Law Professors

Harvard Law Prof: Big Tax on AIG Bonuses Could Be Constitutional

Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe says a high tax on bonuses paid to executives by companies receiving bailout funds could likely be structured in a way to avoid constitutional problems. Some proposals are circulating to tax bonuses at rates varying from 70 percent to 100 percent as a way to…

Mar 19, 2009 12:50 PM CDT

Backers Say Lawyer’s Immigration Work Cost Him Civil Rights Post

Supporters are charging that a Los Angeles lawyer’s controversial litigation work on immigration issues cost him a job as chief of the Justice Department’s civil rights division. President Obama chose Maryland labor secretary Thomas Perez for the post, disappointing supporters of Thomas Saenz, counsel to the mayor of Los Angeles.…

Mar 19, 2009 12:11 PM CDT

More Law Schools Report Jump in Applications

The economy is down, and law school applications are up. The total number of law school applications jumped by 2 percent this year, but some of the best-known schools are showing bigger gains than that, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req.). Washington and Lee University in Virginia, for example,…

Mar 19, 2009 11:39 AM CDT

Husson U Hires Dean, 2 Profs for Planned New Maine Law School

News yesterday that Husson University is reviving an earlier attempt to establish a new law school in Bangor, Maine, was followed today by news of three hires for the fledgling facility. They are: law professor Michael Mullane of the University of Maine School of Law; founding partner Peter Murray of…

Mar 18, 2009 7:41 PM CDT

Gay-Rights Group Visits Kirkland to Deliver Petition to Pepperdine Dean

A gay rights group dispatched an emissary to Kirkland & Ellis to deliver a petition that warns one its lawyers–Pepperdine law dean Kenneth Starr—that history will condemn his actions. The Human Rights Campaign is taking issue with Starr’s arguments before the California Supreme Court supporting a voter initiative to ban…

Mar 16, 2009 7:08 PM CDT

Law Prof Learns from Inmate in ‘Robert Blecker Wants Me Dead’

“Robert Blecker Wants Me Dead” is a documentary chronicling a New York Law School professor’s relationship with a convicted killer, stemming from the academic’s attempt to engage death-row inmates in conversations about their crimes. Blecker holds nuanced death penalty views, believing the punishment is justified for “the worst of the…

Mar 13, 2009 6:22 PM CDT

Judge Scolds Harvard Prof in RIAA Case

It was initially U.S District Judge Nancy Gertner’s idea that a pro se defendant in a high-profile file-sharing case should seek help from a renowned Harvard Law School professor. But she didn’t hesitate to lecture the errant law prof—and threaten him with sanctions—for ignoring discovery rules, recounts Robert Ambrogi in…

Mar 12, 2009 1:17 AM CDT

‘08 Class Actions & Awards Drop—But Not for Long, Magazine Predicts

Both the number of securities class actions and the amount of money they earned for plaintiffs dropped in 2008, a new report says. But the downturn won’t last for long, predicts CFO magazine. For one thing, the article points out, when one area of securities practice falls, plaintiffs attorneys generally…

Mar 11, 2009 10:25 PM CDT

Two Law Profs on White House List of Possible Appeals Court Nominees

A law professor and a federal judge in Baltimore are on a list of possible nominees to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The New York Times published the names of two people under consideration for the appeals court based in Richmond, Va.: U.S. District Judge Andre Davis of…

Mar 11, 2009 1:32 PM CDT

Study Finds No Racial Gap in LSAT Alternative Measuring Lawyer-Like Qualities

A study of an alternative to the Law School Admission Test found it was better at predicting lawyer effectiveness, but no better at predicting success in law school. Another plus for the alternative test, developed by professors at the University of California at Berkeley, is that its scores had no…

Mar 11, 2009 1:02 PM CDT

Tax Profs’ Movie Recommendations for Law Students

Few movies involve taxes as a central plot element, but that hasn’t stopped members of the TaxProf Listserv from offering their tax film recommendations for law students. Robert Nassau, a Rochester, N.Y., tax lawyer and adjunct law professor at Syracuse, is assembling the list, TaxProf Blog reports. Nassau noted the…

Mar 10, 2009 2:02 PM CDT

Where Are They Now? Job Search Tough for Some Administration Lawyers

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales isn’t the only Bush administration lawyer having trouble finding work. A handful of lawyers involved in debating terrorism policies faced a difficult job search, the New York Times reports. The story says David Addington, a top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, is reportedly still…

Mar 9, 2009 12:33 PM CDT

Lessig Ditches Cyberlaw to Focus on Campaign Finance

Cyberlaw expert Lawrence Lessig, sometimes called the “Paul Revere of the digital age,” is sounding the alarm about campaign finance. “We need not so much a declaration of independence as a declaration for independence,” he told a university audience. “These institutions of public trust need to be constructed in such…

Mar 6, 2009 3:45 PM CST

California Justices Appear Likely to Uphold Gay Marriage Ban

The California Supreme Court appears likely to uphold a voter initiative banning gay marriage. Following oral arguments yesterday, the Recorder predicted that the court would uphold the voter measure known as Proposition 8 in a 5-2 decision. The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Daily Journal (sub.…

Mar 6, 2009 12:53 PM CST

Law Prof Who Studied Peremptories Suggests Three-Strike Limit

A law professor who has studied peremptory challenges says they should be eliminated entirely, or at least limited to three juror strikes per lawyer. Peremptories allow lawyers to excuse jurors they believe to be biased without proving it. But they also can be used to mask unconstitutional reasons for eliminating…

Mar 5, 2009 5:58 PM CST