Friday, August 12, 2022
Japanese "comfort women" and the North Korean connection
The discussion continues. The long abstract gives a good overview of the argument. (Earlier coverage here and here.)
August 12, 2022 in Of Academic Interest | Permalink
Thursday, August 11, 2022
The AALS springs another surprise on job seekers
The first round FAR forms were due yesterday.
The AALS has continued its tradition of springing surprises on job seekers. The last two years the surprise was, first, abandoning the old FAR form, and then, the next year, reinstating it, with some minor modifications (most notably, eliminating the secondary list of teaching interests).
This year's surprise was inviting applicants to upload a "Diversity Statement," described as follows:
Many law schools now require that candidates for faculty positions submit statements as to how they will teach to a diverse student body and contribute to the diverse academic community. If you wish, and this is not required by AALS, you may include such a statement with your FAR form and it will be available to law schools.
As some public universities are using these statements, they are of dubious legality. In addition, everyone is expecting the Supreme Court to decide next year that "diversity" is no longer a compelling interest when it comes to college admissions, which is likely to raise further legal questions and challenges to the use of diversity statements in faculty hiring.
Be that as it may, I think the most compelling reason not to encourage diversity statements is that they add to the burden on already over-burdened job seekers, and they add very little real information. The proliferation of supplemental statements is a trend that should not be encouraged by the AALS.
August 11, 2022 in Advice for Academic Job Seekers | Permalink
Wednesday, August 10, 2022
Blast from the past: Do blogs help or hinder professional prospects?
Back in 2007, although now we should ask the same question about Twitter. Signed comments from readers (full name plus email address that will not appear) are welcome. Submit the comment only once, it may take awhile to appear.
August 10, 2022 in Deja vu all over again (reposting of earlier items of interest) | Permalink | Comments (3)
Monday, August 8, 2022
14 lateral moves that made law professors "take notice" during 2021-22
Based on my in-box and conversations with others, these were the fourteen moves that transpired this past year that were thought to be the biggest hiring coups (I usually list only ten, but this was a big year for lateral moves that caught people's attention):
*Lee Epstein (empirical legal studies, law & social science) from Washington University, St. Louis to the University of Southern California
*Jacob Goldin (tax, empirical legal studies, law & economics) from Stanford University to the University of Chicago.
*Tara Leigh Grove (federal courts, civil procedure, constitutional law) from the University of Alabama to the University of Texas, Austin.
*Woodrow Hartzog (law & technology) from Northeastern University to Boston University.
*Richard Hasen (election law, voting rights) from the University of California, Irvine to the University of California, Los Angeles.
*Daniel Hemel (tax, intellectual property) from the University of Chicago to New York University.
*Tracey Maclin (criminal procedure, constitutional law) from Boston University to the University of Florida, Gainesville.
August 8, 2022 | Permalink
Friday, August 5, 2022
Law professors ranked by h-index (Google Scholar) (CORRECTED)
MOVING TO FRONT FROM AUGUST 1--CORRECTED (just two errors of omission from first version, Bernard Black and Nuno Garoupa)
I recently came across a ranking of 1,000 living chemists (link fixed) based on something like their h-index ("The h-index, or Hirsch index, measures the impact of a particular scientist rather than a journal. 'It is defined as the highest number of publications of a scientist that received h or more citations each while the other publications have not more than h citations each.' For example, a scholar with an h-index of 5 had published 5 papers, each of which has been cited by others at least 5 times" [source, footnote omitted].) Note that an author can have a lot of citations, but a relatively low h-index, if the author is not very prolific and the other work is not cited much.
Many of the most-cited faculty in the United States do not, alas, have Google Scholar pages (e.g., Erwin Chemerinsky, Richard Epstein, William Eskridge, Thomas Merrill, Catharine MacKinnon, and Martha Nussbaum, among others), and many of them would, I expect, have h-indices that would place them among the top 100 law professors based on the h-index. As a result, we list below only the "top 75" law professors, among those who who currently have Google Scholar pages, based on their h-index. (Only law faculty with their primary appointment in the law school were counted.) Perhaps this little exercise will encourage more law professors to create Google Scholar pages, so in a year or so we'll look at the top 100 (and hopefully most of the 75 below will remain in the top 100.) The data was collected on July 20, 2022.
