Academic

Is 2010 The Year of Odious Sovereign Defaults?

Posted on January 04, 2010
For the past decade, I?ve studiously avoided the world of sovereign debt, despite defections from friends like Al Brophy, Adam Feibelman, and Mark Weidemaier. But with the recent collapse of Dubai World and the resulting unease in the sovereign debt....

Green Bag Explemary Writing Awards, 2009 Edition

Posted on January 03, 2010
Over at legal history blog, Mary Dudziak is covering the Green Bag Exemplary Writing Awards for 2009 that have been given to legal historians: Annette Gordon-Reed for her Pulitzer-Prize winning The Hemingses of Monticello (which we're written about here) and...

Lawyers, Guns, and Money

Posted on January 02, 2010
This morning I'm not thinking of Warren Zevon's song. (He has some strange songs, no? I never understood what Werewolves of London was all about.) Instead, I'm thinking about this list of scholars whose work the NRA Civil Defense Fund...

Welcome to the Blawgosphere

Posted on January 02, 2010
The Penn Program on Regulation is launching a new blog, RegBlog, to track important issues and developments related to regulation and regulatory processes around the world. RegBlog will feature new research, highlight proposals for regulatory policy and procedures changes, and...

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The Debut of "Amazing Grace"

Posted on January 01, 2010
Amazing Grace is one of the most beloved hymns of the Christian faith. John Newton, slave trader turned abolitionist, penned the powerful words -- which were sung for the first time on this date in history in connection with a...

So Long, Israel (Part II)

Posted on January 01, 2010
Yesterday, I began my ?So Long, Israel? post, discussing some of the highlights of my trip. I guess it?s a good thing when your trip has so many memorable moments that you have to divide them into two separate posts....

Resolution(s) For The New Year

Posted on December 31, 2009
We come to the end of another calendar year, when thoughts may turn to resolutions for the upcoming year. Lose weight. Exercise. Be more patient. Learn to play the cello. Publish an article in one of the thirty "top twenty"...

So Long, Israel (Part I)

Posted on December 31, 2009
I just returned today from my extended visit to Israel, where I spent the month of December sightseeing, conferencing, teaching, presenting papers (here and here), and meeting new friends. I was lucky during this trip to have a chance to...

The kaleidoscope in (antebellum) law?

Posted on December 31, 2009
Reading in one of the antebellum orations (an address at Catawba College in 1854) I came across this statement: "Revolutions in society and government succeed each other as rapidly as the shifting scenes of the kaleidoscope." So that naturally set...

Judy Areen Is Back! Georgetown Law Names Former Dean To Interim Post

Posted on December 30, 2009
Talk about an embarrassment of riches! How many law schools can react to the sudden loss of a dean by naming an interim dean with the gravitas of Judith Areen? Probably only one: the Georgetown Law Center. Alex Aleinikoff recently...

A Day at Bar-Ilan, and Reflections on Workshop Culture

Posted on December 30, 2009
Yesterday, thanks to the organizational energies of the amazing Yuval Feldman, I spent the day at Bar-Ilan giving a faculty workshop and meeting some of the faculty. I had already met Yuval, Shahar Lifshitz, and Adi Ayal at a conference...

When Should The Holocaust Move From Center Stage?

Posted on December 30, 2009
At Volokh, David Bernstein makes a point one sees with (to my eye, anyway) increasing frequency: "I remember when I was a student at Brandeis, with what was then the top Jewish Studies department in the country, by far the...

Encouraging/Facilitating/Recognizing/Rewarding Faculty Scholarship

Posted on December 29, 2009
I've been thinking a lot lately about the role of the law school and university administration with respect to faculty scholarship. Starting with a couple of propositions that may not be correct in the case of all faculty: 1/ Although...

So What About Teaching?

Posted on December 29, 2009
Brian Tamanaha's comments on my earlier post about faculty scholarship got me realizing that I really had posted it out of context without explaining that I had also been having similar thoughts about teaching and service. So without further ado,...

Court Affirms Access to NY Transit Hearings

Posted on December 29, 2009
The public has a right to access hearings conducted by New York's Transit Adjudication Bureau. So held the Southern District of New York last week when it temporarily enjoined a TAB policy that required the defendant's consent to open the...

