Harvard Law is going to have a new permanent dean by the first of July. Or at least that's what HLS students should reasonably assume, according to the interim-dean-to-be, Howell Jackson. (Jackson will take over as the temp-in-chief once Elana Kagan receives Senate approval for her new position as
Associate Justice Solicitor General.)
Jackson offered up this opinion, along with various others in a town hall meeting held late last month. The Harvard Law Record reported on the meeting today. Among other things, Jackson addressed student anxiety that the law school's cupboard of environmental scholars had been stripped bare. A 1L apparently emailed Jackson asking why a student interested in environmental law shouldn't transfer. Jackson replied that the nation's top 10 environmental law professors would be subbing for Cass Sunstein and Jody Freeman over the next couple of years.
Jackson also talked about the new grading system. Students wondered how the school would average the old letter system grades with the new less gradelike grades. Jackson responded that the school wouldn't give students details - "there's going to be a little bit of opacity" - because slackers might try to game the system. How's that for faith in today's law students?
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