Citations practices vary by discipline, and that is reflected in the h-indices of interdisciplinary scholarship in law as well. Economics, medicine (including medical ethics, or what is usually called "health law" in the legal academy) and psychology are high citation fields, for example, in the sense that every articles cites lots of other literature; history and philosophy are the opposite.
Here are the top 75, below the fold:
August 5, 2022 | Permalink
Tuesday, August 2, 2022
Lateral hires with tenure or on tenure-track, 2021-22
These are non-clinical appointments that will take effect in 2022 (except where noted); this is the final posting of this list for the 21-22 cycle. (Recent additions are in bold.) Last year's list is here.
*Michelle Adams (civil rights, constitutional law, law & race) from Cardozo Law School/Yeshiva University to the University of Michigan.
*Aziza Ahmed (health law, constitutional law, law & gender, law & race) from the University of California, Irvine to Boston University.
*Lisa Alexander (corporate, contracts, housing & urban development law) from Texas A&M University to Boston College.
*Michele Alexandre (civil rights, constitutional law, law & gender, critical race theory) from Stetson University (where she is Dean) to Loyola University, Chicago (to become Dean).
*Jonas Anderson (intellectual property [esp. patents], property) from American University to the University of Utah.
*Julian Arato (international law, international trade) from Brooklyn Law School to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
*Bernadette Atuahene (property, law & international development) from Illinois Institute of Technology/Chicago-Kent College of Law to the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
*Aslı Ü. Bâli (international law, comparative constituional law) from the University of California, Los Angeles to Yale University.
*Mario Barnes (constitutional law, criminal law, national security law, race & the law) from the University of Washington, Seattle (where he is Dean) back to the University of California, Irvine (effective January 2022).
*Jeannine Bell (criminal law and procedure, law & society) from Indiana University, Bloomington to Loyola University, Chicago.
*Karima Bennoune (international law, international human rights) from University of California, Davis to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
*Matthew Bodie (labor & employment law, corporate law) from Saint Louis University to the University of Minnesota.
*Kristen Boon (international law) from Seton Hall University to the University of Ottawa (to become Dean).
*John R. Brooks (tax law & policy) from Georgetown University to Fordham University.
*Dorothy Brown (tax) from Emory University to Georgetown University.
*Lonnie T. Brown, Jr. (legal ethics) from the University of Georgia to the University of Tennessee (to become Dean).
*Kara Bruce (bankruptcy, commercial law) from the University of Toledo to the University of Oklahoma, Norman.
*Christopher Buccafusco (intellectual property) from Cardozo Law School/Yeshiva University to Duke University.
*Sarah Burstein (patents, copyright) from the University of Oklahoma, Norman to Suffolk University.
*Courtney Cahill (constitutional law, law & sexuality) from Florida State University to the University of California, Irvine.
*Emily Cauble (tax) from DePaul University to the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
*Jennifer Chacon (immigration law) from the University of California, Berkeley to Stanford University.
*Kami Chavis (criminal law & procedure) from Wake Forest University to the College of William & Mary.
*Ming Hsu Chen (administrative, immigiration, and constitutional law; law & society) from the University of Colorado, Boulder to the University of California, Hastings.
*Miriam Cherry (employment law, contracts) from Saint Louis University to St. John's University.
*Kathleen Claussen (international trade, international economic law, national security law, conflicts) from the University of Miami to Georgetown University.
*Jennifer Collins (family law, criminal law) from Southern Methodist University (where she is Dean) to Rhodes College (to become President).
*Kristin Collins (immigration law, family law, federal courts, legal history) from Boston University to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (effective fall 2023).
*Blanche Bong Cook (criminal law and procedure) from the University of Kentucky to Loyola University, Chicago.
*Geoffrey Corn (criminal law & procedure, military law) from South Texas College of Law to Texas Tech University.
*Richard Delgado (Critical Race Theory, civil rights, constitutional law) from the University of Alabama back to Seattle University.
*Diane Lourdes Dick (bankruptcy, tax) from Seattle University to the University of Iowa.
*Ryan Doerfler (statutory interpretation, judicial review, law & philosophy) from the University of Chicago to Harvard University.
