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BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2021
Opinions
“Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent. ”
- Henry Ward Beecher ~
GUEST COLUMN
Observations from
Harvard Law School, weeks 1-3
Editor’s note: Ryan Miller is a 2017 grad
uate and former valedictorian of Apalachee
High School. He earned bachelor degrees in
chemistry and history and graduated summa
cum laude from the University of Georgia in
December 2020 and graduated summa cum
laude with a master of public administration
from UGA in May. He was accepted to Har
vard Law School and recently began classes
there. He is documenting that experience for
the Barrow News-Journal.
WEEK 1
Monday-Wednesday, Aug. 23-25
•Moving to Cambridge: These three days
consisted of moving into my law school dorm,
meeting my neighbors, and preparing for the
semester.
•Living in Cambridge: There are
amazing local restaurants and stores,
though a sharp eye can find a Sub
way no different than home.
•Lesson of the Day: Harvard
brings together exceptional people
from all over the world.
Thursday, Aug. 26
•Orientation Day 1: Each section
of the law school class met their pro
fessors, received information about
resources, and played icebreakers to
meet one another.
•HLS Sections: There are 560 stu
dents at Harvard Law School each year, and
these students are further broken down into
seven sections of 80. who stay together for all
first-year classes.
•Lesson of the Day: Avoid comparison, en
joy today, but do not forget where you come
from.
Friday, Aug. 27
•Orientation Day 2: My section conducted a
mock negotiation to introduce us to how we
represent clients and settle disputes outside of
court.
•Weather: For this past week Cambridge has
felt a lot like Georgia, with 90-degree heat and
dense humidity.
•Lesson of the Day: Know the opposite side
of an argument as well as you know yours.
WEEK 2
Monday, Aug. 30
•Orientation Day 3: Participated in a mock
class where we discussed whether or not
plaintiffs — the person who brings a lawsuit
— should be allowed to remain anonymous in
court.
•Classroom Conversations: Discussed im
portant things to remember before beginning
school, such as conducting difficult conversa
tions concerning controversial court cases.
•LAWn Day: A large outdoor picnic, where
the entire incoming 1L group ate food from
food trucks, spoke with one another and pro
fessors, and played different lawn-style games.
•Lesson of the Day: People are not just what
they say; they are more and should be treated
with respect and grace,
Tuesday, Aug. 31
•Lunch with BSAs: Board of Student Advis
ers are current 2Ls and 3Ls hired by HLS to
assist first-year law students (1L) in adjusting
to the life of law school.
•Studying in library: Harvard Law School
has its own four-story, splendid library - Lang-
dell Hall - which offers excellent opportuni
ties for reading, studying, and preparing for
the first day.
•Lesson of the Day: So much happens be
hind the scenes to make possible what happens
within the scene.
Wednesday, Sept. 1
•Torts: Champlain Towers collapse. We dis
cussed the legal implications of the tragedy
that took place this past summer, where a con
do fell onto its residents in the night and killed
many.
•Property: Trespass law. Those who violate
a property owner's right to exclude commit the
crime of trespassing unless they do so out of
necessity, like if they were in danger.
•Tunnels: Due to a little rain. I took advan
tage of the underground tunnels which connect
all of the HLS buildings - and contain most of
the school’s lockers.
•Lesson of the Day: The law is always
changing, so it is better to learn how to think
about the law than to learn about the laws
themselves.
Thursday, Sept. 2
•Civil Procedure: Pleading. Every suit be
gins with a plaintiff's complaint, which must
be made honestly or the lawyer filing it can be
sanctioned according to FRCP 11.
•Torts: Respondeat superior. Employers are
often liable for mistakes of their employees,
making them more likely defendants in injury
suits to recover damages.
•Contracts: Providing voluntary services to
another does not entitle you to compensation,
and similarly you cannot claim an implied con
tract when doing something for someone else.
•Legal Research and Writing: CRuPAC
method: Conclusion, Rule, Proof, Analysis,
Conclusion. This form of legal writing effec
tively communicates the relevant law.
•Lesson of the Day: Two people can read
the same thing in different ways, and both can
grow by sharing with one another what they
got from it.
Friday, Sept. 3
•Civil Procedure: Notice for Due Process.
14th Amendment requires that the state make
reasonable attempts to notify people about le
gal actions. Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank.
•Contracts: “Joke” defense. Signed agree
ments are enforceable by courts even if one
person took it as a joke while the other did not,
even if drinking was invoked in the bargaining.
•Property: Relative Hardship Doctrine. If
intrusion is minimal and cost of re
moval is great, a structure built on
another's property mistakenly may
demand compensation to the builder.
•Harvard Square: Beside the cam
pus is a city square with great local
food, cool hangout spots, and the
nearest public transportation stops.
