clinicians with not enough to do

Gender Bias Bingo

from Feminist Law Professors by Ann Bartow

“Share your experiences of at least three bias types listed below, and you will win the highly coveted “Real Professors Play Gender Bias Bingo” T–shirt!” Preview bingo card here. Play here!

‘Run, Forrest, Run!’ (And then go get a J.D.)

From our friends at Above the Law. 

The New York City marathon happens this Sunday. We know many lawyers who will be running it, and we wish them luck.

The marathon did not impose a minimum age until 1981 (16, raised to 18 in 1988). Pegged to the upcoming marathon, the New York Times had a fascinating article earlier this week about child marathoners, focusing on Wesley Paul, Scott Black (pictured), and Howie Breinan:

The adventures of Paul, Black and Breinan offer a glimpse into a forgotten aspect of the running boom of the late 1970s. Preternaturally self-disciplined, they were among about 75 children (ages 8 to 13) who tackled the early years of the New York City Marathon in a time of novelty and naïveté….

With no conclusive study, physicians still debate risks to children who compete in marathons, like muscular-skeletal injuries, stunted growth, burnout, parental pressures and the ability to handle heat stress.

Another risk: going on to become a securities lawyer. Two out of the three child marathoners profiled by the Times now practice in that field.

Scott Black is a senior trial lawyer at the Securities and Exchange Commission in New York (after several years at Wachtell Lipton, where he worked with Lat on a number of cases). Wesley Paul is a partner at Michelman & Robinson, where he practices corporate and securities law.

We touched base with Black and Paul to ask about possible connections between their running and legal careers.

We asked Scott Black (Columbia / NYU Law) if there are any attributes cultivated by or helpful to distance running that translate into legal practice. He ticked off several: “Endurance, discipline, focus, and probably a general Type-A analness.”

Read more at:  http://abovethelaw.com/2009/10/child_marathoners.php

Splitting Couple Awarded Joint Possession of Pet Pug

Mary Pat Gallagher, New Jersey Law Journal

A New Jersey judge held Monday that a former couple must share possession of a six-year-old, pedigreed pug they bought for $1,500 when they were engaged and living together.

The ruling, which allows Doreen Houseman and Eric Dare to spend alternating, five-week stretches with the dog, is the aftermath of a groundbreaking appellate decision last March that pets have a subjective value that transcends their monetary costs.

In Houseman v. Dare, FM, 08-667-07, Gloucester County Superior Court Judge John Tomasello had denied Houseman's request for possession on the ground that pets, like furniture or cars, lack the unique value -- such as for heirlooms or works of art -- that is essential to specific performance.

That was wrong as a matter of law, the appeals court found, remanding the case for a look at whether Houseman had an oral agreement with Dare letting her keep the pug, called Dexter, and at the equities implicated by her request for possession.

During a July 29 hearing, Tomasello found neither party had an exclusive right to Dexter but he did not decide at that point whether to disturb Dare's sole possession. Instead, he asked for briefs and set a Sept. 21 hearing date.

At Monday's hearing, Tomasello ruled from the bench and did not issue a written opinion.

Houseman's counsel, Oradell solo Gina Calogero, says that in giving both parties equal time with Dexter, Tomasello emphasized he was awarding joint possession, not custody. "He was adamant about that," she says.

She is pleased with the five-week rotations because they will have the effect of alternating the holidays from year to year. Tomasello ordered the rotations to begin Friday, with Dare dropping off Dexter with Houseman, who has not seen him since 2007, says Calogero.

Tomasello also held that whichever party has the dog at a given time will be responsible for all expenses, including veterinarian bills and, in the event of death, the cost of cremation, she adds.

