Brian Leiter's Law School Reports

Enrollment/application trends at the top law schools

Via Bloomberg News:  some of the changes are just noise, but certainly enrollment declines in the 20-30% range are not!

Duke Dean and former federal judge David Levi elected new President of the American Law Institute

Duke's announcement is here.

With empirical work the fashion of the moment in the legal academy...

...I'm curious what folks have to say about the eminent psychologist Richard Nisbett's take on multiple regression analysis:

I hope that in the future, if I’m successful in communicating with people about this, that there’ll be a kind of upfront warning in New York Times articles: These data are based on multiple regression analysis. This would be a sign that you probably shouldn’t read the article because you’re quite likely to get non-information or misinformation.

Do read the whole interview.  Thoughts from readers?

Latest LSAC applicant report as of Januray 15, 2016

"As of 01/15/16, there are 157,319 2016 applications submitted by 25,260 applicants for the 2016–2017 academic year. Applicants are up 2.0% and applications are down 0.3% from 2015–2016."  Applicants have consistently been up in the 1-3% range all season, and I still wouldn't be surprised if we finished the year up 3-5%.

The rookie market for law professors is clearly a bit stronger this year...

...but the lateral market seems a bit sleepy, at least compared to last year.  Admittedly, most lateral hires this year are likely to come in the ensuing months.  In any case, please e-mail me if I've missed lateral moves of academic faculty with tenure.

UPDATE:  A colleague elsewhere writes:  "I’ve heard from at least 3 schools where I might have been interested in lateraling that they are looking to the entry market instead – lots of cheaper candidates, and better odds of getting them right now. It makes little sense that you would go for an unknown quantity to shave a few bucks, but my uninformed guess is that is what’s happening."   Actually, for many schools still facing budgetary issues, this may make a lot of sense.  How widespread these considerations are I do not know.

$25 million naming gift for the law school at...

...Villanova!

"Most Influential People in Legal Education"

It is alleged I am one, so too Prof. Simkovic (who surely should be, having been single-handedly responsible for bringing facts and serious data analysis to thinking about the financial aspects of legal education).   Whatever the merits of this list, I am pleased to see many esteemed friends and colleagues on it!  And thanks to those readers who took the time to vote in the survey.

Ian Ayres (Yale) argues that the U.S. News rankings have actually helped low-ranked schools during the decline in applicants over the last few years

He sets out his theory here.  Briefly:  highly ranked schools have enrolled fewer students during the decline, rather than taking the more students with weaker credentials, in order to maintain their rank in U.S. News; the result was more students with good (but not top-flight) credentials available for lower-ranked schools.  To which I say:  maybe.  The decline in enrollments at top schools has been small, and many have seen declines in their student credentials anyway.  But it's an intriguing possibility!

William & Mary law prof Paul Marcus named President-elect of AALS

The William & Mary press release is here.

New Fellowship in Behavioral Law & Economics at University of Chicago Law School

 My colleague Jonathan Masur asked that I call the attention of interested readers to a new Fellowship opportunity here at Chicago; he writes: 

The Wachtell Fellowship in Behavioral Law & Economics is designed for aspiring legal academics with research or teaching interests in behavioral law & economics.  Fellows will have have substantial time and resources (including research funding) to pursue their own research.  In addition, Fellows will have the opportunity to teach seminars of their choosing related to behavioral law & economics, present papers at faculty workshops, and participate in conferences.  The Fellowship will run for one year, with an option to renew for a second year.  We are currently accepting applications for fellowships covering the 2016-17 academic year, and we anticipate having one or more openings in subsequent years as well.  Any candidates who are interested in the Fellowship or would like more information are very welcome to email me at jmasur@uchicago.edu.

 To apply, go here.  I'll just note that all our Fellows are thoroughly integrated into the intellectual life of the institution.