The Faculty Lounge

Call for Entries: Law Professor Twitter Census 2022-2023 Edition

Bumping to the top 10/5/22. Deadline to add entries is 10/6/22, 5pm Eastern

If you'd like to be listed in the semi-regular census of law professor Twitter users (or confirm that you are listed already), please read on.

It’s been about one year since the last Law Prof Twitter Census here at the Lounge. Prior surveys are here (2012), here (2012), here (2015),  here (2018),  here (2019),  here (2020) and here (2021).

As with prior versions, the list is meant to cover individual law professor tweeters only (not accounts of groups, programs, blogs, law schools, print publications, students, practitioners, staff).  Folks should be full-time law school faculty members (not, say, law-trained profs working in business schools or lawyers working in law schools in roles other than full-time faculty). Law profs outside the U.S. very, very welcome. Anonymous and pseudonymous accounts are not eligible for inclusion.

The downloadable, sortable spreadsheet can be edited directly by accessing this link. If you’d like to add your name, or if you would like to add to or modify your existing listing in census, the census calls for:

(a) Your name

(b) Your Twitter handle

(c) Your school affiliation

(d) Up to three subject-matter areas of interest that related to your teaching, scholarship or tweeting.

Here are customary responses to some anticipated questions from inquiring minds who want to know:

1.  How was the census developed?

The list is based on previous censuses. I have added or deleted very few names myself, based on law prof accounts that I have happened to encounter (typically because they follow me on Twitter or I follow them) or if I knew someone had changed schools, left the academy, etc. I have made no concerted effort to update the list myself.

2.  How accurate is the census?

Not at all.

If there are corrections, additions, etc., please feel free to make them directly to the spreadsheet.  As a last resort, you can email me directly at bcrawford at law dot pace dot edu.  The deadline for changes is October 6, 2022, 5pm eastern. I'll republish again shortly thereafter via posting here on the Lounge, and then not again until next year, most likely.

3. Why isn't my information listed in the census? Why isn't my colleague's information listed?

The census relies almost exclusively on self-identification. To be included in the list, you must actively add yourself to it.

4. Why is your list limited to full-time law school faculty members?

Because that's the population about which I wanted to capture data. Want a different survey? A better one? Feel free to start one, and I'm happy to publicize it here, if relevant to legal education.

The current census is embedded below, too (but edit via links above).

Bumping to the top 10/5/22. Deadline to add entries is 10/6/22, 5pm Eastern

If you'd like to be listed in the semi-regular census of law professor Twitter users (or confirm that you are listed already), please read on.

It’s been about one year since the last Law Prof Twitter Census here at the Lounge. Prior surveys are here (2012), here (2012), here (2015),  here (2018),  here (2019),  here (2020) and here (2021).

As with prior versions, the list is meant to cover individual law professor tweeters only (not accounts of groups, programs, blogs, law schools, print publications, students, practitioners, staff).  Folks should be full-time law school faculty members (not, say, law-trained profs working in business schools or lawyers working in law schools in roles other than full-time faculty). Law profs outside the U.S. very, very welcome. Anonymous and pseudonymous accounts are not eligible for inclusion.

The downloadable, sortable spreadsheet can be edited directly by accessing this link. If you’d like to add your name, or if you would like to add to or modify your existing listing in census, the census calls for:

(a) Your name

(b) Your Twitter handle

(c) Your school affiliation

(d) Up to three subject-matter areas of interest that related to your teaching, scholarship or tweeting.

Here are customary responses to some anticipated questions from inquiring minds who want to know:

1.  How was the census developed?

The list is based on previous censuses. I have added or deleted very few names myself, based on law prof accounts that I have happened to encounter (typically because they follow me on Twitter or I follow them) or if I knew someone had changed schools, left the academy, etc. I have made no concerted effort to update the list myself.

2.  How accurate is the census?

Not at all.

If there are corrections, additions, etc., please feel free to make them directly to the spreadsheet.  As a last resort, you can email me directly at bcrawford at law dot pace dot edu.  The deadline for changes is October 6, 2022, 5pm eastern. I'll republish again shortly thereafter via posting here on the Lounge, and then not again until next year, most likely.