For the rest of this moving story, check out:  http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202434029986&rss=newswire

Help with Learning Names

A Seating Chart Tee Shirt

READ ABOUT THIS ON TaxProf BLOG

Ode to spell-check - the spell-checker's poem

from Legal Writing Prof Blog by legalwritingprofessors

Some of you may enjoy this (of course, others may not):

Spell Checker Poem

I have a spelling checker,
It came with my pea see;
It plainly marks four my revue
Mistakes I cannot sea.
I've run this poem threw it,
I'm sure your please too no,
It's letter perfect in its weight,
My checker tolled me sew.

-Author Unknown-

Hat tip to Rob Hudson.

I have a spelling checker,
It came with my pea see;
It plainly marks four my revue
Mistakes I cannot sea.
I've run this poem threw it,
I'm sure your please too no,
It's letter perfect in its weight,
My checker tolled me sew.

-Author Unknown-

"What Inspired Me to Go to Law School" -- The Movie

From the TaxProf Blog (Paul Caron):

The Access Group, a nonprofit graduate loan company, sponsored a law student video contest on What Inspired Me to Go to Law School.  A panel of celebrity judges watched the 113 entries and selected ten finalists, which were posted on YouTube, with the winner of the $10,000 law school scholarship determined by votes on YouTube:  Branigan Robertson(Chapman):

 

The winners of $1,500 law school scholarships were

• Ted Cardos (NYU) -- Humor
• Joseph Duerst (Arizona State) -- Appeal
• Ana DeFrates (South Texas) -- Creativity
• Anna Grace (Northeastern) -- Realism
• John Grimm (Georgetown) -- Quality

(Hat Tip:  Legal Blog Watch, WSJ Law Blog.)

Sotomayor Rocks

HT Hunter of Justice

Justice Sotomayor + (actor) Esai Morales = Salsa!

From  benefit for the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts:

58,000 Minutes, or Three Birds with One Stone

from Ken Gallant:

Many of us teach at law schools which have recently undergone, or will soon undergo, the septennial American Bar Association accreditation process.

 I’m sure that many of you have had to read the ABA Self-Evaluation Questionnaire, given to all law schools as part of this process.   When I did, I was brought up short by Question III (6):

 Describe how the law school ensures successful completion of not fewer than 58,000 minutes of instruction time . . .

 You may have had the same immediate reaction that I did:  “58,000 minutes?  Who can even count that high anymore?”

But then I began to realize that this is serious, and I wondered:  if our Dean was required to take an oath, could he swear that each and every one of our graduates got 58,000 minutes or more of actual education?  I know that I could not swear such an oath.

 So I began to think about how law schools can do this, and I soon realized that this issue is related to another problem raised by ABA rules that we have been discussing for years:  Class attendance policies.  I know that these have been a pain for a lot of us—they certainly have been for me.  All the distributing and collecting of attendance sheets, students signing for each other when one misses class—you know the drill.

 Yet upon reflection, I think we can address these two issues together.  Through the wonders of modern technology, we can set things up so that we are in compliance with both these ABA standards.  Here’s what I propose:

 For all students entering Fall 2010 and thereafter, all ABA accredited law schools should require implantation of a radio receiver/microchip on the side of each student’s skull at the beginning of law school.  No school will grant a diploma until the microchip registers over 58,000 minutes in proximity to a radio beacon which each faculty member will turn on in every classroom only when class is in session.

 This way, we get the 58,000 minutes, plus, we have by definition ensured regular attendance under ABA Standards.  Two birds with one stone.

 There are naturally a few technical complexities.  Our computer guru told us a few years ago that we couldn’t really limit wireless computing capability to classrooms—radio signals go through walls.  Therefore, educational institutions would probably need to line all of the classroom walls and doors with a nano-sheet of lead particles, to prevent students from activating their chips by sitting in the hallway outside of class.

 Removal of the microchip and handing it to another student to get credit for a class one doesn’t attend will be an honor code violation requiring immediate expulsion of both students.  We need to lobby Congress to ensure that cutting off the side of your skull to do the same thing will be specifically excluded from coverage under national health care reform.

