Chemerinsky Named Dean of Berkeley Law

Erwin Chemerinsky, founding dean of the UC Irvine School of Law, has been named the new dean of UC Berkeley School of Law effective July 1.  Chemerinsky, a graduate of Northwestern University and Harvard Law, got the nod over finalists Laura Gomez of UCLA and Kimberly Yuracko of Northwestern.   

Comments

[A Former Bear]

Congrats to Berkeley and Dean Chemerinsky!

[Al Brophy]

Congratulations! This is really exciting news.

[anon]

Meh ...

[Anon]

Serious question: why is it that this perpetual trailing spouse nepotism is even acceptable in academia? Berkeley is a public school, don't they have nepotism guidelines? Does anyone believe for one second that Chemerinsky's wife Fisk would have a shot at a lateral appointment at Berkeley on her own, and if she did, would she beat out other potential lateral candidates in a fare competition? This reeks.

[anon]

This isn't the only spousal hire Berkeley Law made this year.

[Jared Kushner]

I am against nepotism in governmental positions. Only hire the best qualified candidate for any important post.

[anon]

anon May 18, 2017 at 04:52 PM

And, in prior years.

And, for those who have been burned by the products of this practice, the practice is all the more reprehensible.

In this instance, again, the legal academy demonstrates its arrogance and belief that it is above the law. These faculties function like the worst nightmares about unrestrained "old boy networks" with the obvious difference that the new bosses aren't "old boys."

Just as bad though. Worse, actually. They discriminate just as viciously, feather their nests just as greedily, and behave just as badly to others (bullying, etc.), but, have no shame or self-awareness whatsoever. They make no attempt to hide their bad practices, and tolerate no voices of dissent.

[Leo]

I worked at a law school which gave a clinical, non tenured position to the spouse of the academic Dean, a tenured prof. The spouse received the lowest evaluations in the history of the school. Students wouldn't go to the academic Dean to complain about him, of course. I would think having the spouse of the Dean on the faculty has some chilling effect on faculty conversations outside of faculty meetings, too

[twbb]

I'm surprised Chemerinsky's reputation didn't take more of a hit from the whole UC Irvine fiasco.

[twbb]

Also, regarding spousal hires, while I do think there is a place for them in terms of junior employees married to academics, there's no excuse for an administrator who is probably making about a half million dollars a year.

[Barry]

"I'm surprised Chemerinsky's reputation didn't take more of a hit from the whole UC Irvine fiasco."

It is shocking, especially since UC Berkeley is a real, high-quality law school. Then again, John Yoo.

Other law schools probably figured that if he could make money off a nothingburger, then he could rake in serious money for an actual law school.

[nope]

what fiasco?

[Amir]

There's no fiasco, twbb and Barry are just jealous. Sad really. Probably the same person.

[anon]

Amir

Perhaps twbb referred to the content of this article

"U.C. Irvine Law School didn’t make the top 20: What went wrong?, Washington Post, March 10, 2015, By David Bernstein"

or perhaps the events described in this article,

"UC Irvine School of Law Continues to Confound Critics; the Latest: Quick ABA Accreditation," OC Weekly, Tuesday, June 10, 2014 at 6:06 a.m. By Matt Coker

Perhaps instead of making vicious accusations about the motives and identities of others, you might actually familiarize yourself with the facts.