The Faculty Lounge

Alabama Seeks Constitutional Law Faculty for New Endowed Chair

This just in:

The University of Alabama School of Law announces a search for the inaugural Hugh F. Culverhouse, Jr. Chairholder in Constitutional Law. This position is a University-level Chair. We seek a person who is a nationally or internationally recognized scholar and teacher of constitutional law, who will continue to make substantial and meaningful scholarly contributions, who will participate actively in the life of the Law School, and who will enhance the School of Law’s already strong presence in public law. The Chairholder will have the opportunity to establish and direct a Program in Constitutional Studies.

The School of Law has achieved a high level of excellence in the quality of its faculty, students, administration, and staff, and we seek to build on our standing as one of the leading public law schools in the United States. The Search Committee welcomes both applications and nominations. While most candidates will have a J.D. degree from an accredited law school, it is not required for exceptional candidates who possess an advanced degree, such as a Ph.D., and who have scholarship related to the law involving interdisciplinary, jurisprudential, empirical, or social scientific work may be considered without holding a law degree.

The University of Alabama embraces and welcomes diversity in its faculty, student body, and staff; accordingly, the School of Law actively welcomes applications from and nominations of persons who would add to the diversity of our academic community. The School of Law embraces EEO principles in our faculty recruiting efforts. Salary, benefits, and research support will be nationally competitive. The School of Law will treat all nominations and applications as strictly confidential, subject only to requirements of state and federal law.

Interested candidates should apply online here.   Nominations, applications, and questions may also be transmitted by e-mail to Professor Ron Krotoszynski at culverh[email protected]. Applications will be reviewed as received.

Michael McGinniss Named Dean of North Dakota Law

Professor Michael McGinnis has been named the new dean of the University of North Dakota School of Law.  He joined the UND faculty in 2010 and is a graduate of William & Mary Law. 

Ethnography Presentation at Berkeley Law -- TOMORROW

For those in the Bay Area, I will be speaking on ethnography at Berkeley Law on February 28; details below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry about the blurry graphic, which I cannot seem to fix. But if you right click on it, a non-blurry image will appear in a separate window.

The talk will be 4:00 - 5:30 in the Goldberg Room, 297 Simon Hall, Berkeley Law

New Study on the State of the Entry-Level Law-Jobs Market and its Implications (Part I: Where the Job Market for New Law Graduates is Today)

I’ve posted on SSRN a draft of my new study of the entry-level Law-Jobs market and its implications.  You can find the draft here.  It’s a followup to my earlier study on the job market, published in the middle of the Great Recession’s aftermath in 2014.  I presented an earlier draft of the new paper last spring at Florida International’s Summit on the Future of Legal Education and Entry to the Profession.  That conference was ably organized by Scott Norberg and generously co-sponsored by LSAC.  The paper will appear later this year in the Symposium Issue of the FIU Law Review devoted to the Summit.

Rather than imposing one long post on those interested, I thought I would break a discussion of the findings into four parts, posted over the next week or two.  This Part will discuss the current state of the entry-level Law-Jobs market.  Subsequent posts will discuss (ii) the entry-level placements the ABA calls “JD-Advantage”; (iii) predictions regarding future trends in entry-level employment for new law graduates; and (iv) the implications for the legal academy of where the job market is and where it’s going.

So where are we these days?  I’ll fill you in after the jump.

Deepa Das Acevedo’s Gig Labor

This is to introduce a new, free, online resource on the gig economy: a bibliography containing both academic andacademic materials that’s largely but not exclusively geared toward labor & employment law.

The bibliography is a small project of Deepe Das Acevedo undertaken with the generous support of Alabama Law in the hopes of collecting and (where permissible) disseminating materials for students, scholars, advocates, and anyone interested in gig labor.

Finally, please do suggest any items that should be included in the bibliography, either via our online contact form or directly by emailing [email protected]. The bibliography is very much in a “beta” phase and there is still much work to be done. Welcome anything that is germane to the gig economy, especially labor regulation, regardless of discipline.

