Please, let me enjoy my romance novels

by Lindsey Simon

Law school has ruined a lot of things for me, like enjoying Law & Order and my capacity to be interesting to anyone not in law school. But of all the things I’ve lost, I miss my ability to suspend belief enough to enjoy cheesy romance novels the most.
Family law has been particularly destructive. After we learned that in many states unwed fathers must file with the putative father registry before or soon after the birth of the child in order to assert their paternal rights against an uncooperative mother. I was shocked! What does this do to one of my favorite romance novel plot devices (the good ol’ we-had-a-one-night-stand-and-you-got-pregnant-but-never-told-me-so-now-I’m-going-to-force-you-to-marry-me-or-live-with-me-under-threat-of-a-custody-battle-but-eventually-we-will-fall-in-love story line)? Don’t the heroines/mothers know that it would be very difficult for the heroes/fathers to win such a custody battle because they hadn’t registered? Then again, maybe the hero would have a claim if it’s not really his fault that he didn’t register because he was in prison when the baby was born since he met the heroine and they conceived the child after he escaped from prison and kidnapped her as his hostage but of course she succumbed to his rugged sensuality… (Yes, this is a real plot from a book, and yes, I read it. Don’t judge me.)
But what if hero wasn’t in prison and just dropped the heroine off at the airport after their one-time weekend fling?
Even if he is a professional hockey player, should he be able to threaten the heroine with a custody battle six years later until she agrees to let him see their daughter? The heroine should have seen a lawyer. —even if she was still hopelessly attracted to him—because clearly the deadbeat hero should have registered or checked in with her once or twice during the past six years if he was genuinely concerned with any potential offspring from the passionate affair. (Another real book. And yes, I read it, too.)
Oh well. At least I can say that they provide useful hypothetical fact patterns for Family Law problems. But I guess I should just accept that law school will claim my love of silly romance novels, along with my soul.

Check it Out

Don’t have enough to read? The law library has some new, interesting books

by Anne Buike

Richard Posner’s The Little Book of Plagiarism (KF 1485 P67 2007) recently arrived at your law library and Judge Posner has packed a hot topic into the palm of your hand. His tome is an environmentally friendly 4.2 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches and won’t overtake your carrel, or thwart precious space previously allotted to your iPod jam packed with illegally obtained music in your designer bag. Furthermore Posner gives you something to say in a conversation with new Intellectual Property faculty member Annemarie Bridy, and also tips for your legal research. According to Amazon, people who purchased this book also purchased “Supreme Conflict : the inside story of the struggle for control of the United States Supreme Court” by Jan Greenberg, which is located at KF 8742 G74 2007.

Failure to Protect: America’s Sexual Predator Laws and the Rise of the Preventive State (KF 9325 J36 2006) by Eric Janus. Janus has written a book that may support your right to MySpace and Facebook freely. He discusses the result of elected officials and the media in regards to legislation and report of strangers as predators in relation to sexual violence. He has a different approach to preventing sexual violence, and it doesn’t involve setting up a sting operation with a Yahoo! Profile and having Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC on scene. Lastly, Janus critiques the “preventative state” and how it can affect civil liberties.


A Botanic Garden for the Nation: The United State Botanic Garden is perfect for the law student who is tired of reading, and would enjoy going back to a simpler time in life, reading books with lots of pictures. This government-produced book is rife with amazing full color photos of the grounds and specimens of the Botanic Garden located in our Nation’s Capital, Washington DC. Take a mini mental vaca and gaze upon pages 78 – 97, and imagine you are not sitting in the basement of the Menard Law Building and someone nearby has something stinky for lunch, but you are hiking through a jungle or a rainforest of a far off land. If you enjoy good espresso, don’t miss page 158 and the Bartholdi fountain, which can only create a relaxing feeling of being in Europe next summer after the school year has ended. Anne-Catherine Fallen has worked magic with her photographic eye, and with the Government Printing Office has created a masterpiece that is located at QK 73 U62 U553 2007.