A Mediocre Criminal, but an Unmatched Jailhouse Lawyer
By ADAM LIPTAK
Published: February 8, 2010
Shon R. Hopwood was not a particularly sophisticated bank robber.
“We would walk into a bank with firearms, tell people to get down, take the money and run,” he said the other day, recalling five robberies in rural Nebraska in 1997 and 1998 that yielded some $200,000 and more than a decade in federal prison.
Mr. Hopwood spent much of that time in the prison law library, and it turned out he was better at understanding the law than breaking it. He transformed himself into something rare at the top levels of the American bar, and unheard of behind bars: an accomplished Supreme Court practitioner.
He prepared his first petition for certiorari — a request that the Supreme Court hear a case — for a fellow inmate on a prison typewriter in 2002. Since Mr. Hopwood was not a lawyer, the only name on the brief was that of the other prisoner, John Fellers.
The court received 7,209 petitions that year from prisoners and others too poor to pay the filing fee, and it agreed to hear just eight of them. One was Fellers v. United States.
“It was probably one of the best cert. petitions I have ever read,” said Seth P. Waxman, a former United States solicitor general who has argued more than 50 cases in the Supreme Court. “It was just terrific.”
Mr. Waxman agreed to take the case on without payment. But he had one condition.
“I will represent you,” Mr. Waxman recalled telling Mr. Fellers, “if we can get this guy Shon Hopwood involved.”
Mr. Fellers said sure. “It made me feel good that we had Shon there to quarterback it,” he said.
The former solicitor general showed the bank robber drafts of his briefs. The two men consulted about how to frame the arguments, discussed strategy and tried to anticipate questions from the justices.
The case was about whether the police had crossed constitutional lines in questioning Mr. Fellers, who had been convicted of a drug conspiracy. Mr. Hopwood said he thought persuading Justice Sandra Day O’Connor would be crucial.
In January 2004, Mr. Waxman called Mr. Hopwood at the federal prison in Pekin, Ill. They had won a 9-to-0 victory. Justice O’Connor wrote the opinion.
The case took some more turns in the lower courts, but in the end Mr. Fellers’s sentence was reduced by four years.
No one was hurt in Mr. Hopwood’s bank robberies, but he and his accomplices “scared the hell out of the poor bank tellers,” Judge Richard G. Kopf of Federal District Court in Lincoln, Neb., said in sentencing him to prison in 1999.
The judge was skeptical about Mr. Hopwood’s vow that he would change. “We’ll know in about 13 years if you mean what you say,” Judge Kopf said.
The law library changed Mr. Hopwood’s life.
“I kind of flourished there,” he said. “I didn’t want prison to be my destiny. When your life gets tipped over and spilled out, you have to make some changes.”
He was a quick study, but he had a lot to learn.
“In 2000,” he said, “I couldn’t have named a right in the Bill of Rights.”
By 2005, the Supreme Court had granted a second petition prepared by Mr. Hopwood, vacating a lower court decision and sending the case back for a fresh look. Mr. Hopwood has also helped inmates from Indiana, Michigan and Nebraska get sentence reductions of 3 to 10 years from lower courts.
Mr. Hopwood was released from prison in the fall of 2008. Mr. Fellers was out by then, and he owned a thriving car dealership in Lincoln.
“Here,” Mr. Fellers said, presenting his jailhouse lawyer with a 1989 Mercedes in pristine condition. “Thank you for getting me back to my daughter.”
Mr. Hopwood now works for a leading printer of Supreme Court briefs, Cockle Printing in Omaha.
“What a perfect fit for me,” he said. “I basically get to help attorneys get their briefs polished and perfected.”
His boss at Cockle, Trish Billotte, said she had some misgivings about hiring Mr. Hopwood. It was hard to believe his story, for starters, and it struck her as curious that an aspiring paralegal was driving around in a Mercedes.
But she called Mr. Hopwood’s references, including the former solicitor general. “You don’t get through to Seth Waxman,” Ms. Billotte said. But she did, and Mr. Waxman confirmed the facts and offered his endorsement.