*Raff Donelson (criminal law & procedure, jurisprudence) from Pennsylvania State University-Dickinson School of Law to Chicago-Kent College of Law/Illinois Institute of Technology.
*Doron Dorfman (health & disability law, employment discrimination, empirical legal studies) from Syracuse University to Seton Hall University.
*Michael C. Duff (labor & employment law) from the University of Wyoming to Saint Louis University.
*Tabrez Y. Ebrahim (law & technology, patent law, property) from California Western School of Law to Lewis & Clark (untenured lateral).
*Taleed El-Sabawi (health law & policy) from Elon University to Florida International University (untenured lateral).
*Jared Ellias (bankruptcy, corporate law, empirical legal studies) from the University of California, Hastings to Harvard University.
*Atiba Ellis (voting rights/election law) from Marquette University to Case Western Reserve University.
*Seth Endo (civil procedure, professional responsibility) from the University of Florida, Gainesville to Seattle University (untenured lateral).
*Lee Epstein (empircal legal studies, law & social science) from Washington University, St. Louis to the University of Southern California.
*Sam Erman (legal history, constitutional law, citizenship & nationality) from the University of Southern California to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
*Brenner Fissell (criminal law, local government law, military law) from Hofstra University to Villanova University (untenured lateral).
*Dallan Flake (civil procedure, employment discrimination) from Ohio Northern University to Gonzaga University (untenured lateral).
*Matthew L.M. Fletcher (Federal Indian law) from Michigan State University to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
*Amanda Frost (immigration law, constitutional law) from American University to the University of Virginia.
*Charlotte Garden (labor & employment law, constitutional law) from Seattle University to the University of Minnesota.
*Ari Glogower (tax) from Ohio State University to Northwestern University.
*Jacob Goldin (tax, empirical legal studies, law & economics) from Stanford University to the University of Chicago.
*David Grenardo (sports law, legal profession) from St. Mary’s University to University of St. Thomas (Minnesota).
*Leah Chan Grinvald (intellectual property) from Suffolk University to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (to become Dean).
*Tara Leigh Grove (federal courts, civil procedure, constitutional law) from the University of Alabama to the University of Texas, Austin.
*Monica Hakimi (international law, foreign relations law, national security law) from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor to Columbia University.
*Andrew Hammond (civil procedure, administrative law, poverty law) from the University of Florida, Gainesville to Indiana University, Bloomington (untenured lateral) (effective January 1, 2023).
*Woodrow Hartzog (law & technology) from Northeastern University to Boston University.
*Richard Hasen (election law, voting rights) from the University of California, Irvine to the University of California, Los Angeles.
*Daniel Hemel (tax, intellectual property) from the University of Chicago to New York University.
*Aila Hoss (health law, federal Indian law) from the University of Tulsa to Indiana University, Indianapolis (untenured lateral).
*Margaret Hu (national security law, immigration law, civil rights, law & technology) from Pennsylvania State University-University Park to the College of William & Mary.
*Blake Hudson (natural resources law, land use, environmental law) from the University of Florida, Gainseville to Cumberland School of Law, Samford University (to become Dean).
*Christine Hurt (corporate law, securities regulation) from Brigham Young University to Southern Methodist University.
*Marissa Jackson Sow (property, contracts, law & race) from St. Johns University to the University of Richmond (untenured lateral).
*Tonja Jacobi (empirical legal studies, criminal procedure, judicial behavior) from Northwestern University to Emory University.
*Melanie Jacobs (family law) from Michigan State University to the University of Louisville (to become Dean).
*Sharon Jacobs (environmental law, energy law) from the University of Colorado, Boulder to the University of California, Berkeley.
*Neha Jain (international law, human rights, comparative law) from the European University Institute & University of Minnesota to Northwestern University (effective July 2023).
*Jalila Jefferson-Bullock (criminal law & procedure) from Duquesne University to Wayne State University.
*Jamila Jefferson-Jones (property, real estate transactions, housing law) from Wayne State University to the University of Kansas.
*Linda Jellum (administrative law, legislation, tax) from Mercer University to the University of Idaho.
*Courtney Joslin (constitutional law law & sexuality, employment discrimination) from the University of California, Davis to George Washington University (effective fall 2023).
