Now Would Be A Good Time For Harvard Law To Appoint Its First Dean Of Color
If they were to ask me (and I'll note, they're not), I'd go with Kenneth Mack for HLS Dean.
Morning Docket: 01.04.17
* "Judge Garland is respected on both sides of the aisle. That he did not even get so much as a hearing will be a stain on the legacy of the Republican Senate." After languishing for a total of 293 days, D.C. Circuit Judge Merrick Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court officially expired yesterday at noon with the formal adjournment of the 114th Congress. [Wall Street Journal] * Following eight years at the helm of one of the most prestigious schools in the county, Dean Martha Minow of Harvard Law will be stepping down from her position at the end of the academic year. Minow plans to return to teaching a full course load this summer, and according to inside sources at the school, a search for her successor will begin "soon." We'll have more on this news development later today. [Harvard Crimson] * Judge William Pryor (11th Cir.) was named acting chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Pryor, who is under consideration to be President-elect Trump's SCOTUS nominee, says he looks forward to "developing federal sentencing policies that further the goals of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984." [U.S. Sentencing Commission] * President-elect Trump has chosen Skadden Arps partner Robert Lighthizer as U.S. trade representative. Lighthizer served as deputy U.S. trade representative in the Reagan administration, and Trump believes he "will do an amazing job helping turn around the failed trade policies which have robbed so many Americans of prosperity." [USA Today] * As days go by without word of a resolution as to the school's federal loan issues, lawsuits continue to pile up against the Charlotte Law. Students now claim the school has sentenced them "to years of indentured servitude" by saddling them "with crushing, non-dischargeable debt that will take literally decades to pay off." [Charlotte Observer]
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Harvard Law Student Is Rude But Not Anti-Semitic, Say His Defenders
Oh joy, there is an update in the case of the incredibly rude Harvard Law student.
Harvard Law Student Is Rude, Insufferable, And Anti-Semitic
This apology just doesn't cut it.
Harvard Law School Takes A Scythe To Its Wheat Crest
A big victory for the forces of change at Harvard Law School.
Morning Docket: 02.29.16
* It looks like SCOTUSblog's Tom Goldstein was onto something, because Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is reportedly being vetted to fill Justice Antonin Scalia's seat on the Supreme Court. The D.D.C. judge once clerked for Justice Stephen Breyer, and may wind up working alongside him on the high court as an associate justice (which could be a first). [National Law Journal] * Justice Scalia's death quickly affected some SCOTUS litigants: Dow Chemical settled an antitrust class-action suit for $835M because "[g]rowing political uncertainties ... and increased likelihood for unfavorable outcomes for business involved in class-action suits have changed Dow's risk assessment of the situation." [Big Law Business / Bloomberg] * Abortion returns to the SCOTUS this week, and litigants are wondering which version of Justice Kennedy they'll receive when a decision is made. If Gonzales v. Carhart Kennedy makes an appearance, states across the South in the Fifth Circuit could kiss abortion goodbye. Here's hoping for Planned Parenthood v. Casey Kennedy. [MSNBC] * Student activists from Harvard Law and Brandeis University protested an awards ceremony where Dean Martha Minow was honored for "making a lasting contribution to racial, ethnic or religious relations." The protestors felt the award's timing was ironic considering the ongoing racial divisiveness at the law school. [Harvard Crimson] * Career alternatives for disbarred attorneys who "knowingly misappropriated client funds": chief compliance officer of one of the largest banks in the world by market capitalization? Ritu Singh is lucky compliance is so hot right now, because accusations of past financial crimes apparently aren't dealbreakers in terms of hiring. [New York Post]
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Let’s Keep The Racist Harvard Law Crest And Fix The Harvard Law Racism
This isn't the Confederate Flag. This is some bad clip-art.