“We did take a risk, but we have no second thoughts,” Ms. Billotte said. “Zero regrets.”
Mr. Hopwood, who is 34, said he hoped to apply to law school next year. Richard Friedman, a law professor at the University of Michigan who worked with Mr. Hopwood on the briefs for a recent Supreme Court case, said that he had already talked to the admissions office there about saving a spot.
Mr. Hopwood’s personal life is looking up, too. He married in August, and he and his wife had a son on Christmas Day.
Mr. Hopwood takes nothing lightly, Professor Friedman said.
“His gratitude for the quality of his life,” the professor said, “is that of someone who has come back from a near-death experience.”
Mr. Hopwood continues to work on Supreme Court petitions. The latest one was filed in December, for a prisoner in Virginia who said his Miranda rights had been violated.
Last month, the solicitor general’s office, led by Elena Kagan, a former dean of the Harvard Law School, asked for and received an extra month to try to rebut the arguments of the paralegal from Omaha.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/us/09bar.html
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
Westlaw Changes
Westlaw Changes
Changes from Westlaw
Westlaw is moving away from the use of lengthy, alphanumeric passwords that don't require user names, to the new "OnePass" system of custom user names and passwords. A timeline for this transition is available at http://lawschool.westlaw.com/shared/marketinfodisplay.asp?code=MI&id=327.
Alphanumeric Westlaw passwords will no longer be active after June 1, 2010. If you now log in to Westlaw with your Westlaw password, please create a OnePass username and password or update your exisiting OnePass accounts prior to May 31, 2010.
Changes from Westlaw
Westlaw is moving away from the use of lengthy, alphanumeric passwords that don't require user names, to the new "OnePass" system of custom user names and passwords. A timeline for this transition is available at http://lawschool.westlaw.com/shared/marketinfodisplay.asp?code=MI&id=327.
Alphanumeric Westlaw passwords will no longer be active after June 1, 2010. If you now log in to Westlaw with your Westlaw password, please create a OnePass username and password or update your exisiting OnePass accounts prior to May 31, 2010.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
CaseMaker Series
NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF LAW LIBRARY
ELECTRONIC RESOURCES SERIES
“ALTERNATIVES TO LEXISNEXIS AND WESTLAW”
LEARN ABOUT CASEMAKER 2.1 AS A COST EFFECTIVE DATABASE.
DO YOU PLAN ON OPENING YOUR OWN LAW FIRM?
DO YOU PLAN ON BEING A MEMBER OF THE N.C. BAR ASSOCIATION?
COME LEARN HOW YOU CAN GET CASEMAKER FOR FREE!
Sign up for a session today at the reference desk.
JANUARY 25, 2010
2:00-2:50 P.M. (Room 202)
3:00-3:50 P.M. (Room 202)
5:15-6:05 P.M. (Room 100)
SCHOOL OF LAW LIBRARY
ELECTRONIC RESOURCES SERIES
“ALTERNATIVES TO LEXISNEXIS AND WESTLAW”
LEARN ABOUT CASEMAKER 2.1 AS A COST EFFECTIVE DATABASE.
DO YOU PLAN ON OPENING YOUR OWN LAW FIRM?
DO YOU PLAN ON BEING A MEMBER OF THE N.C. BAR ASSOCIATION?
COME LEARN HOW YOU CAN GET CASEMAKER FOR FREE!
Sign up for a session today at the reference desk.
JANUARY 25, 2010
2:00-2:50 P.M. (Room 202)
3:00-3:50 P.M. (Room 202)
5:15-6:05 P.M. (Room 100)
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Thomas Adds New Features
Several changes have been made to THOMAS for the second session of the 111th Congress. These changes are described below.
Bookmarking and Sharing Widget
This new toolbar, found near the top of most THOMAS pages, allows users to save or share a permanent link via bookmarks, email, or social networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook. The toolbar also includes quick links to subscribe to THOMAS Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds and to print.
Top Five Bills
The five most-searched-for bills from the past week are listed in the center box on the right side of the homepage. Hover the mouse over a bill number to display the title of the bill. Click on the bill number to view the Bill Summary and Status page for the selected bill.
