Brian Leiter's Law School Reports

Lateral Hiring List Updated

I've updated my lateral hiring list here.  It includes both junior and tenured hires.

Constitutional law scholar Eisgruber named Princeton President

Christopher Eisgruber, the current Provost at Princeton, a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, a law professor at NYU for more than a decade, and a leading scholar of constitutional law, especially the law of religious liberty, has been named the new President of his alma mater, Princeton University.

Kloppenberg to Lead Santa Clara

University of Dayton law professor Lisa Kloppenberg has been named the new dean of the Santa Clara University School of Law.  Kloppenberg was Dayton's dean from 2001 to 2011. 

So which areas of law deserve more attention in the legal academy?

The results of our earlier poll, with over 200 votes cast:

1. Consumer Law  (Condorcet winner: wins contests with all other choices)

2. Energy Law/Natural Resources Law/Water Law  loses to Consumer Law by 109–73

3. Employment Law  loses to Consumer Law by 115–73, loses to Energy Law/Natural Resources Law/Water Law by 91–85

4. Alternative Dispute Resolution  loses to Consumer Law by 106–80, loses to Employment Law by 89–83

5. Immigration Law  loses to Consumer Law by 118–67, loses to Alternative Dispute Resolution by 87–86

6. Family Law  loses to Consumer Law by 123–61, loses to Immigration Law by 99–72

7. Insurance Law  loses to Consumer Law by 130–53, loses to Family Law by 100–77

8. Comparative Law  loses to Consumer Law by 117–68, loses to Insurance Law by 91–87

9. Elder Law  loses to Consumer Law by 135–47, loses to Comparative Law by 88–80

10. Wills, Trusts & Estates  loses to Consumer Law by 126–58, loses to Elder Law by 88–79

Thoughts from readers?  Signed comments only:  full name and valid e-mail address. 

First Things (magazine) on "Why Tolerate Religion?"

First Things is a conservative Catholic intellectual magazine.  An unsigned editorial in the April 2013 issue opines that,

A recent book by...Brian Leiter outlines what may well become the theoretical consensus used to reinterpret the First Amendment.  "There is no principled reason," he writes in Why Tolerate Religion?, "for legal or constitutional regimes to single out religion for protection."  He buys the ideological [sic] attack on religion, describing religious belief as a uniquely bad combination of moral fervor and mental blindness.  It serves no public good that justifies special protection.  More significant--and this is his main thesis--it is patently unfair to provide it with such.  Why should a Catholic or Jew have a special right while Peter Singer, a committed utilitarian, doesn't?  Evoking the principle of fairness, Leiter argues that everybody's conscience should be accorded the same legal protections.  Thus he proposes to replace religious liberty with a plenary "liberty of conscience."

Without dwelling on some of the mischaracterizations of my argument (the general thrust of it they have right), it's striking to me that they believe this "may well become the theoretical consensus used to reinterpret the First Amendment."  I would welcome that, but I don't expect it to happen in my lifetime.  I do think there's more potential in Canada and the European countries, many of which
already recognize "liberty of conscience," but have yet, in practice, to extend that much beyond religious claims of conscience.  (Of course, I also think there should be no exemptions from laws respsecting the principle of toleration and that promote the general welfare, unless those exemptions do not shift burdens on to others.)

Three Law Professors Win Guggenheim Fellowships in 2013 Competition (CORRECTED)

They are Lee Epstein (Southern California) and Kristen Stilt (Northwestern).

UPDATE:  There's a third, legal historian Daniel Sharfstein (Vanderbilt), whom I missed (he was listed under Humanities, not Social Science).  Thanks to several of his colleagues who flagged the omission.

How hard are the different state bar exams?

This is informative.  Illinois's will be a bit harder to pass, but not a lot harder.

More signs of the times: declining law school enrollment leads to budget cuts across the entire university...

...at Catholic University in Washington, DC.

Standard & Poor's Downgrades Albany Law School's Rating

Of course, the track record of these agencies is sufficiently poor that it's hard to know what to make of this, but it is still a "sign of the times," as it were.

Post-graduation employment minus school-funded jobs

Interesting list here, though as we noted before, school-funded jobs are often the crucial route into public sector positions for many graduates, and schools with big investments in getting graduates into public interest will necessarily have a good number of these.  On the other hand, it is certainly true that in many other cases, school-funded jobs are make-work position meant to boost employment statistics, not help launch careers.