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Dude Gets Law Review Cite as a Tattoo. We Have Other Ideas.

By William Peacock, Esq. on August 21, 2014 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

This is fun: Above the Law just ran a caption contest on a photo of some dude's (or very hairy lady's) leg, which is now adorned with a tattoo of a law review citation: 11 Ohio St. J. Crim. L. 827 (2014).

We (read: I) have nothing better to do with our lives, so we dug up the article, the author, and then wondered what other terrible law-related things people could get tatted on their bodies. Because, you know, nothing says "legal professional" like a citation, or a scale, or Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's portrait in the form of a tramp stamp.

Whose Leg Is It Anyway?

We did a little sleuthing and started typing the citation into Google. Apparently we weren't the first -- Google immediately auto-filled the cite, which, according to the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law's website, matches "Slaying the Synthetic Hydra: Drafting a Controlled Substances Act that Effectively Captures Synthetic Drugs," an article by Hari K. Sathappan, the Editor-in-Chief of OSJCL.

We can't imagine anyone else getting Sathappan's citation tatted on their leg -- this has to be his tat, right? Also, congrats to Mr. Sathappan -- he just wrote the most read law review article in the history of Moritz College of Law (we're guessing).

Let's Think of Other Terrible Ideas

We've done this before. Last year, when I stumbled upon a trend of getting employers' tattoos on one's body, we came up with a ton of terrible ideas, including honoring your alma mater with a law school logo tattoo or having your BigLaw affiliation branded on your back. (Might want to wait until you make partner -- it'll be awkward if you make a lateral move.)

Would I ever get "FindLaw" tatted on my butt cheek? No way in hell. But I might consider my law school's badass trident logo, if only I weren't so bitter about a mountain of student loan debt that I'll never pay off. (This goes for you too, UC Davis -- Gunrock won't make an appearance on my guns until my debt is retired.)

A Pledge

Last year, I pledged that were I to ever get a Supreme Court clerkship, I would get that justice's face tatted on my chest. Here is this year's variant: If any of The Nine accepts the Ice Bucket Challenge within the next 30 days, I'll do the same -- his or her face, branded on my bosom. (Pectoral. Whatever.) And I'll dump a bucket of ice on my head.

The gauntlet is thrown down. Bring it SCOTUS.

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