Category Archives: U.Miami

You can’t keep anything from Brian Leiter.

I guess there is a real silver lining to the dismal performance of the UM football team this season: things could be much worse.

The nice thing about being chair of the newly created Laterals & Chairs committee is that I can dream about all the wonderful people I will be persuading to come join our faculty.

The not-so-nice thing about being chair of the newly created Laterals & Chairs committee is that it’s quite a lot of work.

Here’s the official approved text inviting experienced law professors to contact me if they fancy joining an exciting law faculty located in a tropical paradise,

The University of Miami School of Law invites applications from faculty at all levels of seniority with an interest in joining our lively faculty beginning in the 2007-2008 academic year. While open to the right candidate in any field, the Laterals & Chairs committee intends to focus its search in the fields of commercial law, health and health policy, international arbitration/ADR, international business transactions, international trade, and trusts & estates.

Candidates should possess strong academic or practice backgrounds, a record of scholarship or public service, the clear potential for scholarly productivity, and an enthusiasm for teaching. We also seek to add to the diversity of our faculty. Women and minorities are particularly encouraged to apply.

Contact: Professor Michael Froomkin, Chair, Laterals & Chairs Committee, University of Miami School of Law, P.O. Box 248087, Coral Gables, FL 33124-8087, fax 305-284-6506.

Hispanic Business Magazine has published its annual list of “Top Law Schools for Hispanics” and UM Law ranked second, behind the University of New Mexico Law School. The citation noted that,

Located near Miami, the University of Miami School of Law has a long tradition of educating Hispanic lawyers. Alumni include prominent state and federal judges, leaders in national and state bar organizations, partners in both large and mid-size law firms, and leading public interest lawyers.

(What it failed to say is that we also have a strong international business curriculum with particular emphasis on Latin America, and students have the opportunity to learn comparative law in Spanish and to study abroad in Spain.)

I’m not sure I have the greatest faith in the ranking methodology, but it’s always nicer to be praised than ignored.

Here’s a chance to do a pretty tough, interesting, and important job that matters enormously to a lot of people:

Dean of Students- Position Announcement

The University of Miami School of Law invites applications for the position of Dean of Students. The Dean of Students is responsible for ensuring the efficient and effective performance of the duties entrusted to the Office of the Dean of Students, which provides services to approximately 1,150 J.D.’s and 130 LL.M. students in multiple areas. Minimum qualifications: J.D. strongly preferred (Master’s degree in education or counseling discipline at a minimum) and five years of significant counseling experience required. Strong leadership abilities, demonstrated managerial and organization skills, computer literacy, good judgment, and excellent verbal/written communication skills required. Ability to interact comfortably in multiple and diverse settings.

Major responsibilities include overall administration of the Office of the Dean of Students, including work distribution and flow within the office; providing academic and personal counseling to students; and management of student life affairs, including development of student-friendly initiatives, assisting student organizations with planning and implementing projects, and serving as administrative liaison and advocate for students. A more complete job description is located here.

The University of Miami offers competitive salaries and a comprehensive benefits package including medical and dental benefits, tuition remission, vacation, paid holidays and much more.

Interested candidates, please apply on line at www.miami.edu/careers and submit your resume and cover letter. (Keyword: 003133)

The Dean of Students is the face of the law school to most students; Dean Lynch presides over major events in the law school, but mostly he’s Mr. Outside, so I suspect that most students don’t see that much of him. The short job description quoted above starts with the counseling function — and that’s very real — but the parts I see most often are that the Dean of Students runs a big office with several assistants, and that s/he sets and administers a lot of policies that have major reverberations in the classroom and in people’s lives.

Today’s Miami Herald carries a generally friendly profile of UM President Donna Shalala on her fifth anniversary in office.

Despite grave disagreements with some of what the University is doing in the aftermath of the strike, I’d agree that there’s no question that on balance Shalala has been good for UM and has the ambition needed to be even better. I did, however, get the feeling that the reporter hadn’t tried very hard to get the other side, and indeed soft-peddled even the gripes encountered. Even so, it’s not quite a puff piece, and it’s a nice read.

Among other virtues, Shalala is an impressive fountain of energy. Many academic administrators start to run out of steam by their fifth year. There’s no danger of that here. Interesting times remain in store.