 Sounds great, doesn’t it?  And we can do it all with currently available technology!  After all, it is even today illegal to be a cat wandering the streets of Little Rock without an implanted microchip.

 But wait, there’s even more goodness coming down the pike soon. 

 Note that the ABA Standard requires not just 58,000 minutes, but “successful completion of not fewer than 58,000 minutes of instruction time.”  How do we judge “successful” completion of each minute? 

 I’ll bet that a lot of law schools—including mine—are out of compliance with this part of the standard.  Right now, I have only one tool for judging success of each minute for each student, and it’s rather blunt—I can wake up anyone who seems to be falling asleep.  But I’ll bet that many of you were like me in law school—able to zone out into a trance without appearing to the teacher to be asleep.  So I’m not utterly convinced that I can swear to the successful completion of each minute by each student, even when they are present.

 Never fear though.  Technology will soon provide us with an answer even for this:  Within about 5 years, microchips will be available (at a reasonable cost) that can record the presence of higher brain functions.  Any student whose brain wave function is not sufficiently close to other students’ brain wave functions will obviously not be concentrating on the subject matter, and will not get credit for each minute in which her/his brain wave function does not match.  Research has shown that brain-wave shapes cannot be faked, no matter how good the student is at lying in words.

 This will require a slight expansion of the implanted device, to allow for radio transmission of the brain wave function.  It will also require a significant expansion of computing power on law school networks, as our servers will be doing real time analysis of dozens of brain waves in each large class.

 Once we can determine that all students are actually concentrating on learning the subject we will know that they are successfully completely each and every one of the 58,000 minutes of the law school course.  Thus we know we will be teaching effectively.  Then we can give up on all sorts of assessment nonsense such as visiting each others’ classes and student evals of teaching.

 There’s the third bird.

 Along with ABA accreditation, what more could anyone want?

Kenneth S. Gallant
Professor of Law
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
William H. Bowen School of Law
1201 McMath Avenue
Little Rock, Arkansas 72202-5142 USA
phone 1-501-324-9912
fax 1-501-324-9911
[email protected]

Clothes Make the Man: a prof's guide

PrawfsBlawg

Posted by Bennett Capers on August 20, 2009 at 08:44 AM | Permalink

We’ve all heard the expression “clothes make the man.”  But do clothes also make the professor?  Especially if the professor looks young enough to be a student, or is female, or a person of color, or LGBT, or some combination of the above?  And am I the only one, at the start of yet another school year, thinking about this?

read the rest here

Helping Our Students (and ourselves?) Relax

Janet Metzger uses a technique called Four-Square Breathing, and says that students like this one because it can be done anywhere, anytime one feels the need to regulate excitement or anxiety. In addition, there is information at the bottom of the email on how to receive more techniques and tips like this.

The goal of this exercise is to feel excitement for your presentation but reduce anxiety by breathing consciously in order to disperse excess adrenaline. Here's how:

Variation 1: Inhale and exhale through the nose to a slow count of 4, pausing between inhale and exhale, also to a count of 4.

Variation 2: Inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth with lips gently pursed, as if you were blowing on a candle flame without blowing it out.

           

            1. Breathe in through nose to a slow count of 4

            2. Pause for 4

            3. Exhale completely through nose or pursed lips to a 4-count.

            4. Rest for 4 counts without inhaling.

            Repeat several times.

You can learn more about addressing anxiety issues before presentations on Janet Metzger's website at

http://www.courtroompersuasion.com/Blog/Blog.html

Now go relax! 

Sartorial Study Suggests Professors Should Wear What They Want

The Chronicle of Higher Education's Daily Report

By ERICA R. HENDRY

How academics dress for a lecture doesn't affect how students perceive them — at least in the long run.

That was the conclusion of a study at North Hennepin Community College that measured students' perception of an instructor based on what type of clothing she wore to her lectures.

Yasmine L. Konheim-Kalkstein, who holds a doctorate in educational psychology, grouped four sections of an introductory psychology course she taught last fall into two "casual" classes and two "formal" classes, each of which were held at different times and on different days.

