Law Professors

Law School Dispenses iPads, Touts Downtime Study Opportunity

A California law school’s pilot program to provide iPads to students in a supplemental bar study curriculum proved so popular that all of its entering 1Ls signed up. The Monterey College of Law in Seaside, a four-year evening law school, has issued a press release saying it is the first…

Aug 26, 2010 12:32 PM CDT

Music Downloader Appeals $67.5K Award, Calls It ‘Equally as Insane’ as Earlier $675K Verdict

A Boston University physics graduate student has announced that he will appeal a reduced $67,500 award for downloading copyrighted music, calling the amount “equally as insane” as the $675,000 jury verdict he originally faced after a federal trial last year. Joel Tenenbaum, 26, says he will have to declare bankruptcy…

Aug 25, 2010 11:16 PM CDT

Do Huge Income Gaps Spur Downturns? Legal and Economics Experts Mull the Idea

The gap between top earners and those on the lower economic rungs reached 100-year high points before the Depression and the latest economic downturn, leading some experts to ponder whether there is a connection. Harvard economic and policy historian David Moss began studying the connection when a colleague suggested he…

Aug 23, 2010 2:45 PM CDT

Georgetown Law Dean Expects Grads Will Be More Entrepreneurial

The new dean of Georgetown University Law Center sees an upside to the tough job market for lawyers. In an interview with the Washington Post publication Capital Business, Georgetown law dean William Michael Treanor says grads are now more likely to focus on what they really want to do with…

Aug 23, 2010 11:35 AM CDT

Law Prof Explains Why He Is a Cellphone Luddite

Some high-profile professionals are ditching their cellphones, giving them more power over their time and eliminating distractions that interrupt their work and their relationships. Among those giving up their phones are billionaire Warren Buffett, talk show host Tavis Smiley and William Mitchell law professor Afsheen John Radsan, Bloomberg News reports.…

Aug 23, 2010 10:30 AM CDT

Arizona, Stanford Law Schools Most Popular for Justice Visits

The law schools at the University of Arizona and Stanford are most popular with U.S. Supreme Court justices. Each school was visited by three justices last year, TaxProf Blog reports, relying on financial disclosure forms. Justices visiting Arizona were Stephen G. Breyer, Antonin Scalia and Chief Justice John G. Roberts…

Aug 19, 2010 12:05 PM CDT

Net Worth of Law Prof Nominated for Seat on 7th Circuit Bench: Nearly $20M

A law professor nominated for a seat on the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals made just under $200,000 last year as a visiting faculty member at Emory University. Plus she earned another $809 in book royalties. But Victoria Nourse reported a household net worth of nearly $20 million…

Aug 19, 2010 2:17 AM CDT

Angry Law Grads Beef, Blog and Move On; Tuition Makes $15K Total in 80s Seem Paltry

Unemployed law grads are venting their anger on blogs and in newspaper interviews, but some are moving on to permanent jobs or opening their own law firms. One of the angry bloggers, known as Law is 4 Losers, complained online that law school is a “scam,” administrators are greedy “charlatans”…

Aug 16, 2010 1:42 PM CDT

New Fashion Law Institute Sews Up Legal Niche

Fashion is serious business. Just ask Susan Scafidi, who next month will help Fordham University open its Fashion Law Institute, a first in legal academia. Scafidi, who blogs at Counterfeit Chic, has developed a niche focusing on fashion-related legal issues and pushing for intellectual property protections for designers who are…

Aug 12, 2010 6:40 PM CDT

Rank Order Rankles Law Prof, Who Hopes for Contradictory Best Law Firms List

U.S. News & World Report will be publishing another ranking this fall, partnering with Best Lawyers to determine the best law firms. Northwestern University adjunct law professor Steven Harper hopes the law firms on the list bear little resemblance to the American Lawyer’s list of the nation’s 100 largest law…

Aug 11, 2010 10:30 AM CDT

Duquesne Law School Asserts Bias Plaintiff Was ‘Uncooperative and Combative’

Duquesne University’s law school says in court documents that a former instructor who sued the school did a poor job of overseeing grant funds and “resisted being accountable to anyone in authority.” The answer (PDF) to the complaint filed by Alice Stewart, filed in federal court in Pennsylvania, denies there…

Aug 10, 2010 4:44 PM CDT

Law Prof Sees More Plagiarism, Allows Do-Overs

An adjunct law professor who has taught at three law schools says he has caught a half a dozen students who plagiarized parts of their papers, and the problem seems to be increasing. Donald C. Dowling Jr. tells the ABA Journal that he first caught plagiarism in 2002 and gave…

Aug 10, 2010 3:00 PM CDT

Law School Grades More Important to Career than Elite School, Researchers Say

Law school grades are the important predictor of a lawyer’s career success—in fact they are “decisively more important” than the eliteness of the school attended, according to two law professors who have studied the issue. University of California, Los Angeles law professor Richard Sander and Brooklyn Law School visiting professor…

Aug 3, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

Chicago Law Prof Rescued Pilot of Downed Plane from Lake Michigan

A pilot whose small plane crashed into Lake Michigan last week as he was transporting a patient to the Mayo Clinic for treatment is alive thanks to a clinical law professor from the University of Chicago. Randall Schmidt, 56, and his wife Kristin Berg, 55, were aboard their 42-foot cabin…

Jul 29, 2010 2:24 AM CDT

Ex-Law Prof Alleges Harassment by Duquesne Law Dean

Updated: A former clinical law instructor at Duquesne claims in a lawsuit that the school’s present dean, Kenneth Gormley, retaliated against her because she accused him of sexual harassment when he was a law professor in 2006. The lawsuit by former instructor Alice Stewart is the second discrimination suit filed…

Jul 28, 2010 4:27 PM CDT