Category Archives: U.Miami

[Readers, forgive me, but this item is primarily directed at UM law students, although of course I welcome comments from all and sundry.]

Students sometimes ask me whether I would supervise them for an independent writing project. If it’s something I know about, I’m willing. And, in the rare case it’s something no one the faculty knows about or the more common case where people who know about it are already maxed out, I’m probably willing. You see, students don’t often want me as their supervisor: I’m pretty demanding. I see our goal as to write something publishable, not just another term paper.

If you are interested in writing a paper please turn in a two page memo (on paper or in the body — not an attachment — of an email) on your proposed paper topic, listing the issues you intend to address and (perhaps) your first guess as to what you will say about them. I need this memo no later than the end of the second week of classes. Based on this memo I will either approve the topic or propose modifications. We will meet from time to time, on a schedule we’ll set up and you are also welcome to contact me at any time with questions. I will expect you to turn in a rough draft at a date to be agreed (some time around midterm), and I will return the rough draft with comments as soon as I can, on a first-come, first-served basis. You will not be graded on your rough draft — the comments are entirely for your benefit with no strings attached. The final draft is due the last day of classes unless we agree otherwise. In addition to giving me a hard copy of your paper, please turn in a floppy disk containing the full project to my secretary, Rosalia Lliraldi, who sits near room 382 in the library.

In picking a topic — by far the hardest part of the project — I advise you to consult Eugene Volokh, Academic Legal Writing: Law Review Articles, Student Notes, Seminar Papers, and Getting on Law Review (2d ed.) [on reserve in the library] for a wealth of useful tips on picking a topic and writing the paper. I’ve also got a few idiosyncratic writing tips that I hold very dear.

How many university presidents podcast? Well, ours does: President Shalala’s Top-Ten List for New Students.

Congratulations to UM Law’s Joanne Harvest Koren, who has just been elected Chair of Miami-Dade County’s Community Relations Board.

Update:Joanne also co-wrote an op-ed in today’s Miami Herald, Tragedy Can Spur Civil Discourse.

It's been something of an open secret, but the Dean has now officially announced the list of New and Visiting Faculty for 2005-2006. It's a long list, and a good one.

Gordon Smith posts a round-up of Law Professor Teaching Loads. It seems that UM's load – 10 credits / year – is no longer as outstanding as it seemed when I was on the market more than a decade ago. Other schools have caught up. So, we still look OK compared to our competitors, but more from the viewpoint of being part of the pack rather than leading it.

As Prof. Smith himself notes, his survey doesn't take into account the complicated question of sabbaticals. If your school were to give you one term off in seven, then the ten credit load would really only be about 8.6 credits/term — a huge difference.

I suspect that policies on sabbaticals vary even more than teaching loads. I've heard of schools where you get one in seven as of right, I've heard of schools where you never get them unless you find outside money to buy your time (which is very hard to find in the law teaching biz, unlike the social sciences and the humanities … not to mention the sciences where it seems commonplace). And then there's the schools where Deans dole out time off as rewards to friends, to productive scholars, to people trying to finish books, or as political chits to buy faculty cooperation on divisive issues.

Then, there's our policy: all junior faculty get one term off of 'writing leave' some time before tenure. But senior faculty have to buy their time off by teaching extra. “Bank” five credits and you are eligible to ask for a term's leave, bank ten and you can ask for a year, but you don't necessarily get it right away depending on teaching needs.

Having duly 'banked,' I will be on leave this coming Spring.