Law Professors

Villanova Law Dean Resigns; Name Surfaces in Prostitution Probe

Villanova law dean Mark Sargent, who abruptly resigned last week, had been identified in a police report as a prostitution customer, according to a story in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Sargent and another customer provided information to police after a raid of the prostitution business, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports in a…

Jul 6, 2009 2:41 PM CDT

Law Profs on Clout-Influenced Admissions: Everybody Does It

A group of law professors at the University of Illinois is taking exception to a Chicago Tribune series showing Illinois politicians and fundraisers used their clout to pressure the university and its law school to admit students. The letter to the Tribune, posted by law professor Larry Ribstein at Ideoblog,…

Jul 6, 2009 1:12 PM CDT

Lawyers Remember Michael Jackson for ‘Smooth’ Shoe Patent

As many remember Michael Jackson for his Thriller work or read his will in the Smoking Gun today, some lawyers recall him for an innovative dance shoe patent. The design, which was patented in 1993 by the pop singer and two partners, contains a special heel slot. Retractable pegs in…

Jul 1, 2009 11:27 PM CDT

Faculty Protest DePaul Dean’s Ouster; Ill. Appeals Judge Named as Replacement

A 76-year-old Illinois Court of Appeals judge has been appointed to a two-year term as acting dean of DePaul University College of Law after the sudden removal last week of Glen Weissenberger in the middle of his second five-year term as dean. But the appointment of Judge Warren Wolfson appears…

Jun 22, 2009 8:17 PM CDT

Lippe: What’s Wrong With Legal Ed & How to Fix It

In its current state, legal education is growing increasingly distant from the profession and is more like a scholarly pursuit. So says Legal OnRamp founder Paul Lippe in his most recent column published in the Am Law Daily blog. From Lippe’s perspective, there are a number of things wrong with…

Jun 22, 2009 6:24 PM CDT

Con Law Scholar to Replace Harold Koh as Yale Law School Dean

Constitutional law scholar Robert Post will replace Harold Koh as dean of Yale Law School, the president of Yale University announced in a e-mail to the academic community today. Post, who is 61, has been on the law school faculty since 2003, following a 20-year stint as a law professor…

Jun 22, 2009 4:44 PM CDT

DePaul Dean Is Removed, Cites Letter to ABA as Reason

Updated: DePaul University College of Law has removed its law school dean, after seven years on the job, because he and the law school’s administration were no longer working in synch, a DePaul law school spokeswoman says. Glen Weissenberger, who is now in his mid-60s, remains a tenured faculty member…

Jun 19, 2009 4:25 PM CDT

Judge Axes Grad Student’s Counterclaim for ‘Abuse of Process’ in RIAA Case

An attempt by a Boston University graduate student who is a defendant in a high-profile music downloading case to turn the tables on the Recording Industry Association of America has been blocked by the federal judge overseeing the case. In a ruling yesterday, U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner rejected defendant…

Jun 16, 2009 10:01 PM CDT

Judge Allows Lawsuit Claiming John Yoo’s Legal Memos Led to Torture

A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit claiming legal memos written by former Justice Department lawyer John Yoo led to the torture of a convicted terrorist. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White of San Francisco allowed most of the claims against Yoo, saying even enemy combatants retain constitutional protections,…

Jun 15, 2009 12:03 PM CDT

Jury that Convicted ‘Crockefeller’ Was Led by Harvard Law Lecturer

A Harvard law lecturer who taught a course on children at risk led the jury that convicted a would-be Rockefeller of parental kidnapping. Jurors rejected an insanity defense in the case of Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, who was found guilty on Friday of kidnapping his 7-year-old daughter, Reigh, the New York…

Jun 15, 2009 11:40 AM CDT

Scholar Martha Minow Named Harvard Law Dean

Longtime law professor and noted scholar Martha Minow was named dean of the top-tier Harvard Law School today. Starting July 1, Minow succeeds Elena Kagan, who left Harvard to become President Obama’s solicitor general. In making the announcement, Harvard President Drew Faust described Minow as “an intellectual leader, a devoted…

Jun 12, 2009 9:50 PM CDT

Ex-Law School Dean Spins Kosovo Experience Into Rock Opera

When Hank Perritt first went in 1998 to war-torn Kosovo armed with nothing more than a master’s from MIT and Georgetown University law degree to create databases to track supplies for refugee camps, his friends thought he was brave and dedicated. He even convinced former Serbian military officers to reveal…

Jun 10, 2009 6:31 PM CDT

Joe Biden’s Sotomayor Comments Criticized as Foolish

Vice President Joe Biden’s comments yesterday supporting Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s law enforcement credentials has some critics suggesting he went too far. Speaking yesterday at a White House event to showcase prosecutor and police endorsements for Sotomayor, Biden noted that the U.S. Supreme Court nominee has experience as a prosecutor, Politico…

Jun 10, 2009 5:30 PM CDT

Netiquette Debate Erupts over Law Prof’s Outing as ‘Publius’ Blogger

Conservative blogger Ed Whelan decided he had had enough after a pseudonymous critic known as Publius called him a “legal hitman” who was distorting the record of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Writing this weekend on the Bench Memos blog published by the National Review Online, Whelan revealed he had…

Jun 9, 2009 1:06 PM CDT

Stanford Law Prof Is One of Esquire’s Best-Dressed Real Men [See Photo Gallery]

Professors aren’t known for their stylish dress. Stanford University law professor Richard Thompson Ford acknowledges the stereotype, and says he probably strikes his colleagues as something of an oddity. Ford, an expert on civil rights and anti-discrimination law, is one of 25 semifinalists in Esquire magazine’s “Best Dressed Real Man”…

Jun 4, 2009 5:55 PM CDT