The Faculty Lounge

Avi Soifer Stepping Down as Dean of Hawaii Law

It's a once in a generation opportunity!  Dean Avi Soifer has announced he will step down after 16 years as dean of University of Hawaii Law as soon as his replacement is found.  The competition begins now, as highly qualified candidates vie for this good life-meets-career opportunity.  

It's Time to Scrap the College Admissions Essay

The dread personal essay is easy to game and ultimately unreliable as an admissions tool.  I have a piece to that effect in The Daily Beast. Here is the beginning:

The recent arrests in Operation Varsity Blues put the entire college admissions structure under well-deserved scrutiny. In addition to exposing the wealthy parents who allegedly bribed, cheated, and lied their children’s way into elite universities, the scandal brought increased attention to the many legal-but-sketchy ways affluent families have been able to move their offspring to the head of the queue.

Rich kids can raise their numbers with the aid of tutors and test prep courses, and they can enhance their resumes with expensive “public service” vacations, unpaid internships, and private lessons in sports like crew and water polo. And if all else fails, there are always outright contributions.

Even in such a badly broken system, however, there is one component that does not need to be fixed. It just needs to be scrapped completely. I am talking about the dread personal essay, which is too easy to falsify, and mostly worthless even when it hasn’t been faked.

You can read the entire piece here.

 

Sam Bush (and Friends)

New Study on the State of the Entry-Level Law-Jobs Market and its Implications (Part IV: What the Current State and Likely Future of the Law-Jobs Market Means for the Legal Academy)

This is the fourth in a series of what I originally intended to be four posts springboarding off my new study of the entry-level Law-Jobs Market.  I’m now planning a fifth (and if that’s what you have to look forward to, you have my sympathy).  The full paper is available here.  Part I laid out the current state of the job market, and you can find it here.  Part II was about “JD Advantage” placements, and you can find that here.  Part III made some predictions about where entry-level hiring is headed in the foreseeable future, and that one is here.

In the first post in this series, I showed you that the entry-level Law-Jobs market appears to have finally leveled out after a decade-long decline, but that the number of entry-level Law Jobs is now 25.7% lower than it was in 2007, and at levels not seen since the early 1990s.  The proportion of the graduating class getting a Law Job (the Law-Jobs Ratio) has recovered, but that’s only because of the crash in the number of people attending law school.  In short, there are way fewer entry-level Law Jobs than there were ten years ago, but even fewer people graduating from law school.  In the third post, I predicted that while the long, steep decline in entry-level hiring is probably over, the steady and rapid growth in the job market that preceded it for at least thirty years is not likely to return anytime soon.  Instead, we have reset to a new, more modest entry-level job market about 25% smaller than the one we had in 2007, one likely to show, on average, only gradual growth of perhaps 1%-2% per year.

So what does this mean for the legal academy?  I offer my reflections after the jump.

Verna Williams Named Dean of Cincinnati Law

The University of Cincinnati College of Law has announced that Verna Williams, the interim dean, has been selected as the law school's permanent leader.  She joined the law school in 2001 and became interim dean in  2017.  She holds a JD from Harvard.   

Is the Parsonage Exemption a Form of Gender Discrimination?

Under Internal Revenue Code Section 107, "ministers of the gospel" may exclude the value of certain housing benefits from the gross income. Recently the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled (here) that this benefit is constitutional. Despite a fantastic (and highly persuasive, I thought -- I signed on) amicus brief written by Adam Chodorow (Arizona State), the 7th Circuit found no violation of the Establishment Clause.

Over at Forbes.com, contributor Peter Reilly argues (here) that because some religious organizations reserve leadership positions for men, the parsonage exception smuggles a form of gender discrimination into the tax code. For example, at Western Lutheran College, male faculty qualify for a tax-free housing allowance, on the grounds that they are "ministers of the gospel" for purposes of IRC Section 107, but women performing the same job and receiving the same benefit must including in their income the value of the housing allowance (offset by a stipend provided by the Western Lutheran College, but of course that stipend is taxable, too).

Food for thought.

Hiring Announcement: Marquette University Law School

From an email message that I received today:

Marquette University Law School invites applications for a visiting faculty member who would join us for the spring or potentially both semesters of the 2019-2020 academic year. Areas of curricular interest include Civil Procedure, Alternative Dispute Resolution, and Professional Responsibility. Candidates should have distinguished records of academic and professional achievement as well as commitment to, and potential for, excellence in teaching. We welcome applications from all individuals whose backgrounds and experiences will enhance the diversity of our faculty. Marquette University, an EOE that values diversity, is a Jesuit, Catholic University with a wide range of undergraduate and graduate programs.