3. Why isn't my information listed in the census? Why isn't my colleague's information listed?

The census relies almost exclusively on self-identification. To be included in the list, you must actively add yourself to it.

4. Why is your list limited to full-time law school faculty members?

Because that's the population about which I wanted to capture data. Want a different survey? A better one? Feel free to start one, and I'm happy to publicize it here, if relevant to legal education.

The current census is embedded below, too (but edit via links above).

Bumping to the top 10/5/22. Deadline to add entries is 10/6/22, 5pm Eastern

If you'd like to be listed in the semi-regular census of law professor Twitter users (or confirm that you are listed already), please read on.

It’s been about one year since the last Law Prof Twitter Census here at the Lounge. Prior surveys are here (2012), here (2012), here (2015),  here (2018),  here (2019),  here (2020) and here (2021).

As with prior versions, the list is meant to cover individual law professor tweeters only (not accounts of groups, programs, blogs, law schools, print publications, students, practitioners, staff).  Folks should be full-time law school faculty members (not, say, law-trained profs working in business schools or lawyers working in law schools in roles other than full-time faculty). Law profs outside the U.S. very, very welcome. Anonymous and pseudonymous accounts are not eligible for inclusion.

The downloadable, sortable spreadsheet can be edited directly by accessing this link. If you’d like to add your name, or if you would like to add to or modify your existing listing in census, the census calls for:

(a) Your name

(b) Your Twitter handle

(c) Your school affiliation

(d) Up to three subject-matter areas of interest that related to your teaching, scholarship or tweeting.

Here are customary responses to some anticipated questions from inquiring minds who want to know:

1.  How was the census developed?

The list is based on previous censuses. I have added or deleted very few names myself, based on law prof accounts that I have happened to encounter (typically because they follow me on Twitter or I follow them) or if I knew someone had changed schools, left the academy, etc. I have made no concerted effort to update the list myself.

2.  How accurate is the census?

Not at all.

If there are corrections, additions, etc., please feel free to make them directly to the spreadsheet.  As a last resort, you can email me directly at bcrawford at law dot pace dot edu.  The deadline for changes is October 6, 2022, 5pm eastern. I'll republish again shortly thereafter via posting here on the Lounge, and then not again until next year, most likely.

3. Why isn't my information listed in the census? Why isn't my colleague's information listed?

The census relies almost exclusively on self-identification. To be included in the list, you must actively add yourself to it.

4. Why is your list limited to full-time law school faculty members?

Because that's the population about which I wanted to capture data. Want a different survey? A better one? Feel free to start one, and I'm happy to publicize it here, if relevant to legal education.

The current census is embedded below, too (but edit via links above).

Bumping to the top 10/5/22. Deadline to add entries is 10/6/22, 5pm Eastern

If you'd like to be listed in the semi-regular census of law professor Twitter users (or confirm that you are listed already), please read on.

It’s been about one year since the last Law Prof Twitter Census here at the Lounge. Prior surveys are here (2012), here (2012), here (2015),  here (2018),  here (2019),  here (2020) and here (2021).

As with prior versions, the list is meant to cover individual law professor tweeters only (not accounts of groups, programs, blogs, law schools, print publications, students, practitioners, staff).  Folks should be full-time law school faculty members (not, say, law-trained profs working in business schools or lawyers working in law schools in roles other than full-time faculty). Law profs outside the U.S. very, very welcome. Anonymous and pseudonymous accounts are not eligible for inclusion.

The downloadable, sortable spreadsheet can be edited directly by accessing this link. If you’d like to add your name, or if you would like to add to or modify your existing listing in census, the census calls for:

(a) Your name

(b) Your Twitter handle

(c) Your school affiliation

(d) Up to three subject-matter areas of interest that related to your teaching, scholarship or tweeting.

Here are customary responses to some anticipated questions from inquiring minds who want to know:

1.  How was the census developed?

The list is based on previous censuses. I have added or deleted very few names myself, based on law prof accounts that I have happened to encounter (typically because they follow me on Twitter or I follow them) or if I knew someone had changed schools, left the academy, etc. I have made no concerted effort to update the list myself.

2.  How accurate is the census?

Not at all.

