Law Professors

John Yoo’s Constitutional Arguments are Worth a Hearing, Law Dean Says

It has become almost a truism, to a significant portion of the legal community, that former U.S. Department of Justice attorney John Yoo was way off target when he authored legal memos supporting interrogation methods some consider tantamount to torture. But the dean of the law school at which Yoo…

Apr 11, 2009 12:36 AM CDT

Lawyers & Law Students Teach—and Learn From—Teens in Detention

They’re uneducated, living in what amounts to a prison, and often minorities from low-income families who haven’t had a lot of luxuries offered to them in life. But two lawyers in charge of an unusual program at a Washington, D.C., juvenile detention facility are seeking to make a difference for…

Apr 10, 2009 11:22 PM CDT

Dying Fla. State Law Prof Teaches Students How to Live

Although Steven Gey is in the final stages of Lou Gehrig’s disease, he is still teaching students in the third year of a terminal illness that his doctors expect to end his life soon. And the lessons they are learning from the famous Florida State University constitutional law expert are…

Apr 10, 2009 10:29 PM CDT

What White House Attorneys Earned in Practice and as Law Profs

Financial disclosure forms filed by the many lawyers newly appointed by President Barack Obama to White House jobs provide a motherlode of information about what they were earning in their former BigLaw, in-house counsel and law professor gigs. Among the financial info provided, according to the Blog of Legal Times:…

Apr 9, 2009 11:17 PM CDT

Harvard Prof Defends Controversial Tactics in Music Downloading Case

Harvard Law School professor Charles R. Nesson, infamous for his eccentric antics in the courtroom and the classroom, continues to draw criticism for his unconventional defense of a Boston University graduate student accused of illegally downloading music. In recent weeks, Nesson, whose client, Joel Tenenbaum, is accused of illegally downloading…

Apr 9, 2009 7:26 PM CDT

How a Blog Commenter Sweet-Talked Ann Althouse into Engagement

Blogger and Wisconsin law professor Ann Althouse provoked something of a firestorm after a whirlwind engagement to a commenter on her blog known simply as “Meade.” The New York Times reveals the mystery suitor and details the courtship. Meade is 55-year-old Laurence Meade, a divorced garden designer and caretaker for…

Apr 6, 2009 1:46 PM CDT

Texas Law Dean Resigns to Raise Emus ... Not Really

It’s an April Fool’s Day joke, of course. But in an e-mail sent to students at the University of Texas School of Law today, Dean Lawrence Sager announces that he plans to resign in order to raise emus. And that’s just part of the joke: Although the e-mail sent to…

Apr 1, 2009 6:14 PM CDT

Law Profs, Beware: Videotaped Lectures Can Be Embarrassing YouTube Moments

Law professors who tape and post their lectures online would likely want to avoid the plight of a college professor at the University of Alabama. He left his wireless microphone on during a bathroom break, recording “watery sounds” that could be heard on a classroom recording until the section was…

Mar 31, 2009 2:20 PM CDT

Law Prof’s Whirlwind Engagement to Poster on Her Blog Sparks Comments

Law bloggers are in a flurry over news that professor Ann Althouse of the University of Wisconsin School of Law is engaged … to a man she met after he initially made contact with her more than four years ago as a commenter on her law blog. While many commenters…

Mar 30, 2009 6:14 PM CDT

Ousted Duquesne Dean Gets New Job at South Texas

It didn’t take long for the ousted dean of Duquesne University’s law school to find a new job. After claiming he was forced to resign late late year from the Pittsburgh law school because of a personality conflict with the school’s president, Don Guter is now headed to a new…

Mar 24, 2009 8:29 PM CDT

Yale Law Dean Going to Washington, Will Advise State Department

A national security law expert who is a well-known critic of the Bush administration’s detention policies concerning suspected terrorists has been tapped by President Barack Obama to provide legal advice to the U.S. Department of State. Harold Hongju Koh, who currently is dean of Yale Law School, will be nominated…

Mar 23, 2009 9:31 PM CDT

Columbia Helps Law Prof Buy $2.6M New York Townhouse

New York University received publicity earlier this year with news that it helped finance the purchase of a multimillion-dollar condo for a law professor snagged last June from Columbia University. It turns out that Columbia is also in the mortgage financing game for its professors. The school financed a second…

Mar 23, 2009 1:35 PM CDT

Senate Confirms Kagan for Solicitor General After Debate on Qualifications

The dean of Harvard Law School, Elena Kagan, has been confirmed as solicitor general by a vote of 61-31. The vote was largely along party lines, Reuters reports. Senators debated Kagan’s qualifications for three hours before voting, according to Legal Times. Critics questioned whether she was qualified to become the…

Mar 20, 2009 12:51 PM CDT

Law Prof’s Article on His Jury Experience Leads to Overturned Verdict

Updated: A law professor’s article on his experiences as a juror in a slip-and-fall case has resulted in a new trial for a grocery store found liable for $876,000. A New Jersey appeals court ruled today that the defendant deserved a new trial, in part because the professor’s explanation of…

Mar 19, 2009 3:52 PM CDT

Law Prof Examines Freedom and Obama’s Appeal in New Book

In Barack Obama’s 2004 speech to the Democratic National Convention, the junior Illinois senator offered a vision of community and service that fascinated the Duke law professor who heard it. In that speech, Obama said hardships experienced by others—such as the grandmother who can’t pay for prescriptions or the high…

Mar 19, 2009 2:01 PM CDT