Brian Leiter's Law School Reports

In Memoriam: Michael L. Wachter (1943-2022)

A longtime member of the University of Pennsylvania faculty, where he was emeritus, Professor Wachter was well-known for his contributions to labor law and economics and, more recently, corporate law scholarship.  The Penn memorial notice is here.

(Thanks to Matt Lister for the pointer.)

In Memoriam: Sherry Colb (1966-2022)

I'm very sorry to report the untimely passing of Professor Sherry Colb, a longtime member of the Cornell Law faculty, who wrote widely on criminal procedure, evidence, feminist jurisprudence, and animal rights, among other areas.  There is a memorial notice from her husband, the law professor Michael Dorf, here.

UPDATE:  An here's a nice example of Professor Colb's suitably angry and scathing assessment of the Dobbs opinion and Justice Alito (which Professor Dorf alludes to in  his memorial).

In Memoriam: Browne C. Lewis (1962-2022)

Dean of the law school at North Carolina Central University since 2020, Dean Lewis wrote widely in the areas of artificial intelligence, assisted reproductive technology, environmental racism, and inheritance law.  There is an announcement from the NCCU Chancellor here and a memorial notice from the University of Minnesota Law School, of which Dean Lewis was an alumna.

(Thanks to Dean Angela Onwuachi-Willig for the pointer.)

In Memoriam: Kenneth W. Dam (1932-2022)

A longtime member of the University of Chicago Law School faculty, Professor Dam was an expert on issues of domestic and international economic law and policy.  He also held important positions in both the public and private sector.  The Chicago memorial notice is here.

In Memoriam: Joseph Raz (1939-2022)

Professor Raz, who was emeritus at both Oxford and Columbia Law School, died this morning in London.  There is more about Raz at my philosophy blog.

In Memoriam: Michael A. Olivas (1951-2022)

A longtime member of the University of Houston law faculty, where he was emeritus, Professor Olivas was a leading expert on higher education law and immigration law, and served in many public capacities, including as General Counsel of the AAUP, as President of the AALS, and as Interim President of the University of Houston-Downtown.  A UHD announcement is here, and a memorial notice from the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund is here.

In Memoriam: Walter E. Dellinger III (1941-2022)

A longtime member of the Duke faculty, Professor Dellinger also had a distinguished career in government service and private practice.  The NYT obituary is here and the Duke memorial notice is here.

In Memoriam: Yale Kamisar (1929-2022)

MOVING TO FRONT FROM JANUARY 31-UPDATED

Professor Kamisar, a leading figure in criminal procedure who spent most of his career at the University of Michigan Law School, was known as "the father of Miranda," as Justice Ginsburg noted in her tribute to Kamisar upon his retirement.  I will add links to memorial notices when they appear.

UPDATE:  The NYT obituary is here.

In Memoriam: Lino Graglia (1930-2022)

Professor Graglia taught for fifty years at the University of Texas School of Law, where he was only recently emeritus.  The Texas memorial notice is here.

I was Lino's colleague for 13 years, and like many who disagreed with him about almost every political question, I found him to be a very congenial colleague, who never shed his roots as an Italian-American kid from New York City.   One amusing anecdote on that score:  Lino, being a staunch conservative, was also a really staunch anti-communist (I remember him praising John Silber for firing the communists on the faculty at Boston University!).  However, Lino had nothing but fond recollections of Vito Marcantonio, the radical congressman from Manhattan, who was well-known in Lino's youth.

UPDATE:   Professor Tom Baker (FIU) kindly shared the following amusing anecdote from Professor Graglia's article, "The Open-ended Clauses of the Constitution," 11 HARV. J. & PUB. POL’Y 87, 87 (1988).

The topic I have been assigned * * * reminds me of a conversation I had a little while ago with a professor of classics. After telling me how much he enjoyed teaching Thucydides, he expressed the view that it was terrible that law professors should be paid more than professors of classics. I told him the reason for this was clear: In his line of work he gets to read Thucydides while in mine I get to read Harry Blackmun, and surely he would agree, that is worth a few bucks. When I read Thucydides, I noted, I don’t get paid either.

In Memoriam: Lani Guinier (1950-2022)

A leading contributor to scholarship on civil rights, voting rights, and Critical Race Theory, Professor Guinier was emerita at Harvard Law School, where she had taught since 1998.  I will add links to memorial notices as they appear.

UPDATE:   An obituary from the Boston Globe, and a memorial notice from HLS.

ANOTHER:  The NYT obituary.