* Linda Greenhouse to $300K! [New York Observer via ABA Journal]

* Duties of a law school dean: attend parties, appear at conferences, talk to alums. And don't forget the herding of cats -- aka law professors. [TJ's Double Play]

* Even law review editors screw up sometimes. "Constructive acceptance"? [Concurring Opinions]

* Who'd have thunk it? Sometimes blogging can help people. And stuff. [Legal Blog Watch]

* Ethan Leib dresses up as a giant chicken to teach Contracts, thereby guaranteeing ABA accreditation. [PrawfsBlawg]

* Orin Kerr points out online interviews "with eight of the nine current Supreme Court Justices (all but Souter) about legal writing, advocacy, and the process of deciding cases and writing opinions." [Volokh Conspiracy]

* Ann Althouse on John McCain and being a "natural-born citizen." [Althouse]

* Hillary to Russert: You can't handle the truth! About my tax returns. [TaxProf Blog]

* John Carney on backdating: "Although it was billed as the latest financial crime of the century, backdating is turning out to have some very minor results. Few prosecutions, stalled or failed lawsuits..." [DealBreaker]

* Glenn Reynolds on the Omaha mall shooting: "[W]e've reached the point at which a facility that bans firearms, making its patrons unable to defend themselves, should be subject to lawsuit for its failure to protect them." [Instapundit]

* Ann Althouse on Hillary Clinton: "The resistance I feel toward Hillary has to do do with her advancement under the aegis of a powerful man — a powerful man who seems to have diminished quite a number of women." [Althouse]

* Dan Solove, author of The Future of Reputation, on breaking up with someone via Facebook. [Concurring Opinions]

* Michael Dimino on SOC: "Justice O'Connor's status as the first woman on the Court makes it easy to praise her. I cannot imagine that she would be receiving the praise that she gets from the country if she were male." [PrawfsBlawg]

* Valerie Plame, whose exposure as a CIA agent launched lengthy legal proceedings, on the prospect of posing in Playboy: "I'm a mother of twins, are you kidding me?" [Washington Examiner / Yeas and Nays via Gawker]

It's Friday, just shy of 5 PM Eastern time. Where are the bonus announcements? The silence is suspicious. If you're sitting on bonus news that we haven't reported, please reach out to us by email (subject line: "Associate Bonus Watch"). Thanks.

* Ann Althouse: We love it when she gets medieval -- or should we say me-diva? -- on a hapless blogger's a**. [Althouse]

* Jesse Sneed: The Indiana University law student, who riddled his casebooks with bullets, is going home to grandma. [Blogonaut]

* Tim Wu: These ladies aren't the only ones in love with the high-profile prof; Google thinks he's pretty cool, too. [BusinessWeek]

* Barry Richard: S**tstirrer extraordinaire. [National Law Journal]

* Ann Althouse on the Chelsea Clinton restaurant photo controversy from earlier this week: "'We reserve the right to exercise any and all options available to us.' What kind of crap is that?" [Althouse]

* Our apologies to Brian Dalton of Vault for the snark from earlier today. How were we to know that a New York Times reporter would screw up a quote so badly? [Void for Vagueness]

* During a little over a year at Patterson Belknap, Michael Mukasey apparently earned about $1.9 million. And he wants to be AG to a lame-duck president, for a little over a year, because... [Bloomberg News via WSJ Law Blog]

* Congratulations to Hofstra on its #1 status! (Among tier 3 and tier 4 faculties.) [TaxProf Blog]

* John Carney argues that SEC chairman Chris Cox should reject the new proposed proxy access rule, which would actually harm ordinary investors. That Carney, he's so contrarian. [DealBreaker]

* Are you a young lawyer looking for financial advice? Check this out. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Ann Althouse is a visiting professor at Brooklyn Law School this year -- and they've put her up in an apartment with some pretty sweet views. (Perhaps she can see 125 Broad Street, home of Sullivan & Cromwell, where she once worked as an associate.) [Althouse]

* Pope Benedict: Tax evasion is sinful (in case you didn't know that already). [TaxProf Blog]

* Judge to public defender: What, you're not ready to go to trial on a case you've had for less than a day? I'm holding you in contempt! [Record-Courier]

* Courtesy of Orin Kerr, pointers for how to talk about the Jose Padilla verdict at the next cocktail party you attend. [Volokh Conspiracy]

* Lawyer opinions solicited: Is this an effective ad for malpractice insurance? [Copyranter]

* Another ugly day for the stock market. [Volokh Conspiracy]

* On that subject: Is the vast family fortune of Rachel Kovner, ATL's official It girl, in jeopardy -- as recently rumored by our sibling site? Not exactly. But if Bruce Kovner's legendary fund is up only 3 percent year-to-date, things could certainly be better. [DealBreaker]

* What? The iPhone is not God's greatest gift to man? Bite your tongue! [Althouse]

* Ignoring a handslap will get you a benchslap. See page 15, footnote 7. [U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (PDF)]

Ann Althouse, call your dean! A Wisconsin lawmaker wants to address what he thinks is an overpopulation of lawyers in the state -- by ending state funding for the University of Wisconsin Law School.