If there are corrections, additions, etc., please feel free to make them directly to the spreadsheet.  As a last resort, you can email me directly at bcrawford at law dot pace dot edu.  The deadline for changes is October 6, 2022, 5pm eastern. I'll republish again shortly thereafter via posting here on the Lounge, and then not again until next year, most likely.

3. Why isn't my information listed in the census? Why isn't my colleague's information listed?

The census relies almost exclusively on self-identification. To be included in the list, you must actively add yourself to it.

4. Why is your list limited to full-time law school faculty members?

Because that's the population about which I wanted to capture data. Want a different survey? A better one? Feel free to start one, and I'm happy to publicize it here, if relevant to legal education.

The current census is embedded below, too (but edit via links above).

Oklahoma Law Seeks Chair in Oil, Gas and Natural Resources

This just in:

The University of Oklahoma College of Law announces that applications and nominations are being accepted for the EUGENE KUNTZ CHAIR OF LAW IN OIL, GAS, AND NATURAL RESOURCES.

The Eugene Kuntz Chair is named after an OU professor who achieved legendary status in the field of oil and gas law. Funding for the Kuntz Chair is provided by gifts from former students, friends, and the family of Eugene Kuntz. OU, with support from the Kuntz Chair endowment, offers a competitive salary plus significant support for research and travel. The Kuntz Chair was most recently held by internationally renowned scholar and OU Professor Emeritus Owen L. Anderson.

 

Faulkner Law Seeks Faculty

This just in:

 

Faulkner University's Thomas Goode Jones School of Law (Montgomery, AL) invites entry-level or junior-level applications for a tenure-track faculty position, beginning in Fall 2023.  The law school welcomes applications from candidates across all areas of the law; however, the law school's primary hiring interests are Criminal Law and Procedure.  Materials should be submitted online at faulkner.applicantpro.com/jobs.  Questions may be addressed to Professor Andy Olree at aolree@faulkner.edu.

 

Faulkner University's Thomas Goode Jones School of Law (Montgomery, AL) invites applications for a clinical faculty position overseeing the school's Mediation Clinic, beginning in Fall 2023.  The school is particularly interested in candidates with practical experience and academic interest in dispute resolution models.  Materials should be submitted online at faulkner.applicantpro.com/jobs.  Questions may be addressed to Professor Andy Olree at aolree@faulkner.edu.

 

Taboo Trades Podcast: Breach By Violence—Sharecropper Litigation with Brittany Farr

In this episode, UVA Law 3L Marley Peters and I interview Brittany Farr, Assistant Professor of Law at NYU School of Law. Farr is a scholar of private law and race. With more than a decade of interdisciplinary training, her research draws on history, legal theory, and cultural studies to theorize how marginalized populations have availed themselves of otherwise inhospitable legal regimes. In particular, her research focuses on enslaved and free African Americans’ use of contract law during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and interrogates the ways in which contract law mediated African Americans’ relationship to bodily autonomy, economic freedom, and legal agency both during and after slavery. 

We’re discussing her article, Breach By Violence, forthcoming in the UCLA Law Review, which analyzes the use of private law by sharecroppers and tenant farmers in the Jim Crow South to address violent breaches of contract by landlords. 

 

 

Brittany Farr NYU Homepage: https://its.law.nyu.edu/facultyprofiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=profile.overview&personid=57053

Interview with Samuel James (S. J.) and Leonia Farrar, May 28, 2003.
Interview K-0652. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007). https://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/playback.html?base_file=K-0652&duration=01:29:20

Oral history with 84 year old black female, Joiner, Arkansas https://www.loc.gov/item/afccal000030

Rushdie Redux

I have a new piece at Real Clear Politics, following up on Prof. Nader Hashemi’s theory, as expanded in his recent essay, of Mossad responsibility for the Rushdie stabbing. Here is the gist.

Real Clear Politics 

Rushdie Attack Births New Anti-Israel Conspiracy Theory

By Steven Lubet

October 01, 2022

Anti-Jewish conspiracy theories never die; they simply assume new forms and content. A surprising iteration of this phenomenon recently surfaced when a prominent university professor suggested that the life-threatening attack on the novelist Salmon Rushdie was part of an Israeli intrigue.