•Lesson of the Day: Concepts of
justice older than our own, such as
those of the Navajo Nation, could
teach us important lessons.
WEEK 3
Monday, Sept. 6
•Labor Day: Labor Day was made official by
Grover Cleveland on June 28. 1894, but this
only applied to federal workers — states had
to make it a holiday themselves.
•Laundry: Living in the Gropius Complex
dorms leaves two options for laundry, both
in the basement, on machines that still take
quarters — and sometimes card, if the reader
works.
•Lesson of the Day: A proper blending of
work and leisure can allow you to be extreme
ly productive even on a day off.
Tuesday, Sept. 7
•Rosh Hashanah: The celebration represents
the beginning of Tishrei in the Jewish faith and
tradition and has extremely important religious
significance for its observers.
•Torts: Battery torts require only an intent
to contact someone else, not an intent to harm
them, so one can still be liable for injuries they
cause even if they did not think they would
happen.
•Hemenway Gym: Hemenway lies adjacent
to the HLS campus and functions as the gym
of the law students, though it is open to the
entire Harvard body.
•Lesson of the Day: Words in law can have
very different meanings depending on the sec
tion of law in which they are used.
Wednesday, Sept. 8
•Civil Procedure: Service of Process. There
are specific rules about how one should be giv
en notice that they are being sued, which could
stop a case before it starts.
•Contracts: Indefinite terms. Courts do not
like to enforce contracts that leave open neces
sary terms because they expect people to work
out details.
•OPIA: Office of Public Interest Advising.
HLS has an office devoted solely to providing
guidance to students interested in general and
specific public law.
•Lesson of the Day: Judges have to weigh
different legal theories when deciding cases,
especially when the theories disagree,
Thursday, Sept. 9
•Civil Procedure: Deprivation. Due Process
of 14th Amendment often requires hearings or
similar safeguards to take place before proper
ty is taken.
•Section Meeting: Guest speaker. A DC Cir
cuit judge spoke to our HLS section about their
career path and the importance of law clerking.
•Contracts: Consideration. Almost every
contract requires valid consideration to be en
forceable, and consideration is an exchange of
promises to do something.
•Legal Research and Writing: Analogizing.
Connecting facts to earlier cases through anal
ogies is an effective argument strategy for law
yers hoping to predict or persuade.
•Lesson of the Day: You can learn your
best lessons from classmates, colleagues and
co-workers through everyday conversations.
Friday, Sept. 10
•Civil Procedure: Preliminary injunctions.
Courts can make binding orders before the end
of a case if a claimant can demonstrate that
they are likely to win and need immediate ac
tion.
•Contracts: Inadequate vs. Nominal. Courts
have held inadequate consideration as legally
binding, but not nominal, which relates to ap
parent sincerity of a bargain.
•Bar Review: This HLS tradition involves
most of the law students gathering together
after class and sharing drinks, though it looks
different with the necessary safety restrictions.
•Lesson of the Day: Be careful of the words
you use, because one word can change the en
tire meaning of a statement.
ryan
miller
I just want us well
I'm excruciatingly tired of two
things right now: Covid and our polit
ical divide.
We are a nation with both literal and
figurative sickness — an actual virus
that has claimed hundreds of thousands
of lives and a partisan cultural break
down that is crippling us.
I just had Covid. Maybe I’ll see
some effects over time — I wouldn't
put anything past Covid; it’s a biolog
ical wildcard — but thankfully, it was
mild. I had the Pfizer vac
cine in the spring, and I had
a low-grade fever and some
pretty bad sinus pain for a
couple of days recently with
the virus. Then it passed. I
was so glad to have had the
shots, given the numerous
sad stories and struggles
I've heard about many who
avoided them.
I already sense the frown
from some, because just
talking about the vaccine
feels like every other cultur
al discussion these days, a Karl Wallen-
da tight rope walk over Tallulah Gorge
where many people are actually cheer
ing for you to fall. Is it just me, or is
2021 America living with one big itch
to take offense, everyone so ready to be
mad, as if getting justifiably furious is
the supreme goal in life and we're all
on the same highway to the big city of
Conniption Fit, population too high to
count? Yes, there are reasons to be an
gry. But being angry too often seems
like the end goal, not the fuel for mak
ing things better.
There is no “expert” on my resume
on any subject. And I certainly don't
know the mechanics of the vaccine. I
don't know the science of planes either,
but I still get on them when needed. If
I need medicine. I take it. I try to know
what I can about the possibilities, but
I don’t know everything — and never
will. I eat hot dogs. Lord knows what's
really in there.