State Representative Frank Lasee (Lah-SAY') says the state doesn't need any more ambulance chasers or frivolous lawsuits. The Green Bay Republican convinced his colleagues in the GOP-controlled Assembly to include his plan in their version of the 2-year budget approved Tuesday.

But the proposal appears to have little chance at becoming law. Governor Doyle called it ridiculous and bizarre during an appearance today in Milwaukee.

The plan would cut state funding for the law school over the next three years before eliminating it completely in 2010. Lasee says the school would be forced to raise tuition to cover the cuts or stop admitting as many students.

You can follow Lasee's other exploits on his blog, which includes jokes, French-bashing, and other random musings.

(Of course we're mocking Lasee's proposal, but we should note that it's not unheard-of for a public law school to reduce its dependence on state funding. UVA's law school, for example, has done it voluntarily.)

Update: Ann Althouse's post on this subject appears here.

Our Bloggingheads TV appearance with the fabulous Ann Althouse, previously discussed here, is now online:

David Lat & Ann Althouse [Bloggingheads.tv]
"Bong Hits 4 Lawyers" [Althouse]

Earlier: Programming Note: Ready for Our Close-Up?

We're going to be offline for a bit. We're taping a segment of Bloggingheads TV, in which we'll be chatting with one of our all-time favorite bloggers, Ann Althouse.

We're planning to discuss a variety of fascinating topics -- including that famous (or infamous?) Hillary Clinton campaign video, a parody of the final episode of "The Sopranos." Here's an excerpt from Professor Althouse's post:

Bill says "No onion rings?" and Hillary responds "I'm looking out for ya." Now, the script says onion rings, because that's what the Sopranos were eating in that final scene, but I doubt if any blogger will disagree with my assertion that, coming from Bill Clinton, the "O" of an onion ring is a vagina symbol. Hillary says no to that, driving the symbolism home. She's "looking out" all right, vigilant over her husband, denying him the sustenance he craves. What does she have for him? Carrot sticks! The one closest to the camera has a rather disgusting greasy sheen to it. Here, Bill, in retaliation for all of your excessive "O" consumption, you may have a large bowl of phallic symbols!

When we hear him say "No onion rings?," the camera is on her, and Bill is off-screen, but at the bottom of the screen we see the carrot/phallus he's holding toward her. Oh, yes, I know that Hillary supplying carrots is supposed to remind that Hillary will provide us with health care, that she's "looking out for" us, but come on, they're carrots! Everyone knows carrots are phallic symbols. But they're cut up into little carrot sticks, you say? Just listen to yourself! I'm not going to point out everything.

Brilliant? Insane? Or a little bit of both? We can't wait to chat with Professor Althouse about her Freudian analysis of the video -- and the intense reaction it generated within the blogosphere.

The new Hillary Clinton video is a take on the last scene of "The Sopranos." [Althouse]
Bill and Hillary Soprano? [YouTube]

The blogosphere is ablaze with discussion of the AutoAdmit lawsuit. We collect and summarize the commentary in this linkwrap.

(We read all the blogs, so you don't have to! You can thank us later.)

1. Students File Suit Against Ex-AutoAdmit Director, Others [WSJ Law Blog]

If you haven't done so already, read this post first. It contains the most detailed factual background about the case. You can also access the Complaint itself by clicking here (PDF).

2. Yale law students sue over "the scummiest kind of sexually offensive tripe" at AutoAdmit [Althouse]

Professor Ann Althouse has her doubts about this lawsuit:

So this is the 21st century? Where courts award punitive damages for offensive words and pictures? Isn't "the scummiest kind of sexually offensive tripe" exactly what we always used to say people had to put up with in a free country? Man, that was so 20th century!

3. Suing Autodmit [Instapundit]

Professor Glenn Reynolds -- who kindly links to our post, by the way -- largely agrees with Professor Althouse. He sarcastically observes: "Stuff that offends dumb hicks in the heartland is constitutionally protected. Stuff that offends Yale Law Students must be stamped out!"

