Brian Leiter's Law School Reports

Professor Lawsky's "Entry-Level Hiring Report" for the 2022-23 season...

MOVING TO FRONT FROM MARCH 8--PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR INFORMATION!

...is now open and collecting information.  When you accept an entry-level position this year, submit your information to Professor Lawsky please.

Lateral hires with tenure or on tenure-track, 2022-23

These are non-clinical appointments that will take effect in summer or fall 2023 (except where noted); (recent additions will be in bold.)  Last year's list is here.

 

*Zohra Ahmed (criminal law & procedure) from the University of Georgia to Boston University (untenured lateral).

 

*Ifeoma Ajunwa (law & technology, race & law, employment law) from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill to Emory University.

 

*Vikram Amar (constitutional law, civil procedure, federal courts) from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (where he has been Dean since 2015) to the University of California, Davis (where he taught before moving to Illinois).

 

*Robert Anderson (corporate, admiralty) from Pepperdine University to the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

 

*Nadia Banteka (criminal law & procedure, law & technology, international law) from McGeorge School of Law/University of the Pacific to Florida State University.

 

 

*Valena Beety (criminal law & procedure, gender & law) from Arizona State University to Indiana University, Bloomington.

 

*Noa Ben-Ashar (gender, sexuality & the law, family law) from Pace University to St. John's University.

 

*Anya Bernstein (administrative law, civil procedure, law & society) from the University at Buffalo, State University of New York to the University of Connecticut (effective January 2023).

 

*Luke Boso (criminal law, constitutional law, education law) from the University of San Francisco to Southwestern Law School.

 

*Christopher Bradley (bankruptcy, commercial law, law & technology) from the University of Kentucky to the University of Florida, Gainesville.

 

*Stephanie Bornstein (administrative law, civil procedure, employment law) from the University of Florida, Gainesville to Loyola Law School, Los Angeles.

 

*Eleanor Brown (property, immigration and migration law, law & development) from Pennsylvania State University, University Park to Fordham University (effective January 2023).

 

*Yvette Butler (constitutional law, civil rights, criminal law & procedure, work law) from the University of Mississippi to Indiana University, Bloomington (untenured lateral).

 

*Jud Campbell (constitutional law, legal history) from the University of Richmond to Stanford University.

 

*Carliss Chatman (contracts, corporate, professional responsibility) from Washington & Lee University to Southern Methodist University.

 

*Jeremiah Chin (constitutional law, race & law, Federal Indian Law) from St. Thomas University (Miami) to Seattle University (untenured lateral).

 

*Kristin Collins (immigration law, family law, federal courts, legal history) from Boston University to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

 

*Brendan Conner (torts, constitutional law, gender, sexuality & law) from St. Thomas University (Miami) to Widener Delaware Law School (untenured lateral).

 

*Hanoch Dagan (contracts, torts, private law theory) from Tel-Aviv University to the University of California, Berkeley.

 

*Deepa Das Acevedo (employment law, law & anthropology, law & politics of India) from the University of Alabama to Emory University.

 

*Steven Dean (tax) from Brooklyn Law School to Boston University.

 

*William Dodge (international business transactions, international litigation & arbitration, contracts) from the University of California, Davis to George Washington University (effective August 2024).

 

*Monika Ehrman (natural resources law, property, energy law, environmental law) from the University of North Texas at Dallas to Southern Methodist University.

 

*Sheldon Evans (criminal law, immigration law) from St. John's University to Washington University, St. Louis.

 

*Mailyn Fidler (criminal law & procedure, law & technology) from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln to the University of New Hampshire (untenured lateral).

 

*Ariela Gross (legal history) from the University of Southern California to the University of California, Los Angeles.

 

*Pratheepan Gulasekaram (immigration law, constitutional law) from Santa Clara University to the University of Colorado, Boulder.

 

*Kelly (Dineen) Gillespie (health law, bioethics, torts) from Creighton University to Saint Louis University (effective January 2023).

 

*Andrew Hammond (civil procedure, administrative law, poverty law) from the University of Florida, Gainesville to Indiana University, Bloomington (untenured lateral) (effective January 2023).

 

*Christoph Henkel (contracts, corporate, commercial law, bankruptcy, banking law)  from Mississippi College School of Law to Drake University.

 

*Jeremiah Ho (contracts, legal pedagogy, race, gender, sexuality & the law) from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth to Saint Louis University.

 

*Neha Jain (international law, human rights, comparative law) from the European University Institute & University of Minnesota to Northwestern University.

 

*Maryam Jamshidi (national security law, international law, torts) from the University of Florida, Gainesville to the University of Colorado, Boulder (untenured lateral).

 

*Garry Jenkins (law & philanthropy, corporate governance, leadership studies) from the University of Minnesota (where he is Dean) to Bates College (to become President).

