Getting to Know Me, Getting to Know All About Me

A heartfelt "thank you" to my former colleague and good friend Tim Zinnecker for his warm welcome to The Faculty Lounge.  And thanks also to the Lounge's permanent residents for the opportunity to spend some time here.  I am looking forward to it.  Before getting down to serious posting, I thought I'd let you know a little more about the latest faculty member to wander into the Lounge.

To get things started, here are some topics I hope to discuss while hanging out here.  Let's start with the heavy stuff -- the substantive law, where I split time between my academic and practice-based sides.  On the academic side, I'm a constitutional law person, with my research devoted to religious freedom issues.  The subject of my current work-in-progress, which I hope to inflict on readers of this blog, is something called the "ministerial exception" to Title VII employment discrimination claims.  The exception is a judge-made doctrine that exempts churches from  federal employment discrimination claims brought by their ministers and similar employees.  Here's the short version of my thesis -- I'm not a big fan.  I'll provide the long version in a later post.

On the practical side, I write and present at CLE programs on the subject of corporate compliance and ethics programs.  A corporate compliance and ethics program is a business organization's policies, processes, and personnel devoted to preventing, detecting, and remedying violations of law and the organization's ethical principles.  My prior foray into blogging was on this subject; I was the sole contributor to the Compliance Prof Blog, the fossilized remains of which still appear on the Internet.  I enjoyed my few months on that blog, but the demands of solo blogging were just too much.  I am looking forward to the following month as a gentle re-entry to the blogosphere, and an opportunity to tie off some of the compliance and ethics loose ends I left hanging.

My last topic is more therapy than substance -- the life of a law school associate dean.  For those who have never held the position, I have described the "associate dean" to interested family and friends (in truth, "interested" is too strong -- it's more like "politely attentive"), as the "somebody of the law school."   That is, when a law school faculty member, student, or staff runs into a problem or has a question, and then says, "Somebody has to deal with that," you can bet that the associate dean is the "somebody."  It's like a weird, sad version of It's a Wonderful Life, where every time the word "somebody" is said, an associate dean feels dread.  This picture captures quite nicely the mindset of the average associate dean.

I'll close this first post with a deep, dark secret -- something I haven't admitted to anyone.  It's so horrifying that I must ask you not to repeat it.  If you cannot agree, please stop reading now.

OK -- those of you who are still with me, come closer to the screen so I can whisper.  That's it -- just a little closer.  Good.   Here it is --

I really like being associate dean.

Let me say that again -- I like being associate dean.

To be clear, I am not just saying that the position is not as horrible as I thought it would be.  As if I was expecting it to be like pounding my head against a cinder block wall, but was pleasantly surprised to find it more like pounding away at a sheet rock wall (I mean, at least sheet rock will eventually give way if you hit it long and hard enough).  No -- I actually like the job.  In a later post, I hope to explore this pathology, because I must confess that it scares me a little.

So, there you have it -- more than you probably needed, or wanted, to know.  I have to admit -- this blogging thing is kinda fun.  I may have to do it again some time.  Oh yeah -- like every other day or so for the next month!

Comments

[Tim Zinnecker]

You're right, Paul. Blogging is "kinda fun." And addictive! Looking forward to your posts.

[Kelly Anders]

I love the photo. Hilarious.

[Shox R2 Shoes]

hoped that it might have been caught on camera. There would have been a really good chance of getting some evidence off it.

“But we’ve looked at the camera – which was just a few yards away high up on a wall – today and yesterday and it’s facing the wall that it’s mounted on. Its main field of vision will just be the cream-coloured wall that