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U. of Texas tops for Hispanics, says magazine Adam Henry For the fourth consecutive year, Hispanic Business magazine has named the University of Texas School of Law the country's top law school for Hispanics. In its description, the magazine writes that UT "has graduated more Hispanic and African-American students combined than any other top-20 law school in the United States" and notes especially the school's ties with both Latin American and local Hispanic communities. Texas offers a press release on the rankings and a resource page concerning its commitment to Hispanics, here and here. To see the rest of the magazine's top ten schools, all of them Southern or Southwestern, click here. In other law school news Tuesday, the University of Iowa College of Law has announced a gift in the amount of $1.25 million to its Law, Health Policy and Disability Center. According to its website, the interdisciplinary center "concentrates on public policy and its impact on persons with disabilities," and center staff members review and assist in the creation and implementation of policies that affect the lives of the disabled. Read Iowa's press release announcing the gift here. 4:55 PM | | link to this post | latest Law School News
Stanford Law lands largest-ever outright law school gift Adam Henry Not a bad week for the Cardinal. Last Thursday, Stanford Law School announced the receipt of the "largest individual gift ever given outright to an American Law School." The historic gift, in the amount of $43.5 million, will be used to support the construction of a new residential complex for law and other graduate students. Stanford's president hails the housing project as "unique living-learning model for legal education" in a university press release here. Then, on Tuesday, the National Institutes of Health announced funding for new Centers for Excellence in Ethical, Legal and Social Implications at four US universities, Stanford among them. The centers aim to address pressing legal issues raised by recent advances in genetics and genomics. Duke University, a second recipient of funding, previews the involvement of Duke Law School faculty in its center's research in a press release here. Meanwhile, the University of Washington School of Law, a third recipient, offers its own release here. In other law school news, Professor Michael Madison of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law debuted a new weblog this week devoted to technology law and public policy. Today at Madisonian Theory, the professor hurrahs - literally - a decision issued Tuesday by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Chamberlain Group v. Skylake Technologies, characterizing the case as the kind "that should engage everyone, showing how IP law can touch the day-to-day lives of everyone." Finally, a note to readers that Pitt Law will provide even more daily blogging when JURIST's Law School News resumes regular publication, under the new name of "Law School Buzz," next Tuesday. The weblog will also feature a new look soon, as part of an aesthetic and functional overhaul of the JURIST site. Thanks for reading. 7:45 PM | | link to this post | latest Law School News
Law schools readying for academic year with summer renovations Adam Henry While "April is the cruelest month," August, for law schools at least, may be the noisest, with schools scrambling to finish summer renovations before the beginning of another academic year. JURIST's host institution, the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, is no exception in this regard. It is currently in the homestretch of an overhaul of its three-floor Barco Law Library, as colorfully chronicled by one good-natured library employee here. Meanwhile, in Durham, workers are finishing the facelift phase of a $20-million renovation to the Duke University School of Law, initiated just after exams last spring. In support of the effort, alumnus and juice-baron Stanley A. Star recently pledged $3 million to his alma mater. (Watch construction progress by webcam here.) Duke Law made headlines earlier this summer when it announced the adoption of a revised grading scale, bringing the school in line with its peers and making its students' grades more understandable to employers. Read the Chronicle's full story here. The American Bar Association, which requires "adequate" physical facilities of its member schools (see the Section of Legal Education's facilities standards here), is often the motivating force behind renovations and new construction. Responding to threats to its accreditation from the ABA, the University of Colorado School of Law has finally secured funding for a new facility. The ABA had called the school's existing building, which lacks an instructional classroom, "woefully inadequate." In other ABA accreditation news, the organization on Monday accorded provisional approval to the law schools at both Florida A&M and Florida International, meaning, most significantly, that those schools' students may sit for the bar exam following graduation. A&M and FIU offer their own news releases here and here, respectively. Finally, last month, the state of South Carolina formally licensed the Charleston School of Law to begin instruction this fall. After the completion of its first year, the school will be eligible to apply for ABA accreditation. In other news out of Charleston, the fledgling institution announced Wednesday that Chief Judge William W. Wilkins of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit will join the Charleston faculty as a visiting professor for its first academic year. 12:09 AM | | link to this post | latest Law School News
