Brian Leiter’s Law School Reports

News and views about law school and law

  • Amy Wax, “color consultant”

    This designer can't be happy with the notoriety of her namesake's obsession with a different kind of "color." (Thanks to Curtis Franks for the pointer.)

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  • Some blog highlights from 2021

    Here are some of the most widely read posts of the last year (apart from the "most cited" posts based on the Sisk data): Harvard law professor writes article about Japanese "comfort women"… (February) A serious academic freedom violation at the University of San Diego School of Law (March) Corporate Practice Commentator's 10 Best Articles…

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  • Professor Ramseyer responds to critics of his article on prostitution contracts and Japanese “comfort women”

    We noted the controversy last year (e.g., here and here), and now Professor Ramseyer (Harvard) has prepared a vigorous defense, which he kindly gave permission to share:  Download Ramseyer response to critics SSRN-id4000145. UPDATE:  One of the few responses published in an academic journal is this one, which Professor Ramseyer mentions in his reply.

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  • The truth comes out: “Amy Wax is not woke.”

    That's the apt gloss by the funniest law professor on Twitter on the latest "wisdom" courtesy of Professor Wax.  First she disparaged African-American students at Penn, now she's come for the "Asians" (with a jab at her least favorite racial group thrown in as well): In the case of Asians in the U.S., the overwhelming…

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  • “The Most Important Problem of Contemporary Legal Philosophy”

    Papers from an international conference last May are now out in Annals:  Belgrade Law Review, with contributions by Pierluigi Chiassoni (Genoa), Tomasz Gizbert-Studnicki (Jaggellonian U, Krakow), Frederick Schauer (Virginia),Torben Spaak (Stockholm), and myself.  My paper, "Back to Hart," can be downloaded here; the abstract: The essay addresses two different senses of important “problems” for contemporary…

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  • In Memoriam: Douglas A. Kahn (1934-2021)

    A leading tax law scholar, Professor Kahn taught at the University of Michigan Law School for more than a half-century.   He passed away in late October of last year.   There is an obituary here. (Thanks to Anita Bernstein for the pointer.)

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  • In Memoriam: Stephen D. Sugarman (1942-2021)

    A leading scholar in two different fields–torts and education law–Professor Sugarman was a member of the Berkeley Law faculty since 1972.  I will add links to memorial notices as they appear.

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  • Merry Xmas from your lawyer

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  • Univ of Illinois-Chicago has gone crazy: the latest on the Kilborn case

    Last Friday, the university informed Professor Kilborn's lawyer that Professor Kilborn would be suspended from teaching this Spring at UIC's John Marshall Law School (although still paid, and still required to perform administrative duties) so that he can participate in rather time-intensive "re-education" programs:  Download 21; 12.16 from Alsterda Professor Kilborn will be subjected to…

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  • Faculty under 50 on the “most cited” lists (CORRECTED)

    Lawprof Scott Dodson (Hastings) kindly shared a list of faculty under the age of 50 who have appeared on the "most-cited" lists for the period 2016-2020.   Law schools with three or more faculty on the "under 50" list are:  Chicago (7), Harvard (7), Yale (7), Georgetown (6), NYU (5), William & Mary (3).  On a…

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  • In Memoriam: Leon Gabinet (1927-2021)

    A longtime member of the Case Western law faculty, Professor Gabinet was still teaching tax law until about two months ago!   The Case Western memorial notice is here. (Thanks to Erik Jensen for the pointer.)

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  • More on the Temple Dean, US News rankings, and fraud

    Sam Buell (Duke), a former federal prosecutor and criminal law expert, writes: I was amused by your post about Porat and Temple.  Last year on the exam in my Corporate Crime course I gave the students the Porat indictment and asked them to analyze the case.  No winning defense available, of course, but many of…

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  • More thoughts from Simon Lazarus (Yale Law ’67) on the latest developments at Yale Law School

    Mr. Lazarus (whose earlier and widely noted remarks on the "Trap House Affair" are here) kindly shared his recent assessment of developments since (including the lawsuit noted previously):  Download 12.1.2021 Trap House update (003).  An excerpt: I write this update to assess several significant new developments. Of these, the most noted but not necessarily the…

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  • Law school application season: total applicants down slightly, high-end LSAT scores down more

    As well they should!   Since the law school is clearly out of control, the UIC higher administration needs to step in! UPDATE:  Keith Whittington (Princeton) points out to me that the Administration has "stepped in," to defend the witch hunt!  The statement simply repeats the allegations that were dispatched by Professor Koppelman in his CHE…

