Law Professors

Suit Claims Law School Denied Jobs to Conservative Because of Liberal Bias

A conservative who applied for two legal writing positions at the University of Iowa law school claims in a federal lawsuit that she was rejected for the jobs because of her political views. The suit by Teresa Wagner, a part-timer who is associate director of the school’s legal writing center,…

Jan 27, 2009 12:38 PM CST

White Powder Mailed to Dershowitz and Newspaper Wasn’t Anthrax

Initial tests indicate nothing hazardous in white powder mailed to Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz and the Wall Street Journal. The material was probably flour or another type of food substance, the Wall Street Journal reports. Fearing the powder could be anthrax, authorities on Wednesday evacuated the floor in Hauser…

Jan 22, 2009 12:07 PM CST

Law School Recruits Students through Second Life

Students interested in Santa Clara University Law School can pose admissions questions to a virtual character this evening in the online world of Second Life. Jeanette Leach, dean of admissions at the law school, will answer questions as her online avatar “Penny Canucci,” according to The Tech Chronicles blog of…

Jan 21, 2009 7:32 PM CST

Law Dean Says Schools ‘Exploiting’ Students Who Don’t Succeed

Law schools are “exploiting” many students who aren’t successful, according to a law school dean who spoke at a program on law school rankings earlier this month. “We should be ashamed of ourselves,” said Richard Matasar, dean of New York Law School. Matasar said schools need to take responsibility for…

Jan 20, 2009 3:27 PM CST

Divorcing Law Grads, Stressed Over $190K in Debt, Victims of ‘Education Hoax’

Some time after he graduated from California Western law school in 1995, Joel Kellum married his law school sweetheart. The couple had $190,000 in student debt. Kellum and his wife made $145,000 in loan payments, but they paid off only $21,000 in principal, Forbes magazine reports. The variable-interest rate debt,…

Jan 20, 2009 12:09 PM CST

Job Market for Visiting Faculty Shrinks, Along With Law School Endowments

It’s no secret that many law schools throughout the country have seen their endowments dip significantly over the past year because of a swooning stock market. So now they’re almost undoubtedly looking to cut their budgets, and perhaps the likeliest area on which to focus initially is visiting faculty, reports…

Jan 16, 2009 11:08 PM CST

Brain’s Emotional and Analytical Centers Active in Judging Crime

Researchers have found in an initial experiment that the brain’s analytical and emotional centers are both active in volunteers asked to determine criminal punishment. The research is part of a three-year research program overseen by retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the Wall Street Journal reports. The study…

Jan 16, 2009 3:07 PM CST

‘Too Old’ Grandparents (59 and 52) Hope for Custody Under New Judge

A judge in a controversial child custody case in Texas has angrily stepped down after apparently being persuaded that a related judicial conduct investigation required him to do so. After Juvenile Court Judge John Phillips decided last year that Yolanda and Arnold Del Bosque were too old to raise the…

Jan 15, 2009 5:36 PM CST

Likely Antitrust Nominees: Harvard Law Prof and FTC Commissioner

Harvard law professor Einer Elhauge and Federal Trade Commission commissioner Jon Leibowitz are likely to be nominated to the nation’s two top antitrust jobs, a wire service is reporting. Elhauge is expected to be named to head the Justice Department’s antitrust division, Reuters reports, and Leibowitz is expected to be…

Jan 15, 2009 4:30 PM CST

Law Prof Warns Inauguration Committee of Possible Potty Parity Suit

A law professor has warned the Presidential Inaugural Committee that it could face a lawsuit over a likely portable toliet shortage during the event. John Banzhaf of George Washington University law school has served notice that the committee could face a lawsuit for failing to provide more portable toilets for…

Jan 13, 2009 4:55 PM CST

Pay Servicers, Enact Safe Harbor Law to Stop Foreclosures, Columbia Profs Say

There are two primary steps that the feds should take to help end the mortgage foreclosure crisis, Columbia University law and business professors say in a written report (PDF) released yesterday. First, the government should pay financial institutions to modify mortgages, to give servicers a financial incentive to work with…

Jan 8, 2009 7:15 PM CST

Harvard Law Prof Cass Sunstein Appointed Regulatory Czar

Barack Obama has appointed a former colleague and friend from the University of Chicago to become the regulatory czar in his administration. Cass Sunstein, now a law professor at Harvard, “pioneered efforts to design regulation around the ways people behave,” the Wall Street Journal reports. He will become the administrator…

Jan 8, 2009 2:34 PM CST

A Slow Law School Start Didn’t Doom SG Nominee

The first semester at Harvard Law School didn’t go well for Elena Kagan, but she quickly recovered, earning an A-plus in one of her classes. Now Kagan is dean of Harvard law and Barack Obama’s nominee to become solicitor general. Her law school transcripts, part of a clerkship application with…

Jan 8, 2009 2:13 PM CST

Legal Writings of SG Nominee are ‘Dense, Hedged and Moderate’

The legal writings of Harvard law dean Elena Kagan don’t provide many clues about her terrorism positions that vexed the Bush administration. The New York Times examined the writings of Kagan, who is Barack Obama’s nominee for solicitor general, and found them to be “dense, hedged and moderate.” The Times…

Jan 7, 2009 1:34 PM CST

Harvard Law Dean Picked for Solicitor General

Updated: Harvard law dean Elena Kagan is President-elect Obama’s choice for solicitor general. Kagan told associates the news in an e-mail today, according to the Boston Globe’s Political Intelligence blog. She wrote that the position offers the opportunity to “help advance this nation’s commitment to the rule of law at…

Jan 5, 2009 1:35 PM CST