We live in a world of collective
knowledge stacked on top of other
collective knowledge. None of us have
the full picture of all the innovation
that has had to happen for us to enjoy
our modem life, with its cars, bridges,
computers, dentistry, etc. Science and
human innovation surround us at ev
ery turn. The clothes you wear right
now have a multi-layered story behind
them, a fabric of agriculture, manufac
turing and distribution, each with their
own development over time. Just think
of how awesome ice cream is in terms
of human history. A large Dairy Queen
hot fudge sundae is $3.39 and a tasty
treat, though nothing we think much
about, but put that in Biblical times and
it would have seemed Biblical to the
taste buds, like an impossible cold gift
from heaven.
I guess what I’m getting at is this: we
are focused on the vaccine right now
because of our politics, not our science,
which achieved something truly worth
celebrating in response to this global
challenge. We tend to be selective in
what science we appreciate and what
science we hate, depending on our own
feelings about the world. That’s me,
too. I have all kinds of worries about
where technology is leading us.
But this vaccine fight, it's not about
the science at this point. I say this be
cause the science is holding up in the
hospitals. The people who have had the
vaccine aren't getting as sick as those
who haven’t gotten the shots. That's
just an indisputable fact. A new variant
could make the vaccines less effective.
That's hue, too, but the vaccine has
hugely reduced the risk of hospitaliza
tion and death from Covid. And these
vaccines already have saved many
lives. That’s a point that doesn’t get
made enough. We focus on many nega
tives, but there’s a huge positive: many
people haven’t gotten desperately sick
who might have otherwise without
the shots. I include myself in that, and
thankfully, I didn't have to live through
that alternate reality three weeks ago
where I’m Covid-positive and not vac
cinated. It might have been the same,
or it might have been much worse. I’m
thankful not to know.
Think about it: the chicken pox vac
cine is not political, neither is the polio
or tetanus shot. Small pox was a re
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curring scourge of human history. No
more, though. The politics surrounding
those vaccines didn’t tank the efforts.
I wonder, if a vaccine was developed
that eliminated or took the teeth out of
cancer, would we tear ourselves apart
politically to deny it, or would we line
up to get it? Would even a cure for can
cer collapse now in our political angst
and fractured realities?
We are certainly a nation in a collec
tive crisis regarding power. And in this
climate of vicious politics,
my body/my choice is a kind
of battle cry on both left and
right regarding bodily auton
omy. Abortion is a war about
life itself, and what value will
take precedence in our soci
ety. It’s fierce and emotional,
no matter your position. Vac
cines have now fallen into
the same kind of political
realm: Can the government
dictate what happens with
my body? That’s treacherous
territory politically on both
issues. And just as it’s hue that an abor
tion is not just a medical procedure, but
also a decision of yes or no on anoth
er life, that same argument goes in the
vaccine debate: remaining unvaccinat
ed is not just a decision about your own
body: your decision affects others. If
you doubt the science on this, then just
consider how many non-Covid medi
cal issues are getting pushed aside for
all the unvaccinated filling up the hos
pitals. It's never a good time to have a
heart attack, but man, it’s particularly
bad now.
I can't help but wonder, what if
Covid was a country, not a disease?
Say China attacked us and killed more
than 600.000 of us. That would be a
war of epic proportions. If the U.S.
government said, we need you to take
X action to help us defeat China, would
you? Basically, if China attacks us, is
the U.S. a “we” or a “me” nation? I
suppose Covid is different than this.
It certainly is visually, but I don’t see
much difference morally. Do you? If
so, I’d like to hear that explained.
I also think of the phrase, “we’re all
in the same boat,” which is pretty true
figuratively. But then I think about an
actual boat and rough water. What if
we’re in a real boat in troubled water?
We need to get to the other side. You're
rowing in the direction of safety, try
ing to push us through the danger. Is it
my right to row the opposite direction,
leaving us stranded in the middle of the
raging water? Hey, it's my body, my
paddle.
If you’re unvaccinated, I might have
ticked you off. But that wasn’t my aim.
During all this craziness, and all this
informational chaos, I can understand
all kinds of emotional reactions to our
weird, bad days. I also understand be
ing fiercely against being told what to
do. No one enjoys that. I don't either.
But unless Covid declares itself a
Republican or Democrat, we need to
treat Covid as a completely apolitical
problem. Because that's actually what
it is. And we have vaccines that help
humans, not just Democrats, not just
Republicans.
And maybe you can dismiss this as
me being political. Or maybe, you can
recognize that I just don’t like being
sick, I don't like seeing people sick,
and I don't like seeing my country so
sick. When we have remedies, I just
want us to take them. Forget praise or
blame, I just want us well. Do you?
Zach Mitcham is editor of The Mad
ison County Journal, a sister newspa
per of the Barrow News-Journal. He
can be reached at zach@mainstreet-
news.com.
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Winder. Barrow County. Ga.
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