Brian Leiter's Law School Reports

ABA issues notices about possible non-compliance with ABA standards

Blog Emperor Caron collects links to them all, but they differ quite a bit.  The notice to Buffalo reflects record-keeping issues, I suspect, while those to Appalachian and Thomas Jefferson, for example, seem far more ominous.

Tuition-discounting at law schools

There's a lot of it, unsurprisingly, according to a new study (which included data from only 36 schools, however).

Light (maybe no) blogging this week...

...as I'm on the road.  At the University of Turin currently to receive the Paolo Bozzi Prize from the Philosophy Department and give some talks and seminars, and then off to Harvard Law for a panel as part of their bicentennial.   More next week!

California Supreme Court declines to lower Bar pass score

The Court explains its decision here.  Tellingly, they don't even claim that it's necessary to keep the score where it is because that is essential for competent legal practice.  The decision is certainly a blow for the vast majority of California law schools that had lobbied for a lower pass score, more in line with other jurisdictions.

Best publishers of scholarly monographs in law?

More than 160 readers voted in our poll from earlier in the week, and here are the results:

1. Oxford University Press  (Condorcet winner: wins contests with all other choices)

2. Cambridge University Press  loses to Oxford University Press by 95–56

3. Harvard University Press  loses to Oxford University Press by 95–56, loses to Cambridge University Press by 93–60

4. Yale University Press  loses to Oxford University Press by 117–33, loses to Harvard University Press by 113–34

5. Princeton University Press  loses to Oxford University Press by 122–25, loses to Yale University Press by 70–67

University of Chicago Press was runner-up, trailing Princeton 81-51 (Princeton was essentially tied with Yale).   These seem to me like fairly sensible results--interesting how the two UK publishers dominate.  The mystery of the Harvard catalogue is how uneven it is, perhaps because it is bigger than, say, Princeton's or Yale's law catalogues.

Why the "trial by ordeal" actually worked

Amusing, and seemingly plausible, analysis.

UPDATE:  Daniel Sokol (Florida) points out to me that this short essay is based on a longer article published in 2010 and available here.

Best academic publishers in law?

We haven't done this poll in about eight years, so here it is once again.   Choose "none of the above" if you think options not represented are better than the remaining options offered.  Remember, this poll concerns solely the quality of scholarship monographs published by different presses (so this is not about publishers of treatises or casebooks, for example). Have fun!

In Memoriam: Fred S. McChesney (1948-2017)

A leading law & economics and antitrust scholar, Professor McChesney taught at Emory, Cornell, and Northwestern Universities before taking up a Chair at his alma mater, the University of Miami, in 2011.  I will add links memorial notices when they appear.

UPDATE:  The University of Miami's memorial notice is here.

Professor Wax addresses Penn audience regarding op-ed controversy

There is an account, of sorts, at the Penn student newspaper (it's sub-headline comletely mischaracterizes through innuendo what Wax said about slavery, judging from the account later in the body of the article--but this makes me wonder how reliable the whole thing is).   I can not tell to what extent Professor Wax addressed, if at all, the substantive (and devastating) criticism she receives from several of her colleagues.

UPDATE:  A friend at Penn points out that Professor Wax's entire talk can be viewed here.  I have not watched it, but may later.

The evidence is in, this is a good year to be looking for a law teaching job

There's less competition (fewer than 500 candidates) and more demand from schools (we don't have hard numbers yet, but there are at least 65 schools that are interviewing rookies, the highest number since 2013--these include Harvard, Chicago, Stanford, Columbia, Yale, NYU, Virginia, Michigan, Berkeley, Penn, Duke, Cornell, Northwestern, UCLA, USC, Vanderbilt, Illinois, North Carolina, Penn State-University Park, Penn State-Dickinson, Miami, American, St. Louis, Baltimore, Tulane, William & Mary, George Mason, Alabama, Richmond, Brooklyn, Cardozo, UC Davis, Northern Kentucky, Belmont, Lincoln Memorial-Duncan, Cal Western, Loyola/Chicago, Oklahoma, Arizona State, Northeastern, Connecticut, Suffolk, Washington & Lee, Ohio State, Colorado, Florida State, St. John's, St. Mary's, Temple, Wash U/St. Louis, Boston Univ, Boston College, Arizona, Denver, UC Irvine, Notre Dame, Drexel, South Carolina, Dayton, Wake Forest, Fordham, Tulsa, Houston, Idaho, Mississippi College, Quinnipiac).

ADDENDUM:  Just to be clear, we aren't back to 2010 levels by any means, but the ratio of hiring schools to job seekers is as good as it's been in at least four or five years.

UPDATE:  Also looking at rookies are Hofstra (which may appoint up to four people!), Georgetown, Maryland, and Oregon.  So now we're up to 69 schools looking at rookie hires!  Comments are open, for faculty from schools also hiring this year that I've not mentioned to note that--comments must be signed, full name and valid e-mail address.  Thanks.