Brian Leiter's Law School Reports

Lateral hires in law with tenure or on tenure-track, 2024-25

These are non-clinical/non-LRW appointments that will take effect in summer or fall 2025 (except where noted); (new additions will be in bold.)  Last year's list is here.

 

*Amna Akbar (criminal law & procedure, social movements) from Ohio State University to the University of Minnesota.

 

*Oren Bar-Gill (commercial law, contracts, law & economics) from Harvard University to New York University.

 

*Devon Carbado (criminal procedure, constitutional law, Critical Race Theory) from the University of California, Los Angeles to New York University (effective January 2025).

 

*Grant Christensen (Federal Indian law, civil procedure) from Stetson University to the University of Alabama (untenured lateral).

 

*Avihay Dorfman (torts, property, legal and political theory) from Tel Aviv University to University of Texas at Austin.

 

*Myriam Gilles (civil procedure, torts, civil rights) from Cardozo Law School/Yeshiva University to Northwestern University.

 

*Jonathan Gould (legislation, constitutional law, administrative law, law & politics) from the University of California, Berkeley to New York University.

 

*Sergio Gramitto Ricci (corporate law) from the University of Missouri, Kansas City to Hofstra University (untenured lateral) (effective January 2025).

 

*Jill Horwitz (health law & policy) from the University of California, Los Angeles to Northwestern University.

 

*Orin Kerr (criminal procedure, computer crime law) from the University of California, Berkeley to Stanford University (effective January 2025).

 

*Anne Maria Lofaso (labor & employment law) from West Virginia University to the University of Cincinnati (effective January 2025).

Continue reading

In Memoriam: Henry P. Monaghan (1934-2025)

Professor Monaghan, who taught for more than forty years at Columbia Law School (and, before that, at Boston and Cornell Universities), was a leading authority on constitutional law and federal courts.  The CLS memorial notice is here.

In Memoriam: George L. Priest (1947-2024)

Professor Priest, a leading figure in law and economics, taught for many years at Yale, and before that at UCLA and the University of Puget Sound.  The Yale memorial notice is here.

(Thanks to Daniel Crane for the pointer.)

Law professors reading Marx

A nice note from a law professor elsewhere:

I wanted to pass on a note thanking you for your marvelous book with Jaime Edwards on Marx. The explanation of ideas is lucid and exactly what this non-expert needed as a clear and comprehensive introduction. Like many, I have read at one time the Manifesto and bits of Capital before. But I've never had a fully satisfying explainer, and this is it. The examples also are extremely helpful in understanding things (and some were genuinely funny, like the proto-Cheetahs!). I'm planning to assign portions to my students for appropriate classes.

Decline in Black and Hispanic students at elite law schools in the wake of SCOTUS decision

Some details here.  Corporate America's commitment to "diversity" still seems to be strong, which leads me to think that insofar as clients demand "diverse" teams of attorneys from law firms, law firms will recruit more aggressively at schools outside the top ranks to find suitable candidates.  (I was amused the reporter used the even more meaningless than before "top 14" designation!)

Projecting next year's USNews.com law school rankings

Derek Muller offers another prognosis, based on the existing formula and the public data.  Fluctuations in reputation scores, which do occur, will change the final results.  One thing we know from the past is that the "overall" rankings starts to influence the reputational survey rankings.   Will this start to affect schools like Columbia and NYU which are bizarrely under-ranked under the new formula?

What do you need to find out now that you've gotten a tenure-track offer?

MOVING TO FRONT, SINCE SCHOOLS ARE MAKING OFFERS (ORIGINALLY POSTED NOVEMBER 24, 2009--I HAVE UPDATED CERTAIN NUMBERS)--SEE ALSO THE COMMENTS, WHICH HAVE HELPFUL ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS

With luck, some of you seeking law teaching jobs will have gotten offers of tenure-track positions.  What then?  Here's roughly what I tell the Chicago job candidates we work with that they need to find out, and in the interest of having it written down in one place and for the benefit of others too, here it is (not in order of importance):

1.  You will want to get (in writing eventually) the basic salary information, obviously, and the nature of summer research support and the criteria for its award (is it automatic for junior faculty?  contingent on prior publication [if so, how much?]?  awarded competitively (if so, based on what criteria/process)?).   You should also find out how salary raises are determined.  Are they, for example, lock-step for junior faculty?  Fixed by union contract?  (Rutgers faculty, for example, are unionized, a huge advantage and why they are among the best-paid faculty, not just in law, in the country.)  Is it a 'merit' system, and if so is it decanal discretion or is their a faculty committee that reviews your teaching and work each year?

2.  You should ask for a copy of the school's tenure standards and get clear about the expectations and the timeline.  Does any work you have already published count towards meeting the tenure standard?

Continue reading

Amy Wax threatens to sue Penn if the sanctions are not lifted

Here's the lawyer's letter.  The breach of contract claim is straightforward, and she should prevail on it given the AAUP principles to which the university has committed itself:  as I've noted before, the University has made clear they are punishing her for her lawful but offensive extramural speech.   The letter's claim of race discrimination strikes me as bizarre, but perhaps someone can explain the theory and why Wax has standing to pursue it.  Signed comments (full name, valid email address [which will not appear]) will be strongly preferred.  Submit your comment only once, it may take awhile to appear.

20 most cited International Law/National Security/Foreign Affairs Law faculty in the U.S., 2019-2023

Based on the latest Sisk data, here are the twenty most-cited law faculty working in international law, national security law and/or foreign affairs law in the U.S. for the period 2019-2023 (inclusive) (remember that the data was collected in late May/early June of 2024, and that the pre-2024 database did expand a bit since then).  Numbers are rounded to the nearest ten.    Faculty for whom roughly 75% or more of their citations (based on a sample) are in this area are listed; others with less than 75% of their citations in this field (but still a plurality) are listed in the category of "other highly cited scholars who work partly in this area." 

Continue reading

Total law school applicants up 25% this year (and applications are up 35%)!

A "Trump bump" no doubt!  This is good news for those who expect to be looking for law teaching jobs next year:  since most schools are tuition-dependent, a significant increase in applicants means schools can plan to hire.