 

*Andrew Jennings (securities regulation, corporate) from Brooklyn Law School to Emory University (untenured lateral).

 

*Elizabeth Katz (legal history, family law, criminal law) from Washington University, St. Louis to the University of Florida, Gainesville.

 

*Zachary Kaufman (international law, national security law, criminal law) from the University of Houston to the University of Florida, Gainesville.

 

*Zachary Kramer (civil rights) from Arizona State University (where he is currently Interim Dean) to Elon University (to become Dean).

  

*Chimène Keitner (international law, law & technology, civil procedure)) from the University of California, Hastings to the University of California, Davis.

 

*Ido Kilovaty (computer crime law, criminal law & procedure) from the University of Tulsa to the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

 

*Carla Laroche (criminal law, race & the law) from Washington & Lee University to Tulane University (untenured lateral). 

 

*Benjamin Levin (criminal law & policy) from the University of Colorado, Boulder to Washington University, St. Louis.

 

*Dorothy Lund (corporate) from the University of Southern California to Columbia University.

 

*Jennifer Martin (contracts, commercial law) from St. Thomas University (Miami) to Albany Law School.

 

*Mark Niles (administrative law, constitutional law, civil procedure) from Hofstra University to St. John's University (effective January 2023).

 

*Shu-Yi Oei (tax) from Boston College to Duke University (effective January 2023).

 

*Jennifer Oliva (health law, privacy, evidence, complex litigation) from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco to Indiana University-Bloomington.

 

*Kevin Quinn (empirical legal studies) from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Political Science) to Emory University (Law School).

 

*Daria Roithmayr (constitutional law, Critical Race Theory) from the University of Southern California to the University of Colorado, Boulder.

 

*Laura Rosenbury (family law, gender & the law, employment law) from the University of Florida, Gainesville (where she is Dean) to Barnard College (to become President).

 

*Emily Ryo (immigration law, criminal law) from the University of Southern California to Duke University.

 

*Sarath Sanga (corporate, contracts) from Northwestern University to Yale University.

 

*Christina Sautter (corporate, securities regulation) from Louisiana State University to Southern Methodist University. 

 

*Cary Shelby (corporate, securities regulation) from Washington & Lee University to Illinois Institute of Technology/Chicago-Kent College of Law.

 

*Jed Shugerman (federal courts, constitutional law, torts) from Fordham University to Boston University.

 

*Frederic Sourgens (energy law) from Washburn University to Tulane University.

 

*Maya Steinitz (arbitration, international business transactions) from University of Iowa to Boston University.

 

*Lauren Sudeall (constitutional law, criminal procedure) from Georgia State University to Vanderbilt University.

 

*James Tierney (securities regulation, corporate) from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln to Illinois Institute of Technology/Chicago-Kent College of Law (untenured lateral).

 

*Kyle Velte (evidence, torts, gender, sexuality & law) from the University of Kansas to the University of Colorado, Boulder.

 

*Michael Waterstone (civil rights, disability law) from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles (where he is Dean) to the University of California, Los Angeles (to become Dean).

"The Epistemology of the Internet and the Regulation of Speech in America"

When I first posted this paper on SSRN, it generated a lot of interest; for those still interested, it's now out in a symposium issue of Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy.

 

Stanford Law Dean Martinez's letter to the SLS community about the disruption of Judge Duncan's talk

It's a very methodical and substantial letter, worth reading by Deans and other academic administrators faced with situations like this.  The Associate Dean who contributed to the disruption of the event is currently on leave.  Individual students will not be disciplined because of the difficulty of identifying the perpetrators, and because the administrator present exacerbated the disruption rather than instructing students correctly about university rules.  (Dean Martinez's explanation is more nuanced than this simple summary suggests.)

The Dean also alludes, more than once, to the threats and abuse directed at members of the Stanford community in the wake of the media coverage.  It would be nice if law enforcement actually went after those making unlawful threats:  those people are as bad or worse for the functioning of society than the disruptive students.

Blast from the past: where U.S. law faculty went to law school

Back in 2008.  The main change since is that I would expect Michigan to be lower, and NYU to be higher.

NY Times catches up with the Amy Wax case at Penn...

...but doesn't understand academic freedom, in ways that are typical.  The reporter says that Dean Ruger's move to sanction Wax threatens "one of tenure’s key tenets — the right of academics to speak freely, without fear of punishment, whether in public or in the classroom."   That "or" conceals a world of difference! 

The AAUP definition of academic freedom, to which Penn is committed (in principle), prohibits the institution from sanctioning Professor Wax for her speech in the public square.  But the AAUP definition of academic freedom definitely does not permit a professor to "speak freely" in the classroom:  in fact, it's the opposite.  The professor may exercise his or her academic judgment about what to say in the classroom subject to the professor's disciplinary and pedagogical obligations.  So, for example, when I teach "Evidence," I cannot tell students there is no meaningful hearsay doctrine in the United States; and when I teach "Jurisprudence," I cannot tell students that natural law theory is the only plausible philosophy of law. When I teach any subject, I cannot insult the students, demean them, or abuse them.  