Visiting Instructor of Legal Research and Writing - Willamette University College of Law

Willamette University College of Law invites applications for a full time position as a Visiting Instructor in Legal Research & Writing beginning in the fall of 2019. This is a one-year, non-tenure-track, visiting faculty position. Primary responsibilities include teaching two courses per semester, most likely one section of Legal Research and Writing to first-year law students and one section of Applied Legal Analysis for first- and second-year law students. In addition, the visiting instructor will contribute as a valued team member to the advancement of the legal research and writing and bar preparation programs.

This position requires excellent legal research and writing skills, experience in law practice and/or law teaching, a passion for student success, and strong communication and counseling abilities. Interested individuals should submit their application materials via the Willamette University human resources website: http://willamette.edu/offices/hr/jobs/index.html. Additional information regarding the position may be obtained from the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Prof. Norman Williams, who may be reached at [email protected]. Interested candidates should apply prior to March 15, 2019, and the successful candidate must be ready to start by August 15, 2019. Believing that diversity contributes to academic excellence and to rich and rewarding communities, Willamette University is committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse faculty, staff and student body. We seek candidates, particularly those from historically underrepresented groups, whose work furthers diversity and who bring to campus varied experiences, perspectives and backgrounds.

Impeachable Offenses

Keith Whittington recently posted an essay on impeachment that does a fantastic job of summarizing the issues and scholarship on impeachable offenses. 

Reading his essay reminded me that, while researching my latest paper on the public lands, I came across a very interesting exchange between John C. Calhoun and President Jackson.  Essentially, Calhoun implied that Jackson had used his office to encourage land speculation for private financial gain.  Jackson responded by stating:

“You cannot but be aware, sir, that the imputations which your language conveys are calculated, if believed, to destroy my character as a man, and that the charge is one which, if true, ought to produce my impeachment and punishment as a public officer. If I caused the removal of the deposites [sic] for the base purpose of enriching myself or my friends by any of the results which might grow out of that measure, there is no term of reproach which I do not deserve, and no punishment known to the laws which ought not to be inflicted upon me.”

Jackson then called on Calhoun to retract his statement. He continued: “But in the even that you fail to do so, I then demand that you place your charge before the House of Representatives, that they may institute the necessary proceeding to ascertain the truth or falsehood of your imputation . . . .”

Jackson’s letter is printed at 13 Reg. Deb. 754 (1837).

 

CFP: 2019 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Comparative Law

This is just in:

Call for Panel and Paper Proposals

2019 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Comparative Law

Comparative Law and International Dispute Resolution Processes

October 17-19, 2019

University of Missouri School of Law

The American Society of Comparative Law and the University of Missouri School of Law invite all interested scholars, practitioners and advanced degree students to consider submitting a panel or a paper proposal for the upcoming Annual Meeting of the American Society of Comparative Law that will be held between Thursday, October 17, and Saturday, October 19, 2019, at University of Missouri School of Law in Columbia, Missouri, entitled Comparative law and International Dispute Resolution Processes.

Comparative law has long been an integral part of the international dispute resolution process, regardless of whether the matter involves litigation, arbitration, mediation, conciliation or negotiation. However, scholars have seldom focused on the comparative element, preferring instead to analyze various issues as a matter of public or private international law. While it is important to consider dispute resolution as a reflection of international law, that perspective does not answer all relevant questions. The American Society of Comparative Law’s 2019 annual program seeks to delve more deeply into how comparative law operates formally and informally, visibly and invisibly, publicly and privately, in cases involving cross-border dispute resolution.