On the first day of the study, Ms. Konheim-Kalkstein wore jeans, a drab-colored T-shirt, and gray sneakers to the casual class, and black pants, a button-up, black-and-white-striped shirt, and a small heel to the formal class. Students were surveyed about their initial impressions of her approachability, her ability to teach, her age, and her teaching style.

Dressing casually "felt very awkward at first, but I got over it very quickly," she says. "As soon as you start lecturing you forget about it."

For the next four weeks, she continued the routine, but often wore the same shirt — either a button-up blouse or a plain T-shirt — with both her casual and formal outfits. Students were surveyed again at the end of four weeks.

The data showed that Ms. Konheim-Kalkstein's clothing made a small difference in perceptions of her on the first day of class, with those students in the "formal" classes finding her more qualified and approachable than did those in the informal classes. But four weeks into the semester, wearing less-formal clothes had about the same effect on student perceptions as wearing formal clothes.

Ms. Konheim-Kalkstein says she still prefers teaching in formal clothing, but now she feels more comfortable wearing casual clothes in lectures as well. She says she'd like to do further research that takes into account gender differences, as well as the environmental context of the college or university.

"I work at a college where professors wear a variety of things," she says, "Some wear suits and ties and others wear shorts, so regardless of which class I was dressing for, I didn't really stand out."

That would not be true at every institution, Ms. Konheim-Kalkstein observes. "My husband is going to start teaching at West Point," she says. "If he showed up in sneakers, I think he would have a much stronger reaction there from his students."

Notes from the Breadline: Our Endless Numbered Days

Above the Law Ed. note: Welcome to the latest installment of "Notes from the Breadline," a column by a laid-off lawyer in New York. Prior columns are collected here. You can reach Roxana St. Thomas by email (at [email protected]), follow her on Twitter, or find her on Facebook.

We've all heard the statistics about attorney layoffs, unemployment, and the sad state of the economy. But do the hard numbers tell the full story of life in the breadline? Inspired by the Harper's Index, today I offer you the Notes from the Breadline Index.

Months in the breadline: 6

Estimated number of jobs applied for: 266

Estimated number of responses received to job inquiries: 23

Follow-up phone calls returned: 2

Soup recipes developed: 4

Meals consisting primarily of soup: 87

Approximate hours spent online trolling for potential jobs: 745

Average number of times, per day, email inbox checked for responses to job inquiries: 28

Percentage of times inbox check followed by fleeting thought that email has stopped working: 8

Number of evil cats currently freeloading off meager household income: 2

Number of times I have seriously considered the employability of cats: 3

Half-knitted scarves finished now that I have "time on my hands": 0

Maximum number of days without washing hair: 5

 

To read the rest of the list, go to:  http://abovethelaw.com/2009/06/notes_from_the_breadline_index.php

Isn't this what we all need?

from Feministing by Samhita

Oh wait this isn't vintage, this company exists today. Sociological Images (which is increasingly my go-to place for great break-downs of visual sexism) has a great breakdown of their not-so-funny marketing claims.

Oh wait this isn't vintage, this company exists today. Sociological Images (which is increasingly my go-to place for great break-downs of visual sexism) has a great breakdown of their not-so-funny marketing claims.

Student evaluations I love

from The Faculty Lounge by NRapoport

Up until now, my favorite evaluations have included "Drinks too much Diet Coke" (not true any more) and (from an 11-year-old sitting with her mom in my class, when asked how I compared to other professors) "I don't know; I'm only 11 years old."

But today, having turned in my grades for one of my courses, I was treated to a new all-time fave.  The question in our evaluation form is how available the instructor is to his or her students.  The student's evaluation of my availability?  "She's married, dude.  Don't be a tool."

Anyone else have other good ones?

(Posted by Nancy Rapoport.)

