Legal Commentary

Bill Stuntz's recent post on the virtues of nominating Pam Karlan for Justice Souter's seat on the Supreme Court has gotten some well-deserved attention in the blogosphere.  Stuntz argues that Karlan, because she is a "spectacularly gifted" writer, would be a good counterweight to Justice Scalia, "whose outsized influence stems from his ability to write captivating, scathing, and often funny opinions."  I couldn't agree more with this, and indeed suggested much the same thing last Friday, although I focused on how Karlan could parry with Scalia during oral argument rather than through her writing. 

But here I wanted to talk about something else Stuntz says.  At the end of his post, Stuntz makes a point about legal scholarship.  He writes, "productivity and intelligence count far more heavily in academic hiring decisions than a knack for the perfect turn of phrase.  That is a mistake.  The legal and academic markets are filled to overflowing with smart opinions and law review articles.  The ones that stand out are fun to read--and those are few and far between."  I wonder what people think of this.  My view is that style is wildly undervalued in legal academia, whether it's in hiring decisions or law review placement decisions or tenure evaluations or anything else that makes a difference in the legal academy.  In my experience, although one sees from time to time a mention of a scholar's style in an appointments reference letter or a tenure evaluation letter, it invariably is thrown in as an afterthought, once the letter evaluates the scholar's (or potential scholar's) analytic skills, capacity for original thought, and productivity.  Likewise, I can't remember ever being at a workshop where someone has made a serious comment about the style of a piece as opposed to its content. 

Does this comport with other people's experiences?  If so, is it something to bemoan?  Shouldn't we care if someone can write beautifully or poetically?  Shouldn't we want scholars to write with wit or passion?  Shouldn't we provide incentives for such writing?  Shouldn't we reward it?