New RSS feed: Bills Presented to the President
This new RSS feed lists bills that have passed both the House and Senate and have been sent to the White House for the President's signature. If no bills are currently awaiting signature, a list of all bills signed into law thus far during the current Congress is displayed.
To see a complete list of RSS feeds and email updates available through the Library of Congress, please visit Library of Congress RSS Feeds and Email Subscriptions. The Law Library feeds are listed under "Topics."
Contacting Members of Congress
It's now easier to contact your Members of Congress. A link to tips about how to contact your Representative or Senator is included on the THOMAS homepage.
Tip of the Week
Each week, a new tip about using THOMAS is displayed on the right-hand side of the THOMAS homepage, below the “Top Five” list. Each tip contains a link to in-depth information on the covered topic.
Bill Text PDFs
To increase visibility and accessibility of the Portable Document Format (PDF) versions of bill text, we have added PDF links on the bill version listing page. Click on these links to view the official Government Printing Office (GPO) PDF for a specific version of a bill.
Increased Timeout Interval
Search results within THOMAS are displayed on temporary pages. In response to your feedback, we have increased the timeout interval for these pages from 5 minutes to 30 minutes.
Bookmarking and Sharing Widget
This new toolbar, found near the top of most THOMAS pages, allows users to save or share a permanent link via bookmarks, email, or social networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook. The toolbar also includes quick links to subscribe to THOMAS Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds and to print.
Top Five Bills
The five most-searched-for bills from the past week are listed in the center box on the right side of the homepage. Hover the mouse over a bill number to display the title of the bill. Click on the bill number to view the Bill Summary and Status page for the selected bill.
New RSS feed: Bills Presented to the President
This new RSS feed lists bills that have passed both the House and Senate and have been sent to the White House for the President's signature. If no bills are currently awaiting signature, a list of all bills signed into law thus far during the current Congress is displayed.
To see a complete list of RSS feeds and email updates available through the Library of Congress, please visit Library of Congress RSS Feeds and Email Subscriptions. The Law Library feeds are listed under "Topics."
Contacting Members of Congress
It's now easier to contact your Members of Congress. A link to tips about how to contact your Representative or Senator is included on the THOMAS homepage.
Tip of the Week
Each week, a new tip about using THOMAS is displayed on the right-hand side of the THOMAS homepage, below the “Top Five” list. Each tip contains a link to in-depth information on the covered topic.
Bill Text PDFs
To increase visibility and accessibility of the Portable Document Format (PDF) versions of bill text, we have added PDF links on the bill version listing page. Click on these links to view the official Government Printing Office (GPO) PDF for a specific version of a bill.
Increased Timeout Interval
Search results within THOMAS are displayed on temporary pages. In response to your feedback, we have increased the timeout interval for these pages from 5 minutes to 30 minutes.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Library Hours During the Holidays and Winter Break
Happy Holidays!
The law library will be closed December 24-31, 2009 in observance of the Christmas Holiday. The law library will be closed January 1, 2009 in observance of the New Year's Holiday. The law library will reopen January 4th at 8:00 a.m.
The law library will be closed December 24-31, 2009 in observance of the Christmas Holiday. The law library will be closed January 1, 2009 in observance of the New Year's Holiday. The law library will reopen January 4th at 8:00 a.m.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Winter Reading List
As you relax during your holiday break, the law school library has compiled a reading list for your reading pleasure. We hope that you enjoy the following titles.
• A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
• A History of American Law by Laurence M. Friedman
• An American Primer by Daniel J. Boorstin, ed.
• And We Are Not Saved by D. Bell
• Bleak House by Charles Dickens
• Crisis of the House Divided by Harry V. Jaffa
• Death of a Contract by G. Gilmore
• Dream Makers, Dream Breakers: The World of Justice Thurgood Marshall by
Carl T. Rowan
• Gideon’s Trumpet by Anthony Lewis
• Heracles’ Bow: Essays on the Rhetoric and Poetics of Law by J.B. White
• Law’s Empire by Ronald Dworkin
• The Paper Chase by John J. Osborn, Jr.
