Brian Leiter's Law School Reports

In Memoriam: Edward Kleinbard (1951-2020)

A leading tax scholar and practitioner, Professor Kleinbard had taught at the University of Southern California since 2009.  USC Dean Guzman's memorial announcement is here.  Blog Emperor Caron has collected some memorials here.

Lateral hires with tenure or on tenure-track, 2019-20

These are non-clinical appointments that will take effect in 2020 (except where noted); I will move the list to the front at various intervals as new additions come in.   (Recent additions are in bold.)  Last year's list is here.  Feel free to e-mail me with news of additions to this list.

 

*Bryan Adamson (civil procedure, civil rights, media law) from Seattle University to Case Western Reserve University.

 

*Chaz Arnett (criminal law, education law) from the University of Pittsburgh to the University of Maryland (untenured lateral).

 

*Rachel Arnow-Richman (employment law, contracts) from the University of Denver to the University of Florida, Gainesville.

 

*Stephanie Barclay (First Amendment, esp. religious liberty) from Brigham Young University to the University of Notre Dame (untenured lateral).

 

*Khaled Beydoun (civil rights, national security law) from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville to Wayne State University.

 

*Mario Biagioli (intellectual property, history of intellectual property, science and technology studies) from the University of California, Davis (Law and Science & Technology Studies) to the University of California, Los Angeles (joint in Law and Communications).

 

*Hannah Bloch-Wehba (law & technology, criminal procedure, First Amendment) from Drexel University to Texas A&M University (untenured lateral).

 

*Meghan Boone (family law, reproductive rights) from the University of Alabama to Wake Forest University (untenured lateral).

 

*Gregory W. Bowman (international trade, legal education) from West Virginia University (where he is currently Dean) to Roger Williams University (to become Dean).

 

*Shawn Boyne (criminal law & procedure, comparative law) from Indiana University, Indianapolis to Iowa State University (to become Director of Academic Quality and Undergraduate Education [ISU does not have a law school])

 

*Anna Spain Bradley (international law, international human rights) from the University of Boulder, to the University of California, Los Angeles.

 

*William Wilson Bratton (corporate law) from the University of Pennsylvania (where he will become emeritus) to the University of Miami.

 

*Brian Broughman (corporate, venture capital) from Indiana University, Bloomington to Vanderbilt University.

 

*Naomi Cahn (family law, trusts & estate, feminist legal theory) from George Washington University to the University of Virginia.

 

*Nancy Cantalupo (civil rights, human rights, sex discrimination law) from Barry University to California Western School of Law (untenured lateral).

 

*Bennett Capers (criminal law & procedure, evidence, race & the law) from Brooklyn Law School to Fordham University.

 

*Josh Chafetz (constitutional law & history, legislation) from Cornell University to Georgetown University.

 

*Kimberly Clausing (public finance, tax, international trade) from Reed College (Economics) to the University of California, Los Angeles.

 

*Robin Kundis Craig (environmental law, water law) from the University of Utah to the University of Southern California (effective July 2021).

 

*Larry Cunningham (criminal law & procedure, evidence, appellate advocacy) from St. John's University to Charleston School of Law (to become Dean).

 

*Raff Donelson (criminal procedure & law, jurisprudence) from Louisiana State University to Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School of Law (untenured lateral).

 

*Kristen Eichensehr (national security and foreign relations law, cybersecurity law) from the University of California, Los Angeles to the University of Virginia.

 

*Barbara Evans (law & technology, law & medicine) from the University of Houston to the University of Florida, Gainesville.

 

*Andrew Guthrie Ferguson (criminal law & procedure, evidence) from the University of the District of Columbia to American University.

 

*Kimberly Kessler Ferzan (criminal law, law & philosophy) from the University of Virginia to the University of Pennsylvania.

 

*Gina-Gail Fletcher (financial regulation, securities regulation) from Indiana University, Bloomington to Duke University.

 

*Jonathan Glater (higher education law) from the University of California, Irvine to the University of California, Los Angeles.

 

*Russell Gold (criminal law & procedure) from Wake Forest University (LRW faculty) to University of Alabama (untenured lateral).

 

*Carmen Gonzalez (environmental law, international environmental law, international trade) from Seattle University (where she is emerita) to Loyola University, Chicago.

 

*Paul Gowder (constitutional law, political and legal theory) from the University of Iowa to Northwestern University.

