Brian Leiter’s Law School Reports

Blast from the past: Do blogs help or hinder professional prospects?

August 10, 2022

Back in 2007, although now we should ask the same question about Twitter. Signed comments from readers (full name plus email address that will not appear) are welcome. Submit the comment only once, it may take awhile to appear.
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14 lateral moves that made law professors “take notice” during 2021-22

August 8, 2022

Based on my in-box and conversations with others, these were the fourteen moves that transpired this past year that were thought to be the biggest hiring coups (I usually list only ten, but this was a big year for lateral moves that caught people's attention): *Lee Epstein (empirical legal studies, law & social science)…
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Lateral hires with tenure or on tenure-track, 2021-22

August 2, 2022

These are non-clinical appointments that will take effect in 2022 (except where noted); this is the final posting of this list for the 21-22 cycle. (Recent additions are in bold.) Last year's list is here. *Michelle Adams (civil rights, constitutional law, law & race) from Cardozo Law School/Yeshiva University to the University of Michigan.…
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Law schools hiring in 2022-23 can announce their plans/needs…

July 19, 2022

…at the annual Prawfs thread, courtesy of Professor Lawsky.
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The latest on the case of Professor Wax at Penn…

July 18, 2022

—including Dean Ruger's letter, the AFA letter, and my own comments on the academic freedom issues.
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“Constitutional Law, Moral Judgment, and the Supreme Court as Super-Legislature” (2015)

July 1, 2022

Recent events are making this assessment ever more relevant, sad to say.
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Blogging hiatus

June 17, 2022

I'll resume more regular blogging in early August, but between now and then I'll only put up things that are particularly noteworthy or time-sensitive. I'll also update the laterals list as needed. I wish readers a productive seven weeks or so until my return!
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The Bluebook is awful as everyone knows…

June 13, 2022

…but it apparently rakes in millions of dollars for the law reviews at Columbia, Harvard, Penn and Yale!
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In Memoriam: Browne C. Lewis (1962-2022)

June 8, 2022

Dean of the law school at North Carolina Central University since 2020, Dean Lewis wrote widely in the areas of artificial intelligence, assisted reproductive technology, environmental racism, and inheritance law. There is an announcement from the NCCU Chancellor here and a memorial notice from the University of Minnesota Law School, of which Dean Lewis was…
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“Faculty Lounge” blog is already posting hiring announcements for 2022-23

June 8, 2022

Here.
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In Memoriam: Kenneth W. Dam (1932-2022)

June 7, 2022

A longtime member of the University of Chicago Law School faculty, Professor Dam was an expert on issues of domestic and international economic law and policy. He also held important positions in both the public and private sector. The Chicago memorial notice is here.
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Congratulations to the University of Chicago Law School Class of 2022!

June 4, 2022

It's been a pleasure and a privilege to teach such talented young men and women, and I am sure I speak for all of my colleagues in wishing you much professional success and personal happiness in the years ahead!
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Enrollments and LSAT scores, 2010-2021

June 2, 2022

Jerry Organ (St. Thomas) collects the data. 2021 applications and matriculations are still only 80% of what they were in 2010.
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New “Journal of Law Teaching and Learning”

May 31, 2022

Lawprof Emily Grand (Washburn) asked me to share the following announcement: The Institute for Law Teaching and Learning is thrilled to be launching a new scholarly journal. The Journal of Law Teaching and Learning will publish scholarly articles about pedagogy and will provide authors with rigorous peer review. We hope to publish our first issue in…
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Blast from the past: Phyllis Schafly has a friend in Rick Hills

May 26, 2022

Some amusement, from way back in 2008!
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Legal realism and the Supreme Court

May 25, 2022

I talk with Prof. Eric Segall (Georgia State) on his podcast "Supreme Myths" (also available on Spotify and other podcast platforms).
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Kilborn v. UIC John Marshall redux

May 23, 2022

UIC John Marshall, of course, moved to dismiss Professor Kilborn's lawsuit over its misconduct. Professor Kilborn's reply brief is here: Download Kilborn_Opposition to motion to dismiss wExhibit A
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UCLA Law Dean Jennifer Mnookin to become the new Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Madison

May 16, 2022

Wisconsin got very lucky! I feel for my friends at UCLA, who know they are losing an excellent Dean. And I'm very happy for my friends in Madison.
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Professor Lawsky’s Entry-Level Hiring Report for 2021-22

May 12, 2022

The report is now available here. Professor Lawsky recorded 106 hires, the most in a good number of years, although nothing like the numbers before 2010, when 150 or more was the norm. Inevitably some rookie hires are missed: Chicago had three grads on the market, all three of whom received tenure-track offers, but it…
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Per student value of law school endowments

May 9, 2022

A colleague elsewhere sent me data on law school endowments in 2019 (most probably went up in 2021, although they're probably back down now). We divided the total endowment by the total JD and non-JD student enrollment based on the 2021 ABA disclosures to determine the per student value of the endowments. Endowments, of course,…
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ABA Committee recommends dropping the requirement of standardized testing (e.g., the LSAT) for law school admission

May 6, 2022

Here. While the ABA has some power, the real power rests with USNews.com: if they still want LSAT scores, law schools will still use them. If USNews.com drops the LSAT scores, then the race to get the highest median GPA, regardless of the difficulty of the undergraduate course of study, will accelerate, since that will…
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On growing up outside the gender binary