In an interview on the Iran Podcast, Hashemi speculated about several ways Matar might have been prompted to attack Rushdie, before opining it was “much more likely” that Matar had been “lured” into action by a “Mossad operative” posing as someone “affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Hashemi then expounded on purportedly “corroborating evidence [of] an Israeli link.” He began with Israel’s “long history of covert activity across the Middle East, including false flag operations” such as the “Lavon Affair in Egypt in 1954.” He pointed out that “Israel has assassinated more people than any other country in the Western world,” and noted the Mossad’s many “covert action[s] against important nuclear and economic sites within Iran.”

None of Hashemi’s professed evidence – conflating covert and false flag operations, the latter having occurred almost 70 years ago – is remotely connected to the Rushdie stabbing in time, location, or modus operandi.

In fact, Hashemi’s invented story follows the format of a classic conspiracy theory, stitching together a few random facts, tying them to a fantasized plot, and insisting that the “corroborating evidence” makes logical sense.

In an earlier article, I wrote that Hashemi was no doubt a person of good will, with no ill intentions. I hope I was not wrong. To his credit, Hashemi appears truly saddened to be associated with antisemitism. On the other hand, he does not even try to understand why so many Jews were offended by his baseless speculation. Instead, he assails “orchestrated campaigns of defamation, slander, and intimidation for offering an opinion.”

Hashemi does not believe he is a conspiracist, but what other word is there for someone who imagines “orchestrated campaigns” with ulterior motives behind every reproach?

You can read the entire piece at Real Clear Politics.

George Washington University Law School Seeks Senior First Amendment Scholar

This just in:

The George Washington University Law School seeks to hire a nationally prominent scholar to fill the newly created Bobby Burchfield Professorship of First Amendment and Free Speech Law, a tenured appointment starting as early as Fall 2023.

The University and Law School have a strong commitment to achieving diversity among faculty and staff. We are particularly interested in receiving applications from members of underrepresented groups and strongly encourage women, persons of color, and LGBTQ candidates to apply for this position.

Minimum Qualifications:

Applicants must possess a J.D. degree or an advanced degree in a relevant field and have relevant experience such as teaching, legal practice, or judicial clerkships. Applicants must have achieved national prominence in the field and show continued scholarly promise, evidenced by publications in scholarly journals or scholarly works in progress.

Application Procedure:

Complete an online faculty application at https://www.gwu.jobs/postings/95619 and upload a cover letter indicating the area of interest with a current c.v., including a list of references.

Please email questions to sarahprabhakar@law.gwu.edu. Review of applications will begin September 30, 2022 and continue until the position is filled. Only complete applications submitted through GW’s online system will be considered.

Employment offers are contingent on the satisfactory outcome of a standard background screening.

The university is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer that does not unlawfully discriminate in any of its programs or activities on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity expression, or on any other basis prohibited by applicable law.

Trump and Tyler

NBC News has posted my short explanation of the thinking behind my essay on Donald Trump and John Tyler:

What Steven Lubet was THINKing about this week when he wrote:  Donald Trump is not the worst U.S. ex-president — yet When you think of which former U.S. president gets compared to Donald Trump the most, who comes to mind? Most likely Richard Nixon. Andrew Jackson perhaps comes in a close second. As a historian of the abolitionist legal movement, I wanted to add another name to the mix: John Tyler. I have long been aware of Tyler’s dishonorable choice to join the Confederacy, thus making him the only former president to have actually betrayed his country. But I thought perhaps a more general interest audience would find the history fascinating, particularly since the word “unprecedented” has been attached to Trump a lot. Before I heard Trump vowing to issue pardons to Capitol rioters if re-elected, I would not have compared him with Tyler. Trump was a terrible president, but not a disloyal one – until the Jan. 6 attempted insurrection, and even then it seemed to me that he could claim to have operated at least within the nominal bounds of the law. The Constitution defines treason against the U.S., in slightly archaic language, as “levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.” Tyler was unique in doing just that, and Trump has now been flirting with it. Historical analogies can sometimes have great explanatory force, and I hoped this would be one such occasion. Steven Lubet is the Williams Memorial Professor at the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.