Up until now, my favorite evaluations have included "Drinks too much Diet Coke" (not true any more) and (from an 11-year-old sitting with her mom in my class, when asked how I compared to other professors) "I don't know; I'm only 11 years old."

But today, having turned in my grades for one of my courses, I was treated to a new all-time fave.  The question in our evaluation form is how available the instructor is to his or her students.  The student's evaluation of my availability?  "She's married, dude.  Don't be a tool."

Anyone else have other good ones?

(Posted by Nancy Rapoport.)

Cleaning up the office

The Chronicle of Higher Education's Daily Report

Cleaning Up

With summer comes the time for an associate professor to organize her office, and this time she really means it

By ANDREA KOVALESKY

It is 2008, during a break between quarters, and once again I have announced to the administrative staffers in my department that I am really going to clean up my office this quarter. They smile obligingly at my good intentions, but I know what they are thinking.

I have been at this university for more than 17 years, during which I have amassed numerous piles of this and that. When our campus moved to its permanent location, in 2000 (an opportunity to start anew), I remember seeing all of the boxes outside my new office and feeling overwhelmed: How had I accumulated so much stuff? And how would I even begin to unpack and organize it? The staff members then (the same ones as now) saw my frustration and got me started.

But now they know me too well, and I am on my own. Yet I think I am more highly motivated this time. One of our university's beloved professors suddenly died last quarter, and I have seen staff members gradually clean out her office. Knowing how much time that effort is taking, and how much more organized she was than me, I suspect that when my time comes, the staff might just do a limited burn of my office and be done with it. Another motivation: My office is starting to rival the condition of the office next to mine, although its occupant keeps the mess hidden behind eternally drawn shades.

So with a lighter teaching load this quarter, I set out. First I made a list, identifying only 26 areas in my office that needed some attention. Then, as any good teacher would, I developed my outcomes. Which tasks, once accomplished, would have the biggest impact? I decided to tackle a bookcase that I had brought in years ago to handle some of the overgrowth, and then to conquer the file drawers, since doing so would provide me with space to move items off of the floor.

The bookcase looked easy, as it didn't have any books on it. I guessed that 30 minutes would be all the time I would need to clear it out. But as I would soon learn, my estimates were never even half-right. In this first venture I also began to realize how the times have changed. On top of the bookcase I had 20 videos from a movie class that I occasionally teach. I now have those videos in DVD format, too, sometimes two or three copies of each. I decided to box up the videos "just in case I need them" and moved my DVD's to the top of the bookcase, creating free space in their prior locations. That domino strategy energized me, and I went on to organize graduate-student reports and general whatnot. It felt good to see the trash can fill up with 2001 film catalogs.

But then I came across Guilt Box No. 1, which contained a manuscript I had written many, many years ago. It had been rejected by publishers, at which point I had put it on the shelf "for later." One side of my head gruffly said, "You don't need this guilt. This is a topic you no longer care about. You would need to do a whole updated lit review. Toss it." But the other side countered with, "What a great manuscript that was! What did those reviewers know, anyway?" It wasn't easy, but ultimately I ran to the shredder down the hall and threw my guilt away before I could change my mind.

With that first task completed, I looked at my overflowing trash can and then around my office. No one but me would notice a difference, and even I had to look hard to do so. But this was only day No. 1. I had 25 more cleaning sessions to go and I was envisioning the aura of proper feng shui that would one day envelop my office.

One year later.It is the break between quarters and, once again, I have announced to staff members in my department that I am really going to clean my office. I had gotten all the way to the fourth task on last year's list when other things quietly shoved the rest of the list aside. I even lost the list.  

youtube on Law School rankings

HT THE FACULTY LOUNGE

Stanford experiments with video office hours on Facebook

Legal Writing Prof Blog

From the Stanford University News Service:

At most universities, instructors set aside a few hours each week for students to drop by for conversation. Stanford Open Office Hours is a public version of that tradition, an experiment that will bring conversations with some of Stanford's most interesting people to Facebook.