Monuments of Oxford, North Carolina

Posted on December 28, 2009
I've got a couple of nice photos of monuments in Oxford, North Carolina. First, the obligatory Confederate Monument. The neighborhood around the monument's undergoing some construction, obviously. Within sight of this statue is a granite monument put up on the...

Commodification Seminar at Tel Aviv

Posted on December 28, 2009
A few days ago, I had the chance to visit the University of Tel Aviv Law School to present my latest research (which I?m striving to make SSRN-ready in the next few weeks) in Talia Fisher?s Rethinking The Issue Of...

Holiday Entertainment

Posted on December 26, 2009
In terms of holiday movies, so far I've seen Avatar and Up in the Air. Surprisingly, I can highly recommend both, although Up in the Air is understandably a little depressing. I still have hopes of seeing some of the...

It's that time of year again (classic exam bloopers).

Posted on December 23, 2009
As our grading for the year winds down (I hope), here's my nomination for the funniest exam blooper of the season. I'm halfway through grading my PR exams, and so far, I've seen two instances of "ad hoc vice" admissions....

UC Irvine Law Announces Year-Two Admissions Strategy

Posted on December 23, 2009
UC Irvine Law School has announced two critical details about its Fall 2010 entering class. The cohort will contain 80 students (assuming the school hits its target) and these students will all receive at least half off the going tuition....

Loyola New Orleans Law Dean Brian Bromberger Stepping Down

Posted on December 23, 2009
Brian Bromberger - dean of the Loyola New Orleans College of Law - has announced that he'll be leaving his post at the end of this school year. Bromberger has been leading the law school since 2003 - a period...

Call for Papers

Posted on December 23, 2009
"What Pertains To a Man"? Transcending Gender Boundaries in Jewish and Israeli Law Conference to be held at the University of Chicago Law School, Monday March 1, 2010 This small one day conference will be structured around two documentary films,...

Dean's Nightmare At NYU Law

Posted on December 22, 2009
As an associate dean who deals with exam problems, I felt NYU Law Associate Dean Liam Murphy's pain. As reported in ATL, a visiting contracts professor at NYU - Jide Nzelibe - administered a recycled exam. More precisely, he'd given...

Beating The Odds

Posted on December 22, 2009
Carol applied to Yale. So did Kenny. Martina, too. And Ray. Last week, Yale offered each of them a spot in the next freshman class. And why is this newsworthy? Carol, Kenny, Martina and Ray are siblings. And quadruplets. According...

Antebellum Literary Societies: Princeton Version

Posted on December 22, 2009
Well, I'm starting to get serious about my paper (due March 16) on antebellum literary addresses at the University of North Carolina. I've had a fabulous RA going through the archives all fall, reading addresses by undergraduates -- what a...

Mark Niles Named Dean At Seattle Law

Posted on December 22, 2009
Lots of news, these days, on the dean front. Seattle University has named Mark Niles, currently the associate dean for academic affairs at American University, as its new law dean. Niles is a Stanford law graduate. He'll take over July...

Frank Wu Named New UC Hastings Dean

Posted on December 22, 2009
UC Hastings Law School has named Frank Wu as its new Chancellor and Dean. Wu is the former dean at Wayne State and is currently a professor at Howard Law School. He will take over on July 1, 2010. You...

Person of the Year: Harvard Law Prof Liz Warren?

Posted on December 21, 2009
In recent days, Time magazine named FRB chairman Ben Bernanke as its "person of the year." Loren Steffy, a business columnist for The Houston Chronicle, offers a different choice: Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren, who has been the subject of...

Dean Finalists At UC Hastings Law

Posted on December 21, 2009
Via Paul Caron, the finalists in the Hastings dean search are: David Faigman (Hastings) Jamienne S. Studley (Public Advocates; formerly President of Skidmore College) Mary Crossley (Dean, Pittsburgh Law) Symeon C. Symeonides (Dean, Willamette Law) Frank Wu (Howard; formerly Dean,...

Word Misuse

Posted on December 21, 2009
Inspired by Tim's post about grammatical errors, I bring to your attention the risible gaffe contained in this headline.

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