Report: More law schools adopting loan repayment programs Adam Henry According to a new report by non-profit Equal Justice Works, law school loan repayment assistance programs are on the rise in recent years, nearly doubling in number since 2000. Several factors are fueling the trend, says the National Law Journal, including "skyrocketing tuition costs, stagnant salaries for public service workers and competition among schools seeking to recruit top students." Major donations have helped schools like Rutgers and Washington University boost their programs to better assist graduates who opt for public interest positions. The State of New York, meanwhile, has increased bar examination fees to fund repayment assistance for Empire State attorneys. Read the Journal's full story here, and a different report from the American Bar Association Commission on Loan Repayment and Forgiveness, called Lifting the Burden, here [PDF]. Speaking of the ABA, the organization recently announced that on August 9 it will present its 2004 ABA medal to Georgetown University Law Center Professor Robert F. Drinan, S.J. In its online announcement, available here, the Association catalogs the half century of truly "extraordinary humanitarian efforts and support for justice under the law" that have earned Father Drinan the ABA's highest honor. Finally, University of Texas School of Law Professor Brian Leiter has analyzed changes in faculty quality at 18 top law schools since the 2000-01 academic year. Although he admits that his own evaluations are "necessarily subjective," Leiter permits readers to make their own evaluations by summarizing faculty comings and goings at each school here. Among the comings at the UCLA School of Law, a top performer, is Mark Grady, who earlier this year announced his plan to step down as dean of the George Mason University School of Law (see JURIST's report here). 11:57 PM | | link to this post | latest Law School News
Law profs' letter urges congressional action on Iraq abuses Adam Henry Leading law school news in June, nearly 500 legal scholars - most of them professors of law - have signed a letter urging Congress to take action on human rights abuses in US-occupied Iraq. Specifically, the letter asks Congress to assess responsibility for the abuses, and to decide whether the US should have an official policy on coercive interrogation. Most boldly, it calls for "the impeachment and removal from office of any civil officer of the United States responsible" for the abuses. The letter is the brainchild of ten professors at Harvard Law School, who began its circulation among the national faculty ranks on May 28, and sent it to Congress on June 16. Among the familiar names already attached to the letter are Bruce Ackerman, Derrick Bell, Alan Dershowitz, and Laurence Tribe. See Harvard Law's press release and an earlier report in Harvard's Crimson for more. In other news, two prominent institutions made Monday a major day for law school news by announcing the appointment of new deans. On the East Coast, Columbia Law School announced the promotion of tax scholar David Schizer [scroll down] to its top administrative position. At just 35, he becomes, according to Columbia's press release, "the youngest dean of the nation's top law schools." Meanwhile, on the West Coast, the UCLA School of Law announced the recruitment of housing law and policy specialist Michael Schill from the New York University School of Law to its own top position. See UCLA's press release for more. Following colleague Larry Kramer, who leaves later this year for Stanford Law School (see JURIST's report), Schill becomes the second star recruit to leave NYU for a West Coast deanship, capping what Professor Brian Leiter calls a "brutal year" for the school. 11:10 PM | | link to this post | latest Law School News
One year later, still no arrests in Yale Law bombing Adam Henry Friday marks the one year anniversary of the explosion of a bomb in an empty classroom at Yale Law School. In advance of that milestone, 1010 WINS reports today that despite an investigation that is still "very active," no arrests or indictments have yet been made, and none appear imminent. In happier news from New Haven, Yale Law reports that Professor Oona Hathaway has been named one of fifteen Carnegie Scholars in the Class of 2004. The Carnegie Corporation will provide financial support for her research project, "Between Power and Principle: A Political Theory of International Law," wherein she "will examine why states commit to and comply with international law." Joining Hathaway in the Class of '04 and also representing the legal academy is Professor Richard Pildes of the New York University Law School. With the Corporation's support, he will "research and write a book-length study on the relationship between democratic politics and constitutional law in the design of democracy itself." Another NYU professor making law school news of late is leading constitutional law scholar Larry Kramer. Last Wednesday, Stanford Law School named Kramer as its new dean, effective September 1. According to the school's press release, Kramer will become the fourth consecutive con law scholar to hold the school's highest administrative post. He tells the San Francisco Chronicle that the "sky's the limit" at Stanford, and suggests that he is interested in increasing attention to international law and interdisciplinary ventures. Also last week, the Boston University School of Law named Professor Maureen O'Rourke as its interim dean, effective July 1. O'Rourke will succeed Dean Ronald Cass, who announced in April that he would step down following 14 years of service. See the online announcement to the BUSL community and a report in the B.U. Bridge for more. In other administrative comings and goings, Dean Michael Young of the George Washington University Law School recently accepted the position of President of the University of Utah. He thanks the GWULS community for its support in an online message here. 11:20 PM | | link to this post | latest Law School News
