Musical Chairs: Anne Alstott to Harvard Law School

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We now know the identity of Dean Elena Kagan’s mystery hire at Harvard Law School. From the HLS press release:

Anne Alstott, an expert on federal income taxation, corporate taxation and tax policy as well as on social welfare policy, family policy, and feminism and economic justice, will join the Harvard Law School faculty as a tenured professor, Dean Elena Kagan ’86 announced today.

Alstott is presently the Jacquin D. Bierman Professor of Taxation at Yale Law School, where she has held a tenured professorship since 1997 and the Bierman chair since 2004. At Yale, she has taught federal income taxation, corporate taxation, and subjects related to taxation and social policy. She has won three awards for outstanding teaching.

We took two courses from Professor Alstott (Tax and Advanced Tax), and she truly is an amazing teacher. Sadly, this can’t be said of every professor at YLS. Great scholars, yes; great teachers, not necessarily. (Of course, this complaint is not unique to Yale; it can be said of many leading law schools.)
In addition to being admired for her scholarship and teaching, the rather attractive Professor Alstott was the object of many law student crushes. Interestingly enough, Harvard and Yale seem to have traded comely young profs. In 2006, Professor Christine Jolls left HLS for YLS.
Random tidbit: Rumor has it that Professor Alstott, known today for her liberal, pro-redistribution views, was once a staunch conservative. She was previously married to L. Gordon Crovitz, the uber-conservative former publisher of the Wall Street Journal.
Congratulations to Professor Alstott on her new appointment, and to Dean Kagan and Harvard Law School on their exciting hire!
Update: While we’re on the subject of Harvard Law School, if you have any thoughts on their new public service initiative, pursuant to which the school “will pay the third year of tuition for all future students who commit to work in public service for five years following graduation,” feel free to opine in the comments.
We mentioned the program in Morning Docket earlier this week. But based on how many emails we’ve received about it, it seems some of you missed the shout-out.
Further Update: Professor Brian Leiter analyzes Professor Alstott’s move, and its significance for the HLS tax faculty, over here.
Anne Alstott, expert on tax law and social welfare, will join HLS faculty [Harvard Law School]
Alstott From Yale to Harvard [Leiter’s Law School Reports]
Earlier: Another Hiring Coup for Harvard Law School?

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