Academic

A Rollercoaster Of A Week!

Posted on March 19, 2009
Earlier this week NHL goalie Martin Brodeur set a new record for career wins. Today a New Jersey appeals court slid one past him. Story here.

Who Am I?

Posted on March 19, 2009
I was born on this date in 1891 in Los Angeles. My father was murdered. I played the clarinet in my high school band. I flunked a course in Greek as an undergraduate student. I earned a law degree at...

New Definition of "Marriage" in Webster's

Posted on March 19, 2009
MARRIAGE Main Entry: mar·riage Pronunciation: \'mer-ij, 'ma-rij\ Function: noun Etymology: Middle English mariage, from Anglo-French, from marier to marry Date: 14th century 1 a (1): the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or...

A Slavery Memorial at Brown University

Posted on March 18, 2009
The University's ad hoc "Commission on Memorials" has just issued a report recommending a memorial to Brown's connections to slavery. Memorializing universities' connections pose somewhat different issues from memorials to the slave trade, to emanciaption, to slave insurrections, and (especially)...

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Sex In A Recession: Condom Sales Soar

Posted on March 18, 2009
It appears that, notwithstanding all the strong challenges to rational action theory in law, there is still at least some rational action when it comes to reproductive choices. As the economy has plunged, it turns out there is one silver...

March Madness!

Posted on March 18, 2009
March ? the month when one of the more exciting spectacles in sport kicks off: the NCAA men?s college basketball tournament. March ? the month when one of the most emotionally-draining, nerve-wracking, patience-testing, depressing-or-exhilarating events in the life of aspiring...

Jury Twittering

Posted on March 18, 2009
Today's NYTimes has a fascinating article about how the unauthorized use of technology during trials is affecting outcomes: The use of BlackBerrys and iPhones by jurors gathering and sending out information about cases is wreaking havoc on trials around the...

David Brooks: The Gospel of Wealth

Posted on March 17, 2009
In an op-ed in the New York Times David Brooks reminds us of the "manic energy" that Americans have always exhibited, energy directed toward the creation of personal wealth. Brooks asserts that though the Obama administration is indifferent (dare I...

The Iron Horse And The Law Professor

Posted on March 17, 2009
He was born in New York City on June 19, 1903, and attended Columbia University on a football scholarship. But he excelled at baseball and later signed a contract to play for the New York Yankees. His career stats include...

Trusts & Estates T-Shirts

Posted on March 17, 2009
For those with probate on their minds...A clothing line awaits you. Cafe Press has an entire line of T-shirts dedicated to Trusts & Estates, with catchy lines such as "I Heart Wills" and "I Heart Probate" and "Adorable Power of...

The Return of Bush v. Gore Guest Starring Akhil Amar

Posted on March 17, 2009
Posted by D. Daniel Sokol Here in the sunshine state, we have not forgotten Bush v. Gore. Yale law professor Akhil Amar will speak on ?Bush, Gore, Florida and the Constitution? on March 24 at the University of Florida Levin...

And President Obama's First Judicial Nominee...

Posted on March 17, 2009
is a moderate (no surprise). He's nominating David F. Hamilton, a federal district judge in Indianapolis, to the Seventh Circuit.

University of Nebraska Law Dean Finalists

Posted on March 17, 2009
I'm running off to class, so this will be short. The finalists are Irma Russell of the University of Tulsa, Gary J. Simpson of Case Western Reserve University, and William Murray Tabb of the University of Oklahoma.

Willis Nonsense Never End? Chicago Set To Lose Sears Tower

Posted on March 16, 2009
It felt odd when the Pan Am Building disappeared from the New York skyline (replaced by the MetLife Building monniker in 1991.) And it feels even stranger to hear that the tallest building in America, Sears Tower, will soon be...

Princeton Law School (now part of Trinity Episcopal)

Posted on March 16, 2009
Fresh from spring break, where I was in Philadelphia and environs for a few days, I have a picture of the building that once housed Princeton's Law School. Yeah, I know--who knew Princeton had a law school? (Some campus histories...

