Academic

Law School Graduation Speakers

Posted on May 10, 2009
Paul Caron has been compiling a list of law school commencement speakers for the May 2009 cycle. Not suprisingly, law schools tap a few attractive wells for their speakers. For example, ten schools selected a current (or recently defeated) justice...

Justice Souter Makes Lawyers Weep

Posted on May 09, 2009
This was big local news in the Philly legal community, but in case others missed it: Amid Some Tears, Souter Bids Adieu to 3rd Circuit

Strook & Strook Manufactures Cold Offers, Shooting Self In Foot

Posted on May 08, 2009
We've seen firms use various approaches to reduce the size of their new associate pool. Until now, however, I had not heard of any firms publically buying out offers. Well now Strook & Strook & Lavan is offering potential new...

Empiricists Or Intuitionists?

Posted on May 08, 2009
The Chicago Tribune is reporting, or should I say crowing, that Chicago Mayor Richard Daley will be increasing the number of elevator inspectors. This move comes in response to a Trib exposé. This reminds me of a great sci-fi book...

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Privacy and the Limits of the Law

Posted on May 08, 2009
I am indebted to Prof Patricia Sanchez Abril for recently drawing my attention to the British High Court decision in Max Mosley v News Group Newspapers Ltd (July 2008). This decision proves the point that even when a jurisdiction adopts...

Dismantling Bush's Abstinence Programs

Posted on May 08, 2009
From NY Post - The White House wants to get out of the business of telling youngsters "Just Say No to Sex." President Obama is putting his own ideological stamp on federal spending in his proposed 2010 budget by cutting...

Forget The DOJ. Now US News Is Doing Investigations.

Posted on May 08, 2009
Various folks have been blogging about the LSAT data provided by Brooklyn Law, and used by US News, in its assessment of the school (as well as the magazine's failure to include Brooklyn's excellent part-time program in its otherwise exhaustive...

More Stupid Slogans About Souter And His (Possible) Successor

Posted on May 07, 2009
From the New York Times, we learn that Sonia Sotomayer: Would not be reflexively liberal or "results-oriented" but would adhere to the law and the Constitution. That's good. Because I hate judges who don't adhere to the law and Constitution....

Howard Wasserman On The FIU Dean Search

Posted on May 07, 2009
I shouldn't be surprised (and I should have been more skeptical in this post) that newspaper reporters captured an incomplete picture of the FIU dean search in news accounts today. As readers may recall, the FIU faculty has been voting...

Symbols of Our Times: The Court as ?Collector's Set?

Posted on May 07, 2009
Over the last week, there have been dozens of articles, blog posts, and conversations that began ?Obama should choose a . . .? followed by some identity variable: governor, Latina, ?out? lesbian, non-lawyer, woman, law professor, empiricist. Today, District Court...

Tough Times for LSU Press

Posted on May 07, 2009
This news from the Chronicle that LSU Press may lose its funding from the LSU system (which is in the neighborhood of $100,000 per year) is particularly hard because I was reading an LSU Press book at lunch today (Michael...

Corporate Influencea?

Posted on May 06, 2009
Corporate America has been acting a bit out of sorts recently. Flip on the TV, open a magazine, walk down the street and you will see the symptoms. An oil company touting its investment in wind technology. An investment firm...

Cardozo Law Review on-line companion: de novo

Posted on May 06, 2009
The Cardozo Law Review's on-line companion, de novo, is up, with an inaugural essay by Judge Jack Weinstein, "Preliminary Reflections on Administration of Complex Litigations." De Novo has a broad mandate. The editors there have a broad vision for the...

Towards the Right Side of History

Posted on May 06, 2009
From Freedom to Marry: Today, Maine's Governor John Baldacci signed into law a freedom to marry bill overwhelmingly approved by the Senate and House. Maine now joins Iowa, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut in ending the exclusion of gay couples from...

HLS Budget Cut

Posted on May 06, 2009
Here's some more sobering news. According to the Harvard Crimson, staff cuts are impending at Harvard Law School in the wake of a 10% budget cut at the law school. The law school is also holding off on filling staff...

