One of the very best district court judges in the country, Judge David F. Levi of the Eastern District of California, has decided to leave the bench to accept the position of Dean at Duke University Law School. The Duke press release is here. I'm with Howard that this is "wonderful news for Duke Law School, but a sad loss of a very talented judge for the federal judiciary."

  Peter Lattman has a lot more over at the WSJ Law Blog. Lattman's very interesting post includes a reaction from Chief Justice Roberts: "The federal judiciary is sorry to lose one of its finest judges, but our loss is certainly Duke Law School's gain. I have personally benefited from his counsel on several occassions, and look forward to his leadership in the legal academy."