The Volokh Conspiracy

"But Nussbaum's staying?"

That was my first thought too. Slightly unrelated, but how come he never had kids? I figure that deep down, he harbours doubts about his ideas on paternalism...

See here: "[H]e will be keeping his Chicago apartment and an office at the University of Chicago Law School, and he will also continue teaching part-time at Chicago as the Harry Kalven Visiting Professor of Law (probably in the winter quarters)."

After Chris 24601, it looks like UofC decided they couldn't afford Woodburn and MacKenzie.

So how does one good law school lure a top professor from another good law school? Is it reputation, i.e., is Harvard just that much better than Chicago? Is it pay? Is it the program, e.g., "Risk Regulation"? Is it other faculty? Is it fringe benefits? What does Harvard give Sunstein that Chicago can't (or won't)?

As someone who recently was admitted to the University of Chicago law school and has not been admitted to Harvard, I find this extremely distressing, and will probably influence me to go to an NYU or a Michigan, though Chicago was first on my list previously. I just find it amusing that something like this would affect me at all.

Wilson: why would just one thing like this knock Chicago from your top spot? I realize Sunstein's loss is important, but I'd imagine the type of person who likes Chicago because of Sunstein would find similar reasons to still like Chicago (i.e., even without Sunstein, the faculty is excellent). Especially since Chicago students will still have the opportunity to take classes with Sunstein.

Side note: if the Leiter post is accurate and Sunstein will be a visiting prof at UChicago during winter quarters, doesn't that mean he'll only be teaching classes at Harvard one semester a year? Harvard's fall semester would be the only full semester he would be in residence there, since our winter quarter comprises half of their spring semester.

I graduated from HLS last year, and was fortunate to take a class with both Nussbaum and Sunstein when they were visiting in the spring of '07. Even as an alum, I'm thrilled about getting Sunstein. He is the smartest man I've ever met by a wide margin, and, unlike many of the other big names at Harvard, incredibly friendly and approachable. In any case, I imagine that what Harvard offers Sunstein (and what I've heard from professors generally who are lured away; we lost a couple good names to Yale while I was there) is that he probably doesn't need to teach more than 2, and maybe just one class a year. In the three years I was at Harvard, for example, Tribe taught 2 classes. It probably also offers more faculty with whom he can do cross-disciplinary work; he seems to be all about the intersection of psychology, econ, and law these days.

On another note, I'd still choose Chicago over NYU or Michigan, unless you're getting money from NYU. Chicago still has a better, more nerdy faculty. NYU's advantages are clinical experience, location, and the fact that they give scholarships. If you're not getting money and you don't care about being in New York, most of that's irrelevant to your decision anyway.

the Harry Kalven Visiting Professor of Law (probably in the winter quarters

If it's to come back a s Harry Kalvan professor, it should be for the Spring Quarter. The Baseball is fresher and the Cubs haven't folded yet.

I'd also be curious about a law professor's reasons for changing from U. Chicago to Harvard. Or, a general discussion of what motivates other moves from one school to another.

Finally, take Michigan (my 2 cents). Someday when Michigan goes to the Rose Bowl again, you'll be thinking that I'd be a lot cooler if I went to Michigan

John M. Perkins--I'm with you on the pizza: Boston has Italians, but Chicago has the pizza. Giordano's or Carmen's? Can't go wrong.

But I suspect that Hyde Park is more "on" the South Side than "of" the South Side. And thus has more Cubs fans. After all, support for the Sox is inversely proportional to literacy. (As you can tell by the spelling of the team's name.)

Chicago has lost a few other professors lately (Tracy Meares to Yale, Adrien Vermeule to Harvard, Jack Goldsmith to Harvard, Doug Lichtman to UCLA, etc.), but it seems like this is par for the course for them... and they seem to have rebounded with new hires. How they rebound from Sunstein (if they can), I don't know.

But Chicago seems used to "finding" young professors. Some of their latest entry level hires seem to have quite a bit of promise (Jacob Gersen, Jonathan Masur, M. Todd Henderson, Anup Malani, etc.), not to mention the "middle generation" of entry level hires (e.g., Lior Strahilevitz).

"As one from a part of the country where nobody really cares about baseball, I'm somewhat bemused by the Cubs-Sox rivalries, and the way people bring up seeming class arguments pro and against!"

(That part called North Korea, I bet.)

And both schools get more conservative.

Harvard did not poach Sunstein from Chicago. Sunstein is dating Samantha Power, who is a Pulitzer prize-winning, Obama-advising member of the faculty at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. He is going to Boston to be with her.

More speculation and gossip in the thread here.