Academic

Federal Anti-SLAPP Legislation Introduced In The House

Posted on December 21, 2009
HR 4364 was introduced last week by Tenn Rep. Steve Cohen, and referred to the House Judiciary Committee for consideration. The Citizen Participation Act would be the first anti-SLAPP law that applies to federal cases, though 28 states have similar...

Bradley and Gulati on Opt Out in Customary International Law

Posted on December 20, 2009
Last night I was watching Cold Mountain. Just when Nicole Kidman's character spoke of the Confederate bonds that he father had purchased, I thought of Mitu Gulati, who's the king of the law of repudiation of sovereign debt. It was...

What is Your Reaction to This Headline?

Posted on December 20, 2009
Here.

"Civil" Procedure in the Senate

Posted on December 19, 2009
This YouTube clip featuring Senators Lieberman, Franken, and McCain is extraordinarily revealing.

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It's Its, Not It's

Posted on December 18, 2009
I'm working my way through nearly 75 Secured Transactions exams this week (and next week, if necessary). Long ago I ceased to be shocked by the misspelling of my last name on the bluebooks (Zinkletter, Zimmberger, Zinaker, SexyDude, etc.). And...

Show Me The Money: Making Markets in Forbidden Exchange

Posted on December 18, 2009
The Law & Contemporary Problems volume, Show Me The Money: Making Markets in Forbidden Exchange, which I?ve blogged about before (see here and here), was published this week. Here?s the table of contents, with hyperlinks to each of the published...

Creighton Law Loses, Gains A Dean

Posted on December 17, 2009
Our colleague and sometime co-blogger, Eric Chiappanelli, has some news he hasn't yet shared with everyone: he's moving upstairs. Eric will be joining the university administration in the post of assistant to the university's president. He will be replaced by...

In GLBT News . . .

Posted on December 17, 2009
Against recent setbacks in Maine and New York, Tuesday's announcement that the DC Council voted to approve same-sex marriages is good news. So were the results of a run-off election on Saturday, when Houston became the nation's largest city to...

Shinnecocks Succeed in Federal Recognition Battle

Posted on December 16, 2009
The Shinnecock Indian Nation ended its 30 year battle for federal recognition yesterday, with the Bureau of Indian Affairs approving the Long Island tribe's petition. The small tribe of 1,066 people is located in Southampton, in the midst of wealthy....

Confederate Memorial Hall

Posted on December 16, 2009
Finally. I have a couple of decent pictures of Vanderbilt University's Confederate Memorial Hall. They aren't easy to find--especially ones where you can actually read the "Confederate" part. Also, because of trees out front of the building, it's hard to...

Dead Weight? - Law Firm Edition

Posted on December 15, 2009
Posted by D. Daniel Sokol I hope that someone at each law firm that: 1. gives incoming associates the option of deferring for a year or 2. gives current associates a one year sabbatical tracks the development of such associates...

Supreme Court to Take up Privacy Rights in Text Messages

Posted on December 15, 2009
Interesting story from today's Washington Post, reproduced in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case about whether employees have a reasonable expectation of privacy for 4th Amendment purposes in communications sent on devices owned...

Golden Globe Nominations Announced

Posted on December 15, 2009
So, the Golden Globe nominations came out today. Do they help me with planning my proposed winter movie spree? Well... Meryl Streep and Sandra Bullock each received two nominations - Streep for "Julie and Julia" and "It's Complicated" and Bullock...

Dartmouth? How About "Foulmouth"?

Posted on December 15, 2009
At a recent squash match between Dartmouth and Harvard, some Dartmouth students apparently crossed the line between merely heckling the visitors and engaging in inappropriate verbal behavior. For at least 90 minutes, about a dozen Dartmouth students pelted Harvard's men...

Dean Finalists at Iowa

Posted on December 14, 2009
As a follow-up to Dan's pre-Thanksgiving post here, the dean search committee at Iowa has released the names of its five finalists. They are: 1) Gregory Mark (associate dean and professor at Rutgers - Newark); 2) Nicholas Allard (partner and...

