Brian Leiter's Law School Reports

Obama Raids Harvard Again: Jody Freeman

Details here.

That brings Harvard's (perhaps temporary) losses to five:  David Barron, Freeman, Elena Kagan, Daniel Meltzer, Cass Sunstein. 

University of Miami President Committed to 40% Expansion of Size of Law Faculty

Wow.  The changing economic climate may affect these plans, though Professor Froomkin remains optimistic.

UPDATE:  More detail on the Miami faculty expansion here.

Financial Armaggedon for Universities in Arizona?

Stories and links here.  Please post information and links below, in the comments, about how these developments are affecting the two strong law schools in Arizona.

A bit of simple advice on bank bailouts...

...from my Chicago colleague Bernard Harcourt.

Turmoil in the World of Law Blog Comments

Jack Balkin (Yale) has finally had to pull comments on his fine blog.  "Above the Law"--whose comments sections are a cesspool of juvenile nonsense, misogyny and racism rivalling Autoadmit--isn't really cleaning things up, just trying to hide it a bit more.  Orin Kerr (George Washington) comments on his efforts to maintain a worthwhile "comments" culture on his blog postings.  My own comments policy is here.  At my philosophy blog, where I have the same policy but open comments more often, the approach has been quite popular with readers; as one wrote: 

The vast majority of discussion on the internet is worthless, your blog being a rare exception. If comments are not moderated it is safe to assume not only that there will be more junk comments, but that this decrease in average quality will cause a decrease in the number of worthwhile comments as well. Many of the most informative and best-considered comments in current discussions come from well-respected, and no doubt very busy, philosophers, whom I imagine would have little desire to spend their scant free time engaging with belligerent internet trolls.

Mendez from Stanford to UC Davis

Miguel Mendez, a leading authority on both the Federal and California rules of evidence, will take early retirement at Stanford Law School (where he has taught for the past three decades), and take up a full-time position on the law faculty at the University of California at Davis.

Two More Senior Hires for DePaul: Smith from Fordham, Tuerkheimer from Maine

DePaul University has made two more senior hires with tenure:  Terry Smith (employment law, voting rights, Critical Race Theory) from Fordham University and Deborah Tuerkheimer (criminal law and procedure, domestic violence) from the University of Maine.

Statement on Gaza

An orthodox Jewish philosophy professor and a colleague have crafted a fine statement on the Israeli atrocities in Gaza, which I commend to the attention of interested readers.  (I learned of it, obviously, from my philosophy colleagues.)

My legal philosophy blog is slowly coming back to life...

...for those who might be interested.

Two Signs of the Perilous Financial Times

Brandeis University is selling its entire art collection to raise money.

And university endowments continue in free fall.