November 2007
-
How to Pass the South Carolina Bar Exam
Be related to someone politically powerful, it seems: The South Carolina Bar has called on the state’s high court to explain why it changed the grades of 20 people — including the children of a judge and legislator — from "fail" to "pass" on the state bar exam taken in July…. The Bar encouraged the…
-
The oddest job ad of the season?
Details here.
-
Most Cited Law Professors by Specialty–A Few More Corrections…
…are now on-line, including two scholars who were wrongly omitted from the prior top ten lists: Paul Finkelman (Albany Law School) in Legal History, and Steven Lubet (Northwestern) in Legal Ethics. An up-dated listing of the top 15 schools based on representation on these lists is being compiled. I’ve also added in "Other highly cited…
-
The *Real* Reasons Some Canadian Law Schools Are Switching to the JD
My friend Leslie Green–a longtime faculty member at Osgoode Hall School of Law of York University, Toronto, who is now Professor of the Philosophy of Law at Oxford University–writes: Ms McNish shows a surprising lack of interest in the real reasons why a couple of Canadian law deans were eager to adopt the US label…
-
Controversy at Queen’s in Canada: Switching from the “LL.B.” to the “J.D.”
The University of Toronto made the move in 2001, and now Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario is thinking of following suit, but not without controversy: JD. As in Juris Doctor. That’s the law degree introduced by U.S. schools in the 1960s to certify that graduates had successfully earned both a law degree and an undergraduate…
-
New Philosophers’ Carnival is…
…here. It might be worth saying that the fact that I link to the Carnival whenever it comes out should not be construed as a recommendation of all the posts that are linked each time. There are almost always good and interesting posts, and almost always rather bad and misleading ones. Caveat emptor!
-
On an Alleged “Contradiction” Between Justice Scalia’s Originalism and His Opposition to Considering Foreign Law
A philosophical discussion, with reference to a recent paper alleging the contradiction, here.
-
UC Irvine Law School: The Fundraising Challenge
The Los Angeles Times reports.
-
Margolis from Wisconsin to British Columbia
Eric Margolis (philosophy of mind and cognitive science), Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, has accepted a senior offer from the Department of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, where he will start next fall. With the recent appointment of Murat Aydede from Florida not long ago, UBC is now…
-
Revised Listing of Most Cited Legal Scholars by Specialty, 2000-2007
A corrected version of the study is here. There may be a few more corrections made before Thanksgiving, but I am now fairly confident that the top 10 and top 20 lists are accurate. For those who think they spot an error, please note that (1) the listings are limited to tenure-stream faculty (so, e.g.,…
-
Friday Poem: “When the Poem Was Done”
When the Poem Was Done When the poem was done Again old sorrows spun The painful course rerun As antidote to dying And drained silence won The welcome apathy Of greying light And day retired sighing A warm particularity Mulled over him As if the dim objects Dozing in his room Were pooled in light…
-
Berger from Brandeis to CUNY
Alan Berger (philosophy of language), formerly of Brandeis University, started this fall as Professor of Philosophy and Director of the new Kripke Center at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. (Please note that Professor Berger is officially on leave from Brandeis University at present, and so may yet return.)
-
In Memoriam: Henry Kyburg, Jr. (1928-2007)
Henry Kyburg, a leading figure in decision theory and epistemology for many decades, at the University of Rochester has passed away. The Rochester memorial notice is here.
-
Shelby Turns Down Berkeley, to Remain at Harvard in Joint Appointment with Philosophy
Tommie Shelby (social and political philosophy, African-American philosophy) at Harvard University has turned down the tenured offer from Berkeley reported earlier. He will now have a joint appointment with the Department of African and African-American Studies and the Department of Philosophy at Harvard.
-
Most Cited Law Faculty by Specialty for the Period 2000-2007
Based on the July 2007 study of scholarly impact, we’ve compiled a new listing of the most cited legal scholars by specialty. 18 different fields are covered, from "Business Law" to "Evidence" to "Legal History" to "Wills, Trusts, & Estates." If you spot what appear to be surprising omissions of scholars in some specialty, please…
My former colleagues at another university in Middle East have also been moved to online teaching indefinitely, with the students…