Third Annual Christmas Movie Review: Green Book [UPDATED]

UPDATE: I was as surprised as anyone -- probably more -- to see that Green Book won the Oscar for best picture. It was a mostly enjoyable film, heavy on stereotypes, and with a totally predictable plot. Definitely lightweight, it focused on the wrong character. Instead of the boorish-but-redeemed Tony Lip, Don Shirley would have been a far more interesting and worthy protagonist. It speaks volumes that the white character drove the plot, instead of just driving the car. Below is my original review:

Green Book is the latest entry in the unlikely friendship genre, this time telling the (mostly true) story of Tony Vallelonga, a nightclub bouncer from the Bronx, and Don Shirley, a classically trained musician and one of the most popular pianists in the country. Set in 1962, the Italian Vallelonga, known to his friends as Tony Lip, serves as the African American Shirley’s driver on a concert tour through the Deep South. The eponymous book, of course, was the Negro Travelers' Green Book, published annually in the Jim Crow era, with a guide to accommodations and restaurants that were available to black patrons.

The story line is predictable, as the rough and tumble Tony Lip overcomes his own initial prejudice to become a friend and admirer of the tightly-wound Shirley, while they encounter the much more virulent bigotry in the South. There are some plot twists along the way, but they are broadly telegraphed and therefore unsurprising.

I don’t want to create a misimpression. The film is very engaging, and it provides an ever-needed reminder of life in the segregated South. We see Shirley warmly welcomed and applauded in concert venues where he was not allowed to use the indoor plumbing or eat in the dining room. He remains composed, as he has to, while Tony Lip’s rage steadily mounts.  I won’t reveal the ending, other than to say that the screenplay was written by Tony’s son.

Mahershala Ali does a great job as the highly eccentric Don Shirley, straining to maintain his dignity in the most trying circumstances. Viggo Mortensen is almost unrecognizable as the overweight and uncouth Vallelonga, which I suppose was the point of the role. Frankly, I would like to see just one film in which New York Italians – in this case including Tony’s family, neighbors, and friends – are portrayed as something other than loud and ungrammatical extras in a Robert DeNiro film. Given that the real Vallelonga later became maitre d' at the Copacabana, it seems pretty unlikely that he was as boorish as Mortensen plays him.

I might be alone in thinking that Mortensen over-acted the Tony Lip part. He got a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor. Ali also got a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor, which tells you something about the film’s emphasis. Vallelonga is at the center of the story even though Shirley’s real life was far more interesting.

Even so, Green Book is emotionally satisfying and definitely worth seeing.

CFP: Obligations X, Private Law Inside Out

This just in:

Obligations X: Private Law Inside and Out

The Tenth Biennial Conference on the Law of Obligations will be held at Harvard Law School from July 14–17, 2020. The conference will be co-hosted by Harvard Law School and Melbourne Law School, and will be co-convened by John Goldberg, Andrew Robertson and Henry Smith. The biennial Obligations Conferences bring together scholars and practising lawyers from across and beyond the common law world to discuss current issues in private law. Obligations X will be the first conference in the Obligations series to be held in the United States.

The conference theme is intended to provoke discussion about the inside and outside of private law. The conference will focus on the contrast between ‘internalist’ and ‘externalist’ perspectives on the law in this field. It will also consider the boundaries and relationships between private law and morality, private law and economic efficiency, and private law and other policy goals. A central aspiration of this iteration of Obligations is to give private law scholars working in different intellectual traditions an opportunity to identify previously underappreciated overlaps and synergies, and thereby help to break down methodological barriers to an improved understanding of the field.

Both established and early-career legal scholars are invited to submit proposals to present papers addressing the conference theme, either at a general level or in relation to any aspect of the law of obligations broadly conceived – contract, property (including intellectual property), torts, unfair competition, and unjust enrichment, as well as equity and other topics within or closely related to private law. Papers exploring relevant issues from a civil law perspective are also welcome. Anyone wishing to offer a paper should submit a working title and an abstract (of no more than 500 words) by email to [email protected] by August 15, 2019. Papers will be selected on the basis of quality, originality, engagement with the conference theme and fit with other papers being presented at the conference.

