Law School Take-Home Exams as a Game of Scattergories
This semester I gave a take-home exam. Students had ample time to think about the exam and consult any source they wanted, so almost everyone properly identified and applied the applicable legal standards. This compares favorably with tightly-timed in-class exams…
When Rankings Mislead
I’ve been doing more admissions work this year than I have in the past, and part of my sales pitch is to explain why students should look past the US News rankings. This WSJ article nails it: Keyan Rahimi-Keshari last…
Rankling Rankings
Bill Henderson and Andrew Morriss wrote a terrific article for the American Lawyer blasting law schools for whining about US News rankings but failing to sponsor a useful alternative. They write: It is not reasonable to blame U.S. News for…
Bar/Bri Settlement Rejected
Judge Real has rejected the proposed settlement in the Bar/Bri antitrust lawsuit. The soap opera continues!
Law Professor “Job Hopping”
National Law Journal: “More job hopping at schools.” This year, there was a lot of faculty movement at highly ranked law schools–a circumstance this article attributes to (1) Harvard’s decision to bring in new blood and reduce faculty-student ratios, and…
My Requirements for a Supervised Academic Paper
Students regularly ask me to supervise a paper of theirs. This blog post discusses my suggestions and requirements if you want me to supervise your paper. 1) At your earliest convenience, read Prof. Eugene Volokh’s book, Academic Legal Writing [Amazon…
E-Discovery Course
We’re trying something new this year at SCU by offering a new 1-unit course entitled “E-Discovery.” See the press release. While I’m sure E-Discovery topics have been addressed in other law school courses, I believe this is one of the…
“Eureka!: Lawyer-Scientists Cash In”
AP story on the rising number of law school applicants with deep scientific backgrounds. From my own personal observation this year being loosely involved with SCU’s admissions process, I’m blown away by the technical backgrounds and expertise of our applicants….
Law Professor Salaries 2006-07
For a couple of years now, the search term “law professor salary” or “law professor salaries” consistently has been one of the top 10 search terms used to find my blogs. It seems to be a topic of significant interest!…
Law Professor Tampers with Student Evaluations
From InsideHigherEd: “This much is undisputed: One evening three years ago, a then-professor at the University of Iowa’s College of Law tampered with anonymous student evaluations that rate teaching effectiveness. Kenneth Kress admits to replacing three unfavorable student-completed questionnaires with…