From casebooks to case studies: L-schools adopting B-school methods Adam Henry Leading law school news of the past two weeks is a report from the New York Law Journal on the increasing adoption of business school methods of instruction, particularly the team-based case-study method, by law schools looking to better prepare their students for the changing marketplace. Some law school admissions offices have even begun to take greater account of applicants' work experience, as business schools already do. In somewhat related news, the faculty of Harvard Law School recently endorsed changes to strengthen the school's First-Year Lawyering course, founded three years ago following complaints from law firms about the level of students' preparation. In other, unrelated news out of Cambridge, the owner of US News & World Report magazine has announced a $10 million gift to Harvard to support fellowships for current and past professional school students to seek additional degrees in public health, education, or government. Mortimer Zuckerman, himself an HLS alumnus, hopes that the fellowships will alleviate for recipients the financial pressures that steer many would-be public servants from public service. Last Friday, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences announced the election of 178 new Fellows, including seven legal academics, to its prestigious membership ranks. Armed with the information, Professor Brian Leiter of the University of Texas School of Law has ranked the top law schools by number of non-retired faculty members in the Academy. Yale Law School tops his list with an astounding 19 Academy members from a faculty of approximately 50. Additionally, Leiter today reports the succesful recruitment of Professor Elaine Shoben of the University of Illinois College of Law to an endowed chair at the University of Las Vegas's William S. Boyd School of Law. "Nevada," he marvels, "has really done better than any law school established in the last decade in attracting well-known faculty." 2:25 PM | | link to this post | latest Law School News
Labor secretary, solicitor general among 2005 commencement speakers Adam Henry On its last day of regular publication, JURIST's Law School News looks ahead to the commencement ceremonies that will soon crown third-year law students' experiences in legal education. According to recent releases, students at Catholic, Duke, and George Mason Schools of Law can look forward to the counsel of high-profile speakers at their respective ceremonies. The Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law announces that US Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao, the first Asian-American woman ever appointed to a President's cabinet, will speak and receive an honorary degree at its May 29 ceremony. The Duke University School of Law announces that US Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson, who successfully represented the president in Bush v. Gore and defended the government's detention of "enemy combatants" at Guantanamo in oral arguments yesterday, will speak at its May 8 ceremony. And finally, the George Mason University School of Law announces that Judge Danny J. Boggs, Chief Judge of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, will speak at its May 15 ceremony. NOTE TO READERS: JURIST's Law School News will continue to publish during the spring semester examination period and throughout the summer, only with reduced frequency. Look for weekly reports, with special coverage of major news on law schools and legal education. Thanks for reading. 11:00 AM | | link to this post | latest Law School News
Ogletree tabbed to lead Harvard's new institute on race and justice Adam Henry Professor Charles J. Ogletree, Jr. has been named the first director of the new Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School. According to Harvard's press release Monday, "Ogletree envisions the Institute focusing on civil and criminal law areas, with a special emphasis on issues of voting rights, the future of affirmative action, and the criminal justice system." The institute is named for Charles Hamilton Houston, a 1922 graduate of Harvard Law School and later professor at Howard Law School who led the litigation in Brown v. Board of Education. Its projects will involve faculty at both institutions when it begins its activities in the fall of 2005. 4:38 PM | | link to this post | latest Law School News
U. Alabama answers law professor Brophy's call, acknowledges slavery ties Adam Henry One month after publicly calling upon his university to acknowledge its historical ties to slavery, Professor Alfred Brophy of the University of Alabama School of Law must be gratified with the university's answer. As announced in a press release Thursday, the University of Alabama has resolved to "more formally recognize the African-American history of its campus." Among its initiatives, it plans to recognize slave burial sites and buildings associated with slavery on campus, and to re-submit its application for a federal historic marker on the site of Governor George Wallace's 1963 stand against integration. Brophy has also called upon the university to apologize for its role in slavery, and according to today's Birmingham News, he has personally drafted the apology for the Faculty Senate's consideration next week. See JURIST's initial report on the matter here. Elsewhere, the Western New England College of Law has announced plans to launch Massachusetts's first LLM degree program in estate planning in the fall of 2005. According to the Western Mass Law Tribune, WNECL will join only two other schools of law nationally in offering such such a program. Professor and program director Frederick Royal will target the program to solo practitioners and small firms in the school's vicinity. See the Tribune's full report here. 2:48 PM | | link to this post | latest Law School News