Faded Love

"Faded Love" was written by Bob Wills, along with his father John and brother Billy Jack, in 1950. Although it has since become a classic of Western swing, it only did moderately well in its initial release -- reaching number eight on the C&W chart, and never crossing over. Cover versions have charted over the years, notably by Patsy Cline (not released until after she died in a plane crash), Jackie DeShannon, and Tompall & The Glazer Brothers. Willie Nelson's duet with Ray Price, with Crystal Gayle singing harmony on the chorus, reached number three on the Hot 100. 

John Wills lifted the melody from a much older song, "Darling Nellie Gray," written in 1856 by Benjamin Hanby (it is a fascinating story, so don't miss it at the bottom of this post).

Hiring Announcement: Faulkner University, Thomas Goode Jones School of Law

From a recent email message:

Faulkner University's Thomas Goode Jones School of Law (Montgomery, AL) invites entry-level or junior-level applications for a tenure-track faculty position, beginning in Fall 2023.  The law school welcomes applications from candidates across all areas of the law; however, the law school's primary hiring interests are Criminal Law and Procedure.  Materials should be submitted online at https://faulkner.applicantpro.com/jobs.  Questions may be addressed to Professor Andy Olree at aolree@faulkner.edu.

Faulkner University's Thomas Goode Jones School of Law (Montgomery, AL) invites applications for a clinical faculty position overseeing the school's Mediation Clinic, beginning in Fall 2023.  The school is particularly interested in candidates with practical experience and academic interest in dispute resolution models.  Materials should be submitted online at https://faulkner.applicantpro.com/jobs.  Questions may be addressed to Professor Andy Olree at aolree@faulkner.edu.

 

Catholic Law Seeks Faculty

This just in:

Catholic Law seeks to fill several faculty positions to begin in Fall 2023. We are seeking candidates for entry-level and lateral positions, tenure-track or contract, in a wide variety of subjects, including Clinical Education, Lawyering Skills, Civil Procedure, Family Law, Trusts and Estates, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Corporate and Securities Law, International Law, and Contracts and Commercial Law.

Candidates in Clinical Education may have opportunities to teach in our existing clinics but also may propose new clinical areas. We are particularly interested in clinical offerings compatible with participation by our evening students.

We are also seeking candidates whose teaching and research interests may be in any of the above subject matter areas (or others) who are also interested in participating in our University’s Institute for Latin American and Iberian Studies.

Catholic Law is a national leader in preparing students of all faiths for the practice of law and is an integral part of The Catholic University of America, the national university of the Catholic Church, located on a beautiful residential campus in the heart of the nation’s capital.

Candidates must possess a J.D. or equivalent, superior academic credentials, and relevant professional experience, such as teaching, legal practice, or judicial clerkships. The application should include a letter of interest, CV, references, sample publications, and a personal statement addressing how your research, teaching, and service would make a distinctive contribution to the mission of our University and law school and the vision of Catholic education outlined in the Apostolic Constitution on Catholic Universities, Ex Corde Ecclesiae.

Interested applicants should email their materials to the attention of Dean Stephen Payne at guinn@law.edu.

As a Catholic institution, our mission commits us to respecting the “dignity of each human person,” and to welcoming scholars who will bring a “diversity of backgrounds, religious affiliations, viewpoints, and contributions” to the law school’s vibrant intellectual community. We recognize the importance of diversity in our faculty and encourage applications from those with diverse backgrounds.

The Catholic University of America is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Virginia Law Seeks Research Assistant Professor of Law/Fellow for Law and Democracy Center

This just in:

The University of Virginia School of Law seeks a Research Assistant Professor of Law to serve as the Karsh Center for Law and Democracy Fellow (“Karsh Fellow”). This non-tenure-track Academic General Faculty position will start near the beginning of the 2023-24 academic year and have a fixed-term appointment of two years. The position offers compensation of $70,000 plus benefits.

