The Faculty Lounge

Must A Librarian Be...A Librarian?

Mike Madison has a very interesting post up about Harvard Law School's recent decision to hire Berkman Center for Internet and Society Executive Director John Palfrey as the director of the law library.  Palfrey, who has deep experience in information policy, lacks that one fundamental credential of (I suspect) every other law library director: a library degree. 

Perhaps this is no big deal.  There is no question that law libraries have changed over time.  They collect material, and serve patrons, differently than they did even a decade ago.  Maybe Harvard's director should be first and foremost a big picture guy.  And maybe Palfrey is fully equipped to deal with the traditional concerns of a library director - everything from understanding how professors consume information to a facility with deep technical decisions.  But I have to imagine that formal training in library science  has some signficant benefits that Palfrey might have missed as he noodled over the big information issues at the Berkman Center.  If Harvard is right that being a librarian isn't a core skill for a director, what are the broader implications?   Other law schools may soon contend that at core, running a library isn't about information - it's about managing people. By this metric, the ideal library director might be an MBA who loves computers and reads a lot.  At some point, I imagine the ABA may choose to weigh in. 

I feel darn sure of one thing: both Palfrey and that erudite MBA will be depending heavily on some folks in the library who do have a library degree.   Because while a library director may not need to be a librarian, my sense is that a librarian still needs to be...a librarian.

Wilkes University Names Prescott Dean of Planning Effort

Wilkes University has appointed Widener University Law Professor Loren D. Prescott Jr. dean for the Wilkes University Law School Planning Initiative.  Prescott will submit a final plans for the law school for the trustees to consider in April 2009.

Thanks to Ben Barros for this news. 

Alfred Brophy

The First Law School in (English Speaking) America?

I'm working on a short essay on Francis Daniel Pastorius.  You've never heard of him, I'm almost certain.  He was trained in law in Germany in the middle of the seventeenth century, then came to Pennsylvania and served as a judge, teacher, and farmer.  He wrote a lot--about religion, law, horticulture, medicine, and about the settlement of Pennsylvania, too.  Most of what he wrote has never been published, although a textbook for his students was published in the 1690s and a volume of letters home to Germany was published at the beginning of the eighteenth century.

He wrote what I think is the first legal treatise in British North America--the Young Country Clerk's Collection.  It's essentially a form book, with everything from forms for sale of goods, to wills, land transactions, trusts, and partnerships, and forms for criminal prosecution, too.   At least if a legal treatise was written in British North America before the Young Country Clerk's Collection I haven't yet heard of it.

So that's gotten me to thinking about what the first law school in English speaking North America was.  The typical answer is William and Mary.  But I'm wondering if there's an earlier candidate?  Perhaps it was the Philadelphia Friends school when Pastorius was teaching there in the late 1690s.  His early twentieth century biographer says that Pastorius used the Young Country Clerk's Collection in his instruction at the school--which makes sense because it dates to just about the time he started teaching there.

The image is of the Pastorius Monument in Vernon Park.  I've linked to it from Philadelphia Art Net.

Law School Visitors: The 2008-09 List

Updated on April 30 with data received through April 27.

I'm pleased to announce the first second iteration of this year's law school visiting professor list.  This does not include visiting assistant professors who have yet to take their first full-time tenure track position.  The entire list appears after the jump.    I'm not sure that it will read perfectly on all computers so a link to an Excel version of the document appears at the top of the list, immediately after the jump.

As always, the list is both incomplete and (almost certainly) somewhat inaccurate.  I am again making corrections immediately to the list as posted here, but will not update the downloadable version until the next update.  Please keep emailing me information at danielmfiller@gmail.com.

US News: Take 4--Lawyer/Judge Assessment Scores

I've been looking at the 2008 and 2009 differences in lawyer/judge assessments.  I've already commented on the changes in peer assessment scores (and here).  Almost all stayed the same or increased.  But also interesting are that lawyer/judge scores, most of which either stayed the same or fell.  I summarize the changes in the table below.