 

*Tara Leigh Grove (federal courts, constitutional law, civil procedure) from College of William & Mary to the University of Alabama.

 

*Paul Gugliuzza (civil procedure, intellectual property) from Boston University to Temple University.

 

*G. Mitu Gulati (contracts, sovereign debt, law & economics, empirical legal studies, race/gender & law) from Duke University to the University of Virginia (effective fall 2021).

 

*Stephanie Hoffer (tax) from Ohio State University to Indiana University, Indianapolis.

 

*Margaret Hu (national security law, civil rights, cyberlaw) from Washington & Lee University to Pennsylvania State University, University Park (joint with International Affairs).

 

*Blake Hudson (environmental law, land use, natural resources) from the University of Houston to the University of Florida, Gainesville.

 

*Cathy Hwang (corporate) from the University of Utah to the University of Virginia.

 

*Rebecca Ingber (international law, national security law) from Boston University to Cardozo Law School/Yeshiva University.

 

*Thea Johnson (criminal law & procedure, evidence) from the University of Maine to Rutgers University (untenured lateral).

 

*Deidré Keller (intellectual property, critical race theory) from Ohio Northern University to Florida A&M University (to become Dean).

 

*Ali Rod Khadem (Islamic law, business law) from Deakin University to Suffolk University (untenured lateral).

 

*Jaime King (health law & policy) from the University of California, Hastings to the University of Auckland.

 

*Donald Kochan (law and economics, property, administrative law) from Chapman University to George Mason University.

 

*Lee Kovarsky (capital punishment, criminal procedure, federal courts) from the University of Maryland to the University of Texas, Austin.

 

*Kimberly Krawiec (corporate) from Duke University to the University of Virginia (effective fall 2021).

 

*Kyle Langvardt (First Amendment, contracts, law & technology) from the University of Detroit Mercy to the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

 

*David S. Law (comparative constitutional law, law & social science) from the University of California, Irvine to the University of Virginia (effective fall 2021).

 

*Matthew Lawrence (health law, administrative law) from Pennsylvania State University-Dickinson School of Law to Emory University (untenured lateral).

 

*Robin Lenhardt (family law, constitutional law, race & the law) from Fordham University to Georgetown University.

 

*Timothy Lovelace (legal history) from Indiana University, Bloomington to Duke University.

 

*Sheldon Bernard Lyke (property, trusts & estates, critical race theory) from Northern Kentucky University to University of Baltimore (untenured lateral)

 

*Brendan S. Maher (health law, ERISA) from the University of Connecticut to Texas A&M University.

 

*Cesar Rosado Marzan (domestic, comparative, and international labor & employment law) from Chicago-Kent College of Law to the University of Iowa.

 

*Dayna Bowen Matthew (health law & policy) from the University of Virginia to George Washington University (to become Dean).

 

*Goldburn P. Maynard, Jr. (tax law & policy) from the University of Louisville to Indiana University, Bloomington (Business School) (untenured lateral).

 

*Agnieszka McPeak (law & technology, torts, privacy) from Duquesne University to Gonzaga University.

 

*Derek Muller (election law) from Pepperdine University to the University of Iowa.

 

*Alexandra Natapoff (criminal law & procedure) from the University of California, Irvine to Harvard University.

 

*Camille Nelson (critical race theory, criminal law & procedure) from American University (where she is currently Dean) to the University of Hawaii (to become Dean).

 

*Eboni Nelson (education law, commercial law) from the University of South Carolina to the University of Connecticut (to become Dean).

 

*Christopher Odinet (consumer finance, commercial law, property) from the University of Oklahoma to the University of Iowa.

 

*Michael Pardo (evidence, law & philosophy, law & neuroscience) from the University of Alabama to Georgetown University.

 

*Frank Pasquale (law & technology, cyberlaw, privacy, health law) from the University of Maryland to Brooklyn Law School.

 

*Alexander Pearl (water law, natural resources law, Federal Indian law) from Texas Tech University to the University of Oklahoma.

 

*Tracy Hresko Pearl (criminal law, torts, law & technology) from Texas Tech University to the University of Oklahoma.

 

*Farah Peterson (legal history, statutory interpretation) from the University of Virginia to the University of Chicago.

 

*Elizabeth Pollman (corporate law) from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles to the University of Pennsylvania (effective January 2020).

 

*Shitong Qiao (property law & theory, Chinese law) from the University of Hong Kong to Duke University.