FIU's Public Law Dean Search Continues; Faculty Nix Alex Acosta

Posted on May 06, 2009
Most of us have seen sausage prodcued at our own institutions, but as a result of Florida's sunshine laws, we can watch it made at Florida International University law school as well. This from the South Florida Sun Sentinel: In...

St. John Fisher College School of Law?

Posted on May 06, 2009
Have you been thinking that downtown Rochester, New York needs a law school? If so, here's some good news. St. John Fisher College may be willing to step up to the plate. There are at least three New York schools...

Judge McConnell from Tenth Circuit to Stanford

Posted on May 05, 2009
From a press release from the Tenth Circuit today, comes this important news: Circuit Judge Michael W. McConnell, 53, of Salt Lake City, Utah, has submitted his resignation from the bench, effective August 31, 2009. At that time, he will...

Does Professor Obama = President Obama?

Posted on May 05, 2009
In case you missed it, Jodi Kantor had an article in the New York Times over the weekend, in which she interviewed former colleagues and students of President Barack Obama in order to gain insight into his potential Supreme Court...

Welcome Guest Blogger Adam Benforado

Posted on May 05, 2009
We're very pleased to welcome Adam Benforado to the Lounge. Adam is an Assistant Professor at Drexel Law. He is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School, and is just finishing up his first year teaching here at...

Privilege or Punish? Family Status and Punishment

Posted on May 05, 2009
Continuing in our occasional series that comments on newly released books (and some that are back in the news again), I want to call your attention to the latest from Dan Markel, Jennifer Collins and Ethan Leib: Privilege or Punish:...

Law Firm Pay Cuts: Large Shops Reduce Associate Salaries

Posted on May 04, 2009
We've kind of been expecting this story, and I suspect that it's only beginning, but we're now seeing that three big firms - Seyfarth Shaw, Squire Sanders, and Nixon Peabody - are reducing associate pay. Nixon Peabody is reducing its...

Mentoring Senior Faculty & Post Tenure Review?

Posted on May 04, 2009
So in my continuing obsession about faculty mentoring, I've decided to shift focus to senior faculty mentoring for this week and see if I can solicit any views/advice about what happens to mentoring and career planning post-tenure. I think as...

What Gender is Trusts and Estates?

Posted on May 04, 2009
As I'm sitting here grading trusts and estates exams, I'm thinking again about an exchange from earlier in the semester.... Thanks to Jason Mazzone for raising important questions about the gender differences in faculty across the curriculum (in an aptly-named...

Ave Maria Law: One Client That's Still Spending Big On Legal Fees

Posted on May 04, 2009
Ave Maria Law School has been through a lot of challenges in its young life. The good news is that it has a wealthy benefactor in the person of Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan. The bad news is that Ave...

World Press Freedom Day

Posted on May 03, 2009
Today is World Press Freedom Day, and the state of affairs is bleak. Here are the sobering stats from the annual Freedom House report: 2009 marked the seventh straight year in declining press freedom worldwide; over 80% of the world's...

Justice Souter as legal historian ... or maybe just historian?

Posted on May 03, 2009
The Washington Post has a charming portrait of Justice Souter ("Quiet N.H. Home Is Where Souter's Heart Has Always Been"), which includes these three paragraphs: "He never unpacked," said Thomas Rath, one of Souter's closest friends. "A few years ago,...

Supreme Court Justice Anita Hill?

Posted on May 02, 2009
Nell Scovell at Vanity Fair has an interesting proposal: Nominate Anita Hill for the Supreme Court. Among the reasons she cites in support of her idea: "I want the still ranking member of the Judiciary Committee Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA)...

After Just 341 Years, Britain's Poet Laureate Is A Woman

Posted on May 02, 2009
She is Carol Ann Duffy, a poet, playwrite, and children's author, originally from Glasgow, Scotland. From the New York Times: Ms. Duffy, 53, is known for using a deceptively simple style to produce accessible, often mischievous poems dealing with the...

Irma Russell New Dean at University of Montana

Posted on May 02, 2009
Many congratulations to Irma Russell, who has just been named dean at the University of Montana's School of Law. The University of Tulsa's loss is the University of Montana's gain. From the Missoulinan story on Russell's appointment: We are confident...

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