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  • McCarthyist accusations deployed against law professor in Confirmation hearing (Michael Simkovic)

    Cornell Law School professor (and former Davis Polk financial institutions group lawyer) Saule Omarova, was nominated by President Biden to head the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates nationally chartered banks.  Omarova is a progressive scholar of financial regulation who has written about the possibility of increased public provision of financial services, including…

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  • UIC’s John Marshall Law School should lose its accreditation if it continues with this “witch hunt” against a faculty member

    Professor Andy Koppelman (Northwestern) comments at CHE (do read the full account): In January the University of Illinois at Chicago’s School of Law disgraced itself with its foolish persecution of Jason Kilborn, a professor who was accused of racism for asking students to address an ordinary hypothetical, of a kind they are likely to encounter…

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  • Two Yale law students sue Yale and various Deans…

    …for their actions during L'Affaire Chua.   The full complaint is here.  As paragraph 21 notes, the absence of grades at Yale "means that Yale Law School students are in high competition over non-grade signifiers of merit."  How much this competition has to do with "merit" is questionable, of course.  Coming on the heels of the…

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  • 10 Most-Cited Election Law Faculty in the U.S., 2016-2020

    Based on the latest Sisk data, here are the ten most-cited law faculty working in election law in the U.S. for the period 2016-2020 (inclusive) (remember that the data was collected in late May/early June of 2021, and that the pre-2021 database did expand a bit since then).  Numbers are rounded to the nearest ten.   …

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  • Simon Lazarus YLS ’67 on “Where Yale Law School Has Gone Off the Rails, and What is Needed to Get It Back on Track”

    Mr. Lazarus is a 1967 graduate of Yale Law School and a distinguished lawyer who served as associate director of President Jimmy Carter’s White House Domestic Policy Staff, and since then with private and public-interest law firms in Washington, D.C.  He kindly gave permission to share with readers his penetrating analysis of Yale's mishandling of…

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  • 20 Most-Cited Administrative and/or Environmental Law Faculty in the U.S., 2016-2020

    Based on the latest Sisk data, here are the twenty most-cited law faculty working in administrative and/or environmental law in the U.S. for the period 2016-2020 (inclusive) (remember that the data was collected in late May/early June of 2021, and that the pre-2021 database did expand a bit since then).  Numbers are rounded to the…

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  • “Alan Dershowitz Chair in Public Outreach”

    At Harvard Law School, no less: THE HARVARD LAW SCHOOL invites applications for the position of Alan Dershowitz Chair in Public Outreach. Position will commence August 2022. The Law School welcomes applications from scholars in all subject areas of the law.  However, knowledge of the law is not required. Strong applicants must be willing to seek…

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  • 10 Most-Cited Labor and/or Employment Law Faculty in the U.S., 2016-2020

    Based on the latest Sisk data, here are the ten most-cited law faculty working in labor and/or employment law (including employment discrimination) in the U.S. for the period 2016-2020 (inclusive) (remember that the data was collected in late May/early June of 2021, and that the pre-2021 database did expand a bit since then).  Numbers are…

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  • 10 Most-Cited Legislation/Statutory Interpretation Law Faculty in the U.S., 2016-2020 (CORRECTED)

    Based on the latest Sisk data, here are the ten most-cited law faculty working on legislation (understood broadly to include statutory interpretation and study of the legislative [e.g., Congressional] process) in the U.S. for the period 2016-2020 (inclusive) (remember that the data was collected in late May/early June of 2021, and that the pre-2021 database…

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  • 10 Most-Cited Immigration Law Faculty in the U.S., 2016-2020 (CORRECTED)

    Based on the latest Sisk data, here are the ten most-cited law faculty working on immigration law (including the intersection of immigration and criminal law & procedure ["crimmigration"]) in the U.S. for the period 2016-2020 (inclusive) (remember that the data was collected in late May/early June of 2021, and that the pre-2021 database did expand…

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  • Subject-matter rankings update

    I've decided to withdraw the 30 most-cited in "Public Law," and will instead disaggregate that category a bit into "Administrative and/or Environmental Law," "Legislation [including statutory interpretation and legislative process]," and "Immigration Law."   Also still coming are election law, legal ethics/legal profession, and a new addition, "Employment and/or Labor Law."  