Vermont Law School names Chicago attorney as new dean Adam Henry The Vermont Law School in South Royalton, VT has named Chicago attorney Geoffrey B. Shields as its seventh dean and president, effective August 1. Shields is not himself a graduate of the school, but he maintains several ties to the state: among them, he is a member of the Vermont bar and has maintained a working farm in the state for many years. Today's Brattleboro Reformer describes these ties and details Shields's ambitions for the law school. According to the chair of the school's board of trustees, who comments in the school's press release, the selection of Shields "signals a decision by VLS to broaden its reach and is consistent with VLS's strategic plan to elevate the recognition of our fine J.D. program while continuing to strengthen our top-rated environmental program." In commencement speaker news, Ave Maria Law School has announced that US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas will address its second graduating class in a ceremony on May 16. Thomas's selection as speaker furthers a relationship he already enjoys with the Ypsilanti institution. In 1999, he conducted the school's first law lecture and gave the fledgling school his ringing endorsement. At this year's commencement, Thomas will also receive an honorary degree. The Detroit Free Press has the full story here. In news concerning another Catholic institution, the American Life League is planning to protest an award ceremony Friday at the Seton Hall Law School. At the ceremony, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is presenting a medal in her name to Judge Maryanne Trump Barry of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which recently struck down New Jersey abortion regulations. The ALL, whose "distinguishing mark ... is our absolute commitment to the sacredness of human life," is calling upon Newark's archbishop to ban the event. See its release here. Finally, April 15 is tax day, and Professor Paul Caron of the University of Cincinnati College of Law has aptly chosen the day to launch his new TaxProf Blog, which he bills as "the only web source of resources, news, and information of interest to law school tax professors in their scholarship and teaching." Professor Caron is also the editor of JURIST's Tax Law Subject Guide. Check them both out. 4:50 PM | | link to this post | latest Law School News
Vanderbilt plan may diversify staffs of student-edited journals Adam Henry The faculty at Vanderbilt University Law School is considering a proposal that would reserve spots on all three of the school's student-edited journals to be filled based solely on students' writing samples and not grades. Supporters of the plan hope that the change will help to diversify the editorial staffs of the journals, none of which has featured even a single black student in the past two years. The Tennessean examines the journals' "mysterious problem" here. See the NYU Law Review's Diversity and Affirmative Action Policy for an example of a plan in place. Elsewhere, the Alligator reports today on construction at the University of Florida's Levin College of Law that will move law students to the the university's main campus later this month. Not surprisingly, the $22 milllion project was instituted after the American Bar Association raised concerns about the amount of space in existing facilities. The ABA's Section of Legal Education requires "adequate" physical facilities in Chapter 7 of its Standards for Approval, and often prompts new construction with its warnings of inadequacy. See an earlier JURIST story here. 12:53 PM | | link to this post | latest Law School News
BU law dean to step down at year's end, following funding frustration Adam Henry Dean Ronald Cass of the Boston University School of Law announced Friday that he will step down at the end of the academic year after 14 years as BU dean. In a letter addressed to the BUSL community, Cass cites the school's 20-place increase in US News rankings during his tenure as an indication of marked improvement, but he expresses frustration with the lack of funding for a new facility. A Boston Globe piece in early March revealed that Cass had overstated the funding that existed by relying on a liberal approach to booking gifts. He tells the university's Daily Free Press, however, that fundraising concerns did not motivate his decision. In other law school news, four law professors have been named 2004 Fellows by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. They are Stuart Banner of UCLA, Lucian Bebchuk of Harvard, Timur Kuran of USC, and Rebecca Scott of the University of Michigan. According to the foundation's press release, "Guggenheim Fellows are appointed on the basis of distinguished achievement in the past and exceptional promise for future accomplishment." Finally, a law professor at the University of Dayton School of Law has compiled a controversial ranking of American law schools by just one factor: whiteness. Vernellia Randall's methodology gives cause for concern, however. Most troublingly, she calculates whiteness "by adding percent of white students to the percent of unknown, that is students whose race is not known" [emphasis added]. In the report's introduction, she characterizes law schools as a "sea of whiteness" and "dangerous...to our society." Find her full 2004 Whitest Law School Report here. 1:53 PM | | link to this post | latest Law School News
New manual offers guidance for redrafting AA policies, following Michigan cases Adam Henry The Equal Justice Society, a national association of students, professors, and attorneys devoted to progressive causes, has released the final draft of its guide called Preserving Diversity in Higher Education: A Manual on Admissions Policies and Procedures After the University of Michigan Decisions [PDF]. As the name suggests, and as an ECJ press release confirms, the manual offers legal and practical guidance to admissions officers and administrators in redrafting their affirmative action policies to comply with last year's University of Michigan decisions, Gratz and Grutter [both PDF]. According to a report in today's New York Law Journal, the manual counsels admissions officers to adopt a broad view of diversity and to remain flexible in considering factors that would contribute to a diverse environment. Read the Journal's full report here. Elsewhere, in a busy day of law school news, the staff of Student Life commends the faculty of the Washington University in St. Louis School of Law for voting to join FAIR, the Forum of Academic and Institutional Rights, in its litigation challenging the Solomon Amendment. WUSTL's press release recommends Professor Chai Feldblum's website at the Georgetown University Law Center for a wealth of resources concerning the controversy. The Courier-Post reports today that the Rutgers School of Law-Camden is planning a $31 million building project to begin construction in summer 2005. The Providence Journal, meanwhile, reports that the Roger Williams University's Ralph R. Papitto School of Law, Rhode Island's only law school, is planning to phase out its evening program by 2008. Wrapping up, Stanford Law School announces the appointment of Professor Robert Daines of the New York University School of Law to an endowed chair in corporate law, and the Yale Daily News reports on Yale Law School students who have secured public interests jobs this summer with the school's generous financial support. 3:40 PM | | link to this post | latest Law School News