 

*Richard Re (criminal procedure, federal courts, constituional law) from the University of California, Los Angeles to the University of Virginia.

 

*Carla L. Reyes (law & technology, secured transactions) from Michigan State University to Southern Methodist University (untenured lateral).

 

*Patricia Roberts (education law, veterans law) from the College of William & Mary to St. Mary's University (to become Dean).

 

*Christopher Robertson (health law, bioethics, torts) from the University of Arizona to Boston University.

 

*Jasmine Gonzales Rose (evidence, civil rights, critical race theory) from the University of Pittsburgh to Boston University.

 

*Elizabeth Rosenblatt (intellectual property, Cyberlaw) from Whittier College to the University of Tulsa.

 

*Darren Rosenblum (corporate, international business transactions) from Pace University to McGill University (effective August 2021).

 

*Laura Phillips Sawyer (legal and business history) from Harvard University (Business School) to the University of Georgia (untenured lateral).

 

*Mark Schultz (intellectual property) from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale to the University of Akron (effective Jan. 2020).

 

*Joel Seligman (securities regulation) from the University of Rochester (where he was the former President) to Washington University, St. Louis (where he was previously Dean) (he will still be spending fall semesters at Rochester)

 

*Sarah Seo (legal history, criminal law & procedure) from the University of Iowa to Columbia University.

 

*Matthew Shapiro (civil procedure, ADR, private law theory) from Hofstra University to Rutgers University (untenured lateral).

 

*Erin Sheley (criminal law, torts) from the University of Oklahoma, Norman to California Western School of Law (untenured lateral).

 

*Jacob Sherkow (patents, intellectual property) from New York Law School to the University of Illinois.

 

*Brenda Simon (intellectual property, patents) from Thomas Jefferson School of Law to California Western Law School.

 

*Matiangai Sirleaf (international law, health law) from the University of Pittsburgh to the University of Maryland.

 

*Lawrence Solum (constitutional law & theory, civil procedure, law & philosophy) from Georgetown University to the University of Virginia.

 

*A. Benjamin Spencer (civil procedure, federal courts, military law) from the University of Virginia to the College of William & Mary (to become Dean).

 

*Sonja Starr (criminal law & procedure, empirical legal studies, law & economics) from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor to the University of Chicago.

 

*Nicholas Stephanopoulos (election law & voting rights) from the University of Chicago to Harvard University (effective January 2020).

 

*Megan Stevenson (law & economics, criminal law & policy) from George Mason University to the University of Virginia (untenured lateral).

 

*Stacie I. Strong (private international law, international arbitration, comparative law) from the University of Missouri, Columbia to the University of Sydney (effective January 2020).

 

*Karen Tani (legal history) from the University of California, Berkeley to the University of Pennsylvania.

 

*Jennifer Taub (business law [including corporate & commercial law], white collar crime, financial market regulation) from Vermont Law School to Western New England University.

 

*Daniel P. Tokaji (election law) from Ohio State University to the University of Wisconsin, Madison (to become Dean).

 

*Gerald Torres (environmental law, Federal Indian law, critical race theory) from Cornell University (Law School) to the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (with a secondary [adjunct] appointment at the Law School)

 

*Stacey Tovino (health law, bioethics) from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to the University of Oklahoma.

 

*Alan Trammell (civil procedure, federal courts, conflicts) from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville to Washington & Lee University (untenured lateral).

 

*Ann Tweedy (Federal Indian Law) from practice (previously Hamline University) to the University of South Dakota (untenured lateral) (effective January 2020).

 

*Andrew Verstein (corporate law) from Wake Forest University to the University of California, Los Angeles.

 

*Ari Ezra Waldman (law & technology, cyberlaw, privacy) from New York Law School to Northeastern University (joint with Computer Science).

 

*Heather Walter-McCabe (public health law) from Indiana University, Indianapolis (Social Work and Law) to Wayne State University (joint appointment with Social Work).

 

*Brandon Weiss (property, real estate law, land use) from the University of Missouri, Kansas City to American University (untenured lateral).

 

*Richard Winchester (tax) from Thomas Jefferson School of Law (where he is emeritus) to Seton Hall University.

 

*Hannah Wiseman (energy law, environmental law, administrative law) from Florida State University to Pennsylvania State University, University Park (joint with Earth & Mineral Sciences).