Anyone is welcome to watch the videos online for free. To comment or ask questions, however, viewers must have a Facebook registration and be logged in.

Check out the Facebook page here.

Hat tip to the Chronicle of Higher Ed.

The Final Serious Moment: Shoop Shoop

It’s in the Plenary

[to the tune of Betty Everett, “The Shoop Shoop Song”]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZC_X2HngKg (on a side note, this is Cher at her ironic best:  at one point she says "you're not listening to my goddamn hair")

 

Starring Bobby D as Cher and the rest of us as the Shoop Shoop Girls:

 

Oh is it working groups

No, no, no that’s not the place

Where conference learning most takes place

Oh if you want to know [shoop, shoop]

Where it’s happening, bro [shoop, shoop]

It’s plenary

That’s where it is, oh yeah

 

How ‘bout concurrent sessions

Do they give object lessons?

No if you want to know [shoop, shoop]

Where it’s happening, bro [shoop, shoop]

It’s plenary

That’s where it is, oh yeah

 

Oh oh oh listen (listen) to the folks up front

If you can’t hear them its no time to punt

Just move up closer and turn your i-phones off

So your neighbors you won’t affront

 

Oh is it in the halls

No that’s no place to look

The coffee’s muddy and too soon turns to gook

Oh if you want to know

Where the learning grows

If you need a coach

Come close and just approach

Oh if you want to know

If it’s happening, bro

It’s plenary—that’s where it is

It’s plenary—that’s where it is.

 

 

Another Serious -- we might even say religious -- moment at the Conference

I Don’t Know What to Call Them

 

To the tune of “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from Jesus Christ Superstar;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXdNEh97478;

Lyrics by Bob Dinerstein, performed by the Apostles at the Last Lunch

 

I don’t know what to call them

All those teachers not in clinic

Do they stand up?

At podiums?

Are they doctrinal

Or viral?

Or is there another word

It’s just absurd

Or so I’ve heard

 

Maybe what we need

Is another screed

From the

ABA

That will lead the way

Perhaps the reason there is no term

Is ‘cause the teaching’s weird

Their brains are seared

Less loved than feared

 

I think I’ve found the answer

Let’s compare them to the clinic

Where we prevail

And never fail

We’ll call them non-clinicians

Or mere technicians

From now on that’s the plan

I think it’s cool

Clinicians rule

In our law schools.

A Serious Moment at the AALS Clinical Conference

“Ann Shalleck”

[to the tune of  Cat Stevens, “Moonshadow”]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGNxKnLmOH4

 

We have a colleague name of Ann Shalleck,

            Ann Shalleck, Ann Shalleck

CLEA’s award is to our Ann Shalleck,

Ann Shalleck, Ann Shalleck

 

Our Ann’s a teacher extraordinaire

She guides her students with savoir faire

Oh Ann’s a writer with drafts to share

Oh-way, ay ay ay ay ay ay ay ay ay

We’re proud of our Ann today

 

And if she ever left AU

All her friends here’d cry boo-hoo

Oh if you knew her you’d cry too

Oh way, ay ay ay ay ay ay ay ay ay

We’re proud of our Ann today

 

Yes, we have a colleague name of Ann Shalleck,

            Ann Shalleck, Ann Shalleck

Advocate of the year is Ann Shalleck,

            Ann Shalleck, Ann Shalleck

 

Oh she’s planned workshops for many years

And taught us how to face our fears

Oh she’s trained teachers and her peers

Oh way, ay ay ay ay ay ay ay ay ay

We’re proud of our Ann today

 

If you have time to find her

Tell her that you’ve seen the light

Ask her if her students mind her

Questions no one ever answers right

 

Oh we have a colleague name of Ann Shalleck,

            Ann Shalleck, Ann Shalleck

CLEA;s award is to our Ann Shalleck,

            Ann Shalleck, Ann Shalleck

Ann Shalleck Ann Shalleck

Ann Shalleck, Ann Shalleck.

