Brian Leiter's Law School Reports

Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against George Mason and Its Dean Dismissed

Story here.

A Poll: What is the best way to evaluate the *scholarly* quality of a law faculty?

Is it through scholarly impact/citation studies (like this one)?  Or reputational surveys (such as here or here)?  Or SSRN downloads (e.g., here)?  Or is there no reliable way to gauge this?  Take the poll.

UPDATE:  A comment from a reader leads me to realize that I should emphasize that you should please interpret the categories broadly:  so, e.g., "scholarly impact/citation studies" doesn't commit one to my way of doing them--it could include impact/citation studies that used different databases, that included books, Google scholar, etc.  Similarly, a reputational survey needn't mean the way US News does them, but could include a survey in which experts are asked to evaluate recent work by colleagues and give their assessment of it.

Richard Gershon Named Dean At Mississippi

Richard Gershon, a professor at Charleston School of Law - and the former dean at both Charleston and Texas Wesleyan School of Law - has been named the new dean at the University of Mississippi School of Law effective July 1.

Louisiana Law School Clinic Restrictions Shelved In Committee

I've previously blogged about new proposals to signficantly limit the practice of student law clinics in Louisiana.  The chemical and oil industries had pushed legislators to prohibit law school clinics from suing government agencies, seeking damages from private individuals and entities, and raising constitutional claims at all.  Yesterday, a Senate committee considering the legislation decided to shelve it - in all likelihood killing it for this legislative session at least. 

Industry advocates are at least candid about their motives.  According to Business Week:

Dan Borne, president of the Louisiana Chemical Association, said his organization asked Adley to sponsor the bill after its members were angered by a clinic lawsuit that would require polluters around Baton Rouge to pay millions in fines for noncompliance with ozone standards.  

H/T: Legal Ethics Forum

This Year's Law School Graduation Speakers

Paul Caron, over at TaxProf, has been doing the hard investigative work and he now has a good list of of the 2010 law school commencement speakers here. I'm sure he'd appreciate any additional information that folks are willing to share.  You can look at last year's list here and the 2008 list here.

Here's a really lovely article...

...about the retirement of longtime UVA law professor and well-known constitutional law scholar Lillian BeVier.  It also sheds some interesting light on how the situation for women in the legal academy has changed over the course of her career.

Illinois Admissions Scandal Redux: Mikva Admits to Contacting University of Illinois on Behalf of Constituents When He Was a State Legislator

Story here.  Perhaps this explains why the Mikva Commission could not be bothered to investigate the actual wrongdoers in the Illinois admissisons scandal.

Scholarly Impact Study Update

So it is basically complete now, except  for some formatting issues and Erik Luna (Washington & Lee) needs to be added to the runners-up list in criminal law and procedure.  The most changes/edits were in the three specialty categories that were new this time:  Administrative Law, Family Law, and Property.  Thanks to all those who offered feedback and corrections.  Some faculty at other schools are preparing a supplement to this study that will examine another 50-80 schools.

Susan Crawford and Brett Frischman Moving to Cardozo

Cardozo School of Law is making two important intellectual property lateral hires.  Susan Crawford is a Professor of Law at the University of Michigan (currently on leave to work in the Obama Administration as a Special Assistant to the President for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy as part of the National Economic Council.  She is rejoining the Cardozo faculty; she started her academic career there in 2003.  (She had previously been a partner at Wilmer.)  Her focus is on communications law and the Internet.  She will join Cardozo next winter.  Brett Frischman is a Professor of Law at Loyola - Chicago.  He has been a prolific and highly-regarded scholar at the intersection of intellectual property law and internet infrastructure.  These two hires should be a significant boost for Cardozo's IP program and, in particular, its focus on cyberlaw. 

Minnesota Law Professor David Stras Named To State Supreme Court

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has named University of Minnesota Law Professor David Stras to the state's Supreme Court.  Dave is a federal courts and constitutional law scholar and a blogger at Scotusblog.  He is also a friend of mine, dating back to the days when he was a Hugo Black Fellow at the University of Alabama.  He is a generous and thoughtful colleague and I am very pleased to see this appointment.  I may not always agree with his decisions,  but I'm confident that he'll always work in good faith and do his best to see both sides of a dispute.