• The Politics of Law by David Kairys
• The Story of My Life by Clarence Darrow
• Vindicating the Founders by Thomas G. West
• Women in Law by Cynthia Epstein
• Women Lawyers: Rewriting the Rules by Mona Harrington
• A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
• A History of American Law by Laurence M. Friedman
• An American Primer by Daniel J. Boorstin, ed.
• And We Are Not Saved by D. Bell
• Bleak House by Charles Dickens
• Crisis of the House Divided by Harry V. Jaffa
• Death of a Contract by G. Gilmore
• Dream Makers, Dream Breakers: The World of Justice Thurgood Marshall by
Carl T. Rowan
• Gideon’s Trumpet by Anthony Lewis
• Heracles’ Bow: Essays on the Rhetoric and Poetics of Law by J.B. White
• Law’s Empire by Ronald Dworkin
• The Paper Chase by John J. Osborn, Jr.
• The Politics of Law by David Kairys
• The Story of My Life by Clarence Darrow
• Vindicating the Founders by Thomas G. West
• Women in Law by Cynthia Epstein
• Women Lawyers: Rewriting the Rules by Mona Harrington
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Exams Tips
For those of you with closed book law school exams coming up, here are a few exam prep strategies that you might find useful: (1) assess course expectations, (2) organize, memorize and master the course material, (3) practice, practice, practice, (4) rest your brain, and (5) take the exam with confidence.
1. Assess course expectations
Before you begin studying for any law school exam, gather as much information as you can about the exam and the professor’s expectations.
• Ask the professor. Some professors are candid about the exam format and their expectations of students, while other professors hide the ball. If your professor is not forthcoming, I recommend that you ask. And it is best to do this during class so that your professor does not think that you are trying to get an unfair advantage over other students.
• Consult old exams. Find out if your professor has old exams on file and review them.
• Find students who have taken the exam and ask them about it. Mentors are particularly helpful here.
• Determine whether other students in your class have intel they could share.
Information is powerful in law school. Get and stay in the loop. In my experience, it is also helpful to share the information you learn with your fellow students. This may seem counterintuitive given that your classmates are technically your competition, but they are also your friends and support system, not to mention your future colleagues, clients, and professional network. Your professional reputation as a lawyer begins in law school. Cultivate your professional reputation as ethical and collaborative. Share information and support your fellow law students.
2. Organize, memorize and master the course material
After you gather as much information as possible about exam expectations, it is time to study. Successful preparation for a closed book law school exam requires that you organize, memorize and master the material. These are three very different though equally important tasks.
• Organize the course material
Look at the syllabus and the textbook and create a skeleton outline of the major concepts covered in the course. Flesh out each concept by adding what you learned from class readings and lecture. Do not worry about formatting, grammar or editing, just fill it out. Cut and paste from your lecture notes and case briefs. You will end with a long document saturated with information. Print this document.
Set the printed document by your computer and open a new document. Synthesize the concepts in your mega-document by rewriting them in your new document. Be judicious with your words. Rewrite all the important concepts in the document. Print this document.
Do it again. Do this over and again until you end up with the shortest possible document that you can create. As a visual learner, I found diagrams useful here. You may also like acronyms.
• Memorize the course material
Now, see if you can recreate the short outline from memory. Practice until you can do it quickly and with ease. When you walk into the exam you should be prepared to quickly recreate the basic outline on a piece of scratch paper.
For a “kitchen-sink” exam, the outline will operate as a check-list. For other exams, it will serve as a menu of potential issues. If you freeze or panic during the exam, having the outline scrawled out can help you refocus.
• Master the course material
Once you have the basic concepts organized and committed to memory, it is time to master the concepts. Too many law students overlook this essential step. It is not enough to know the buzz words, the tests and the factors.
Visualize what will happen when you sit down to take the exam. You will read fact patterns, spot issues, and provide rigorous analysis. You cannot do this well unless you are fluent in the concepts.
