Law Professors

Kagan Fits Mold of ‘Organization Kids’ Who Didn’t Take Risks, Columnist Says

Elena Kagan’s personality type appears to be in the same mold of the “Organization Kids” who joined elite colleges under a “meritocratic system” and displayed an aversion to intellectual risk, an op-ed columnist says. The kids had great recommendations, broad extracurricular interests and pleasing personalities, columnist David Brooks writes for…

May 11, 2010 12:56 PM CDT

Obama Interviews 7th Circuit Judge Diane Wood for Potential Supreme Court Nod

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden today interviewed 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Diane Wood for a potential seat on the nation’s top court, reports the Caucus blog of the New York Times. It is the fourth set of in-person interviews that the two have conducted…

May 5, 2010 12:05 AM CDT

Trial Looms in Hard-Fought Law Prof Sexual Harassment Case at GMU

Updated: She says he sexually harassed her. He says he did nothing wrong. And nearly a year of hard-fought federal litigation between George Mason University and the two former and current law professors doesn’t seem to have come close to resolving the dispute. After the exchange of some 100,000 documents…

Apr 28, 2010 12:26 AM CDT

Law Prof Sees Parallels Between Tuition Hikes and Subprime Mortgage Bubble

A University of Illinois law professor sees parallels between the subprime mortgage crisis and the proliferation of law school debt. Writing at the Conglomerate blog, Professor Christine Hurt makes her argument. “For a couple of decades now (and until a few years ago), the conventional wisdom was that real estate…

Apr 27, 2010 11:49 AM CDT

Ex-SG Says Kagan Is Progressive on Executive Power; Some Liberals Think Otherwise

Is Solicitor General Elena Kagan so conservative that she will disappoint liberals if she is nominated to the Supreme Court? Some liberals are criticizing Kagan for her stances on executive power and national security wiretaps, the National Law Journal reports. But “most liberals will likely fall in line behind her”…

Apr 19, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

Researcher Says Law Students Need to Learn to Read Like Lawyers

Most law students are told they need to think like lawyers. But a Pennsylvania State University researcher says students also need to read like lawyers. The scientist and higher education professor, Dorothy Evensen, formerly worked as an item writer for the reading comprehension section of the Law School Admission Test,…

Apr 19, 2010 10:30 AM CDT

Fight Over 9th Circuit Nominee Could Foreshadow Trouble for Supreme Court Pick

President Obama’s nomination of Goodwin Liu for the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is facing opposition from Republicans who say he is activist and outside the mainstream. Liu’s confirmation hearing is scheduled for Friday, the New York Times reports. The brewing controversy “could be a harbinger for…

Apr 13, 2010 4:27 PM CDT

Now Out of Prison, Ex-Milberg Partner Might Teach Class at UC Irvine Law School

William Lerach, the former law firm partner who went to prison for paying kickbacks to plaintiffs in class actions, may have a new job lined up. His new employer could be the University of California, Irvine School of Law, the National Law Journal reports. Rex Bossert, the school’s assistant dean…

Apr 13, 2010 2:38 PM CDT

Law Prof Is Member of Opus Dei, Says Whipping Only ‘Stings a Bit’

The Da Vinci Code was a public relations disaster for the Catholic organization Opus Dei, with its portrayal of a fictional, murdering monk. A lay member of the organization, Seton Hall law professor John Coverdale, told the Washington Post that a goal of Opus Dei is to offer Christians a…

Apr 12, 2010 1:04 PM CDT

Law Prof Withdraws Nomination to Head DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel

Controversial Indiana University law professor Dawn Johnsen has withdrawn her nomination to lead the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel 15 months after she was first nominated for the position. Johnsen, a former legal director of NARAL Pro-Choice America, announced her withdrawal on Friday, according to stories in the National…

Apr 12, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

Law Prof Sees Privacy Problems with MasterCard’s Online Shopping Mall

Some privacy advocates are expressing qualms about the kind of technology behind MasterCard’s new shopping mall. MasterCard Marketplace will tailor its product offerings based on how customers use the site, the New York Times reports. Site visitors will first be asked to select their favorite retailers, and then a computer…

Apr 12, 2010 10:30 AM CDT

Business Law Prof Outsources Grading to Private Company

A business law and ethics professor at the University of Houston has 1,000 undergraduate students each year who do a lot of writing to complete assignments—about 5,000 words per student, to be specific. The professor, Lori Whisenant, needed more help than her teaching assistants could provide, so she outsourced the…

Apr 9, 2010 2:27 PM CDT

Jailed Onetime Billionaire Allen Stanford Gets Yet Another Lawyer—Alan Dershowitz

Only a few days ago, a federal judge in Houston said he wasn’t going to approve any more changes in defense counsel for jailed onetime billionaire R. Allen Stanford, who is accused of masterminding a $7 billion Ponzi scheme. But today the Houston Chronicle is reporting another addition to Stanford’s…

Apr 8, 2010 7:29 PM CDT

DOJ Places Gag Order on ‘Largely Invisible’ Laurence Tribe

Noted Harvard constitutional law professor Laurence Tribe is facing some constraints in his new, specially created job in the Obama administration as “senior counselor for access to justice.” Tribe has a small budget and a limited staff, and he is not allowed to speak to the press, the New York…

Apr 8, 2010 2:29 PM CDT

Paying Too Much to See a Baseball Game? Blame the Tax Code, Law Prof Says

A law professor says there is a critical factor that helps explain why the average price of a Chicago Cubs ticket has increased 265 percent in the last two decades—the tax code. Business write-offs are spurring skyrocketing ticket prices to sporting events in two ways, according to a New York…

Apr 5, 2010 12:07 PM CDT