The Faculty Lounge

I'll Be Your Baby Tonight

Released in 1967 on Bob Dylan's Nashville album John Wesley Harding, "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight has been a staple of his live shows ever since.

Customizing Chat GPT to Write Like a Law Professor?

Like many others in law schools and beyond, I have been experimenting with Chat GPT to better understand its capabilities and limitations. From an online seminar led by Mushtaq Bilal (Literature, University of Southern Denmark), I learned that about customizing ChatGPT (clicking on your name in the lower left corner of the home screen-->click "Customize ChatGPT"). You can provide information about your areas of academic interest and how you want ChatGPT to respond (i.e., use a formal, academic tone; here's what I expect you to address if I ask for a critique of a paragraph). My anecdotal experience so far is that providing these customized instruction makes ChatGPT a more accurate source of assistance.

Separate and apart from availing oneself of the "Customize ChatGPT" screen, one can also ask ChatGPT to remember certain things, including what you have written in the past. That way, ChatGPT has a better sense of the tone, output, etc. you may be expecting (more explanation here).

I recently experimented by uploading to ChatGPT four of my published law review articles and asking it to remember that I am the author of those works.  I then asked ChatGPT to "write a paragraph about balloons in the style of Bridget J. Crawford." Here were the results:

 

I have never written about balloons before, and I haven't written anything substantial about environmental issues (or anything about consumer safety). So it is difficult to say if this is written in my "style." But I do think that ChatGPT's output in response to this prompt has some noteworthy qualities that seem "law prof-ish" to me: a coherent thesis statement, a mention of variations in legal framework, the reference to regulations, and linking to other issues ("a microcosm for examining law legal systems can evolve").  I'm interested in continuing to experiment--cautiously, ethically--with this technology.

Has anyone else experimented with custom instructions? Any tips for what is working well (or poorly) at this stage?

CFP: Maintaining Balance in Troubled Times

This just in:

AALS 2025 – Courage in Action
Call for Presenters for the Section on Balance and Well-Being in
Legal Education Program at the 2025 AALS Annual Meeting

Title: Maintaining Balance in Troubled Times

This program will focus on well-being philosophies and practices for students, faculty, and staff in environments that are hostile to academic freedom. Academics in the U.S. have been under increased pressure to conform to ideological agendas set by legislatures and appointed boards in recent years. The persecution of scholars, and the crackdown on academic freedom, is nothing new; the Scholars at Risk Network notes 259 serious attacks on professors and students worldwide in the last year alone.

The goal of this program is to address the health and well-being concerns of those who are at risk from such attacks. As legislative pressure increases on all scholars, and especially proponents of antiracism, DEIB, and international human rights in the United States, what can students, faculty, and staff do to stay healthy, feel supported, and protect against trauma, while preserving pedagogical and moral integrity?

Potential topics could include, but are not limited to:

• Balancing competing pressures from institutions, legislatures, students, and the legal profession
• Navigating threats to appointment, contract renewal, tenure, promotion, or autonomy in clinic or externship operation
• Promoting “intellectual diversity” without moral injury
• Examining perspectives from scholars who chose (or were forced) to exit hostile environments
• Speaking and acting courageously when a legislature’s agenda is diametrically opposed to the goals of higher education
• Cultivating trauma-informed mindsets at the individual, institutional, and community levels

We invite proposals from individuals or panels of up to three people. Proposals should include a short abstract (no more than 300 words) and names, contact information of all co-presenters and a list of any previous AALS presentations. We welcome proposals from staff, administrators, faculty, first-time presenters, and those new to the academy. In the spirit of modeling well-being practices, please include in the abstract a proposed interactive and/or intention-setting component to incorporate into the presentation.

Please submit proposals to Dan Canon ([email protected]) by June 3, 2024.

Bill McGeveran Named Dean of Minnesota Law

The University of Minnesota Law School has announced that William McGeveran will be its next dean.  He has served as the interim dean for the 23-24 academic year and is also a professor of law at Minnesota.  McGeveran, who holds a JD from NYU, will take over on June 17th.

Hiring Announcement: University of San Francisco School of Law

From a recent email message:

Visiting Professor of Legal Writing

The School of Law at the University of San Francisco is seeking a full-time non-tenure track Legal Research, Writing, and Analysis Professor for the upcoming academic year. The faculty member guides first year law students through their first foray into legal writing and research, so they are best equipped to analyze, write and research about complex legal issues. The faculty member will teach two sections each semester comprised of approximately 20 students per class. During the fall semester, the professor will teach predictive writing and legal analysis. The spring semester will focus on persuasive writing, legal research, and oral advocacy. The spring semester culminates in a moot court event where alumni attorneys act as judges during oral arguments. The small class size fosters collaboration and allows faculty to adapt instruction to particular classroom needs and provide individualized feedback. This feedback is core to the school’s legal writing program. In addition, the professor may teach an additional class semester as negotiated with the Associate Dean or Dean. Housing assistance for a visiting professor may be available.

Additional Details and Application