 

*Samuel Wiseman (criminal procedure, constitutional law, food law) from Florida State University to Pennsylvania State University, University Park.

 

*Maggie Wittlin (evidence, torts, civil procedure) from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln to Fordham University (untenured lateral).

Larry Tribe to retire from Harvard Law School after 52 years of teaching

Quite interesting biographical interview with Professor Tribe here.  A very funny bit about his time clerking on the Supreme Court:

We used to go to the basement of the court to watch porno flicks because the court was in a phase where it would just have to judge — thumbs up or thumbs down — either this is hardcore pornography and can be banned, or it’s not. They had no criteria. They just basically looked at the movies. Harlan was going blind, and so he had Thurgood Marshall narrate the films. “Oh, he’s doing that? You’ve got to be kidding!” That was the screening process.

Supreme Court clerkship placement, 2013 through 2019 terms (CORRECTED)

This covers the 2013 through 2019 terms of the U.S. Supreme Court.  The “per capita” rate reflects the total number of clerks from each law school during those seven terms divided by the average number of students per year at each school (based on ABA data), rounded to the nearest 25 (that number appears in parentheses after the school name).

Rank by “per capita” SCOTUS clerks, 2013-2019 terms (for schools with at least two clerks during this time)

Rank	School (avg. class size rounded to nearest 25)	“Per  capita” SCOTUS clerkship placement
1	Yale University (200)	.37
2	Harvard University (575)	.11
3	Stanford University (200)	.10
4	University of Chicago (200)	.08
5	Columbia University (400)	.04
	University of Virginia (325)	.04
7	Duke University (225)	.02
	New York University (450)	.02
	Northwestern University (250)	.02
	University of California, Berkeley (325)	.02
	University of Michigan (375)	.02
	University of Notre Dame	.02
13	Georgetown University (650)	.01
	University of Pennsylvania (250)	.01
	University of Texas, Austin (325)	.01
	Vanderbilt University (175)	.01

 

Rank by total number of SCOTUS clerks, 2013-2019 terms:

Rank	School	Total SCOTUS clerks, 2013-19
1	Yale University	73
2	Harvard University	62
3	Stanford University	20
4	University of Chicago	15
5	Columbia University	14
	University of Virginia	14
7	New York University	7
8	University of Michigan	6
9	Duke University	5
	Georgetown University	5
	Northwestern University	5
	University of California, Berkeley	5
13	University of Notre Dame	4
14	George Washington University	2
	University of Pennsylvania	2
	University of Texas, Austin	2
	Vanderbilt University	2
18	Brigham Young University, Brooklyn Law School, Cornell University, Louisiana State University, Ohio State University, Pepperdine University, Universities of Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Minnesota, and Mississippi	1 each

Vast majority of George Washington law faculty sign open letter condemning GW alum and current AG William Barr

CNN reports.  Signatories include most of the best-known legal scholars on the GW faculty, including Stephen Saltzburg, Richard Pierce, Jr., Daniel Solove, Naomi Cahn, and Michael Abramowicz, among others.  You can read the full letter here:   Download Gw-barr-statement.  Barr has become a disgrace to the office, so kudos to them for making a public statement.

This year's surprise for academic job seekers

The AALS has revised the FAR form.  On the plus side, they've done away with the "community service" category; eliminated the need to explicitly rank the "preferred teaching subjects" (which always led to endless and pointless strategizing) and cut the "additional subjects" altogether (perhaps recognizing that the old "preferred subjects" were the key); and will permit candidates to upload a document with their references, so no more agonizing about the "big three" for the FAR form.  On the negative side, it's no longer possible to print out a draft of the FAR form for review (that was dumb!).     Candidates can still upload the CV, research agenda, and job talk, as before.

"Contemporary Legal Realism"

A special journal issue of solicited contributions at Iuris Dictio, a law journal from Ecuador.  Some, but not all, of the essays are in English.  Besides my own essay, there are contributions by the leading figures in contemporary Italian and French legal realism (Riccardo Guastini and Michel Troper, respectively).

Impact of COVID on summer programs and OCI

Useful summary of recent NALP data.

Congratulations to the University of Chicago Law School Class of 2020

It's been a pleasure and a privilege to teach such talented young men and women, and I am sure I speak for all of my colleagues in wishing you much professional success and personal happiness in the years ahead!

Statement by Dean Marcus Cole (Notre Dame) in the wake of the killing of George Floyd

Worth reading.