May 5, 2022

A nicely written essay by lawprof Katherine Franke (Columbia).
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If you’ve accepted a tenure-track law teaching job…

May 3, 2022

…submit your information to Professor Lawsky's annual report on entry-level hiring.
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In Memoriam: Joseph Raz (1939-2022)

May 2, 2022

Professor Raz, who was emeritus at both Oxford and Columbia Law School, died this morning in London. There is more about Raz at my philosophy blog.
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Bankruptcy Scholar Troy McKenzie to Lead NYU (Michael Simkovic)

May 2, 2022

Troy McKenzie, a highly regarded bankruptcy and civil procedure scholar, was recently appointed as the new Dean of NYU School of Law. Dean McKenzie will be the second bankruptcy scholar to lead a top-5 law school (Douglas Baird at Chicago was the first). McKenzie is unusual among law school deans because of his undergraduate background…
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Seven law professors elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences

April 29, 2022

They are: Richard Brooks (NYU), Guy-Uriel Charles (Harvard), Justin Driver (Yale), Lauren Edelman (Berkeley), Martha Fineman (Emory), Robert W. Gordon (emeritus, Yale and Stanford), and Dorothy Roberts (Penn). (I'll add as a point of personal privilege that I was pleased to see two Chicago alumni among the honorees: Professor Brooks graduated from the Law School…
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A change to the USNews.com ranking formula that would actually be salutary

April 27, 2022

The arbitrary adjustments to weightings and the like to one side, here's a change that would improve legal education and law school admissions: drop the median GPA as a factor. Not all GPAs are equal. A 3.9 in communications or education is inferior to a 3.5 in engineering or chemistry or philosophy or economics. Some…
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What are standard law school teaching loads these days?

April 26, 2022

Professor Jeff Sovern (St. John's) writes: I wonder whether schools that perform better on lists like the citation lists posted on this blog from time to time have lower requirements for the amount of teaching professors do and if so, how much. I am also curious to know what standard law school teaching expectations are…
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In Memoriam: Michael A. Olivas (1951-2022)

April 23, 2022

A longtime member of the University of Houston law faculty, where he was emeritus, Professor Olivas was a leading expert on higher education law and immigration law, and served in many public capacities, including as General Counsel of the AAUP, as President of the AALS, and as Interim President of the University of Houston-Downtown. A…
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Dan Markel’s brother-in-law Charlie Adelson finally arrested and charged with his murder

April 21, 2022

Story here.
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The case against student-edited law reviews, an ongoing saga

April 21, 2022

The latest shot fired by Professor Paul Heald (Illinois). He is, of course, right, but I don't expect anything to change.
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Yale Law School melodrama, part 325

April 19, 2022

This time in CHE; an excerpt: Some professors lay the blame at Gerken’s feet. “I have the sinking feeling that the values of the school are being eroded under this deanship,” one faculty member told me. Another said Gerken is a “genuinely nice person who doesn’t like telling people hard truths to their face.” The…
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“Do the U.S. News rankings rely on dubious data?”

April 14, 2022

CHE actually posted this as a question, and not a rhetorical one!
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More on expenditures and the USNews.com ranking stew

April 13, 2022

Derek Muller (Iowa) comments.
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Congratulations to the Chicago Alumni and Fellows on the law teaching market who secured tenure-track jobs this year

April 11, 2022

All our candidates received offers this year (including those that only searched selectively), and several received more than one offer. They are: Adam A. Davidson’17, who will join the faculty at the University of Chicago. He is currently a Bigelow Fellow at the Law School. He graduated with Honors from the Law School where he…
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Richard Painter, still pathologically dishonest

April 8, 2022

Readers are no doubt grateful that I've said nothing about the unhinged Richard Painter for many months now. Alas, he remains the same: still completely dishonest and vindictive. Amusingly, he's now running a carpetbagger campaign for Congress in a special election in a Minnesota district he doesn't even live in (God help those folks!). I…
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All about law school Deans…

April 7, 2022

…from the AALS. A couple of striking data points: "Most successful dean candidacies are initiated by someone else (62%)" and "More than one-half (59%) of deans are selected after a search that involves a search firm." The latter is particularly surprising, given how clueless these search firms usually are, at least in my experience. On…
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Yale Law melodrama continues: Professor Stith disagrees with Dean, says student protest violated the Law School’s Free Speech Policy

April 5, 2022

Story here (prior coverage–and earlier examples of the clearly dysfunctional institutional culture). Despite the continued bad press, and even as its USNews.com reputation score falls to 3rd, its #1 scholarly impact positions depends increasingly on an ageing faculty, and its younger faculty increasingly live in New York City (or decamp to NYC schools), the per…
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Ristroph v. Sklansky

March 31, 2022

Here and here. I've not read enough of the work of either of these authors to have an opinion on the merits.
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Yale Law School’s public relations disaster continues

March 24, 2022

David Lat (who went to YLS, subsequently founded the abysmal online tabloid Above the Law, and then wisely bailed from that) shares on his substack a recent letter from a current Yale Law student: Students here seem unwilling to have their beliefs and actions challenged. Many of my peers see the expectation of rigor and…
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