Professional Advice
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Law schools should oppose an ABA proposal to double the experiential learning credits from 6 to 12
The ABA is up to mischief again, which needs to be opposed for the sake of law students. Here's what I wrote the last time this awful idea was being floated: Law schools differ, in their student bodies, in their employment outcomes. Law students differ, in their personal and professional goals, and in their…
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Law review publication contracts with unreasonable terms
Another reason not to publish in student-edited law reviews, I guess.
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Penn faculty hearing board recommended sanctions for Amy Wax last summer; she is appealing
MOVING TO FRONT FROM FEBRUARY 24–SEE UPDATE The recommended sanctions consist in "a one-year suspension at half pay, the removal of her named chair and summer pay, and a requirement for Wax to note in public appearances that she is not speaking on behalf or as a member of Penn Carey Law." Only the last…
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More on SCOTUS clerks and academia
A propos yesterday's post about the new half-million dollar signing bonuses for SCOTUS clerks and Professor Gordon's suggestion that this probably explains why we seem to be seeing fewer former SCOTUS clerks on the academic job market, Professor Sarah Lawsky (Northwestern) shared this useful graphs based on the data she collects on the rookie job…
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Tom Ginsburg (Chicago) on Claire Finkelstein’s (Penn) call to repress pro-Palestinian speech on campus
This is apt: Professor Finkelstein is the latest in a long line of academics, from both the left and right, calling for the repression of campus speech they don’t like. Her position is the logical outgrowth of our era, in which students’ feelings take priority, and the use of terms like “violence” and “safety” have…
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What the AALS needs to do going forward
Good suggestions from Northwestern lawprof Dan Rodriguez, a former AALS President, here. I hope somebody there listens!
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There is no “caste” system in American law schools
I am in favor of increasing job security for all workers, including those in law schools, but it is beyond absurd to describe job security as a response to a "caste" system problem, for reasons I've explained before: [T]o refer to the existence of different jobs and positions, with different qualifications and expectations, as a…
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Law school policies on use of generative AI by students?
One report here. (LINK FIXED.) What are your schools doing? Submit your comment only once, it may take awhile to appear.
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ABA considering increasing *required* experiential hours, which is a terrible idea
This won't have any benefits for legal education (and certainly won't make it more "practical"), although it will be a windfall for those who teach in these areas. There may be schools whose student body and local legal markets mean that it would make sense for them to require more "experiential" courses and clinics; but…
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The UChicago Kalven Report and the Israel/Gaza catastrophe
The Kalven Report, whose lead author was a leading First Amendment scholar at Chicago, has once again come to the fore, in the wake of the Hamas butchery in Israel and the ensuing Israeli attack on Gaza. (Anyone who cares what I think about all this can see my other blog, or the letter I…
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On the importance of “replications”
Some apt remarks by law professor Holger Spamann (Harvard): Replications aren't good for the replicator’s career. Replications take as much time as original research. But replications offer none of the rewards in terms of developing and publicizing one’s own ideas or gathering citations. It also risks upsetting the original researchers, which isn't fun unless you enjoy…
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Amy Wax, academic freedom and Penn, once again
As I've noted before (also here), most of Penn's case against Amy Wax involves trying to punish her for her lawful extramural speech, and is thus a flagrant violation of the University's contractual commitment to her academic freedom. But the student newspaper now reports that Professor Wax has once again invited Jared Taylor–an actual white…
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Article on whether U.S. legal system is ready for “the challenges of AI to human values” includes citations that appear to have been made up by Chat GPT (link fixed)
Law professors may find this amusing. (Link fixed)
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Bigelow Fellowship at Chicago now accepting applications
Those interested in law teaching with strong qualifications can apply here. Bigelow Fellows are fully immersed into the intellectual culture of the Law School and receive excellent mentoring. The Bigelow is the most powerful credential on the law teaching market, and Bigelows are in demand every year. Every Bigelow in the last twenty years has…
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Heads up: some schools with automated application systems are asking for letters of reference *now*
In the past, most recommendations were over the phone or via email, and were less formal than a letter of reference, which usually came later in the process, when a school was serious about a particular candidate. That started to change a bit a few years ago, but now some schools, which require candidates to…
Giovanni Molteni Tagliabue (Italy) Rationalized and Extended Democracy – The REDemo Project. Foreword by Gilberto Corbellini. Firenze University Press 2023.…