UT Law Dean Asked to Resign over ‘Divided Atmosphere’ Caused by Faculty Largesse

The dean at the University of Texas law school has moved up his planned resignation at the request of the school’s president. Law dean Lawrence Sager acknowledges he was asked to resign, and he’s complying immediately, report Texas Lawyer, the Austin American-Statesman and the Texas Tribune. UT president William Powers…

Dec 9, 2011 5:01 PM CST

U of I Law Prof Is Severely Injured by Knife-Wielding Attacker in Possible Hate Crime

Updated: A University of Illinois law professor waiting for a train to Chicago is hospitalized after he was stabbed in the throat Wednesday in a possible hate crime. The professor, 41-year-old Anurudha Udeni Dhammika Dharmapala, has expertise in law and economics, and tax policy, the Champaign News-Gazette reports. A witness…

Dec 8, 2011 5:44 PM CST

Around the Blawgosphere: Journalists, Watch Your Language, Prof Says; ‘Groupons’ for Lawyers?

Reporting on Sex Abuse Cases At The Crime Report, ex-prosecutor and adjunct prof Wendy Murphy writes that the language used in media coverage of the Penn State child sex abuse case has been “universally inappropriate.” Murphy runs New England Law | Boston’s Judicial Language Project, which “aims to identify language…

Dec 2, 2011 2:44 PM CST

Changing Course: Initiative Seeks to Emphasize Teaching Practice Skills

Dec 1, 2011 7:50 AM CST

DC Agency Tosses Law Prof’s Bias Complaint over Same-Sex Dorms, Cites ‘Absurd Results’

George Washington University law professor John Banzhaf has lost his case contending same-sex dorms at the Catholic University of America violate discrimination laws. The D.C. Office of Human Rights dismissed Banzhaf’s complaint in an order issued Tuesday, according to a Catholic University press release and the Associated Press. Banzhaf had…

Nov 30, 2011 3:35 PM CST

Law Prof’s Hypothetical Students Lose Money Acquiring JDs; ‘Also Ran’ Outpaces Top Performer

A Vanderbilt law professor who examined the value of a law degree for three hypothetical students has reached a surprising conclusion: The value of law school as an investment may be better for an “also ran” student than a “hot prospect,” though neither made a smart choice. Tax law professor…

Nov 22, 2011 2:42 PM CST

Want to Make Law School a Better Bet? Require Waivers and Give Rebates to Dropouts, Yale Profs Say

Yale law professors Akhil Reed Amar and Ian Ayres are citing the example of an Internet shoe-selling company in an essay suggesting ways to discourage would-be law students who are unlikely to succeed after graduation. Zappos offers $3,000 to new employees at the end of a four-week training course if…

Nov 21, 2011 4:05 PM CST

The Costs of Legal Scholarship: $575M in Tuition and Grads Who Don’t Know How to Practice

Updated: The chances of obtaining a tenure-track job at a law school begin to diminish after eight or nine years of practice. And that is partly why law schools are not producing lawyers who are trained in legal practice, the New York Times reports. The story quotes an unidentified lawyer…

Nov 21, 2011 12:53 PM CST

‘Tiger Cub’ Law Prof Says Parents and Schools Should Teach More About Emotional Intelligence

A University of Colorado law professor and self-described “tiger cub” has some advice for tiger parents and law schools: You can improve by focusing more on emotions and emotional intelligence. Professor Peter Huang, a Chinese American who enrolled in Princeton University at the age of 14, outlines his views in…

Nov 21, 2011 11:30 AM CST

Harvard Law Prof Says Many Scholars’ Amicus Briefs Are Not Very Scholarly

A Harvard Law School professor isn’t amicably disposed to law professor amicus briefs. The professor, Richard Fallon Jr., writes in a draft essay (PDF) that law professors are increasingly submitting briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the documents often blur the lines between scholarship and advocacy, the New York…

Nov 16, 2011 11:30 AM CST

Law Prof Opposes Care Packages for Troops Because of Killing Mission; Senator Objects

A Suffolk University law professor’s email opposing care packages for U.S. troops has attracted the attention of a U.S. senator who recently returned from Afghanistan. The hubbub began when constitutional law professor Michael Avery responded to Suffolk University’s appeals for care packages with an email to colleagues, according to Fox…

Nov 15, 2011 1:04 PM CST

ABA Standards Review Committee: New Blood, New Direction?

The ABA Standards Review Committee that will meet later this week in Chicago bears little resemblance to the one that met last July in Minneapolis. The 14-member committee, which has spent the past three years working on a comprehensive overhaul of law school accreditation standards, has since gotten a new…

Nov 9, 2011 5:06 PM CST

Workers Exposed to Greater Risks of Sexual Harassment Get Paid More, Law Prof Says

Women who work in jobs where they face greater risks of sexual harassment are generally paid more, according to a law and economics professor who studied Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaints. The professor, Joni Hersch, wrote about her findings in American Economic Review, the Washington Post reports. She found that…

Nov 9, 2011 11:30 AM CST

Legal Secretary Study’s Findings Spark Controversy, Engender Debate

Please see this note from the ABA Journal Board of Editors. There are four patterns of gender bias, according to University of California at Hastings law professor Joan Williams. There is one she calls “gender wars”—when gender bias against women turns into conflict among women. It is, by far, the…

Nov 4, 2011 5:07 PM CDT

Law Prof Targets Catholic University Again, This Time over Lack of Muslim Prayer Rooms

Updated: A law professor who targeted Catholic University of America over its plan to bring back same-sex dorms has filed a new complaint that criticizes the school’s treatment of Muslim students. George Washington University law professor John Banzhaf filed his complaint with the Washington, D.C., Office of Human Rights, according…

Oct 31, 2011 1:50 PM CDT