Morning Docket: 12.01.15
* It seems that Dentons didn't have its fill after fattening itself up with a Luxembourg firm over Thanksgiving, so now the megafirm is considering feasting upon two Latin American firms -- Cárdenas & Cárdenas and López Velarde Heftye y Soria -- for its dessert. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA] * Election 2016 is a year away, but it's easy to see the makeup of the Supreme Court will continue to be an issue for presidential candidates, especially since both parties know "[w]e are one justice away" from a liberal or conservative majority. [MSNBC] * Dean Martha Minow says Harvard Law will create a committee to investigate whether the school's shield should be changed due to its ties to a cruel slaveowner. Send your comments, questions, and complaints to [email protected]. [Harvard Law Today] * Robert Lewis Dear, the alleged gunman behind the Colorado Planned Parenthood shootings, is expected to be charged with first-degree murder next week. It's not yet been disclosed whether he'll be charged with federal domestic terrorism. [Los Angeles Times] * This turkey won't be pardoned: The Thanksgiving Day White House fence-jumper who draped an American flag over the fence while gripping a U.S. Constitution pocket guide in his teeth was criminally charged after ruining the Obamas holiday. [WSJ Law Blog]
Stat Of The Week: The Working Stiffs Of Harvard Law School
Increasingly, Harvard Law students have prior real-world work experience.
Morning Docket: 04.10.15
* Moonlighting for Biglaw partners: golf caddy? This Alston & Bird partner spent the week caddying for Gunn Yang at the 2015 Masters Tournament. Oh, to watch a partner be subservient and lug someone else's junk around all day. [Am Law Daily] * Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson of the Wisconsin Supreme Court is suing each of her judicial colleagues over a constitutional amendment that could get her demoted from her seat of power. Maybe this judicial diva is a "total bitch" after all. [New York Times] * If you plan to run for president of this country and hope to discuss reform of the criminal justice system while you're shaking hands and kissing babies on the campaign trail, you better be prepared to answer each and every one of these questions. [Washington Post] * "I want to see in an application that ... Law School is a default option for you.” At least one elite law school "actively preference[s]" work experience after college. Get a job. It'll probably be easier now than after you graduate from law school. [Harvard Crimson] * Aside from absurd tuition rates and deceptive employment statistics, here's one more absolutely vital thing that members of the legal profession should consider tossing out during their spring cleaning sessions: the third year of law school. [Washington Post]
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This Is Not Your Father’s Harvard Law School
Dean Martha Minow of Harvard Law School offers thoughts on how HLS has changed over the years, how failure can be good, and whether law school is a smart investment.
Non-Sequiturs: 12.06.12
* If you swap out a menorah and put in a dreidel, does your Hanukkah display avoid violating the Establishment Clause? I know, I know, WAR ON HANUKKAH. [Huffington Post] * I wonder why Martha Minow (law dean, HLS) or Robert Post (law dean, YLS) doesn’t write an op-ed defending the value proposition of going to law school? Wouldn’t you like to hear this argument from somebody who isn’t desperate to fill their class seats? [Constitutional Daily] * Isn’t the concept of the “last meal” the best thing about death row? Granted, that’s a low bar, but still. Having a last meal sounds so civilized. No wonder Texas and Florida want to take it away. [Legal Blog Watch] * Do patent trolls have a weakness to fire, just like videogame trolls? Because, I’d like for them to get burned. [Business Insider] * The fact that voter suppression doesn’t work doesn’t make it right. [Election Law Blog] * Ignoring losses until they go away sounds like the basis of any sound financial strategy. [Dealbreaker]
The Law Clerk Hiring Plan, R.I.P.
The Law Clerk Hiring Plan appears to be dead. At least one top law school has openly abandoned it....
Commencement Speakers: Coming To A Law School Near You
Will a commencement speaker this year cause a controversy?
How Stanford Law School Could Cut Tuition and Save the World
Professor Paul Campos has a drastic idea for fixing for what he would call the “law school scam.” It all starts at Stanford University, where he visited earlier this week to talk about his idea. What did he have to say? Does “30 percent unilateral tuition cut” mean anything to you?