The Karsh Center is a nonpartisan legal institute at the Law School. The Center’s mission is to promote understanding and appreciation of the principles and practices necessary for a well- functioning, pluralistic democracy. These include civil discourse and democratic dialogue, civic engagement and citizenship, ethics and integrity in public office, and respect for the rule of law. The Center supports these essential features of our democratic life through rigorous and cutting-edge legal and interdisciplinary scholarship, curricular offerings, and academic programs such as conferences and workshops. The Center’s aim is to advance the values of law and democracy within the academy and in public discourse.

 

Ex-Presidents Who Betrayed Their Country

No, that isn’t a Jeopardy category. It’s my new column for NBC News.

Here is the gist. (I did not write the headline.)

The former U.S. president who was more traitorous than Trump

It’s important to keep in mind that Donald Trump is not — yet — the worst ex-president in U.S. history. Trump has made a serious effort to dishonor his post-presidency, of course. He likely has encouraged future insurrections by vowing to pardon the rioters who sacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. And he’s stashed boxes of top secret documents at his home at Mar-a-Lago, raising serious national security concerns.

But John Tyler, a Whig who held office from 1841 to 1845, was even worse. Tyler actually tried to destroy the Union by joining the Confederacy’s war of treason in defense of slavery. Tyler’s treachery is worth remembering as a warning about the real danger a former president can pose. 

You can read the entire piece here.

Rosh HaShana

 

 

Taboo Trades Podcast: Indentured Servitude, Specific Performance, and the Thirteenth Amendment with Nate Oman

In this episode, we continue our discussion with Nathan B. Oman, the W. Taylor Reveley III Research Professor and Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Markets at William & Mary School of Law. Nate specializes in Contract Law, the Economic Analysis of Law, Jurisprudence, Law and Religion, and Legal History. Today, we’re discussing his 2009 article, Specific Performance and the Thirteenth Amendment, published in the Minnesota Law Review.

As I mentioned in episode 1, the article first came to my attention this summer, when the internet erupted with suggestions that the specific performance clause in the Elon Musk (more precisely, X Holdings) merger agreement with Twitter wasn’t enforceable because of the 13^th Amendment. As you heard in our last episode, Nate strongly disagrees with that take.

I’ve split my discussion with Nate into two parts. In Episode 1, largely driven by questions from UVA Law 3Ls Bridget Boyd and Jenn Scoler, we discussed the Musk-Twitter litigation and the various provisions of the merger agreement, including the specific performance provision and the termination fee. In this episode, we delve more deeply into Nate’s analysis of the scope of the 13^th amendment’s prohibition against indentured servitude and its relation to the specific performance of personal service contracts. As always, we spend some time on examples from the world of sports . . . because hey, we’re in Virginia.

 

 

Links:

Nathan B. Oman faculty bio https://law2.wm.edu/faculty/bios/fulltime/nboman.php

 

Nathan B. Oman, Specific Performance and the Thirteenth Amendment, 93 MINN. L. REV. 2020 (2009). https://www.minnesotalawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Oman_MLR.pdf

 

Amendment and Plan of Merger by and among X Holdings I, Inc., X Holdings II, Inc. and Twitter, Inc. dated as of April 25, 2022 https://kimberlydkrawiec.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Musk-Twitter-Agreement.pdf

North Carolina Central University (NCCU) invites applications and nominations for the position of Dean of the School of Law

North Carolina Central University (NCCU) invites applications and nominations for the position of Dean of the School of Law. The Dean will work closely with the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, and other deans and academic leaders, under the overall University leadership of Chancellor Dr. Johnson O. Akinleye.

North Carolina Central University is a top-ranking historically black university founded in 1910 in Durham, North Carolina, by pharmacist and religious educator Dr. James E. Shepard. The university serves as a hub for intellectual dialogue and discourse and a source of academic distinction and game-changing innovation for North Carolina, the United States and the world.

The next Dean of NCCU School of Law must be someone with vision, tenacity, and a heart dedicated to service. The next Dean must possess an entrepreneurial and innovative mindset that embraces “grit,” because while the landscape for the practice and teaching of law is undergoing dramatic change, the need for well trained, practice ready lawyers continues to be critical in underserved communities. Of equal importance, the next Dean must understand, promote, and advocate for the Law School’s founding mission, providing an opportunity for an outstanding legal education to those who continue to be underrepresented in the legal profession because of their ethnicity, gender, or the communities from which they come.