Meet Eugene Volokh, Blogging Law Prof Who Likes Glocks & Gunners
Born in the USSR, Eugene Volokh might years ago have seemed an unlikely guide to certain portions of the legal universe, as far as American lawyers and law students are concerned.
But that’s what he is. A tech-savvy law professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, he is the founder of the popular Volokh Conspiracy blog. Some of the blog’s recent posts include not only a discussion of a gun-rights case but the suddenly much-in-the-news word orthogonal. (“Orthogonal, ooh!” Justice Antonin Scalia exclaimed during a U.S. Supreme Court argument on Monday.)
A firearms regulations expert who not only teaches a course on the topic but has offered, through the school’s Public Interest Law Foundation auction, to host a trip to a local shooting range for a hands-on experience, Volokh tells Bitter Lawyer in a recent interview that Glocks are some of his favorite guns.
And he also likes gunners, the law prof says, suggesting that those who object to eager-beaver law students seemingly dominating in-class discussions consider the issue from his point of view.
All too often, the prof asks a question only to be met with a wall of silence, he tells Bitter Lawyer. Eventually, someone raises a hand and “You feel some respect even if the answer is wrong since the person was brave enough to try; you feel even more if the answer is right.”
Although other students complain if a classmate raises his or her hand too frequently, he has to wonder if the silent ones aren’t doing their reading, Volokh says. Or, worse, they know the answer, but opt to “free-ride” on the efforts of their more voluble fellow students.
Hat tip: Wall Street Journal Law Blog.
