Monthly Archives: March 2009

The Plaudits Begin to Flow

Brain Leiter approves of our new Dean:

Patricia White, the former and quite successful Dean of the law school at Arizona State University, has been appointed Dean at the University of Miami. That's a very good catch for Miami!

Posted in U.Miami | 1 Comment

Patricia D. White to Be Dean of University of Miami School of Law

President Donna E. Shalala appoints Patricia D. White as Dean of The School of Law

CORAL GABLES, FL (March 26, 2009) – The University of Miami announced today that  Patricia D. White, a nationally known leader in legal education, has been named Dean of the UM School of Law.  White is currently the Jack Brown Professor of Law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University where she served as law dean from January 1999 to July 2008.  During the 2008-09 academic year White is Visiting Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and is serving as Special Counsel to Steptoe & Johnson, LLP in Washington, D.C.  White will begin work at UM in July.   She replaces Paul R. Verkuil, who has served as Acting Dean for the last year, and Dennis O. Lynch, who served as law dean for a decade before stepping down in 2008.

“The University of Miami has gained a visionary leader in the legal education arena,” said UM President Donna E. Shalala. “Her vast experience, energy, and innovative spirit will greatly enhance the law school’s national profile.” Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor said “The University of Miami has made a wonderful choice for the dean of its law school. Trish White was a superb dean at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, and she will come to Miami with experience, wisdom, and enthusiasm.”

“Having served as a law school dean in the past, Trish is poised to strengthen a variety of aspects of the school, including the faculty and its academic programs,” stated UM Executive Vice President and Provost Dr. Tom LeBlanc.

Professor White joined the Arizona State University College of Law faculty as dean and was the longest serving dean in the history of the College. Her leadership marked a transformative and innovative period for the law school. Its faculty doubled in size, the student-teacher ratio became the third best in the country; interdisciplinary and joint programs in medicine, philosophy, psychology, international law, and real estate development were created; a nationally acclaimed legal writing program was developed; five new clinics were added; an exceptionally active pro bono program for students was established; the faculty’s publications gained national recognition; and two centers of excellence – the Indian Legal Program and the Center for the Study of Law, Science, & Technology—became preeminent.

Professor White earned her BA, MA, and JD degrees at the University of Michigan. She has published widely in the areas of tax law, bioethics, philosophy of law, legal education and torts. She has taught at the Georgetown University Law Center, the University of Michigan and the University of Utah and has had extensive practice experience in tax law and in estate planning. She is a member of the District of Columbia, Michigan, and Utah bars and is an elected Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel. Professor White has won many awards. Just last week she was awarded the Judge Learned Hand Award for distinguished public service by the Arizona chapter of the American Jewish Committee.

“The University was in search of a first rate legal scholar to lead the law school and we have found it in Patricia White,” said Dr. William Green, School of Law Dean Search Committee Chair and Senior Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education at UM. “Her commitment to academic excellence will help create one of the great academic legal centers in the country.”

This is very good.

Posted in U.Miami | 49 Comments

Stay Tuned

The law school faculty has been told to expect a major announcement this morning.

The faculty will be informed at 10am. I'll miss it, as I'll be in class until 11. But once I find out what it is, I'll blog it unless it's some dark secret.

I'm guessing: announcement of appointment of new Dean.

Posted in U.Miami | Comments Off on Stay Tuned

From the Archive of Half-Baked Ideas

I appear to have about 200 partly-written posts I've written over the years but never published. The oldest, dated 2003.10.16, has the headline “Karl Auerbach Thinks the Internet is In Danger” but all it says is,

CaveBear Blog: SCO and Verisign, the Techno Bobbsey Twins?

The second oldest, from 2003.10.18 says,

current_new.gif
I've added a graphic that illustrates the current “Threat Level” as based on information uploaded from the Dept. of Homeland Security every two hours. Of course, the whole concept of an official “Threat Level” (whether color-coded or not) is easily one of the dumbest ideas ever to come out of any White House.

One of the goals of a terror campaign is to get the target to waste resources doing silly things. I would like to hear the argument that we have not fallen into that trap.

The graphic didn't last long here – it bothered people as they saw it as an endorsement of the insanity. Now I'd like to hear President Obama or Secty. Napolitano saying they've killed the whole stupid thing.

Posted in Civil Liberties | Comments Off on From the Archive of Half-Baked Ideas

Web Design Tips for the Harried

I've recently been heavily involved in web design for a project I hope to be able to unveil fairly soon. We hired a professional, and I think the final result will be both functional and elegant.

But, alas, I made all the crucial decisions before reading this essay on 10 things a web designer would never tell you. It's amazing how few of these things I figured out myself. I'll be better prepared next time.

Posted in Completely Different | 5 Comments

An Insight Into Obama’s Vetting Problems

My law school classmate Richard Painter is guest blogging up a storm over at Chez Volokh. This has been a reminder that Richard thinks very differently from me.

I found this remark about Team Obama's vetting troubles insightful:

the nominees who have been problems have not been from the President's Chicago inner circle but other Democratic party stalwarts, many of whom did not work for his campaign until he got the nomination. Contrast this to the problems with the inner circles of Nixon, Carter (remember Bert Lance!) and Clinton and other presidents who brought to Washington some people from their home states who should have stayed home.

One commentator suggested it was because the old guard had already been thrown under vehicles during the campaign, but I don't think most of the few cause célèbres would have up for jobs anyway.

Posted in Politics: US | 18 Comments