Brian Leiter's Law School Reports

International Law Scholar Spiro from Georgia to Temple

Peter Spiro (international law, foreign affairs law, immigration law), who moved from Hofstra to a chaired position in the law school at the University of Georgia in 2004, has now accepted a Chair in the law school at Temple University.  That's the second high-profile chaired appointment for Temple recently; last year, Temple recruited law and economics scholar Peter Huang from the University of Minnesota.

Brian Leiter T-Shirt

Remarks by Jennifer Mnookin (UCLA) led me to think some law readers might also find this amusing.

Minnesota Hirings and Retentions

The University of Minnesota Law School has made two lateral tenure-track hires recently:  Alexandra Klass (environmental law, property) from William Mitchell College of Law, and Heidi Kitrosser (constitutional law, esp. First Amendment) from Brooklyn Law School.  In addition, Minnesota has retained intellectual property law scholar Dan Burk in the face of an offer from Cornell Law School.

Osgoode: the #1 Law School in Canada?

So says Canadian Lawyer magazine, which takes a more "customer satisfaction" approach to rankings than U.S. News.

Georgetown Law Students Protest A.G. Gonzales's Speech Defending Domestic Spying

There is an account, with pictures, here.  (Thanks to Arpan Sura for the pointer.)

Trusts & Estates Scholar Sitkoff from Northwestern to NYU

Robert Sitkoff, a highly regarded young trusts and estates scholar at Northwestern University School of Law, has accepted a tenured offer from New York University.

A PhD in "Law and Economics?"

We reported last month on the move of Viscusi and Hersch to Vanderbilt, and now Vanderbilt's official announcement reports that the school is establishing a PhD program in "law and economics."  There already exist many schools, of course, where one can get a JD and a PhD in economics (Harvard, Stanford, and Chicago have probably produced the most academics with this background), but I take it the idea here is that the PhD studies will focus on "law and economics," and that this can be done in conjunction with a law degree.

I'm curious to hear what those more knowledgeable about economics, and economic analysis of law, think:  does the world need a PhD program in "law and economics"?  Does such a program make sense, as distinct from pursuing a JD and a PhD in economics?  Please remember that comments may take awhile to appear.

Dispute over Racial and Ethnic Diversity at University of Florida College of Law

Paul Caron (Cincinnati) has been covering it.

More Thoughts on "Exploding Offers"...

...from Jennifer Mnookin (Law, UCLA).

Do law schools need more ideological diversity?

Peter Schuck (Yale) and I discuss the issue this week over at Legal Affairs.  We actually "pre-recorded" this over the last couple of weeks, but I won't give away the ending!  The "debate" starts with Peter's recent American Lawyer essay.