George Mason law dean to step down at year's end Adam Henry Dean Mark Grady of the George Mason University School of Law has announced plans to step down as GMU dean, effective August 15, in favor of a return to full time teaching duties. Grady has served as George Mason's law dean for seven years now, and has during that time presided over the school's meteoric ascent in US News's annual rankings, from 116 to (most recently) 38. See the school's news release concerning its position in the 2005 rankings. Today's Mason Gazette has the full story on Grady's plans here. Elsewhere, Professor Brian Leiter of the University of Texas School of Law offers a helpful summary today on his Leiter Reports blog of major law faculty moves made in the last year. The summary follows a preliminary list compiled and posted yesterday in preparation for a column on the year's ten most significant moves. Professor Leiter also reports today that Harvard Law School is looking to add experts in constitutional law to its already distinguished faculty, and to this end is entertaining several visiting professors of con law in the coming academic year. 5:07 PM | | link to this post | latest Law School News
Lessig offers book for free download, advances "free culture" Adam Henry Practicing what he preaches, Professor Lawrence Lessig of Stanford Law School has made his newest book available for free download [PDF] online. In Free Culture, Lessig decries current legal trends and argues for a rebalancing of copyright values that maximizes the Internet's creative and innovative potential. Relying on a Creative Commons license, he allows readers to download the book in its entirety and even make and distribute copies for noncommercial purposes, so long as they credit him as author. Professor Lawrence Solum of the University of San Diego School of Law has taken up the offer and fulfilled the book's intentions, offering "a sort of blogospheric book club" on his excellent Legal Theory Blog. Lessig tells the Stanford Daily today that in addition to contributing to the culture that he advocates, he expects online availability to increase sales of physical copies. In other law school news, Harvard Law School announces today that a team of HLS students took first place at the National Criminal Justice Trial Advocacy Competition in Chicago last weekend. The competition site offers a brief release. 3:07 PM | | link to this post | latest Law School News
Malibu Ken: Kenneth Starr named Pepperdine law dean Adam Henry As reported for JURIST's Paper Chase earlier Tuesday, former independent counsel Kenneth Starr has been named dean of the Pepperdine University School of Law, effective August 1. The school now offers a news release about the appointment. A graduate of the Duke University School of Law and a practicing attorney with Kirkland & Ellis in Washington, DC, Starr nevertheless has several ties to Pepperdine: he served as Straus Distinguished Visiting Professor in 1993, received an honorary doctor of laws degree in 1996, and has sat on the Board of Visitors since 1992. He was first offered the deanship in 1997 but declined in order to attend to his duties as independent counsel in the Whitewater investigation. Meanwhile, the Florida Coastal School of Law has gone lateral to hire its new dean, naming Dean Peter Goplerud [scroll down] of the Drake University Law School to its highest administrative post, effective June 30. Goplerud has co-written a casebook on sports law currently in its fifth edition, and is a career legal educator, as characterized in Jacksonville's Daily Record. Finally, the North Grounds Softball League at the University of Virginia School of Law congratulates two of its own, as UVA squads swept top honors in the regular and co-rec divisions of its annual law softball invitiational last weekend. NGSL has posted the final brackets from the double-elimination tournament at its site here. 12:57 PM | | link to this post | latest Law School News
Law schools respond to latest US News rankings Adam Henry Major movers in the 2005 US News and World Report rankings are responding in very different ways to their upward moves. The Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (20, up from 25 in 2004) takes the customary approach, embracing its rise in the rankings while acknowledging limits to the rankings' significance. See WUSTL's release here. Dean W.H. Knight, Jr. of the University of Washington School of Law (34, up from 45), however, claims no such victory in his column today. Instead, he cites measures in which UW must improve if it is to continue to improve its overall ranking. See Dean Knight's column here. Meanwhile, the University of Pittsburgh School of Law (47, up from 51) merely links readers of its website to the rankings, without comment. Finally, in a testament to the influence that the rankings enjoy, the Arizona State University College of Law (53, up from 59) has announced plans to increase its faculty by 25%, explicitly hoping to improve its student/teacher ratio and thus its overall ranking (the measure constitutes 3% of total score in the ranking methodology). See the Arizona Republic's full report here. In other law school news, Washington University in St. Louis announces its successful recruitment of Professors Sam Bagenstos and Margo Schlanger from Harvard Law School. The Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center, meanwhile, has named Professor Lawrence Raful of Creighton University School of Law as its new dean, according to the New York Law Journal. Elsewhere around the country: the San-Antonio Express-News reports on a new terrorism law research center inaugurated Friday at St. Mary's University School of Law; the Kansas City Star reports on a possible downtown move by the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law; the Charleston Business Journal takes stock of the first class of admits at the Charleston School of Law; and the Yale Daily News reports on a false bomb scare at Yale Law School on Saturday. 1:06 PM | | link to this post | latest Law School News