Cincinnati Law Seeks Library Director

The University of Cincinnati College of Law is searching for an associate dean of library services and director of the law library.  The posting is here.

Kahanists Are a Danger to Israeli Democracy and Far Worse than Louis Farrakhan [UPDATED]

In advance of April’s election, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently brokered the merger of two smaller right-wing parties, in the hope that the agreement would increase his chances of putting together a governing coalition. To the consternation and distress Israeli and American Jewish organizations across the political spectrum, one of those parties is the blatantly racist Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power), which is descended from Meir Kahane’s outlawed Kach Movement, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and European governments. Among its many other disgraceful policies, Otzma Yehudit calls for complete Israeli sovereignty over the Temple Mount and the deportation of Palestinians, leading Aipac (Aipac!) to call the outfit “racist and reprehensible.” Nonetheless, the Netanyahu-arranged merger with Bayit Yehudi – “Jewish Home,” another ultra-right, but not Kahanist, party – is likely to mean that Otzma Yehudi will have at least one representative in the next Knesset.

Writing in The Forward, Michael Koplow challenged “everyone who called out the Women’s March over Farrakhan” to likewise condemn Netanyahu over the Otzma Yehudit deal. And rightly so. For all of Farrakhan’s bigotry, he does not overtly preach violence against Jews. The same cannot be said for the Kahanists, whose acolytes have committed and celebrated arson and murder of Palestinians. As Koplow pointed out, the leader of Otzma Yehudit, Michael Ben-Ari, was banned from entering the U.S. in 2012 as a result of State Department guidelines preventing known terrorists from entering the country. This is the person whose possible entry to the Knesset has now been enabled by Netanyahu. 

River

If you’re looking for something good to watch on television that does not require a huge time investment, I highly recommend the superb BBC detective series River. Written by the Welsh playwright and screenwriter Abi Morgan, it stars Stellan Skarsgård as Detective Chief Inspector John River and Nicola Walker as Detective Sergeant Jackie “Stevie” Stevenson. Although only 6 episodes long, River is one of the most memorable detective shows I have ever watched. 

The central plot device is that DCI River suffers from vivid and often disturbing hallucinations. As River struggles to hide his psychological disorder from his superiors at the Metropolitan Police Service, he must solve a shocking murder that rocked the police force as well as his own fragile psyche. One of the many fascinating themes of the series is that mental illness does not preclude someone from still being highly effective at their job. Indeed, DCI River’s psychological and emotional torment actually makes him a better detective because it helps him think through the clues he discovers. But that only scratches the surface of Morgan’s rich and exceptionally well-crafted story. The show is great from start to finish. 

I’m afraid to give more details because there is a major plot twist about 10 minutes into the first episode. The show originally aired on the BBC in 2015 to rave reviews. The Telegraph’s reviewer called it “superlatively creepy” and the “most moving thing I’ve seen on television for some time.” The New York Times deemed it “a first-rate psychological study” that grows “deeper, darker and more intricate with each episode.” And the Irish Times described it as “pitch perfect.” On Rotten Tomatoes River has a 100% Tomatometer rating and an audience approval score of 94%.

River is available on Netflix  and Amazon. Most highly recommended. 

Using Proslavery Precedent

While researching my latest article, I was struck by the lack of discussion of Dred Scott in the law review literature on the history of the Property Clause of Article IV (sometimes called the Territories Clause). Dred Scott was one of the most important Supreme Court decisions of the 19^th century, and Congress’s regulatory power over the public lands was a central issue.

In fact, judges and scholars often ignore proslavery precedent. Tarble’s Case (1872) is commonly cited for the proposition that a state judge cannot issue a writ of habeas for the discharge of a federal prisoner. That point, however, was clearly settled in Ableman v. Booth (1859), which is better known for upholding the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. And, the Court said that it invented the anti-commandeering doctrine in New York v. U.S. (1992), even though it appears in Prigg v. Pennsylvania (1842). Prigg, though, is better known for upholding the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793. Like it or not, Dred Scott also supports Shelby County’s much-maligned equal state sovereignty principle.