*Mugambi Jouet (criminal law, comparative law) from McGill University to the University of Southern California (untenured lateral).
*Christine Kim (tax) from the University of Utah to Cardozo Law School/Yeshiva University.
*Shani King (family law, education law) from the University of Florida, Gainseville to Rutgers University.
*Heidi Kitrosser (constitional law) from the University of Minnesota to Northwestern University.
*Alexandra Klass (energy law, environmental law) from the University of Minnesota to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
*Steven Koh (international & comparative criminal law) from Boston College to Boston University (untenured lateral).
*Alexandra Lahav (civil procedure, complex litigation, torts) from the University of Connecticut to Cornell University.
*Stacey Lantagne (intellectual property, entertainment law) from the University of Mississippi to Western New England College of Law.
*Tamara Lawson (criminal law & procedure, evidence, race & the law) from St. Thomas University (Miami) (where she is Dean) to the University of Washington, Seattle (to become Dean).
*Michelle Layser (tax) from the University of Illnois, Urbana-Champaign to the University of San Diego (untenured lateral).
*Daryl Lim (intellectual property, antitrust) from the University of Illinois, Chicago John Marshall Law School to Pennsylvania State University-Dickinson School of Law.
*Odette Lienau (international law, law & economics, bankruptcy) from Cornell University to Boston College (to become Dean).
*Lyrissa Lidsky (First Amendment, torts) from the University of Missouri, Columbia (where she had been Dean) back to the University of Florida, Gainesville.
*Shirley Lin (employment law, antidiscrimination law, law & gender, law & race) from Pace University to Brooklyn Law School (untenured lateral).
*Lynn LoPucki (commercial law, corporate law) from the University of California, Los Angeles (where he will take emeritus status) to the University of Florida, Gainesville.
August 2, 2022 in Faculty News | Permalink
Tuesday, July 26, 2022
Top 40 law faculties in terms of scholarly distinction, 2022
So with about 500 participants and nearly 70,000 votes on paired comparisons, here are the results. The number in parentheses indicates how many times out of 100 comparisons the school prevailed.
US News overall rank continued to exercise a strong, but not always dominant, influence. Several law schools outperformed their US News rank: e.g., Harvard (#4 in US News), NYU (#7), UCLA (#15), Forhdam (#37), UC Irvine (#37), Indiana/Bloomington (#43), Wisconsin (#43), Arizona (#45), Colorado (#49), Cardozo (#52), San Diego (#64), Brooklyn (#98). Others noticeably underperformed: e.g., Stanford (#2 in US News), Penn (#6 in US News), Alabama (#25). Indeed, several law schools in the U.S. News top 40 were outside the top 40 in this survey: Florida (#21), BYU (#23), Georgia (#29), Arizona State (#30), George Mason (#30). (I was a bit surprised some of these didn't make the top 40 in this survey.)
Here are the top 40:
1. Harvard University (96)
2. Yale University (94)
3. University of Chicago (91)
4. Columbia University (90)
4. New York University (90)
4. Stanford University (90)
7. University of California, Berkeley (88)
8. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (87)
9. University of Virginia (86)
10. University of Pennsylvania (85)
11. Duke University (79)
12. University of California, Los Angeles (78)
13. Georgetown University (77)
14. Cornell University (76)
14. Northwestern University (76)
16. University of Texas, Austin (75)
17. Vanderbilt University (69)
18. University of Southern California (66)
19. Boston University (63)
19. Washington University, St. Louis (63)
Sunday, July 24, 2022
Rank the top 40 law faculties in terms of scholarly distinction via pairwise comparison
Instead of the condorcet method, this year we'll try the pairwise comparison methodology. Remember: scholarly strength of the faculty is the criterion, not U.S. News. (There are about 65 schools in the database, based mostly, but not entirely, on the Sisk impact study. Only "the top 40" will be posted on the blog.)
Have fun!
Tuesday, July 19, 2022
Law schools hiring in 2022-23 can announce their plans/needs...
...at the annual Prawfs thread, courtesy of Professor Lawsky.
July 19, 2022 in Advice for Academic Job Seekers, Of Academic Interest, Professional Advice | Permalink
