Student lawyers act for students in RIAA case
p2pnet news | RIAA News:- A student law clinic is about to cause a revolution in the P2P filesharing war launched by Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG.
In what’s probably a world’s first, not lawyers, but student attorneys at the University of Maine School of Law’s Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic have themselves taken up the fight on behalf of fellow students.
Hannah Ames and Lisa Chmelecki from the Cumberland clinic are now officially representing two Maine students.
Ames and Chmelecki are being guided by clinic director and U of M assistant professor Deirdre Smith (right).
They’ve filed a reply to the US Supreme Court decision in Bell Atlantic v Twombly, and the subsequent California decision, Interscope v Rodriguez, which dismissed the RIAA’s “making available” complaint as mere “conclusory”, “boilerplate” “speculation”.
“The two students represented by Cumberland join eight others represented by a Portland law firm, bringing to 10 the number of University of Maine students moving to dismiss the RIAA’s case,” says Recording Industry vs The People.
This could be the true beginning of the end for the RIAA in its attempts to bring students to heel, turning them into compliant consumers of corporate product under threat of legal persecution and severe financial penalties no student can afford.
If other student from clinics not only in the US but around the world follow the examples of Ames and Chmelecki, the stage will be set for a series of confrontations and lightning strikes even the highly paid expert Big 4 legal teams won’t be able to handle.
Smith is on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court’s Advisory Committee on the Rules of Evidence, and governor John Baldacci’s Select Committee on Judicial Appointments.
She’s a former member of the Board of Directors of the Maine Bar Foundation and a founding board member of KIDS Legal.
Definitely stay tuned.
Also See:
Recording Industry vs The People -Student Attorneys Join Fight Against RIAA in Maine; Univ. of Maine law students submit reply brief in Arista v. Does 1-27, December 10, 2007
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December 22nd, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Good for them. This is exactly the kind of experience they will need, sadly.
December 22nd, 2007 at 3:27 pm
This is anther typically uninformed P2PNet ‘story’.
I will be very surprised if the university and Professor Smith are not censured.
December 22nd, 2007 at 3:45 pm
I’d guess the 2nd ‘Non-student’ post is from a different person than the first. That’s one trouble with not demanding that people register before they’re allowed to post.
Cheers!
December 22nd, 2007 at 3:47 pm
I put a link to this on a private list. One poster expressed similar reservations to ‘Non-student lawyer’ #2 (without the dig at p2pnet
).
Another responds:
ââThe students are from the Cumberland Clinic : http://mainelaw.maine.edu/cumberlandlegal.asp
âThe Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic (âCLACâ) is one of the nationâs oldest continuously-operating law school clinical programs. The ⦠CLAC provide[s] third-year law students the opportunity to provide direct representation to low-income clients in need of legal assistance – in other words, to practice law.
âThe âstudent attorneysâ are specially licensed by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court and the United States District Court to practice under the supervision of a fully licensed faculty member. While Clinic faculty provides instruction and supervision, the students are, in every respect, the lawyers for the Clinicâs clients. Students interview and counsel clients, develop case theory, conduct discovery, negotiate outcomes with opposing parties and counsel, prepare cases for court, and handle hearings, trials, and appeals.
âSo, I suspect the Maine Supreme Judicial Court is cool with this.
âNote, BTW, that both Maine and Virginia allow you to âread the lawâ (i.e., apprentice), but I am not sure if apprentices are allowed to practice any.â
Cheers!
December 29th, 2007 at 11:45 am
I would consider it proactive defense since the RIAA was going to sue 1/4 of the student population anyway. I would get the EFF’s help on this. They’ve been tearing up the RIAA/MPAA mafia for awhile now.
/rant mode 1
Have any of you ever thought of what our children will think of us? What do we think of people that lived during the dark ages? Only priests can read and write? Only patent/copyright owning corporations can read and write? Natural law doesn’t allow this. For those of you sucking off of a licensing fee to prove your worth, you had better find something more service oriented to do. You can’t fight gravity even if you were born in the clouds.
These gutsy students are just taking a taste from a much bigger salt-lick. This is the truth about copyright/patent/unenforceable law:
Information demands that it be replicated.
Information is secret.
Information is not secret.
If you understand those 3 absolutes above you will never be disappointed and you will always know the outcome.
If you need a clue, I’m afraid you’ll have to study Life aka Biology. Study your own DNA, or that of any life form in the universe. And so that’s all we are- Information. They used to call it the Word in the old days. But we don’t want to confuse the issue here.
/rant mode 0
Best of luck to you students. Understand that while the RIAA live in a temporary economic bubble, they can still hurt you- physically and financially. This is the entertainment industry, once run by the mafia. Now enforced by the ATF/FBI. Welcome to the hell your idiotic parents have created. Enjoy.
November 25th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
good for them I think that its great that students are sticking up for other students good for them
February 16th, 2009 at 11:37 am
nice post and very nice blog. I like it. Keep it up.