Difference between 2008 and 2009 Lawyer/Judge assessments in the 104 Tier-1 schools (2009 assessment - 2008 assessment)

Difference          N
-0.4                      2
-0.3                      3
-0.2                    13
-0.1                    26
0                        35
0.1                     11
0.2                      7
0.3                      5
0.4                      2
                          ----
                         104

Law School Visitors List 2008-09 - Seeking Information

I fear that I am setting off on a fool's errand, but here goes... As many of you have discovered by now, I am a fan off data aggregation.  And I see one use for this blog as a site to gather law faculty news.  A couple of professor friends  have suggested that there would be value in assembling a list of full-time law faculty who will be on the road as visiting professors next year.  Independently, there is probably substantial value in identifying those individuals who will be serving as Visiting Assistant Professors (VAP's) next year prior to obtaining their first full-time job in the academy. 

Here's the rub.  Unlike the situation with both lateral moves, and dean searches,   I don't have enough independent knowledge to present a credible first cut at these lists.  Paul Caron has a list of tax profs and Paul Secunda one of workplace profs who will be on visits next year - and that's a good start.  But I'll need much more help.  So this is my offer: if  readers  send me information about visitors - full-timers and VAP's - I will create and post the respective lists.  Send the info to danielmfiller@gmail.com

Movement in US News Peer Assessment Scores, 2008-09

Bradford Hardin's comment on my first takes on the US News law school rankings led me to look at the difference between 2008 and 2009 Peer assessments in the 104 Tier-1 schools.   As the table below shows, most schools (55) went up .1, though 3 went down .1 and 5 went up .2.

(2009 assessment - 2008 assessment)

Difference          N

-0.1                3
0.0              41
0.1              55
0.2                5
            ----
            104

Who went down and who went up .2?  Look below the fold.

Some more takes on US News, Peer and Lawyer/Judge Assessments

While I should be working on my comments about Justices Catron and McLean for a conference on "neglected justices" I'm going to at the end of the week, I'm thinking about the US News peer and lawyer/judge assessments.  (Yeah, there may be good reasons why Catron and McLean are neglected--more the former than the later.  More on this next week, perhaps.)

My first take was focused on the top 104 schools.  Let's look at this a little more, with some descriptive statistics on peer assessments and lawyer/judge assessments for each U.S. News tier.  (I divided Tier 1, as U.S. News used to do, into two categories, with the new Tier 1 consisting of the 50 top-ranked schools and Tier 2 consisting of the remaining 54 schools in the official Tier 1.)  Check out the this this table .

Assessments are negatively related to Tier.  That’s no surprise, because U.S.News uses assessments as a determinant–in fact, a major determinant–of Tier. 

Don't you love ranking season?  Lots of stuff to blog about.   But don't get too used to seeing me; I'm about to leave the faculty lounge, to go back into my office.

Alfred Brophy

First Takes on US News

I've been absurdly--and I do mean absurdly--busy of late.   But US News is out and the feeding frenzy's begun.  (More than 1100 comments to this post at abovethelaw.com!  Now that's a feeding frenzy.)  Here are some initial takes on the tier one schools (N= 104).  (I had some other quick takes last year over at propertyprof.)  As Brian Leiter has suggested, I focus on reputation assessments.

The peer assessment scores:
maximum    4.8
median    2.80
minimum    2.1
Mean = 3.05
SD = 0.71
N = 104

The lawyer/judge assessment scores:
maximum    4.8
median    3.20
minimum    2.4
Mean = 3.35
SD = 0.61
N = 104

The correlation between the two assessments is very high (.96), but the 0.30 mean difference between assessments is statistically significant (t = 14.55, df = 103, p < .0001). Assessments of lawyers and judges are higher than those of academic peers.

Difference between assessments
maximum     0.8
median     0.30
minimum    -0.2
Mean = 0.30
SD = 0.21
N = 104

Basically, the lawyers and judges are more generous in their assessments than are law profs! 

