Harvard Law School has taken a big step towards filling its deficit in cyberlaw scholarship, caused in part by John Zittrain relocating his center of gravity to Oxford, by appointing John Palfrey to be the First ‘Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard’.
I think it’s a terrific move for HLS…
A student blogger (on a group blog partly run by a UM student), asks an interesting question:
If anyone out there who happens to be a member of Outlaw or knows someone who is, can you tell me why the chapters throughout the American law schools have not joined forces and all signed up for JAG slots when they come to school to interview?
What happened to throwing a wrench into the machine? Wouldnt this effectively make their presence on campus useless? Every slot filled with people unable (not allowed) to join? The school would still get their funds. Sure, some people who really wanted to go to JAG would be screwed, but there are always collateral losses. Have movements become too nice?
I wonder what you have to sign in advance of one of those interviews. Also, is there any federal law that could even arguably be used to make the student regret the protest?
Maybe it’s a Florida thing, or a Southern thing, or maybe I just led a sheltered life and never ran into it before, but one of the ways in which it seems that Florida law students raise money for good causes is ‘Kiss the Pig’ auctions.
The way it works here at U.M. is that all of us on the faculty get a charming form inviting us to allow the use of our name in the “Kiss the Pig” auction. Students (or anyone else with an interest) can then buy entries at, say, $1 each, in the name of the faculty member they wish to be selected to kiss the potbellied pig. Entries are not transferable, but there is no limit to the number anyone can buy. Whichever victim has the most entries bought in his/her name is then joyfully announced and paraded down to the law courtyard to osculate the swine. The proceeds go to charity (here it’s the HOPE program run by Marni Lennon).
I’m afraid that I’ve so far neglected to volunteer. And now I know why: as Dean Joe Harbaugh of the Nova law school stated in banning a similar fundraiser in his law school, the whole concept is immoral because it scares and humiliates the pig.
In other words, at Nova the law professor may not mind kissing the pig, but how does the pig feel about it? Here’s the picture the Herald ran this morning.
Does this pig look happy to you? I don’t think so. At Nova, the pig was apparently terrified: ”I personally observed the animal shivering and moving its head from side to side as it looked [frantically in my judgment] at those gathered all around,” Dean Harbaugh is quoted as writing.
Now, I know some people may be tempted to argue that kissing a member of the UM faculty is a whole different thing from kissing a member of the Nova faculty. I am often willing to argue that we are the best faculty for many miles around, but when it comes to hog snogging I think we can claim no special virtue.
[Previous legal pig blogging: Legalizing Miss Daisy and Of Pigs and the Ballot Box. Florida. Gotta love it.]
The Yale Law Journal has done something new, interesting, and probably useful which it calls The Pocket Part:
The Pocket Part is the online companion to The Yale Law Journal. As members of the legal community know, legal publications often contain “pocket part” supplements with up-to-date information and commentary. The Pocket Part plays an analogous role. It features op-ed length versions of Journal articles and responses from leading practitioners, policymakers, and scholars. The Pocket Part also serves as a forum for our readers and authors to discuss legal scholarship.
While full-length scholarly works remain at the center of legal debate, students, professors, and practicing lawyers are increasingly turning to the Internet to read about, and comment on, developments in the law. With The Pocket Part, the Journal hopes to combine the strengths of both print and online media, broadening the readership and influence of traditional legal scholarship while enriching the dialogue among the academy, bench, and bar.
Dan Solove gives what seems to be an excellent distillation of the current wisdom on how aspiring law professors should approach their screening interviews at the AALS.
And then comes Paul Horwitz to warn us law professors not to be fooled by the people who follow Dan’s advice…
PrawfsBlawg: A few (more) thoughts on the job talk offers ten job talk topics you should avoid at all costs.
It’s pretty funny.
What’s even funnier is that two of them might just make perfectly fine job talks if you did them just right…
Jotwell Blenderlaw