Law School

The keystone state

Posted on January 07, 2008
In electoral terms, at least, America's keystone state isn't Pennsylvania. It's South Carolina. Scarcely anyone becomes President who doesn't win here. Ask John McCain.It has been a while since I've commented on South Carolina's bar exam scandal. PBS's documentary, Dirty Politics 2008, depicts South Carolina politics in the heat of presidential battle:

From AALS in NY

Posted on January 05, 2008
Proof that law professors were once law students:They can't sit still for an entire 90 minutes. They must get up for water, a bathroom break, to stretch their legs, or because they suddenly remember a pressing engagement elsewhere.If there are seats in the back of the room, they will sit in the back of the room...

Blowouts

Posted on January 02, 2008
Blowouts!The BCS is supposed to deliver college football's five finest postseason games and to resolve, beyond reasonable dispute, the question of the sport's best team. Its first two games advanced neither goal.Southern California 49, Illinois 17.Georgia 41, Hawaii 10...

Happy Law Professors and the Matrix

Posted on January 01, 2008
I have followed the law professor unhappiness posts hoping to find some empirical evidence that it is true or not true. So far no luck and I think most seem quite happy. In fact, even though I am oft times unhappy, it is not for any of the three reasons Paul lists...

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Why Are Law Professors So Unhappy? -- Part Three

Posted on December 31, 2007
My post last Friday on Why Are Law Professors So Unhappy? -- Part Two has attracted a lot of commentary in the law prof blogosphere:Stephen Bainbridge (UCLA), Are Law Professors Unhappy? And, If So, Why? (Business Associations Blog)Peter Black (Queensland), Are Legal Academics Miserable? (Peter Black's Freedom to Differ)Eric Fink (Elon), Taking Stock, and Finding a Bull Market (Debris)Dave Hoffman (Temple), Bainbridge on Law Professor Well-Being (Concurring Opinions)Brian Leiter (Texas): Are Law Professors Unhappy? (Leiter's Law School Reports)Glenn Reynolds (Tennessee), Are Law Professors Unhappy? Not This One! (InstaPundit)Tom Smith (San Diego), Why Are Law Professors (and Everybody Else) Unhappy? (The Right Coast)Ilya Somin (George Mason), Are Law Professors Miserable, and If So Why? (The Volokh Conspiracy)Ilya Somin (George Mason), Some Evidence on Law Professors' Relative Job Satisfaction (The Volokh Conspiracy)Much of the commentary argues that law professors have a great job and that most are happy with their jobs...

Why Are Law Professors So Unhappy? -- Part Two

Posted on December 28, 2007
I previously blogged Tax Prof Michael Livingston's answer to the question Why Are Law Professors So Edgy?: A friend of mine has come up with a novel explanation as to why law professors, who would seem to have a pretty privileged life, are so persistently uneasy...

A Scandal Explained

Posted on December 23, 2007
Over at Slate.com Adam Perer and Chris Wilson have created the Mitchell Report Social Network, a visual depiction of the connections revealed by last week's steroid report. I think Tufte would approve. (Also, is it just me or does Edward Tufte, king of the beautiful graphic, have a pretty ugly web page?)Happy holidays, all...

Stagnation in the Law Prof Blogosphere?

Posted on December 20, 2007
See the commentary by Scott Greenfield, Brian Leiter, Glenn Reynolds, and Dan Solove sparked by Orin Kerr's post. For some traffic stats, see my post at TaxProf Blog.

It's A Wonderful Life

Posted on December 19, 2007
I love It's A Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946). It's a gorgeous film and a moving story of conflict and redemption. And it's utterly free. Just click here to start the credits rolling in black and white on your laptop. The film was not particularly successful when it opened in theaters...

More on Law School Competition

Posted on December 16, 2007
In a previous post I questioned whether competition among law schools increases the quality of legal education and the Moneylaw/Moneyball analogy. In reality, I only question one version of the analogy. The version that I think is misguided is the one that focuses on building or advancing a law school in order to ?win? in a competition with other law schools...

Multiple choice? Let it snow!

Posted on December 14, 2007
Jeff Harrison questions the motivations behind multiple-choice, machine-graded exams. Dr. Lionel Gift, the economics professor in Jane Smiley's classic novel about academic life, Moo, provides a complete answer:Dr. Lionel Gift was all set. His summer-weight suits were packed, as were his Egyptian cotton dress shirts, undershorts, and socks...

SSRN Enters Citation Count Game

Posted on December 13, 2007
As readers of this blog know, citation counts are one of the four methods used to rank law faculty scholarly performance (along with reputation surveys, publication counts, and SSRN download counts). (We discuss all four methodologies in our recent article, Ranking Law Schools: Using SSRN to Measure Scholarly Performance, 81 Ind...

None of the Above: Multiple Choice, Machine Graded

Posted on December 13, 2007
Grading 190 essay contracts exams gets me riled up about multiple-choice-machine-graded (MCMG)-test-giving law professors. I am not talking about a few MCMG questions to get the students warmed up. And, I am not talking about multiple choice with and explanation ? essentially short essay questions...

Moneylaw, Macro-Style

Posted on December 10, 2007
I cannot help but think once in awhile about the 72,000 law review articles that have been published in the last ten years. This does not count, of course, books by law professors (many of which should not count since they are recycled old articles) chapters, submissions to books of readings, casebooks, encyclopedia entries and so on...

Why I'll be cheering for three Southern land grant schools, and so should you

Posted on December 10, 2007
This year's bowl season includes Mississippi State against South Florida in the Liberty Bowl and a fantastic Peach Bowl matchup, Clemson versus Auburn. I will cheer for Mississippi State, Clemson, and Auburn (though at least one of them must lose). In MoneyLaw terms, here's why:Michael Lewis explains the sociology of Southern college football in The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game 243-44 (2006):A football game between Ole Miss and Mississippi State [is] more than just a football game — but then that was thought to be true of many Ole Miss football games...

Law School Leadership Strategies From 15 Deans

Posted on December 10, 2007
Law School Leadership Strategies: Top Deans on Benchmarking Success, Incorporating Feedback from Faculty and Students, and Building the Endowment (Aspatore Books):Law School Leadership Strategies is a smart and intriguing volume that outlines the role of today's educational leaders and discusses the current state and future shape of law school management...

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