Yale Law tops 2005 US News & World Report rankings Adam Henry  US News & World Report has ushered in another April with the release of its annual rankings of accredited American law schools. Yale Law School once again tops the 2005 rankings, which the news magazine compiles yearly on the basis of a dozen quantitative, but arguably arbitrary, measures of institutional quality. Indeed, the top rung of the rankings has changed little from last year or even from last decade, lending support to the idea of The Durability of Law School Reputation [PDF] about which Professor Richard Schmalbeck of the Duke University School of Law (#10, see graphic) has written. Eight of the top nine schools are the same in a 1974 survey he cites and the 2005 rankings. In the top 50, the major upward movers (4 places or more) were Washington University in St. Louis (20, up from 25 in 2004), Emory University (23, up from 27), University of Washington (34, up from 45), University of Alabama (40, up from 45) and JURIST's own host institution, the University of Pittsburgh (47, up from 51). Downward movers in the top 50 were Boston College (29, down from 22), Ohio State University (42, down from 38), the University of Utah (47, down from 40), and the University of Colorado-Boulder (50, down from 40). Tulane Law School dropped off the top-50 list, moving from 45 to 56. In other law school news, the North Grounds Softball League of the University of Virginia School of Law is finishing preparations for the 21st Annual Virginia Law Softball Invitational, to be held this weekend. A hundred odd teams of law students will converge on Charlottesville for a double-elimination tournament and general "merriment." Teams from the University of Chicago Law School and from UVA will enter the tournament as defending champions in the regular and co-rec divisions. 3:06 AM | | link to this post | latest Law School News
Admissions more than a mere numbers game, says Michigan Law dean Adam Henry According to Sarah C. Zearfoss, admission to the University of Michigan Law School is more than a numbers game. Writing for the spring Law Quadrangle Notes, the director of admissions explains that in addition to applicants' score information, her office each spring considers "soft variables" suggesting special contribution to intellectual and social life. She calculates that half of recent classes consist of "leapfroggers" whose nonscore attributes catapult them ahead of better-scoring peers. Zearfoss cites a familiar rationale for the consideration of soft variables, one approved last term in Grutter [PDF]: that "bringing diverse people and viewpoints into the classroom is critical...in a multicultural and constantly changing world." Her office's notion of diversity, crucially, is broader than race and ethnicity, encompassing extraordinary backgrounds, personal qualities, and nonacademic accomplishments as well. Read Michigan Law's admissions policy here [PDF]. Meanwhile, the spring issue of the Stanford Lawyer features, among other articles of interest, a roundtable conversation on Brown v. Board of Education with case attorney and Columbia Law School Professor Jack Greenberg [scroll to bottom] and Professors R. Richard Banks, Pamela Karlan, and William Koski of Stanford Law School. Greenberg characterizes the Brown decision as an "icebreaker" to the "frozen sea" of contemporary racial politics. Read the full issue, which includes a piece on the inaugural event of the school's Latino Alumni Association, here [PDF]. 6:05 PM | | link to this post | latest Law School News
Cooley Law sues ABA for blocking accreditation of satellite programs Adam Henry In yet another accreditation controversy, Thomas M. Cooley Law School has filed suit in a Michigan district court, seeking to enjoin the American Bar Association from blocking accreditation of its new, two-year satellite programs at Oakland and Western Michigan Universities (see JURIST's report on expansion of the former program). In its press release, the Lansing-based law school claims that its new programs exceed accrediting requirements and alleges that the ABA's inaction "unfairly hinders qualified law students from receiving a quality legal education and could ultimately prevent them from serving as lawyers in law firms, government agencies, companies and other organizations." Cooley offers site inspection reports, action letters, pleadings, and a complaint timeline at its website here. Elsewhere around the law school horn: Pace Law School has announced the appointment of corporate lawyer Stephen J. Friedman as its newest dean, effective July 1. The University of Houston Law Center announces its team's mock trial victory in the prestigious National Trial Competition in Austin, TX. The University of Wisconsin Law School announces its receipt of a $7 million gift from the estate of alumnus Frederick W. Miller, to be used to create the school's first endowed deanship. The Daily Texan reports on a lecture by affirmative action opponent Roger Clegg at the University of Texas School of Law, decrying distortion of the meaning of "affirmative action" since its debut in a 1961 executive order. And finally, the Japan Times reports Wednesday on the imminent opening of 68 new Japanese law schools that will operate on the US model of practical legal education. NOTE TO READERS: Stay tuned for full coverage of US News & World Report's 2005 Law Rankings, scheduled for release on Friday, April 2. In the meantime, find the 2004 edition of these controversial but closely watched measures here. 6:01 PM | | link to this post | latest Law School News
