Brian Leiter's Law School Reports

A new site for comparing employment outcomes for law schools

This looks to be useful.

In Memoriam: Judge Joseph McLaughlin

Judge Joseph McLaughlin Jr., who joined the Fordham Law faculty in the early 1960's and served as the school's dean from 1971-81, died last week.  Since 1981, he has served as a Federal Judge on the Eastern District of New York and the Second Circuit.  He was 80.

In Memoriam: Michael McIntyre

Professor Michael McIntyre of the Wayne State University School of Law passed away last week.  He was 71.  He joined the Wayne State faculty in 1975. 

Signing bonuses for Supreme Court Clerks

My colleague Will Baude has some interesting comments.

Should the ABA require faculty tenure for accreditation?

The relevant committee appears to be leaning against the requirement.  I'm not sure it should be an accreditation requirement, but some of the comments attributed to committee members are pretty appalling:

No one outside of academia understands why tenure exists, council member and  accountant Edward Tucker argued, adding that tenure offers a level of job  protection unheard of nearly any other profession. 

No doubt what Mr. Tucker means is that most people in the United States (other than federal judges, teachers, many unionized workers, etc.) "understands why tenure exists," whereas in many other countries "tenure" is easily recognizable as a form of employment security that contributes to human well-being.  But regardless of American ignorance, surely an ABA committee ought to be composed of people who understand what tenure is.   Tenured employment is the opposite of at-will employment:  it means that, usually after a probationary period, an individual can only be terminated "for cause."  Universities have been excessively lax about terminating faculty "for cause," which contributes to the current atmosphere of suspicion of tenure.   Tenured employment makes for more humane working and living conditions for employees, and protects them from arbitrary treatment.  In the academic context, it also protects freedom of research, teaching, and inquiry.   Those are the reasons for tenure.   Must every institution offering legal education have tenure?  Not obviously, though all the serious ones will.  But regardless, members of the ABA council ought to educate themselves about tenure.  (In the event that Mr. Tucker has been misquoted, he should send a letter to the editor to correct the record.)

I talk about the ABA Task Force Working Paper...

...with the always congenial Lee Pacchia at Bloomberg.  Not much new, however, for those who've read my comments here.

Light blogging the rest of August

Back in March, it was the "South American tour" (Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro), and for the rest of this month, it will be the Australasian tour, including two events in Sydney, and two in New Zealand, North and South Islands, as well as some vacation.  Dan may have some items (and Mike Simkovic might too), and I may even get in one or two, but regular blogging will resume near the end of the month.

Because I will be travelling I would advise readers not to e-mail me bloggable items until the end of August.  Thanks.

In Memoriam: Craig Bradley

Professor Craig Bradley, the Robert A. Lucas Chair of Law at the University of Indiana - Bloomington, passed away this week.  He was 67.  Bradley was a graduate of the University of Virginia Law School and joined the IU faculty in 1979.

Update: I have corrected Professor Bradley's age.  He was not 70 as I originally reported.

More thoughts on the ABA Task Force's Working Paper on the Future of Legal Education...

...from former Cincinnati Dean Joseph Tomain, who invited me to share his remarks with readers:  Download ABA Task Force Comment Tomain

Hiring in bankruptcy and/or commercial law?

Michael Simkovic at Seton Hall is now well-known to readers of this blog, but due to the notorious situation at Seton Hall (where all untenured faculty have been told they may be let go at the end of this academic year due to budgetary concerns), he is on the teaching market for the first time.  (Seton Hall hired him directly out of practice.)   His references include Douglas Baird (Chicago), Steven Davidoff (Berkeley), Jesse Fried (Harvard), David Skeel (Penn), and a certain U.S. Senator who may be a bit hard to reach these days; his Seton Hall colleagues Patrick Hobbs (the Dean), Stephen Lubben, and Charlie Sullivan  are also available as references. I have heard unsolicited from well-known senior scholars in his field that Prof. Simkovic is doing good work (and not just on the economics of legal education), so this is a unique opportunity to hire an up-and-coming scholar with an established track record.