Law Professors

Law prof’s exam question on Brazilian wax is deemed harassment; is academic freedom threatened?

A Howard University law professor says academics everywhere should be concerned by his school’s response to a 2015 exam question about a Brazilian bikini wax. The school determined in May that the question by Professor Reginald Robinson constituted sexual harassment under school policy, report Law.com (sub. req.) and Inside Higher…

Jul 10, 2017 4:05 PM CDT

Law profs find an ‘astonishing’ drop in win rates for federal plaintiffs

Success rates for plaintiffs in adjudicated federal cases declined from about 70 percent in 1985 to 33 percent in 2009, according to a draft study by two law professors.

University of Connecticut law professors Alexandra Lahav and Peter Siegelman say they can’t point to a single reason for the “astonishing” drop in success rates, Reuters reports. “A significant puzzle remains unsolved,” they write in the draft study, available here.

Jul 5, 2017 8:10 AM CDT

PAC ad supports law professor’s nomination to 3rd Circuit seat

A political action committee recently placed an advertisement in support of Stephanos Bibas’ nomination to the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and some wonder whether it might lead to him recusing himself from certain cases, if he is confirmed.

Jun 20, 2017 5:23 PM CDT

Emoluments clause lawsuits against Donald Trump face uphill battle

One of the most obscure and least-litigated clauses in the U.S. Constitution is about to get a lot of scrutiny from the federal judiciary. And the repercussions for President Donald Trump could be huge—provided the lawsuits can get past some significant procedural hurdles.

Jun 15, 2017 7:45 AM CDT

Herma Hill Kay, the first female dean of UC Berkeley, dies at 82

Herma Hill Kay, the first female dean at the University of California Berkeley School of Law, died Saturday. She was 82. Kay, who joined Berkeley in as a professor in 1960, died in her sleep, interim Berkeley Dean Melissa Murray told The Recorder. “She was super bright. She cared about…

Jun 14, 2017 12:13 PM CDT

Want to expand access to justice? Offer tiered training and differing practice licenses, profs say

Corrected: Civil legal assistance is elusive for low-income and even middle-class individuals. Eighty percent of low-income people in the United States can’t afford civil legal assistance, according to a Washington Post op-ed by two law professors. Meanwhile, 40 to 60 percent of the middle class have unmet legal needs.

Jun 7, 2017 8:00 AM CDT

Videos guide lawyers through federal civil procedure

Learning federal civil procedure can be a tough slog. The author of an online legal-practice guide helps lawyers research the subject with a series of online videos. The Wagstaffe Group Practice Guide: Federal Civil Procedure Before Trial is available in three loose-leaf volumes from Matthew Bender. Subscribers to the Lexis…

Jun 6, 2017 1:15 PM CDT

Does California make it too difficult to pass the bar? Two profs link low scores to ethics issues

In California, would-be lawyers have to receive a score of 144 on the multistate portion of the bar exam to pass. That’s a higher threshold than in every other state except Delaware. Law schools in California say the state’s so-called “cut score” is too high, the Wall Street Journal (sub.…

Jun 5, 2017 7:00 AM CDT

Law prof files bias complaint over theater’s women-only screenings of ‘Wonder Woman’

An Albany Law School professor says he decided to investigate after seeing a Texas theater’s snide responses to complaints on its Facebook page about two women-only screenings of the “Wonder Woman” movie. Stephen Clark concluded that the events violated the city code in Austin, Texas, where the screenings were taking…

Jun 2, 2017 11:40 AM CDT

Vanderbilt law prof who taught Argentine LLM student backs his bid to take the bar exam

A case filed by an Argentine lawyer seeking to take the Tennessee bar exam “speaks to the essence of equity, equality and opportunity,” according to a Vanderbilt law professor who taught the lawyer when he was in the school’s LLM program. The case filed by the lawyer, Maximiliano Gluzman, is…

Jun 1, 2017 11:41 AM CDT

Columbia law prof’s age bias complaint is without basis, university contends in motion to dismiss

Columbia University is seeking dismissal of an age bias suit filed by a 78-year-old law professor who contends the school is pressuring him to retire by making it more difficult to meet a teaching quota. This week, the university filed a motion to dismiss the March lawsuit by law professor…

May 26, 2017 10:34 AM CDT

Some Charlotte School of Law students receive federal loan money

The U.S. Department of Education has released the second disbursement of direct loan funds to Charlotte School of Law.

The money was released May 5, a Department of Education spokesperson told the ABA Journal on Monday.

May 22, 2017 5:38 PM CDT

Erwin Chemerinsky named to lead Berkeley Law

Erwin Chemerinsky has been selected as dean for the University of California Berkeley School of Law. Chemerinsky, the founding dean of University of California Irvine School of Law, is scheduled to start the new position July 1, according to a press release. The constitutional law scholar previously served as a…

May 17, 2017 1:05 PM CDT

Law prof’s suit says she suffered PTSD because her school failed to stop harassment by student

A former visiting law professor at Appalachian School of Law claims in a lawsuit that she was harassed by a law student, and the school’s probe of his conduct was “completely, and inexcusably, mismanaged.” The suit by Hillary Lynne Burgess, filed last week in federal court, says the school violated…

May 9, 2017 9:57 AM CDT

Closing of Whittier Law School illustrates ‘generational wealth shifting,’ professor says

Many law schools missed a “unique opportunity” to shed retirement-age faculty during the economic downturn, a Pepperdine law professor stated in a blog post. Instead, law schools shifted the economic pain to junior faculty, who were laid off, and students, who paid high tuition even as loosened admission requirements increased…

Apr 25, 2017 8:00 AM CDT