More links, after the jump.

Okay, this isn't as amusing as the Alexandra Korry haikus that have been unleashed in the comments. But then again, few things are.

Courtesy of ATL reader "Josef Stalin," here's a Lolcat graphic, in honor of Charney v. Sullivan & Cromwell:

Lolcat [Wikipedia]

P.S. Please vote for Jordin Sparks in American Idol!!! Call 1-866-IDOLS-02, or text "VOTE" to 5702.

Even Professor Althouse, a diehard Blake Lewis fan, kind of agrees: "So, okay, let Jordin win. Blake will be fine. It will be better this way."

Apparently we weren't the only ones who got blue balls from felt cheated by 20/20's report last Friday on the alleged DC madam, Deborah Jeane Palfrey. Professor Ann Althouse writes:

Were you, like me duped into watching "20/20" last night to hear what names they'd name based on the big list forked over to them by Deborah Jeane Palfrey, who's accused of running a prostitution ring in Washington?

“Our decision at the end was not to name any names,” said Brian Ross, the news correspondent who presented the segment. Mr. Ross said that the network went with a “conservative approach,” and that “based on our reporting it turned out not to be as newsworthy as we thought in terms of the names.”

At least they're being honest -- it seems -- in not pretending they'd belatedly discovered some ethical compunction about it.

Like Professor Althouse, we were also duped, seduced by ABC's advertising promising a salacious broadcast. We rushed home from a party on Friday night so we wouldn't miss the 20/20 special report, which we were expecting to be sensational. We were disappointed.

Sigh. Well, at least there was a shout-out to the Akin Gump escort:

Sometimes when Palfrey was unavailable [to answer the phones], a legal secretary at one of Washington's top law firms, Akin Gump, would handle the calls as well as go out on calls herself.

Using her e-mail account at Akin Gump, the secretary told Palfrey why she wanted to be an escort: "A day a week would be fun and spa money."

And from an ATL source, here's more gossip about the Akin Gump Escort, a former secretary to powerhouse partner John Dowd, the criminal defense lawyer now representing Monica Goodling:

This secretary likes to shop at high-end stores. She also drives luxury vehicles.

An escort with a weakness for fashion and the finer things? Color us surprised.

This could, however, be advantageous for Monica Goodling. If we were John Dowd, we'd instruct the Akin Gump Escort to take Monica Goodling shopping for a new suit, before Goodling's anticipated congressional testimony.

Brian Ross Reports on the D.C. Madam [ABC News / 20/20]
ABC fakes us out about naming names [Althouse]

Hampton Inn is the dumpy and unacceptable no frills, budget-oriented brand within the Hilton Hotel family. But compared to the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, California, where Paris Hilton will be serving out a 45-day sentence for violating the terms of her probation, a Hampton Inn looks like the Waldorf Towers.

At this grim county jail, don't look for a mint on your pillow. Expect some pubic hair from a "very masculine lesbian[]," and you're less likely to be disappointed.

From the New York Daily News (which could barely conceal its glee over Hilton's upcoming jail stint):

Hilton will have to say "goodbye" to dye jobs and cosmetics and "hello" to five-minute showers once a day. Her friends and family will only be able to talk to her through glass and her phone calls will be made on the jail's closely monitored pay phones.

Purse-pooch, Tinkerbell, will not be allowed to visit. And forget those designer duds she bought on Rodeo Drive. In the big house, Paris will have to make two pairs of socks, one bra, two pairs of panties and two blue jumpsuits last for a week.

Eh, no big deal -- Paris prefers romping around in the buff anyway. And she won't be fazed by the loss of privacy, since all the other inmates have already seen her naked.

More discussion, after the jump.

A pair of Volokh Conspirators, Professors James Lindgren and Randy Barnett, at last week's NYLS conference on writing about the law. Inset: Professor Cameron Stracher, who organized the symposium.

In our write-up of the NYLS conference panel on law reviews, we offered the following fashion commentary:

Professors Barnett and Stracher are both rockin' the "downtown auteur" look: black or dark blue suit, dark collarless shirt, no tie. Not bad in a vacuum, but unfortunate that they're on the same panel with the same look (except as to the color of their shirts).

Professor Barnett has taken issue with our observations. He claims that he was wearing a crewneck shirt, while Professor Stracher was wearing a turtleneck -- and that "a world of difference" exists between the two.

We pulled out our photographs of Professors Barnett and Stracher. Professor Barnett is clearly wearing a crew neck -- the same crew neck he's wearing in his website photo, it seems. But we couldn't tell the type of Professor Stracher's collar (above inset).