Comic Books in a Harvard Classroom

Posted on March 16, 2009
Actually, in a lot of Harvard classrooms. The Crimson has the story. Here's a brief excerpt: [C]omic books are beginning to secure a new place in academia, albeit an incipient one. In addition to their place in [Japanese Literature Class]...

Ward Churchill Trial Blog

Posted on March 16, 2009
One of the punishments of being away on spring break (and with the most primitive of dial-up internet) is that I've missed most everything going on in the last week. There are a lot of benefits of this, too--like I've...

Vanderbilt Law Names Dean Search Committee; Lisa Bressman Chair

Posted on March 15, 2009
Vanderbilt Law School has named the search committee tasked with replacing Dean Ed Rubin. Lisa Bressman will be chairing the committee. She'll be joined by Suzanna Sherry, Ingrid Wuerth, Richard Nagareda, and Daniel Gervais from the law faculty. (There are...

Jon Stewart and Lear's Fool

Posted on March 14, 2009
Two broadcasts I saw/heard last Thursday gave me something to think about. Like many others, I had eagerly (?) awaited Jon Stewart's much hyped interview with Jim Cramer on The Daily Show which aired on Thursday night. This was the...

Dressed for Success

Posted on March 14, 2009
Christina Binkley of The Wall Street Journal recently reported that ?power attire? appears to be the proper dress for the current economic climate. Many law firms that had transitioned to business casual are now returning to more formal business dress...

Why the DC House Seat Bill is Unconstitutional -- and Who has Standing to Challenge It

Posted on March 14, 2009
Kenneth Starr and Viet Dinh argue that the DC House seat bill is a valid exercise of congressional power to "exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever" concerning the federal district. The support they offer for this proposition is thin....

F*CK! Texas Cops Step Up Arrests Of Swearing Citizens

Posted on March 14, 2009
Don't fuck with Texas. Or at least not the fine police and peace officers of the Lonestar State. Perhaps it's all the anxiety over declining morals of American society (wait - this has been going on for how many generations?)...

EULAs in everyday life ....

Posted on March 13, 2009
A student passed this link to me - amusing video ruminating on what it would be like if we used EULA-like terms in everyday life ... Thanks, Mary!

Muppet Legal Community Now Fears Layoffs

Posted on March 13, 2009
According to the Associated Press as reprinted by USA Today.com, Sesame Workshop is eliminating 67 of 355 staff positions because of difficulties created by the current economic climate. Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street and a variety...

Feeling OK?

Posted on March 13, 2009
Did you wake up feeling under the weather? Got a case of the shakes? Maybe a bit of breathlessness? Nausea? Perhaps excessive sweating and dry mouth? Did you wake up with heart palpitations and a fear of dying? Do you...

University Caves To Prepaid 529 Pressure: Troy Freezes Tuition

Posted on March 12, 2009
Last week, discussing the looming crisis for state sponsored 529 plans that offer prepaid tuition, I predicted that state universities would start to feel pressure to hold down tuitions. After all, if these quasi-state 529's need to find ways to...

Banning Laptops: A Good Idea?

Posted on March 12, 2009
Law professors are currently debating whether to ban student use of laptops in the law school classroom. The overriding concern is that in-class use of laptops is distracting, diminishes student engagement, and lessens the quality of class discussion...

Should Investors in Prepaid College Tuition Plans Be Bailed Out?

Posted on March 12, 2009
My good colleague Dan Filler seems obsessed by the cratering of the Alabama Prepaid College Tuition (PACT) Plan. At first, I thought this fixation was driven by his continued Alabama nostalgia coupled with post modern views of finance. On further...

To Recommend or Not to Recommend

Posted on March 12, 2009
When do you decline to write a recommendation letter? I was recently asked to write a scholarship recommendation for a student who was having difficulty covering law school costs due to personal circumstances. His request, addressed to "Ms. Bergin," acknowledged...

Text Of Madoff's Court Statement

Posted on March 12, 2009
Full text here. What catches my eye is this: "To the best of my recollection, my fraud began in the early 1990s. At that time, the country was in a recession and this posed a problem for investments in the...

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