Law Professors

Fair Use Nixed in Music Download Case, So Defense Team to Focus on Damages

The defense team in a high-profile illegal music downloading case against physics graduate student Joel Tenenbaum had hoped to rely on a fair-use doctrine defense. But after that plan was nixed by U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner, who said interpreting fair use in this manner would eviscerate copyright law, the…

Jul 29, 2009 8:12 PM CDT

Iowa Law Students Use Wiki Rather than Texts in Employment Class

University of Iowa law professor Lea VanderVelde didn’t want to use a textbook in last spring’s employment law class because the material can quickly become dated. Her solution: Let the students research the law themselves and post it on a Wiki. VanderVelde told the Daily Iowan that the Wiki helped…

Jul 28, 2009 2:22 PM CDT

Harvard Is Blocking Continued Work on RIAA Case, Law Student Says

After a change in dean, Harvard Law School is reportedly making it difficult for a student to continue working on a high-profile file-sharing case that she says she has “lived and breathed and eaten” since September 2008. The school is not only refusing to provide the certification letter that Debbie…

Jul 27, 2009 4:57 PM CDT

University of California Law Profs to See Pay Cut of Up to 10 Percent

University of California law professors are facing pay cuts of 4 percent to 10 percent under a new furlough plan that affects faculty and staff at all UC schools beginning Sept. 1. The pay cuts and furlough days depend on faculty salaries, which top out at $240,000, the National Law…

Jul 27, 2009 3:42 PM CDT

John Yoo Doesn’t Take Criticism Quietly

Former Justice Department official John Yoo is facing criticism and a lawsuit over legal memos approving harsh interrogation techniques of terrorism suspects, but that hasn’t caused him to retreat from the public eye. Yoo, a tenured law professor at the University of California at Berkeley, is teaching courses as a…

Jul 27, 2009 3:17 PM CDT

John Yoo Gets Punked by Comedian in Torture Pose

A comedian who interrupted the class of former Justice Department lawyer John Yoo, now a visiting law professor at Chapman University law school, didn’t exactly appear to be a class clown. Instead the comedian from the Australian TV show The Chaser’s War on Everything showed up in Yoo’s class dressed…

Jul 24, 2009 5:33 PM CDT

Do Law Schools Fudge the Data Reported to US News?

A law professor has concluded that data reported to U.S. News & World Report for its law school rankings apparently tracks the information provided to the American Bar Association. Chapman law professor Tom Bell built a statistical model of law school rankings based on the ABA data, and found the…

Jul 24, 2009 12:17 PM CDT

Law Prof Who Called Homosexuality a Disorder Won’t Teach NYU Class

A Singapore law professor under fire for her statements about homosexuality has decided not to teach a human rights class at New York University law school. Thio Li-ann, who was a member of her country’s Parliament, made the controversial statements in October 2007 while opposing repeal of a law that…

Jul 23, 2009 12:36 PM CDT

16 DePaul Profs Complain to ABA About Law Dean’s Ouster

A group of 16 tenured professors at DePaul University College of Law has complained to the American Bar Association about the recent ouster of their former dean, Glen Weissenberger, who remains a faculty member. In a July 13 letter, they contend that the hiring of an interim dean without faculty…

Jul 23, 2009 12:09 AM CDT

Harvard Scholar Plans Documentary After Arrest for Trying to Break Into Own Home

Corrected: Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. says his arrest for trying to break into his own home is leading him on a new path: He is planning a documentary on the treatment of blacks by the criminal justice system. “I want to be a figure for prison reform,” he…

Jul 22, 2009 1:15 PM CDT

Meet Kris Kobach, Law Prof Fighting for Local Role in Immigration Enforcement

University of Missouri-Kansas City law professor Kris Kobach is supporting tougher measures to fight illegal immigration in several court cases throughout the country. Kobach “is on a dogged campaign to fight illegal immigration at the local level, riding an insurgency by cities and states fed up with what they see…

Jul 21, 2009 3:16 PM CDT

Harvard Prof Gates Arrested Trying to Enter Own Home; Ogletree to Defend

Updated: Harvard University’s Henry Louis Gates Jr. is facing a disorderly conduct charge, after being arrested by Cambridge police on Thursday while trying to enter his own locked home near the campus, according to Bloomberg and the Associated Press. Gates, 58, is the director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute…

Jul 20, 2009 6:06 PM CDT

New Series on Tracking Terrorists Features CIA Lawyer-Turned-Journalist

The star of a controversial new series on NBC featuring journalists tracking down accused war criminals and terrorists is a former CIA lawyer. Adam Ciralsky became an NBC producer after leaving the CIA in a dispute with his supervisors, the New York Observer reports. Now he is billed as the…

Jul 17, 2009 2:47 PM CDT

Two Law Profs Settle Whistle-Blower Suit Against Ave Maria

Two law professors have settled a lawsuit that claims they were denied tenure at Ave Maria School of Law in retaliation for their complaints. Lawyer Deborah Gordon told NaplesNews.com that law professors Ed Lyons and Phil Pucillo “have agreed to a settlement, which does involve their obtaining tenure in part,”…

Jul 17, 2009 12:27 PM CDT

If Your Law Prof Sports an Unusual Tattoo, He Could Be a UFO Witness

If your law professor suddenly sports an unusual tattoo, he could be the person who reported a UFO sighting while riding a motorcycle near Lake of the Ozarks. An anonymous person claiming to be a law professor said in a posting on the Mutual UFO Network that during a motorcycle…

Jul 16, 2009 1:21 PM CDT