Pretending that that these cases don’t exist, or that everything in them must be wrong, distorts constitutional history. Of course I do not mean to suggest that the Court reached the right result in these cases. Several of my articles argue otherwise. However, cases like Dred Scott reflect the reality that, for much of our history, we had a proslavery constitution. If we want to understand constitutional history, legal scholarship should take proslavery precedent seriously.

April Barton Named Dean of Duquesne Law

Duquesne University Law has announced that its new dean will be April Barton, currently associate dean of academic affairs at Villanova Law.  Barton will take over from Maureen Lally-Green in July.  She holds a JD from Villanova.  

Mable Lee (1921-2019)

Mable Lee, who was know as "Queen of the Soundies" in the 1940s, starred in short musical films that were played on coin operated Panoram machines and also shown in theaters, night clubs, and restaurants.

 

It's All about the British Benjamins

Earlier this week, seven members of the British Parliament resigned from the Labor Party in protest of Jeremy Corbyn's positions on Brexit and anti-Semitism. Two more MPs have since quit the party citing the same reasons, and have formed what they are calling the Independent Group. It did not take long for the conspiracy theories to start flying.

In a Facebook post, Labor MP Ruth George agreed with a constituent that Israel might be secretly funding the dissidents. She wrote,

Support from the State of Israel, which supports both Conservative and Labour "Friends of Israel". . . is possible and I would not condemn those who suggest it, especially when the group’s financial backers are not being revealed.

Needless to say, the alleged influence of secret Jewish money, presumably paying MPs to quit their party, was the furthest thing from her mind. Rather, she explained, “It’s important for democracy to know the financial backers for any political group or policy.” 

George hastily apologized, saying she had "no intention of invoking a conspiracy theory." Other Labour Party members, however, saw no harm in her comment. Prominent among the anti-Semitism deniers is MP Jenny Manson, who leads Jewish Voice for Labour, a group that was set up to defend Corbyn. According to Manson, such "conspiracy theories, while dangerous, did not necessarily equate to anti-Semitism." 

Bam Named Interim Dean of Maine Law

The University of Maine School of Law has named Dmitri Bam, currently associate dean, as its interim dean.  Bam, who holds a JD from Stanford, will take over this summer from Danielle Conway who is leaving to become dean of Penn State Dickinson Law.  

Visiting Professor position for Corporations/Commercial Law, Willamette University

Visiting Professor/Assistant Professor - Willamette University College of Law

Willamette University College of Law invites applications for a full time position as a Visiting Professor or Visiting Assistant Professor for either a full-year or semester in the 2019-2020 academic year. This is a one-year, non-tenure-track, visiting faculty position. The principal curricular areas of interest are Corporations, Commercial Law (e.g., Sales or Secured Transactions), and Contracts.  Interested individuals should submit their application materials via the Willamette University human resources website: http://willamette.edu/offices/hr/jobs/index.html. Additional information regarding the position may be obtained from the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Prof. Norman Williams, who may be reached at [email protected]. Interested candidates should apply as soon as possible and in no event later than March 8th, and the successful candidate must be ready to start by August 15, 2019. Believing that diversity contributes to academic excellence and to rich and rewarding communities, Willamette University is committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse faculty, staff and student body. We seek candidates, particularly those from historically underrepresented groups, whose work furthers diversity and who bring to campus varied experiences, perspectives and backgrounds.

Knapp Named Interim Head of Mitchell Hamline Law

The Mitchell Hamline School of Law has named Peter Knapp, currently associate dean for academic affairs, to become interim president and dean of the law school beginning July 1. Knapp, who holds a JD from Harvard, joined the William Mitchell faculty in 1989.  He will replace Mark Gordon who steps down this summer.