So let's start looking at the 2008 and 2009 peer assessment scores for the 104 schools that are in Tier 1 for 2009.

Peer assessment 2009 (minus) Peer assessment 2008
maximum     0.2
median     0.10
minimum    -0.1
Mean = 0.06
SD = 0.06
N = 104

Thus, the 2008 and 2009 Peer assessments of these schools differed by no more than 0.2.  They're famously static, though law faculty are getting a little more generous.  That is, peer assessment scores are increasing, even if ever so slightly.  I think this is positive and an indication that schools are getting better.

Now let's compare the 2008 and 2009 Lawyer/Judge assessments for the 104 schools that are in Tier 1 for 2009.

Lawyer/Judge assessment 2009 (minus) Lawyer/Judge assessment 2008
maximum     0.4
median     0.00
minimum    -0.4
Mean = -0.02
SD = 0.16
N = 104

Some links to tables listing schools that are up and down in the peer and lawyer/judge assessments are below the fold....

US News 2009 Law School Rankings Leaked - Alabama Rises Again

OK, so I agree with Brian Leiter that the overall US News law school rankings don't tell you that much (although to be fair, over time they produce what they claim to describe).  And it's also true that I no longer teach at Alabama and therefore ought to just relax and enjoy the overall spectacle like any outsider to the process.  (Drexel won't be ranked until it's fully accredited, presumably.)

But damn - I still drive around with a Roll Tide license plate frame and my academic hometown will always be Tuscaloosa.  So with all the caveats about the rankings - but with a note that UA's faculty reputation numbers have jumped a relatively substantial 0.2 (from 2.7 to 2.9 in two years) - it's nonetheless no small deal for the law school, or frankly the state overall, that UA Law has now risen to #32 in the rankings.  That's no small potatoes for a school that wasn't in the top 50 a decade ago, or in the top 40 two years ago.

I've blogged a bit about the role of rankings within the state of Alabama here.  I can only imagine the Red Army Choir's response to this news!

The actual top 100 rankings are here.   You'll find an image of the top 32 here - but don't blame me for the seamy frame.

H/T to Dave Hoffman.

Harvard offers Free Tuition for Public Interest Students

Harvard Law School, with an endowment of $1.7 billion, will no longer charge tuition for students who promise to work five years in a public interest job.  On top of their loan forgiveness program, which offers assistance to repaying the costs of law school for students who work in the public interest, students in their final year of law school at Harvard, will not have to pay anything for their third year of law school. Article is here.

Law Students With Guns (In Class)

Apparently there is a national movement supporting the rights of students to pack heat on college campuses.  (It's called SCCC - Students for Concealed Carry on Campus.)  Villanova law students are at the vanguard of this trend, according to news accounts.  I fancy myself a Second Amendment moderate - I believe in a well-regulated right to bear arms - but I'm not at all excited about having armed students in class.  For one thing, it changes the dynamic of a classroom when any odd turn during Property immediately creates the risk of armed conflict. And the possibility that students might be packing also puts a crimp in certain interesting classroom techniques - such as the famous surprise interloper who makes a dramatic entry (and departure) at the beginning of a criminal procedure class on eyewitness identification.  (I've avoided these techniques ever since I discovered several years ago that, notwithstanding campus rules, some students already do carry in class.)

Frankly, I'm not convinced that a well armed student body will make us safe from incidents like Virginia Tech or Northern Illinois.  It's not like those shooters are rational actors open to deterrence.  And I'm doubtful that having a flock of fellow students returning fire would be a net benefit.  It's one thing to arm commercial pilots.  Many of those folks have serious military training and pilots are uniquely exposed to risk.  If we take seriously the right of students to bear arms in school, I know I'll worry that my classes are filled with weapons - but not necessarily people with the skills and judgment to use them appropriately.

U.S. News Preschool Rankings Out March 28

Update: The 2009 US News law school rankings have been leaked prematurely.  For more information, visit here.

