A few days back, while I was away at the Federalist Society Faculty Division conference in New Orleans, Orin linked to a study out of Columbia’s “SALT” that reported declines in the percentage of African Americans and Mexican Americans matriculating in American law schools since 1993. Orin tentatively attributed this decline to law schools becoming […]
Archive | Law Schools
Do We Need Government Intervention to Reduce the Number of Lawyers?
Attorney Mark Greenbaum has a widely quoted column in the LA Times arguing that there is a glut of lawyers in the marketplace, and that the American Bar Association should combat this trend by reducing the number of accredited law schools: Remember the old joke about 20,000 lawyers at the bottom of the sea being […]
Economists as Cheapskates? Law Professors as Conference Seekers of Golf and Surfing?
The Wall Street Journal has an entertaining article on the front page (Justin Lahart, Jan. 2, 2010), recounting tales of economists as hard bargainers and, well, cheapskates. The article opens noting that the annual professional meetings occur the week after New Year, when hotel costs are generally low, and this year are taking place in […]
B+
I am delighted to say that President Obama has supplied me with what to say to students coming to complain about receiving a B+ in my classes – a semi-regular occurrence, in these days of grade inflation. (I have a sneaky feeling that my student evaluations are going to take a nosedive this term, having […]
LSAC Study on Law School Gaming Resources for US News Rankings
My law school’s Librarian and Associate Dean, Billie Jo Kaufman, sent around this latest newsletter from the Law School Admissions Council re a new study on how law schools move resources around in order to maximize USNWR rankings (thanks Billie Jo!). Here is part of the LSAC executive summary: Fear of Failing: the Effects of […]
Another reason to be happy you went to law school
Louis Menand’s new article The Ph.D. Problem: On the professionalization of faculty life, doctoral training, and the academy’s self-renewal. Cliff Notes version: the academy (the tenured folks who run things) have every incentive to take in huge numbers of Ph.D. candidates, and turn them into ABD drones to teach undergraduates–even though about half of them will […]
How Common is the Socratic Method?
In a recent post, Orin expresses doubts about whether the “traditional” form of the Socratic method is still used in many law schools. If by “traditional form” he means something like what is portrayed in The Paper Chase, I agree that not many use it. Very few lawprofs are as obnoxious as the mythical Professor […]
Why Tradition Does Not Justify the Socratic Method
One of the standard defenses of the Socratic method, which I criticized in my last post and here, is adherence to tradition. If American lawprofs have been using the method for decades, there must be something to it. Who are we to question the approach that worked so well for Professor Kingsfield? I am generally […]
Teaching to Different Learning Styles in Law School
By nature, I am a highly verbal, nonvisual person. I learn best by reading books or listening to lectures. I rarely benefit from looking at tables, charts, pictures, and the like. I’m the kind of guy who can’t drive to an unfamiliar destination without a detailed mapquest itinerary telling me exactly which turns to take; […]
Textbook Suggestions for IL Law & Econ Elective?
I’ve been asked to step in and teach a 1L elective course on law and economics this spring, covering for a colleague who has taken a high level economics post in the administration. I have to pick a textbook very soon. The course is for second semester 1Ls, and my goal is to attract 1Ls […]
Paul Caron on Drivers of Law School Cost from GAO Report
Paul Caron, at TaxProf, has posted some executive summary parts and the link to a GAO report on drivers of law school cost as well as minority enrollment. Regarding costs of legal education, the GAO summary says: According to law school officials, the move to a more hands-on, resource-intensive approach to legal education and competition […]
Legal Scholarship in the Internet Age
That was the subject of a recent symposium at Denver University’s law school. The DU Law Review’s online publication, DUProcess, published several short articles on the topic. I wrote on Connecting Laypeople with the Law Through Blogs, and began: “Blogging is creating a Golden Age of legal scholarship. For the first time in the memory of […]
Proposing New Law School Finance Courses – Bleg
I’m considering submitting two new course proposals to our curriculum committee at our law school here in DC. I’d be grateful for your pedagogical advice. One would be a reading-research seminar in law and economics on the current state of debate over the Efficient Market Hypothesis. I imagine we would read some standard economics articles […]
Legal Scholarship in an Electronic Age
That’s the topic of a lunchtime symposium at Denver University, Sturm College of Law, on Wednesday, Sept. 30. Details here. Presenters will be Professors Alan Chen, Sam Kamin, and me. Kamin is the author of, inter alia, How the Blogs Saved Law School: Why a Diversity of Voices Will Undermine the U.S. News Rankings. The symposium […]