To gain fluency, you need to practice explaining the concepts. Define the concept and then explain why it matters and where it fits in the taxonomy of the course. Try explaining the concepts verbally first. Do this several times. Explain the concepts to your study group, your dog, your mother, the mirror. Each time you explain a concept try to use fewer words. Be frugal. Go for pith.
Now, try to explain the concepts in writing. This is a good study group activity, but you can do it on your own, as well. Do this over and over again until you can explain each concept with ease. On an exam, you will have to apply these concepts to fact patterns. And while there is only so much that you can do to prepare for fact patterns, you can be prepared to explain the concepts. That way, when you apply the concepts to fact patterns during the exam you will not have to spend precious time and brain power determining how to explain a concept.
3. Practice, practice, practice
Once you have organized, memorized and mastered the concepts, it is time to practice, practice, practice. Find a way to practice applying course material to fact patterns. The best way to do this it to take practice exams.
In an ideal world, each professor would offer a full-length practice exam involving one of his or her old exams. If not, get resourceful and be creative. Practice is essential. Find a sample exam online if necessary.
If time permits, do what you can to simulate the exam experience. Find a practice exam, sit in an empty classroom and take it under the same time constraints that you will face during the real exam. It is reassuring to know that you can complete the entire exam in the allotted time. Even though it is a big time commitment, I think exam simulation is well worth it. This is a great study group activity.
4. Rest your brain
Once you’ve done what you can to prepare, it is time to rest your brain. Allow your brain time to rest before the exam. If it is a morning exam, stop studying by dinner time the night before. If it is an afternoon exam, take the morning off and go out to brunch. Spend this time getting focused. Get your mind ready.
5. Take the exam with confidence
To succeed, you need to be confident, calm and focused during the exam.
Spend the hour before the exam doing whatever will get you mentally prepared to feel confident and calm when you walk into the exam room. For closed book exams, I would spend this time making sure that I could recreate my rough outline from memory.
When the exam starts, I recommend sketching out your rough outline first. I always did this before even reading the exam.
Then, read the exam and outline your answer. This is key: take the time to outline your answer. If you hear other students typing out answers while you are still outlining, ignore them. Stay calm and keep outlining. Remember that good answers are organized and comprehensive. Spend the time necessary to get organized and find all the issues.
Budget your time. You do not want to run out of time and get full points on the early questions and zero on the last question. Plan to finish early enough to review your answers.
If you panic during the exam, get up and leave the room. Take a minute to refocus. Then return to the room.
After the exam
After each exam during law school, I went to a movie. This allowed my mind to unwind. Have a plan for what you will do after each exam–particularly if you have other exams to prepare for in the coming days. You will be fried when you leave the exam room, have a plan for what you will do. If you do not have a plan, odds are good that you will end up congregating students who just finished the exam and you will all end up rehashing the test. Do not do this–nothing good can come of it.
Author: Nena Street
1. Assess course expectations
Before you begin studying for any law school exam, gather as much information as you can about the exam and the professor’s expectations.
• Ask the professor. Some professors are candid about the exam format and their expectations of students, while other professors hide the ball. If your professor is not forthcoming, I recommend that you ask. And it is best to do this during class so that your professor does not think that you are trying to get an unfair advantage over other students.
• Consult old exams. Find out if your professor has old exams on file and review them.
• Find students who have taken the exam and ask them about it. Mentors are particularly helpful here.
• Determine whether other students in your class have intel they could share.
Information is powerful in law school. Get and stay in the loop. In my experience, it is also helpful to share the information you learn with your fellow students. This may seem counterintuitive given that your classmates are technically your competition, but they are also your friends and support system, not to mention your future colleagues, clients, and professional network. Your professional reputation as a lawyer begins in law school. Cultivate your professional reputation as ethical and collaborative. Share information and support your fellow law students.
2. Organize, memorize and master the course material
After you gather as much information as possible about exam expectations, it is time to study. Successful preparation for a closed book law school exam requires that you organize, memorize and master the material. These are three very different though equally important tasks.
• Organize the course material
Look at the syllabus and the textbook and create a skeleton outline of the major concepts covered in the course. Flesh out each concept by adding what you learned from class readings and lecture. Do not worry about formatting, grammar or editing, just fill it out. Cut and paste from your lecture notes and case briefs. You will end with a long document saturated with information. Print this document.