"Academic freedom" does not protect academic malpractice.  It also does not protect pontificating about matters unrelated to the subject of the course.  (There are no allegations against Professor Wax on either score, just to be clear.)

There is no question that most of the extramural speech that has provoked Penn's disciplinary proceeding is protected by academic freedom.  (I have noted a possible exception previously.)  If she had engaged in such speech in the classroom, it would most likely not be protected, but it does not appear she did so.

Stanford law students protest the apology to Judge Duncan

That's the story according to this journalist (with a somewhat selective interest in free speech matters in my experience).  I'd be curious to hear from those at Stanford, faculty or students, whether this is accurate.  Please use a valid email address, which will not appear.  (Submit your comment only once, it may take awhile to appear.)

CEO of company that makes its $$$ by peddling consumer misinformation to students...

...is morally indignant that schools won't cooperate with his enterprise.  This is some real chutzpah!  They don't provide information, they collect data, don't audit it for accuracy, and then throw it into a nonsensical and inexplicable formula to produce an illusion of precision regarding supposed "qualitative" differences.  It's precisely because they are not providing information that they probably can't be sued under "consumer fraud" statutes.

The Stanford Law disaster involving a FedSoc event with Judge Duncan

UPDATE:  The Stanford President and Dean Martinez in the law school have now issued an appropriate apology for this fiasco, including an acknowledgment (unlike in Dean Martinez's letter to the SLS community) that Dean Steinbach's conduct was inappropriate.

=======original post follows==========

The video online gives a sense of the chaos and heckling which disrupted the event.  F.I.R.E. offers a summary of the events, as well as a transcript of the peculiar and inappropriate remarks of Dean Steinbach, the DEI Associate Dean at the Law School.

Stanford is a private university, so the Law School could, of course, adopt the rule that they will not permit Republican-appointed judges to speak on campus, and they will not permit a student chapter of the Federalist Society.  They do not do that, I assume for a mix of reasons of principle and prudence.  Moreover, they have a free speech policy that specifically prohibits disrupting speakers invited to campus.

SLS Dean Martinez's letter to the community is posted below the fold.  I do not think it is a particularly good response (it is in the "mistakes were made, but we have good intentions" genre), but readers will judge for themselves.  A better response would have been simpler:

On March 9, students disrupted a speech by a federal judge invited by a student group.  This violates law school policies, and a disciplinary investigation has commenced, and students found to have participated in the violation will be subject to the appropriate disciplinary procedures.  We apologize to Judge Duncan for the disruption of the event, and administrative staff will receive training about how to manage situations like this to insure that an invited speaker may address students.

Dean Martinez's actual email in response to these events is below the fold:

Dear SLS -

Most of you have likely heard about an event on March 9, 2023 at the Stanford Law School hosted by the chapter of the Federalist Society and featuring Judge Kyle Duncan of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.  A video of a small portion of the event has been circulating online.

The law school advised students who announced that they planned to protest the event of university standards and policies on freedom of speech, including the specific university policy prohibiting disruption of a public event. It is a violation of the disruption policy to “prevent the effective carrying out” of a “public event.” Heckling and other forms of interruption that prevent a speaker from making or completing a presentation are inconsistent with the policy. Consistent with our practice, protesting students are provided alternative spaces to voice their opinions freely. While students in the room may do things such as quietly hold signs or ask pointed questions during question and answer periods, they may not do so in a way that disrupts the event or prevents the speaker from delivering their remarks. 

In the past few years, we have had a number of events with controversial speakers proceed without incident.  Other than someone who hoped to create a meltdown for the cameras to capture, no one can be happy about what happened yesterday. In this instance, tempers flared along multiple dimensions. In such situations, an optimal outcome involves de-escalation that allows the speaker to proceed and for counter-speech to occur in an alternative location or in ways that are non-disruptive. However well-intentioned, attempts at managing the room in this instance went awry.  The way this event unfolded was not aligned with our institutional commitment to freedom of speech.

The school is reviewing what transpired and will work to ensure protocols are in place so that disruptions of this nature do not occur again, and is committed to the conduct of events on terms that are consistent with the disruption policy and the principles of free speech and critical inquiry they support. Freedom of speech is a bedrock principle for the law school, the university, and a democratic society, and we can and must do better to ensure that it continues even in polarized times. 

Sincerely,

Jenny Martinez

 

Academic freedom and diversity

Rutgers lawprof Stacy Hawkins argued in the Chronicle of Higher Education that "Sometimes Diversity Trumps Academic Freedom," and I point out some errors in her analysis.