--lyrics by Bob Dinerstein (of course); performed by a very motley crew at the final luncheon on Saturday, to honor the new awardee.

 

Here's a great powerpoint demo (not!)

HT: Legal Writing Blog

HAPPY LAW DAY!

Forget about dancing around the May Pole, we have law and order to uphold.  According to Wikipedia (so it must be true), on Law Day, one is "meant to reflect on the role of law in the foundation of the country and to recognize its importance for society."  It goes on:

"Through the efforts of then American Bar Association President Charles S. Rhyne, President Dwight D. Eisenhower proclaimed May 1 (Previously known as May Day or International Workers' Day) would now be known as Law Day, U.S.A. in 1958. Its observance was later codified into law by Public Law 87-20 on April 7, 1961.

In contrast, most countries celebrate May Day on the same date, as it is designated Labour Day or International Workers Day. Law Day, U.S.A., along with Loyalty Day, was created to counterbalance these celebrations, which were perceived as communist. On February 5, 1958, President Eisenhower recognized the first Law Day when he proclaimed that henceforth May 1 of each year would be Law Day. He stated “In a very real sense, the world no longer has a choice between force and law. If civilization is to survive it must choose the rule of law.”"

If you haven't already made plans, don't panic.  The ABA's got you covered, complete with suggestions for what to bring to your local "Reflection on the Law" picnic:

http://www.abanet.org/publiced/lawday/2009/09LD_Guide.pdf

Harvard's version of how to become a law professor

HT:Tax Prof Blog

What's the Story with Justice Breyer's Underwear?

Justice Breyer during the oral arguments in Safford United School District v. Redding, the school strip-search case:

          It seems to me like a logical thing when an adolescent child has some pills or something, they know           people are looking for them, they will stick them in their underwear....

In my experience when I was 8 or 10 or 12 years old, you know, we did take our clothes off once a day, we changed for gym, OK? And in my experience, too, people did sometimes stick things in my underwear.

 Breyer  quickly added: 

Or not my underwear. Whatever. Whatever. I was the one who did it? I don't know. I mean, I don't think it's beyond human experience, not beyond human experience.

Party School Rankings

Playboy, which has periodically ranked "party schools," announced Friday it would issue such reviews annually, potentially setting up a challenge with Princeton Review, whose guidebook is best known for its party school rankings. The differing methodologies of the two operations result in different "winners" of the competition that most administrators would prefer to lose. Playboy does include learning as one factor in its rankings. The other four factors are: athletics, campus life, availability of sex, and a "bikini index," based on weather, female-to-male student ratio, and cheerleaders. The resulting top five for Playboy: University of Miami, University of Texas at Austin, San Diego State University, University of Florida and University of Arizona. The Princeton Review bases its selections on student surveys covering the use of alcohol and drugs, hours of study a day and the popularity of the Greek system. The Princeton Review's current top five are: University of Florida, University of Mississippi, Pennsylvania State University, West Virginia University and Ohio University.

A NEW RANKING: Above The Law's Inaugural Law Revue Contest 2009 (Dis)Honorable Mentions

Above The Law's Inaugural Law Revue Contest 2009
(Dis)Honorable Mentions

Monday, April 13, 2009 6:00 PM - By Above the Law

Earlier this month, we asked for submissions for Above the Law's first annual Law Revue Video contest. The nominees came pouring in from across the country.

Your faithful ATL editors / judges spent hours -- or was it days? -- reviewing the many submissions. We've learned that there is a lot of creative talent hidden away in law libraries. We've also learned that "pitch" is a precious and rare commodity, vital to prevent blood from streaming out of your audience's ears.

We've selected six finalists for you to enjoy. We'll ask you to vote for the best of them, to determine the winner of ATL's first ever Law Revue contest -- in our next post.

First, we'll subject you to the suffering give you a taste of the entire range of submissions, with some of the best (and worst) of those that didn't make the top six. Join the ATL editors in an exploration of everything that is beautiful and oh-so-terrible when law students take comedy into their own hands -- after the jump.

