my group. We just happily performed in front of others like it was not even a punishment. 

       For the last night, every groups had to perform patriotic song on stage. We practiced for about one day to remember the choreography. We succeed in making the performance until the end and we got third place out of nine groups. Actually, we were very surprised because we thought that other groups did an awesome performance than us. It was an unforgettable memory in my life. Until now, we contact each other and we cherish our friendship forever. 

       To be a successful economist, we need to have a great connection and communication skills. Thus, this program helps me a lot in finding my courage to speak out and expanding my connection. One of the jobs as economists is that they need to persuade people to trust them. Therefore, this program helps me to be more confident with myself in order to be a great economist and it helps me to succeed in my interview because employees nowadays take into account to hire people who are full of confident. In conclusion, I hope that you guys get to participate in program that related to your preferences and get benefits from it. 

Thank you. 

By: Syarah Alya