Law Professors

West Point law prof resigns after arguing pacifist legal scholars could be attacked by military

A professor in West Point’s law department has resigned after claiming in a legal treatise that some U.S. legal scholars are exhibiting “pernicious pacifism” that is helping ISIS undermine America from within. The law professor, William Bradford, argued that the legal scholars who criticize the war on terror are a…

Sep 1, 2015 8:33 AM CDT

Harvard hackathon brings practicality to political causes

Lawyer, scholar and political activist Larry Lessig spent five years leading the Edmond J. Safra Research Lab at Harvard University in the study of institutional corruption. But he thinks the most useful exercise may have been a weekend project that brought his research fellows and computer hackers together. “This is…

Sep 1, 2015 1:20 AM CDT

Cooley law dean offers explanation for enrollment decline, sees possible turnaround

Enrollment at Western Michigan University’s Cooley Law School has dropped 52 percent from its peak in 2010, but things are looking up, according to its dean. Cooley had 1,880 students in the 2014-15 academic year, compared to more than 3,900 students in 2010, the Lansing State Journal reports. The drop…

Aug 19, 2015 7:14 AM CDT

Harvard law prof explores Democratic presidential bid financed through crowdsourced funding

Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig says he will seek the Democratic presidential nomination if crowdfunding helps him raise raise $1 million by Labor Day. Lessig tells the Washington Post his aim is to run as a “referendum president” who will serve until Congress passes a package of reforms dubbed the…

Aug 11, 2015 11:42 AM CDT

Judge is expected to block layoff of professor at Charleston School of Law

A judge in Charleston County, South Carolina, is expected to issue an injunction barring the Charleston School of Law from laying off a law professor who claimed she was fired for opposing the sale of the school to InfiLaw. Lawyers for law professor Nancy Zisk told the Wall Street Journal…

Aug 5, 2015 11:06 AM CDT

After some ado over class attendance, ABA House backs changes in law school accreditation standards

Corrected: The ABA House of Delegates concurred Tuesday with the action of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar’s governing council to make a dozen changes in the law school accreditation standards. Most of the changes were either technical corrections or clarifications of revisions made during the…

Aug 4, 2015 4:45 PM CDT

One year after law prof’s shooting death, police release new details on mystery Prius

Police in Tallahassee, Florida, have released new details about the Prius that may have been used by the person who shot and killed Florida State University law professor Dan Markel on July 18 of last year. A neighbor who heard a loud bang found Markel bleeding in his car in…

Jul 20, 2015 7:38 AM CDT

Educators and young lawyer take opposing sides at hearing over academic credit for paid externships

The governing council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has approved six proposed changes to the law school accreditation standards for notice and comment. But only one—a proposal to eliminate the current ban on students receiving academic credit for paid externships—drew any testimony at…

Jul 16, 2015 4:52 PM CDT

Law prof’s contrarian views about Atticus Finch are vindicated

Legal ethics expert Monroe Freedman wasn’t taken in by Atticus Finch. The noble lawyer in To Kill a Mockingbird who defended a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman is no role model for lawyers, Freedman wrote in a 1992 column (PDF) for Legal Times. Finch took the…

Jul 16, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Chemerinsky: Scalia’s truculent style is a bad influence

Justice Antonin Scalia’s nasty barbs are a bad influence on law students, according to an op-ed by University of California at Irvine law dean Erwin Chemerinsky. Writing in the Los Angeles Times, Chemerinsky says he has always taught students in debate and law that nastiness is a crutch for those…

Jul 15, 2015 7:04 AM CDT

New law dean says he demanded a lower paycheck

The constitutional law expert who is set to become the next dean of the University of Illinois College of Law says he wants to make law school more affordable, and he’s doing his part by insisting on slightly lower pay. Vikram Amar will make $325,900 when he becomes dean on…

Jul 10, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

A few DAs account for most death sentences, law prof finds; one calls for more ‘revenge’ executions

An outspoken Louisiana prosecutor is a prime example of what a law professor describes as “a personality-driven death penalty” in the United States. Caddo Parish, where acting district attorney Dale Cox works, has sentenced more convicted defendants to death, on a per-capita basis, than perhaps any other county in the…

Jul 7, 2015 2:45 PM CDT

Suits by law profs claim they were fired for opposing law school’s sale to InfiLaw

Two tenured law professors at Charleston School of Law have filed lawsuits claiming they were fired because they opposed the school’s sale to InfiLaw. The professors, Nancy Zisk and Allyson Haynes Stuart, filed the breach of contract suits against the school and its two owners in late June, report the…

Jul 6, 2015 11:39 AM CDT

SCOTUS opinion recognizing dignity of gay marriage could lead to dignity codes, law prof says

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s majority opinion finding a constitutional right to gay marriage could have unintended consequences because it is based on an expansive view of the due process clause, a law professor says. In an op-ed for the Washington Post, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley says the…

Jul 6, 2015 9:03 AM CDT

What is the most underrated law school? The answer may surprise you

A 30-page paper published online Sunday by a law professor at the University of North Carolina contains a lot of data and analysis. But the results can be boiled down to a Top 10 list of “most underrated” law schools, with Campbell University’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law at…

Jul 2, 2015 10:10 AM CDT