So we looked up Professor Ann Althouse's more detailed photograph of Professor Stracher (together with yours truly). Yep, that's a turtleneck (although a relatively short one).

We apologize to Professor Barnett, and we regret the error.

In addition, Professor Lindgren wanted to clarify his choice of a button-down shirt (for which we criticized him). He explained that he has several levels of sartorial formality, and he deliberately chose a button-down because he viewed the NYLS conference as calling for a moderate rather than extreme level of formality. Given the fairly laid-back nature of the proceedings, we can see where he's coming from.

For true legal-media-and-academia groupies, additional pictures of top legal journalists and law professor bloggers appear after the jump.

We had a blast at last week's Writing About the Law conference, at New York Law School. And we weren't the only ones. Here's a (rather belated) round-up of conference coverage from the blogosophere:

1. Social life of a blawger [Overlawyered]

As you can see from his post, Walter Olson was a social butterfly at the conference. We enjoyed sitting next to him at lunch, where we talked about -- what else? -- his famous neighbor in Chappaqua, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. Let the conversation begin!

2. Blawgers are Dirty Swingers [QuizLaw]

Dustin wasn't even at the conference, but he used Walter Olson's post as the jumping-off point for this entertaining write-up. Even Ann Althouse was amused -- despite being the subject of the line, "One night with Ann Althouse is all I ask, man. It’s all I ask."

(Back off, Dustin -- she's with us.)

3. At the "Writing About the Law" conference [Althouse]

Speaking of Professor Althouse, here's her account of the proceedings. It's a multimedia extravaganza. In addition to several photos, it includes an amusingly awkward video. Technology is swell!

4. "Writing About the Law: From Bluebook to Blogs and Beyond" at NYLS, Part I
"Writing About the Law: From Bluebook to Blogs and Beyond" at NYLS, Part II
"Writing About the Law: From Bluebook to Blogs and Beyond" at NYLS, Part III

A trio of substantive write-ups of various panels, from Lawrence Solum of Legal Theory Blog.

Despite his brilliance, the lanky Professor Solum shares our tendency towards typos. Is referring to the Duke lacrosse team rape case as "the Dukie case" a Freudian slip?

5. Ripped From The Headlines [Soloway]

Photographs from the conference (including a profile shot of us typing away on our laptop).

6. Live-Blogging the NYLS Symposium on Writing About the Law [TaxProf Blog]

A linkwrap by Professor Paul Caron (who has duly noted our comments on his shirt selection).

7. Is John McCain's website suggestive of NAZI iconography? [Volokh Conspiracy]

Professors Jim Lindgren and Randy Barnett of the Volokh Conspiracy both spoke at the conference, but haven't really blogged about it. This VC post, from Professor Lindgren, includes a brief shout-out to Professor Althouse: "It was a pleasure to see Ann Althouse at the New York Law School conference yesterday."

Here's a picture we took of these two professors, mugging for the camera:

Last week we wrote about how John Jay Osborn, a law professor and author of The Paper Chase, sniffily dismissed One L, by Scott Turow. "One L is competent," he said. "But it doesn't have a HEART."

Now a prominent blogger has come to Turow's defense. In this Times Select column, grande blogress diva Ann Althouse defends Turow -- and, in the words of a tipster, "cattily trashes John Jay Osborn, author of the Paper Chase, for his suggestion that law profs not teach via the Socratic method in order to make students 'happier.'"

Money quote, comparing Osborn's "The Paper Chase" to Turow's "One L":

I preferred the memoir [of One L], the account of an ordinary man as he encounters some interesting, fallible human beings who did the work that both Osborn and I do now.

Though none of the law professors I know are much at all like Kingsfield, Osborn chided us law professors for making our students so unhappy: stop calling on them; listen only to volunteers; don’t dictate how they should think; let them tell their own stories.

Law should connect to the real world. But that doesn’t mean we ought to devote our classes to the personal expression of law students. The cases we read for class are always based on factual disputes that arose in real life....

So law is not abstract unless one makes the mistake of turning it into an abstraction. We law professors tend to worry about seeming like Professor Kingsfield. But we ought to worry less about that prospect and more about preserving and respecting our own tradition of teaching from the cases.

The students who come into our law schools are adults who have decided that they are ready to spend a tremendous amount of time and money preparing to enter a profession. We show the greatest respect for their individual autonomy if we deny ourselves the comfort of trying to make them happy and teach them what they came to learn: how to think like lawyers.

