Pushkin.

Not long ago, I had a dinner party at my house.

My friend Michael Ryan came.

He's a lawyer.

And I was talking to him about my love of law review articles, which is genuine, by

the way.

Here's a profession trained to find meaning in the particular in the arcane, to make the

implausible plausible, to defend the indefensible.

I mean, how are those not the perfect ingredients for a good read?

Plus, law review articles have epic footnotes.

Scores are settled.

Settle loyalty jokes are made.

And the really outrageous arguments are slipped in just for the benefit of the reader who wants

to wait in to note 136 on page 87.

I go on like this until Michael Ryan kind of rolls his eyes.

Because that's what lawyers do.

I never know whether it's modesty or self-hatred.

But as you can imagine, I persist.

And finally, Michael says, well, you're right.

There are moments of genius in law review articles.

Let me send you two of my favorites.

The next morning, in my inbox, is an email from Michael Ryan with two attachments.

...