Interested candidates should submit materials here:  http://employment.marquette.edu/postings/11224

Pittsburgh Tax Review CFP: Green Tax Solutions

Pittsburgh Tax Review

Call for Papers:

Green Tax Solutions

Fall 2019 Special Issue

The “Green New Deal” announced in early February 2019 responds to the increasing attention being paid to efforts to address the damage both being and to be wrought by climate change. Among other things, that proposal would declare that the federal government has a duty to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through a fair and just transition for all communities and workers; invest in the infrastructure and industry of the United States to sustainably meet the challenges of the 21^st century; and secure for all people of the United States for generations to come clean air and water, climate and community resilience, healthy food, access to nature, and a sustainable environment. This ambitious proposal has served to further focus public attention on this pressing issue and has generated discussion of both aspirational and practical steps that can be taken to address climate change.

In the first issue of its 17th volume, the Pittsburgh Tax Review will publish a series of contributions addressing the role that tax law could play in addressing climate change. The Pittsburgh Tax Review has already secured the participation of three distinguished scholars in the area of taxation and the environment: Roberta Mann (University of Oregon), Janet Milne (Vermont Law School), and Tracey Roberts (Samford University). The Pittsburgh Tax Review invites proposals from others for one to two additional contributions of between 8,000 and 10,000 words from scholars, activists, or policy makers interested in exploring the role that the tax laws could play in addressing climate change.

Inspired by, reacting to, or criticizing proposals such as the “Green New Deal,” potential topics that contributors might address with a focus on the role that taxes and tax law can play in formulating responses to climate change include:

1. Building climate resiliency through providing investments for community-defined projects and strategies, such as restoring wetlands or building sea water diversion basins;
2. Repairing and upgrading infrastructure while eliminating pollution and GHG emissions;
3. Meeting power demand of the United States through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources;
4. Building or upgrading to energy-efficient, distributed, and “smart” power grids;
5. Upgrading existing buildings and building new buildings to achieve maximum energy efficiency, water efficiency, safety, affordability, comfort, and durability, including through electrification;
6. Spurring growth in clean manufacturing in the United States;
7. Reducing pollution and GHG emissions from the agricultural sector;
8. Overhauling transportation systems in the United States to remove pollution and GHG emissions from the transportation sector;
9. Covering the expense of these programs through reversal of parts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, carbon taxes, auctioned cap-and-trade allowances, and other means; or
10. Other new and innovative proposals that contributors themselves might craft and develop.

Interested individuals should send an abstract outlining the topic and substance of their proposed contribution to the Pittsburgh Tax Review by email at taxrev@pitt.edu. Abstracts should be no longer than 500 words and should be submitted by April 15, 2019. Proposals will be reviewed and invitations will be issued by May 1, 2019. Those invited to participate will be required to submit final drafts of their contributions ready for editing by the Pittsburgh Tax Review’s staff of student editors by August 15, 2019.

 

Call for Papers: Loyola University Chicago Constitutional Law Symposium

 

Call for Papers

LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO SCHOOL OF LAW

Tenth Annual Constitutional Law Colloquium

Friday, November 8, and Saturday, November 9, 2019, Chicago, IL

Loyola University Chicago School of Law is organizing its Tenth Annual Constitutional Law Colloquium at the Philip H. Corboy Law Center, 25 East Pearson Street, Chicago, IL 60611.

This event provides a forum for constitutional scholars at all stages of their professional careers to discuss current projects, doctrinal and theoretical developments in constitutional studies, and future goals.  The conference brings together academics to discuss works-in-progress concerning a broad variety of constitutional issues--including Free Speech, Substantive Due Process, Equal Protection, Suffrage Rights, Campaign Finance, Process Oriented Constitutionalism, Constitutional Theory and Interpretation, Issues at the Interface of National Security and Constitutional Rights, Due Process Underpinnings of Criminal Procedure, Judicial Review, Executive Privilege, Suspect Classifications, Commerce Clause, and Comparative Constitutionalism--to present ideas and benefit from informed critiques.  All submissions will be considered, but participation is by invitation only. Past participants have included constitutional law scholars from throughout the United States and many foreign countries. Submissions from foreign scholars are welcome. Presentations will be assigned to panels based on affinity of subject matter. The conference is also open to scholars who wish to attend sessions without making a presentation.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Pamela S. Karlan, Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law, Co-Director, Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, Stanford Law School.

PAPER SUBMISSION PROCEDURE: Titles and abstracts of papers should be submitted electronically at https://www.luc.edu/law/events/constitution-law-colloquium/registrationinformation/ no later than June 21, 2019.

Participants or their home institutions are expected to pay for travel and lodging.  Loyola will provide meals during the conference. There are numerous reasonably priced hotels within walking distance of the Corboy Law Center and Chicago’s Magnificent Mile.

The Corboy Law Center is located on Loyola’s Water Tower campus, near Michigan Avenue’s Magnificent Mile, Lake Michigan, Millennium Park, the Chicago Art Institute, and Chicago Symphony Center.