Good stuff (even it it's not as catty as we had hoped). It's worth noting that Professor Althouse, whose own excellent blog is less academic than many other law professor blogs, is not opposed to "personal expression." It's just that she believes, and rightly so, that there's a time and place for everything.

P.S. Random aside: Professor Osborn's daughter, Meredith, is a Harvard Law grad now clerking on the Ninth Circuit.

P.P.S. We had the pleasure of meeting Professor Althouse at the NYLS conference last week (see photo at right).

More photographs from the conference, of superior quality, are available at Althouse and Soloway.

‘A Skull Full of Mush’ [Times Select]
At the "Writing About the Law" conference [Althouse]
Ripped From the Headlines [Soloway]

Earlier: John Osborn to Scott Turow: "Game On, Bitch"

* Some interesting comments about Harriet Miers getting a Fifth Circuit nomination, as well as speculation about who might replace her as White House counsel. [ConfirmThem]

(We second the suggestion of Rachel Brand (at right). Brand previously worked in the White House counsel's office, before her appointment to head the Office of Legal Policy at the Justice Department.)

* From an Instpaundit correspondent: "I'm no law prof, but isn't the presumption of innocence most useful before a pile of facts come out indicating that the accused are, in fact, innocent?" [Instapundit]

* Speaking of which, check out Best Defense, which "seeks to place the presumption of innocence front and center." [Bag and Baggage]

* Jeez, he's even more of a tool than we thought. Can someone please talk some sense into him about 2008? [Althouse]

* Backlash to the backlash against (allegedly) excessive executive pay. [Point of Law via Dealbreaker]

* Amen. With the exception of news aggregators, blogs are by their nature idiosyncratic, rather than comprehensive. So don't get your briefs in a wad when we fail to write about your pet topic. [Volokh Conspiracy; Althouse]

* Donald Trump gives on-the-record comments to a blawg (albeit an MSM-affiliated one). The man is a total media whore. But he's the little brother of a certain fabulous Third Circuit judge, so we forgive him. [WSJ Law Blog]

(Check out the photos at right. We see a definite family resemblance. Which may or may not be a good thing.)

* Speaking of siblings, our big brother wonders: "Do we smell a Jeff Skilling comeback in the air?" And hits the nail on the head with respect to Malcolm Gladwell, too. [DealBreaker]

* The start of a new year is a perfect time for blogospheric navel-gazing reflections upon the future of law-related blogging. [Opinio Juris via Volokh Conspiracy]

* As well as New Year's resolutions. [Nasty, Brutish & Short; Jeremy Blachman; Althouse]

* And raucous law blogger parties. Woo-hoo! [Concurring Opinions; PrawfsBlawg]

Not all ATL readers live in big coastal cities. Check out this comment, by "Leona" (which we kinda loved):

I really enjoy reading Althouse, she is conversative [sic] definitely but I would like her to be more christian friendly.

She supports gay marriage which I find disgusting.

But she loves our president which is great.

Hands down, K Lo is the best though. She is the real christian that speaks the words that are in my heart. K Lo is also so smart and witty. I love some of her comments in the corner [NRO blog]. She always hits some zingers at the secular, progressives that hate America. She also has so much courage to live in NYC, which is full of all of the gays, and still be able to be strong and continue to speak her mind. I love that about her. Go K Lo.

We don't know where "Leona" lives (except NOT New York); but we suspect she's from the heartland. Maybe she's a constituent of Senator Brownback?

(Or might she be this lady?)

Earlier: Vote Ann Althouse for Grande Conservative Blogress Diva

We love contests, and we love divas. So of course we couldn't resist this poll.

An interesting line-up of nominees. We're surprised that Michelle Malkin and Kathryn Lopez/K-Lo, both of whom have cult followings, aren't doing better.

We endorse Professor Althouse -- and not just because she's the most law-oriented blogger in the mix. Why should you vote for her? She makes her case here. Money quote:

I'm not the most conservative. But I am a diva, and I am a blogress, and I can be your blogress diva, you conservative, you.

If you doubt the good professor's diva credentials, refresh your memory by looking back on her recent "Christianist" catfight with Andrew Sullivan. Or our all-time favorite Althouse-cation, a battle with liberal feminist bloggers that was triggered by this innocent little post.

DIVA-LICIOUS!

Voting Begins for Grande Conservative Blogress Diva [Gay Patriot]
Grande Conservative Blogress Diva -- 2007 Nominees [Gay Patriot]
Rein in your enthusiasm no longer [Althouse]
Grande Conservative Blogress Diva 2007 [Althouse]