SPECIAL FEATURE: Q&A with Professor Rhonda Wasserman on gay marriage Adam Henry  Following her leading participation in a teach-in on gay marriage at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law last Thursday, Professor Rhonda Wasserman has kindly consented to elaborate her position in a written interview for today's JURIST. Professor Wasserman specializes her teaching and research at Pitt on matters of civil procedure and conflict of laws, and has earned high marks from students as a teacher of both subjects. She has recently completed a book on procedural due process. Here, she analyzes gay marriage from a conflicts perspective.JURIST: You argued at Thursday's teach-in that conservative concerns about the extraterritorial effects of gay marriages may be unfounded: first, because the Constitution's Full Faith and Credit Clause does not accord marriages the weight of judicial proceedings and thus does not compel their recognition by other states; and second, because states may decline recognition under a well recognized public policy exception. Hypothetically, can states secure extraterritorial effects for gay marriages that they perform by making the issuance of marriage licenses more like judicial proceedings and less like public acts or records? RW: I think it would be difficult for states to do so, for a couple of reasons. First, since judges play no role in the issuance of marriage licenses and serve as officiants in few marriages, it would take some work to transform the marriage process into a judicial proceeding. Second, if the only parties to the "judicial proceeding" were the state and the couple, it would not be an adversary proceeding. Finally, even if the marriage could be recast somehow as a "judicial proceeding," it would be binding on parties to the action, but nonparties would not be bound. See, e.g., Williams v. North Carolina, 325 U.S. 226, 230 (1945) (noting that "those not parties to a litigation ought not to be foreclosed by the interested actions of others; especially not a State which is concerned with the vindication of its own social policy and has no means, certainly no effective means, to protect that interest against the selfish action of those outside its borders"). JURIST: What limits, if any, does the Constitution place on states' invocation of the public policy exception? Do statutes declaring longstanding public policies on the meaning of marriage insulate states from constitutional review by federal courts? RW: Professor Larry Kramer has argued that the public policy exception itself is unconstitutional because a state that invokes it fails to give another state's law the full faith and credit that it deserves based solely on the law's content. Larry Kramer, Same-Sex Marriage, Conflict of Laws, and the Unconstitutional Public Policy Exception, 106 Yale L.J. 1965 (1997). The Supreme Court's decision in Baker v. General Motors Corp., 522 U.S. 222, 233 (1998), appears to undercut Kramer's argument: "A court may be guided by the forum State's 'public policy' in determining the law applicable to a controversy" (citations and footnote omitted). Even if the public policy exception is constitutional, however, and even if the mini-DOMAs that many states have enacted are strong evidence of their public policy, those statutes do not necessarily insulate the states' decisions from judicial review. For instance, if the mini-DOMAs are found to discriminate in violation of the equal protection clause of the federal Constitution, they would be struck down. JURIST: Will widespread invocation of the public policy exception by states condemn gay spouses to "hodgepodge" recognition of their marriages as they travel, undermining the choice of law goal of uniformity? RW: I do believe that for a period of time, that is the likely result. Some states, like Massachusetts, will permit same-sex couples to marry. Some states, like New York, likely will recognize them. And other states, like Pennsylvania, will invoke the public policy exception and decline to recognize them. The goal of uniformity will be frustrated, but the states will operate as "50 laboratories" in which to experiment on the best approach to this issue (at least until the Supreme Court resolves the issue as a matter of federal constitutional law). JURIST: However unfounded, conservative concerns about the possible extraterritorial effects of gay marriage have prompted responses at the federal level, both by statute (the Defense of Marriage Act) and most recently by proposed constitutional amendment (the Federal Marriage Amendment). Are federal responses to gay marriage issues proper under principles of federalism, given that marriage has traditionally been a subject of state law given its largely local effects? RW: The federal government has long played some role in regulating family life (through the welfare laws, the tax code, and a host of other Congressional acts). Nevertheless, a federal constitutional amendment to bar same-sex marriage seems like a very heavy-handed way to regulate state marriage law. It seems ironic to me that conservatives would favor such an intrusion into the traditional right of states to define marriage. JURIST: Lastly, you suggested at the teach-in that the Defense of Marriage Act may be vulnerable on full faith and credit as well as due process and equal protection grounds, and you mentioned that "strong arguments" exist to this end. Yet at a Senate subcommittee hearing on the matter, Professor Lea Brilmayer of Yale Law School shrugged off such skepticism as an underestimation of the latitude that the clause gives to Congress to adopt legislation. Do you agree with Professor Brilmayer that DOMA "falls within Article IV's grant of congressional power"? RW: Lea Brilmayer was not only my conflicts professor in law school, but the only woman professor that I had in my three years and a great role model for me. Notwithstanding the enormous respect I have for her, on this issue I disagree. I am persuaded by the argument made by Professors Larry Kramer and Laurence Tribe that the first sentence of the Full Faith and Credit Clause is binding on Congress, and that the Effects Clause does not authorize it to enact legislation at odds with the first sentence. See, e.g., Larry Kramer, Same-Sex Marriage, Conflict of Laws, and the Unconstitutional Public Policy Exception, 106 Yale L.J. 1965, 2001-07 (1997). 5:06 PM | | link to this post | latest Law School News