Psych!

Whatever you think of the actual rankings - and people have certainly opined on this issue - U.S. News has created a property that has a signficant impact on law school admissions - on both the school and candidate sides. To a large degree, the effects are related to the ordinal ranking of schools which both obscures important distinctions between law schools and overinvests particular features with significance.  It's also true, though, that the format of the rankings makes it simple to compare law school raw data - like bar pass rates, LSAT's, and job placement - that rational applicants might consider in making matriculation decisions.  Rather than being directed to schools by region, readers are directed to schools by ranking cluster.  And web users of the U.S. News rankings can reorganize the data however they please. 

Whatever.

According to an email I received today, the new U.S. News survey will be released on the web on March 28.  We've already seen lists that purport to be early snapshots of the 2009 rankings, and it's possible that the hard copy of the report will hit the stores early.  One thing is for sure: Drexel will enjoy another year of flying below the radar (albeit this time with provisional accreditation.)  Now that's freedom! 

Image from SatireWire.

ABA Accreditation & the Bar Passage Rule Debate

During the past year, the hottest topic concerning the ABA accreditation of law schools has been the debate over the bar passage rule, Interpretation 301-6.  The final version of the rule was adopted at the February 2008 mid-winter ABA meeting. The impetus for the new rule is at least two-fold:

Law Professor Housing Subsidies: The Rich Really Are Different

The Wall Street Journal reports today that Hans Smit, a legendary Columbia law professor, is holding firm in his efforts to sell his Manhattan home for $30 million.  He turned down a $20 million dollar offer for the crib (pictured at left) which he acquired from Columbia University, in 1979, for $325,000.  If he gets his thirty million, he'll have reaped a delicious 16% annual return on his investment.  If he ends up taking the chicken feed, he'll be suffering with a mere 15% annual return.  Either way, not bad for a pointy headed academic. 

With similar luck, the NYU law faculty ought to be pretty darn comfy 29 years from now!

Gene Nichol and Academic Leadership

I want to come at the Gene Nichol story from a perspective suggested by Professor Bergin—the institutional one.   As we all know academic leadership is an unusual gig.  We operate in a web of relationships involving multiple, passionate, articulate, organized and often conflicting constituencies.   The University President leads and responds to a Board (and in a state institution—governors and legislators), generations of alumni, faculty, staff, students, and the community.  And universities more so than other institutions have a culture of shared governance and broad consultation.   A president wanting to make profound institutional change thus faces a challenging landscape.   Process and appearance match in importance substance. So some thoughts on the process of being a change agent in the academic context.

1)      Pick your spots, sequence your agenda.  Maybe you start a faculty diversity agenda first, a student diversity agenda second, and leave the cross in the chapel issue to your fifth year.  Understand that symbolic actions my trash your efforts in more central initiatives.

2)      Appoint a committee, but not any committee.  Make it committee of worthies and a committee that you can manage and knows your predilections.   There is no better lead to an administrative memorandum announcing a major initiative than “On the recommendation of my distinguished committee on X I am doing Y”

3)      Recognize that you are not the institution.  Sometimes it is better to have another spokesperson take the lead on controversial matters.  How about having the dean of the law school lead the institutional response to a first amendment issue rather than you as president?  Or how about having the University general counsel make the first statement on the right of student groups to invite controversial groups to campus?   Then you can come in and be part of a great robust, educational conversation.

4)      Anticipate vulnerabilities.  For example talk about the potential effect of change on the dreaded U.S. News rankings.  Remind people that you care about the rankings, but that your institution knows that making sensible academic decisions is the first priority, and that rankings follow from mindfully following those priorities.

Drexel Law Gets Provisional ABA Accreditation

Drexel Law crossed the first critical milepost for any new law school: getting the provisional nod from the ABA.  Everyone  at Drexel is pleased with this result - and nobody more than our risk-friendly inaugural students who are now assured that they can sit for any state's bar exam.  If only they weren't totally absorbed in their second quarter finals...