Previewing Blawg Review #16

Objective Justice is the creation of a freshly-minted economist on the way to his first year of law school. Sean Sirrine's belief that there is some objective measure of justice to be found in the law has led him to open up his blawg to posts from all law students, law professors and lawyers.

The self-described goal of Objective Justice is to aggregate thinking from as many points of view as humanly possible into one forum.

My intention is to create a resource for law students and the public to analyze issues that are socially divisive. Over time, this blawg will become a learning tool for discussion of law school issues with the help of our readers. This forum is friendly to those of any ideology, and I appreciate any comments, arguments or pointers that come my way.

Asked why he would do something that is so contrary to the general format of other blawgs he replies, "This is going to be the next generation of blawgs, a blawg that teaches law students to think outside the preference of their respective schools".

Sean's background in economics has led him to believe that "the marketplace of ideas" is a real and tangible thing that can be put to use in the legal education of his peers. "Sometimes you read a post from a professor and think damn, that guy has to be the smartest person in law, then the next day he says something so ridiculous that it makes you want to cry," he says.

That is his whole rationale for allowing any and all comers on his blawg. "Hopefully as law students, we can get at the 'right answer' if we're not forced to regurgitate the biases of those professors or lawyers that we have daily contact with." The blawg is taking shape slowly, but as Sean is quick to remind me, he has three full years of law school to "perfect" this new legal forum.

Sirrine naively plans to post every brief, outline and analysis that he writes when school starts up in September. "I view this forum as a chance to show off my growth as I progress from a snot-nosed layman into a full-blown lawyer," says Sean. From his perspective, it is better to get "beat-up" in a public forum and learn from his mistakes, rather than walk into a courtroom and look like a fool. "There's nothing better than learning from your own mistakes", he contends, "someday I may look back and wonder what I was thinking when I wrote some of my posts, but I'll never have to wonder if I gave my legal education the respect that it deserves."

Objective Justice is read by deep thinkers at The Volokh Conspiracy, and Sean Sirrine's often cited on other blawgs, so Blawg Review #16 will undoubtedly be a great roundup for a wider audience.