Set the printed document by your computer and open a new document. Synthesize the concepts in your mega-document by rewriting them in your new document. Be judicious with your words. Rewrite all the important concepts in the document. Print this document.
Do it again. Do this over and again until you end up with the shortest possible document that you can create. As a visual learner, I found diagrams useful here. You may also like acronyms.
• Memorize the course material
Now, see if you can recreate the short outline from memory. Practice until you can do it quickly and with ease. When you walk into the exam you should be prepared to quickly recreate the basic outline on a piece of scratch paper.
For a “kitchen-sink” exam, the outline will operate as a check-list. For other exams, it will serve as a menu of potential issues. If you freeze or panic during the exam, having the outline scrawled out can help you refocus.
• Master the course material
Once you have the basic concepts organized and committed to memory, it is time to master the concepts. Too many law students overlook this essential step. It is not enough to know the buzz words, the tests and the factors.
Visualize what will happen when you sit down to take the exam. You will read fact patterns, spot issues, and provide rigorous analysis. You cannot do this well unless you are fluent in the concepts.
To gain fluency, you need to practice explaining the concepts. Define the concept and then explain why it matters and where it fits in the taxonomy of the course. Try explaining the concepts verbally first. Do this several times. Explain the concepts to your study group, your dog, your mother, the mirror. Each time you explain a concept try to use fewer words. Be frugal. Go for pith.
Now, try to explain the concepts in writing. This is a good study group activity, but you can do it on your own, as well. Do this over and over again until you can explain each concept with ease. On an exam, you will have to apply these concepts to fact patterns. And while there is only so much that you can do to prepare for fact patterns, you can be prepared to explain the concepts. That way, when you apply the concepts to fact patterns during the exam you will not have to spend precious time and brain power determining how to explain a concept.
3. Practice, practice, practice
Once you have organized, memorized and mastered the concepts, it is time to practice, practice, practice. Find a way to practice applying course material to fact patterns. The best way to do this it to take practice exams.
In an ideal world, each professor would offer a full-length practice exam involving one of his or her old exams. If not, get resourceful and be creative. Practice is essential. Find a sample exam online if necessary.
If time permits, do what you can to simulate the exam experience. Find a practice exam, sit in an empty classroom and take it under the same time constraints that you will face during the real exam. It is reassuring to know that you can complete the entire exam in the allotted time. Even though it is a big time commitment, I think exam simulation is well worth it. This is a great study group activity.
4. Rest your brain
Once you’ve done what you can to prepare, it is time to rest your brain. Allow your brain time to rest before the exam. If it is a morning exam, stop studying by dinner time the night before. If it is an afternoon exam, take the morning off and go out to brunch. Spend this time getting focused. Get your mind ready.
5. Take the exam with confidence
To succeed, you need to be confident, calm and focused during the exam.
Spend the hour before the exam doing whatever will get you mentally prepared to feel confident and calm when you walk into the exam room. For closed book exams, I would spend this time making sure that I could recreate my rough outline from memory.
When the exam starts, I recommend sketching out your rough outline first. I always did this before even reading the exam.
Then, read the exam and outline your answer. This is key: take the time to outline your answer. If you hear other students typing out answers while you are still outlining, ignore them. Stay calm and keep outlining. Remember that good answers are organized and comprehensive. Spend the time necessary to get organized and find all the issues.
Budget your time. You do not want to run out of time and get full points on the early questions and zero on the last question. Plan to finish early enough to review your answers.
If you panic during the exam, get up and leave the room. Take a minute to refocus. Then return to the room.
After the exam
After each exam during law school, I went to a movie. This allowed my mind to unwind. Have a plan for what you will do after each exam–particularly if you have other exams to prepare for in the coming days. You will be fried when you leave the exam room, have a plan for what you will do. If you do not have a plan, odds are good that you will end up congregating students who just finished the exam and you will all end up rehashing the test. Do not do this–nothing good can come of it.
Author: Nena Street
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)