CONFERENCE ORGANIZERS:

Professor Barry Sullivan, Cooney & Conway Chair in Advocacy, bsullivan7@luc.edu

Professor Alexander Tsesis, Raymond & Mary Simon Chair in Constitutional Law, atsesis@luc.edu

Program Administrators: Evelyn Gonzalez, Mehgan Keeley, and Christina Perez-Tineo, ConstitutionLaw@luc.edu

Neil Fulton Named Dean of South Dakota Law

Neil Fulton, the Federal Public Defender for the Districts of South Dakota and North Dakota, has been named the new dean of the University of South Dakota School of Law.  He previously served as chief of staff to former South Dakota Governor Michael Rounds.   Fulton, who holds a JD from the University of Minnesota, will take over this summer.  

There is An Important Difference between Influence and Bribery

My friend Shamus Khan, chair of the sociology department at Columbia, had an excellent oped in Sunday’s Washington Post, titled “How to Weasel Your Kid into an Elite College without Paying Bribes.” As the author of Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul’s School, Khan is definitely familiar with the ways that wealthy parents seek advantages for their children. Referring to the recent arrests under Operation Varsity Blues, he says, "we shouldn’t kid ourselves: These families are a red herring, a drop in an ocean of purchased advantages.” Even without overt bribery, he points out,

Rich parents spend millions on their children to make them “better” than others. They send them to private schools with squash programs and crew teams and ballet classes that increase their chances of college admission; they pay for bassoon lessons that help serve a “critical need” for university orchestras. They pay so high schoolers appear truly extraordinary, with richly financed expeditions helping to bring fresh water to poor foreign villages, or use their social connections to set them up with summer positions at places like the United Nations. Parents deploy their wealth to make their children look interesting and have the right “talents.”

Khan is undoubtedly right about what he calls “purchasing advantages they pass off as talents,” but too many critics of the – admittedly broken – college admission system fail to make important distinctions between income-based favoritism, bad as it is, and outright bribery, which is far worse.

Michèle Alexandre Named Dean of Stetson Law

Stetson University has announced that Michèle Alexandre will be its next dean of the law school.  Alexandre, who holds a JD from Harvard, is currently the associate dean for faculty development and intellectual life at the University of Mississippi School of Law.  She will be joining Stetson starting in June.

New Study on the State of the Entry-Level Law-Jobs Market and its Implications (Part III: The Future of the Entry-Level Law-Jobs Market)

This is the third in a series of what I intended to be four posts on my new study of the entry-level Law-Jobs Market (though I’m now thinking about a fifth).  Part I laid out the current state of the job market, and you can find it here.  Part II was about “JD Advantage” placements, and you can find that here.  The full paper is available here. 

In the first post in this series, I showed you that the entry-level Law-Jobs market appears to have finally levelled out after a decade-long decline, but that the number of entry-level Law Jobs is now 25.7% lower than it was in 2007, and at levels not seen since the early 1990s.  The proportion of the graduating class getting a Law Job (the Law-Jobs Ratio) has recovered, but that’s only because of the crash in the number of people attending law school.  In short, there are way fewer entry-level Law Jobs than there were ten years ago, but even fewer people graduating from law school.

Now it’s time to discuss where the entry-level Law-Jobs market is going.  I’ll give you my best guess after the jump.

Hal Blaine (1929-2019)

As a member of the famous "Wrecking Crew" of Los Angeles session musicians, Hal Blaine became perhaps the most frequently recorded drummer of all time. He played on over 35,000 tracks and 6000 singles, including at least 150 that charted in the top ten, 40 that reached number one, and six consecutive Grammy Records of the Year. He backed everyone from Frank Sinatra to the Beach Boys, from the Supremes to Simon & Garfunkel, from Sam Cooke to the Byrds, from Henry Mancini to Tina Turner, and pretty much everyone in between. And, of course, John Lennon and Elvis.

Blaine's New York Times obit is here; his Washington Post obit is here. The New York Times selection of 12 essential Hal Blaine tracks is here.

At some recording sessions, he sat in for the drummers who performed with the groups on tour (playing on Beach Boys records, for example, instead of Dennis Wilson).

Updated Guide to Submitting Essays, Commentaries, Reviews to Online Law Review Companions

I've expanded my guide to submitting to online companions to include 50 schools' law reviews.  The new guide is here on SSRN.  The chart with contains details on the mechanics of submitting essays, commentaries, reviews to the online presence of journals at 50+ schools.

For now, the document contains information about word count limitations, subject matter preferences, submission details and other guidelines authors may find relevant when considering sending their work to law review presences online.

Details vary widely from journal to journal. Not all journals accept unsolicited contributions.

Corrections, additions, refinements to this chart are very welcome. (If for any reason the link doesn't work because the submission hasn't been reviewed yet by SSRN, you can navigate to it via my SSRN page here.)