South Carolina Statehouse Monuments: The Confederate Soldier

Posted on December 14, 2009
Continuing on my series of posts on the monuments around the South Carolina statehouse, it's time to talk about the Confederate monument. It was put up in 1879--just after the end of Reconstruction, during the era that was once known...

Another Deanship Vacancy

Posted on December 14, 2009
Hey Dan, add Washington and Lee to your list of law schools looking for a dean. Rod Smolla will be leaving the Lexington VA school and moving to Greenville SC to become the eleventh president of Furman University, according to...

Kudos

Posted on December 14, 2009
Congrats to Fred Rooney, the director of CUNY Law?s Community Legal Resource Network. The AALS has announced that Rooney is being awarded the Father Robert Drinan Award from its Section on Pro Bono and Public Service Opportunities. Rooney will be...

Reason Nine Thousand Three Hundred Twenty Seven to Love Youtube!

Posted on December 13, 2009
If you are from a certain time and place and cultural background (read: "mine"), Tom Lehrer looms large in your childhood memories. I've just happened across some outstanding videos of Lehrer performing his big hits before an audience in Norway...

The Associate

Posted on December 12, 2009
I read John Grisham's book, The Associate, this week. I enjoyed the story (notwithstanding my expectation of a different ending). In a brief part of the book, the main character (a recent Yale law grad) is preparing for the bar...

Straight No Chaser

Posted on December 12, 2009
While channel surfing in recent days, I stumbled across a concert on the local PBS station. The concert, recorded live in New York, featured Straight No Chaser, an a capella group of ten men. Can't say I'd heard of the...

Final Statements of Death Row Inmates in Texas

Posted on December 11, 2009
On page 60 of the 11/30/09 issue of Newsweek, the magazine lists the frequency of some of the words found in the final statements of prisoners executed in Texas since 1976 (over 440 men and women). The word (and variations...

On Moishe! On Herschel! On Schlomo!

Posted on December 11, 2009
Forget Adam Sandler. It doesn't get any better than this. Happy Hanukkah, everyone!

Haifa Conference

Posted on December 11, 2009
On Tuesday, Haifa University?s Law and Markets Forum hosted the Behavioral Analysis of Law: Markets, Institutions, and Contracts conference. This was a wonderful event, well worth the trip to Israel. Organizer Avishalom Tor did a fabulous job putting together the...

Disney, Give Me a Break!

Posted on December 11, 2009
Further to posting about holiday movie options yesterday - and realizing that Tim Z's medical procedures have left his strange UCC-inspired sense of humor sadly intact - I noticed that Disney is intending to keep teasing us about the upcoming...

Turkey: Constitutional Court Decision May Mean More EU Trouble

Posted on December 11, 2009
Those following events in Turkey, especially the country's on-going bid to join the EU, will be interested to know that the Constitutional Court today outlawed Turkey's main pro-Kurdish party, the Democratic Society Party, or DTP. Prosecutors charged the party with...

Dartmouth Law School Passes Another Hurdle

Posted on December 10, 2009
The University of Massachusetts--Dartmouth law school, that is. The U. Mass. board of trustees has approved the acquisition of the Southern New England School of Law (SNESL). According the South Coast Herald, "The final approval needed will be from the...

Show Us The Love!

Posted on December 10, 2009
Anyone who has spent more than 30 seconds in the blogosphere understands that blogging is not a medium for those averse to self-promotion. This blog is a nominee in the "Legal Theory" category for the ABA Journal's Blawg 100 --...

Peeps! Not Just For Easter!

Posted on December 10, 2009
Peeps. The adorable marshmallow favorites that are a staple of many a child's diet during the Easter season. Who can resist the sugary and spongy bunnies and chicks? Gotta love 'em! Now comes word, in this story by Jessica Gresko...

A Few More Thoughts on Justice Thomas's Unfriendly Mohawk Concurrence

Posted on December 10, 2009
There has been a bit of discussion in the blawgosphere (and in the comments on this blog) about two things related to the Court's recent opinion in Mohawk Industries: (1) is there really a tradition that a new Associate Justice...

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