Renowned IP scholar leaves Boalt to join Stanford's stars Adam Henry Professor Mark Lemley of the University of California at Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law liked Stanford so much he decided to stay. A visiting professor of intellectual property law at Stanford Law School last fall, Lemley has accepted an offer to join the permanent ranks of Boalt's cross-bay rival. According to the Recorder's report on his appointment, Stanford offers him a chance to work "with real stars in IP" like Lawrence Lessig and Paul Goldstein. Lemley is himself a star in intellectual property, the author of six books and 51 articles on the subject and a co-director of Boalt's Berkeley Center for Law & Technology. Once firmly rooted in Palo Alto, he will direct Stanford's counterpart Program in Law, Science & Technology. Lemley's is not the only appointment in the news. Late last week, Georgetown University Law Center named Professor T. Alexander Aleinkoff as the school's 14th dean. A leading scholar of immigration law, Aleinkoff is equally prolific, having authored more than 50 books and articles. On the occasion of his appointment, GULC offers both a press release and a statement by outgoing Dean Judith Areen, who hails her successor as "visionary leader" as well as an "able scholar." In other law school news, the Tallahassee Democrat reports today on a new facility in the works for the Florida A&M University College of Law. The $28 million building in downtown Orlando, slated for a 2005 opening, represents the resurrection of a law program that lay dormant for more than three decades because of state budget cuts. Meanwhile, FAMU students wait on more than an upgrade from their temporary quarters: they also await a vote on provisional accreditation by the American Bar Association to take place later this year. The Democrat has the full story on the status of the school's facility and its accreditation here. 7:25 PM | | link to this post | latest Law School News
Teach-ins at Pitt and New Mexico tackle gay marriage issues Adam Henry Gay marriage is getting special academic attention this week at two law schools. This afternoon a panel of three professors and two students led a teach-in on the topic at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, home and host institution to JURIST's Law School News. Speaking first to a capacity audience, Professor Deborah Brake analogized current sex-based barriers to marriage to race-based barriers found unconstitutional in Loving v. Virginia. She suggested that states might remove sex altogether when they have occasion to redefine marriage. Professor John Parry then addressed the "federalism phenomenon" that divergent state responses have precipitated. Most provocatively, he questioned the value of the marriage institution given social science trends, and suggested (without subscribing to it) that marriage might be better governed by churches than by states. Lastly, Professor Rhonda Wasserman reviewed the relevant jurisprudence on choice of law before concluding that a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage is unnecessary under "relatively well accepted" understandings of the Full Faith and Credit Clause's limitations. The University of New Mexico School of Law played host to a similar teach-in on gay marriage Wednesday. Today's Daily Lobo recounts the arguments advanced by UNM panelists here. Elsewhere, Thursday's Harvard Crimson continues the "resurrection of reparations discourse" that JURIST spoke of Tuesday. Professor Charles Ogletree of Harvard Law School has pledged to continue his legal effort to obtain reparations for survivors of the 1921 Tulsa race riots. US District Court Judge James O. Ellison last Friday dismissed the lawsuit he initiated on statute of limitations grounds. Professor Ogletree insists, however, that he's prepared to fight "to insure that the injustices that occurred in Tulsa aren't repeated and are redressed in the courts." The Crimson has the full story here. Finally, the Yale Daily News reports today on a bill approved last week by the US House Armed Services Committee to strengthen the controversial Solomon Amendment. Called the ROTC and Military Recruiter Equal Access to Campus Act of 2004, it clarifies the language of the Solomon Amendment to ensure that ROTC and military recruiters enjoy "fair and equal access for recruiting purposes" and increases penalties for noncompliance by adding to the agencies that may withhold federal funds. Read the Committee's press release on the bill, which soon faces full House consideration, here, and the YDN's full story here. See JURIST's most recent report on Solomon-related litigation here. 2:35 PM | | link to this post | latest Law School News
Newdow sharpened arguments in UC Berkeley moot Adam Henry Wednesday's UCBerkeley News offers an excellent collection of resources relating to Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, better known as the Pledge case, argued today in the US Supreme Court. Resources include a webcast of oral arguments made by Newdow and Professor Vikram Amar of the Hastings College of the Law in a moot court hearing at Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law in February. Boalt's American Constitution Society, the organizer of the moot court exercise, offers all of the briefs here. Newdow actually participated in several such exercises to sharpen his case for today's arguments. See, for example, JURIST's report here on his participation in a mock trial at the University of Washington School of Law. In other law school news, the Boston College Third World Law Journal's latest issue carries an article called "Reparations Talk" by Professor Alfred Brophy of the University of Alabama School of Law. Professor Brophy has made headlines, including JURIST's here, by publicly calling on his university to acknowledge and apologize for its historical ties to slavery, and to consider paying reparations to descendants of slaves. Subtitled "Reparations for Slavery and the Tort Law Analogy," his article in the Journal assesses optimistically the possible role of tort law in assigning moral culpability and ultimately in obtaining reparations payments. Click on the title above for the full article. |