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  • 20 Most-Cited Critical Theories of Law Faculty in the U.S., 2016-2020

    Based on the latest Sisk data, here are the twenty most-cited law faculty in critical theories of law (including Critical Race Theory and feminist legal theory) in the U.S. for the period 2016-2020 (inclusive) (remember that the data was collected in late May/early June of 2021, and that the pre-2021 database did expand a bit…

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  • 20 Most-Cited Corporate & Securities Law Faculty in the U.S., 2016-2020 (CORRECTED 10/20/21))

    Based on the latest Sisk data, here are the twenty most-cited law faculty in corporate law and/or securities regulation in the U.S. for the period 2016-2020 (inclusive) (remember that the data was collected in late May/early June of 2021, and that the pre-2021 database did expand a bit since then).  Numbers are rounded to the…

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  • The Yale Law School spectacle continues

    What an embarrassment (again!).

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  • 10 Most-Cited Antitrust Faculty in the U.S., 2016-2020

    Based on the latest Sisk data, here are the ten most-cited law faculty writing on antitrust in the U.S. for the period 2016-2020 (inclusive) (remember that the data was collected in late May/early June of 2021, and that the pre-2021 database did expand a bit since then).  Numbers are rounded to the nearest ten.    Faculty…

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  • 10 Most-Cited Torts and Insurance Law Faculty in the U.S., 2016-2020 (CORRECTED)

    Based on the latest Sisk data, here are the ten most-cited law faculty writing on torts and/or insurance law in the U.S. for the period 2016-2020 (inclusive) (remember that the data was collected in late May/early June of 2021, and that the pre-2021 database did expand a bit since then).  Numbers are rounded to the…

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  • “The Epistemology of the Internet and the Regulation of Speech in America”

    A draft of this paper is now available, which will be presented at Georgetown next month.  It picks up on some ideas first mentioned in an earlier blog post and presentation in Turin, which generated a lot of interest:  finally there is a shareable paper. Here is the abstract:

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  • Nobel prize in economics awarded for innovation in causal inference from observational data (Michael Simkovic)

    Three renowned labor economists, David Card (Berkeley), Joshua Angrist (MIT) and Guido Imbens (Stanford Business School) shared the Nobel prize in economics for their pioneering work using observational (i.e., non-experimental) data for causal inference.  This work facilitated empirical analysis of the effects of various legal and public policy changes, which are enacted in the real…

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  • 20 Most-Cited Intellectual Property Faculty in the U.S., 2016-2020 (CORRECTED)

    CORRECTED 9/2/21:  Prof. Sprigman was wrongly omitted from the top 20. Based on the latest Sisk data, here are the twenty most-cited law faculty in intellectual property law in the U.S. for the period 2016-2020 (inclusive) (remember that the data was collected in late May/early June of 2021, and that the pre-2021 database did expand…

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  • 10 Most-Cited Health Law Faculty in the U.S., 2016-2020 (CORRECTED)

    Based on the latest Sisk data, here are the ten most-cited law faculty writing on health law in the U.S. for the period 2016-2020 (inclusive) (remember that the data was collected in late May/early June of 2021, and that the pre-2021 database did expand a bit since then).  Numbers are rounded to the nearest ten.   …

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  • $13 million gift to Villanova Law

    Wow!  Unlike the wealthy alums who give to Yale, I bet this won't come with donor control over appointments and course content!

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  • “My Favorite Law Review Article”

    A new video series sponsored by the American University Law Review.  There are instructions at the site about how to submit your own video.

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  • 10 Most-Cited Family Law Faculty in the U.S., 2016-2020

    Based on the latest Sisk data, here are the ten most-cited law faculty writing on family law in the U.S. for the period 2016-2020 (inclusive) (remember that the data was collected in late May/early June of 2021, and that the pre-2021 database did expand a bit since then).  Numbers are rounded to the nearest ten.   …

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  • “Back to Hart”

    This paper may be of interest to some readers; the abstract: This essay is part of a symposium on "The Most Important Contemporary Problem in Legal Philosophy." The essay addresses two different senses of important “problems” for contemporary legal philosophy. In the first case, the “problem” is having forgotten things we learned from H.L.A. Hart,…

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  • More highly educated populations are more likely to be vaccinated against COVID (Michael Simkovic)

    Economists, sociologists, and public health researchers have long observed that more highly educated groups tend to be healthier and live longer than those that are less educated.  Debates emerged about whether increasing levels of education caused improvements in health.  Some economists argue that those who know themselves to be healthy at a young age will be more…

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  • 10 Most-Cited Evidence Faculty in the U.S., 2016-2020

    Based on the latest Sisk data, here are the ten most-cited law faculty writing on evidence in the U.S. for the period 2016-2020 (inclusive) (remember that the data was collected in late May/early June of 2021, and that the pre-2021 database did expand a bit since then).  Numbers are rounded to the nearest ten.    Faculty…

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