Previewing Blawg Review #23

David Gulbransen is blogging from an undisclosed location in London, England, where he's working on a secret project, and hanging out at the Brick Lane Festival this weekend, all the while gathering posts for Blawg Review on Preaching to the Perverted.

Dave claims to have had a normal childhood in a mid-sized Midwestern town. He went to college at Indiana University, and now, against his better judgement, he says, he's a law student in Chicago. How he manages that from London, England, perhaps we'll find out by reading his blog. Oh, he also has a full-time job doing something as a technology professional. Apparently, he never sleeps.

Anyway, it can't be easy for Dave, researching Blawg Review this week from a country that might not have a decent internet connection and probably even makes him pay for local telephone calls. Dave, who likes to write his name with an exclamation mark, might be cracking under the pressure.

You know you are cracking...

...when you dream about Civil Procedure.

I had a dream that I had died and I was being judged to determine if I would go to Heaven or Hell. It turns out, it's all about personal jurisdiction and choice of law.

In my dream, when you die, you go to a Court of the After Life, where each side files these special motions to try to wrestle jurisdiction over your soul. It all hinges on minimal contacts--of sorts--and "fair play and substantial justice". A balancing test, really.

If you have more good contacts with people, Heaven gets jurisdiction and can apply their law, which is relatively forgiving. If you have more bad contacts with people, you're in Hell's court, where the law is a little more strict constructionist.

Well, I lucked out and ended up in Heaven's Court (hey, it was my dream) and then went on to be Solicitor General for God.

*insert maniacal laughter here*

In the words of Dave's blog tagline "wise up, suckers" and take a few minutes to submit your best law-related post, or recommend a great post from another law blogger you'd like to see on Blawg Review.