Conversations & Law Firms

With international students come international conversations, both in and out of the classroom. Over lunch yesterday, a few of us were having a discussion about citizenship in Germany. Professor Carroll remarked how unless you had family hertiage in Germany, the fact that you were born here doesn't make you a citizen as in the United States. Two students from Turkey remarked how this is the same in their country, and generally is throughout Europe. As a new country the United States wanted to grow and welcomed a law of citizenship by birthright. Even today, as the issue of U.S. immigration falls under great criticism, this rule of law remains. I don't know how many people know about Europe's immigration policy, that some may say is stricter than the U.S. Oh so many years ago, when I researched a permanent move to Belgium, I faced many obsticles without a work visa. And the work visa was impossible to obtain.

Later that same day, I was chatting with an international student about the structure of our Software Contracts class. This student is particularly inquisitive in class. Debating and questioning everything in a way that I have never seen done in the United States. He mentioned that it is very difficult for him to understand how the professors can end a class with the answer to all of the questions as "it depends." I explained that "it depends" : ). But really, it does in a common law system, where one decision doesn't always follow the one before. Each side of the argument is (well most of the time anyway) given a fair shot. He explained that in the civil law system, where there is a statute for nearly everything, there is (or should be) an answer. People know what crimes they are committing and what their punishments are, and never ever would a professor leave a question so openended and unanswered. There are points to both sides.

Last night we had a reception at Bird & Bird, an international general practice law firm that has a renowned IP reputation. I knwo this to be true, as I was able to work with paralegals and attorneys from their Hong Kong and London offices on a project for a mutual client in South Carolina. I still remember their dissapproving faces when my boss offered up Hooters as a suitable place to have a business dinner. Sorry, side bar. The food was great (at Bird & Bird, not Hooters : ) ), and the attorneys were very friendly and informative. As the American J.D. students will most likely not be practicing Bird & Bird attorneys, the firm was more interested in meeting the local L.L.M. students as possible new hires. Either way, I collected a couple of business cards and know I will be seeing their name in the future, if not working with them as foreign counsel for IP protection abroad.

But, more commentary on great food!! A group of us (above from L to R, Richard, Trent, Brian, Chris, Amy, Andrea, Denise, James, CJ & Pinky) went out to an amazing Italian restaurant, and to a bar in the University district for a few drinks.

My dinner at the Italian restaurant: tortellini (filled with veal, I think?) in cream sauce with ham. Yummy! And of course, you can't forget the accompanying beer!

This is my beer (a Wiessebier) at the Paulaner restaurant. I had some yummy sausages and mashed potatoes with it. This was a casual dinner that followed class and a trip to the Hofgarten to have a beer. It was a nice day for once so we had to take advantage of the sunshine, and what better way than to sit outside and have a few beers. By the way, this is a baby 1/2 liter beer. Liters are really the way to drink around here.

We were all meeting at the school before we headed over to BMW last weekend. I got there a little early, so snapped this shot of the sign. We don't have classes in this building, but most of the student lockers are here as well as a study room. The study room is always a bit crowded and noisy. I've moved to the library to get any reading done.

Here we all are at BMW. We are just milling around in the lobby before the tour starts. This was an amazing building, very modern. More BMW to come... stay tuned...