UVA and NYU were particularly strong contenders in the Law Revue Contest. You'll be hearing and seeing more from them in the finalist post, but they also had a few "losers" worth mentioning. UVA gave us a hilarious world without a constitution and law school as a small plaintiff's firm.

And NYU brought us a Lost parody: Lawst.

READ THE REST HERE

Newsweek Ranks Top Synagogues And Rabbis. Seriously.

from The Faculty Lounge by Dan Filler   

It's good to know that everything can be ranked.  The top 50 "most influential" rabbis are here.  The top 25 "most vibrant" synagogues are here.  Losers will surely lick their wounds and gear up for next year.

I'm waiting for those US News Preschool Ratings.

I'm waiting for those US News Preschool Ratings.

For those who like law revues, here's UVA

Brooklyn Law To Field NCAA Basketball Team in 2010-11

April Fool's (I think)

from The Faculty Lounge by Dan Filler

Taking advantage of a little-used loophole in NCAA regulations, Brooklyn Law School has just announced that it will be fielding a Division 1 basketball squad, starting only 18 months from now.  The team, tentatively called the Barristers, is expected to play in the mid-size Colonial Athletic Association.  I think this is pretty big news.  Admitting a class of 3-5 talented basketball players who have reasonable LSAT's and - perhaps most problematically - have not played four years of college ball, is going to be a brutal task each year.  There are a ton of costs that are going to be associated with this move.  To name a few: renting stadium space (early indicators are that they'll play at Levien Gym at Columbia); hiring a basketball coaching staff;  investing in both staff and software for recruiting; and paying for scholarships.  I worry that the school will tilt towards admitting college juniors with one or two years of basketball under their belt.  And even with all of this, you have to wonder: will Brooklyn Law be able to win?

There is an upside of course - otherwise Dean Joan Wexler wouldn't be doing this.  Reputation.  A stand-alone law school always has to battle the fact that there is no brand outside of the law school itself.  Imagine the press that will accrue if Brooklyn can even break into the final 64 one year.  The story - law school team busts into brackets - would capture a huge amount of press.  And I guess we can assume this team is going to be playing some seriously smart ball.  These are grad students after all!

But maybe this solves a bit of a mystery.  Many of us wondered why Tony Sebok left Brooklyn and headed across the river to Cardozo this year.   He may have worried that this commitment to Division 1 basketball would drown the law school financially. By the way, have you heard anyting about an NYU merger?

Taking advantage of a little-used loophole in NCAA regulations, Brooklyn Law School has just announced that it will be fielding a Division 1 basketball squad, starting only 18 months from now.  The team, tentatively called the Barristers, is expected to play in the mid-size Colonial Athletic Association.  I think this is pretty big news.  Admitting a class of 3-5 talented basketball players who have reasonable LSAT's and - perhaps most problematically - have not played four years of college ball, is going to be a brutal task each year.  There are a ton of costs that are going to be associated with this move.  To name a few: renting stadium space (early indicators are that they'll play at Levien Gym at Columbia); hiring a basketball coaching staff;  investing in both staff and software for recruiting; and paying for scholarships.  I worry that the school will tilt towards admitting college juniors with one or two years of basketball under their belt.  And even with all of this, you have to wonder: will Brooklyn Law be able to win?

There is an upside of course - otherwise Dean Joan Wexler wouldn't be doing this.  Reputation.  A stand-alone law school always has to battle the fact that there is no brand outside of the law school itself.  Imagine the press that will accrue if Brooklyn can even break into the final 64 one year.  The story - law school team busts into brackets - would capture a huge amount of press.  And I guess we can assume this team is going to be playing some seriously smart ball.  These are grad students after all!

But maybe this solves a bit of a mystery.  Many of us wondered why Tony Sebok left Brooklyn and headed across the river to Cardozo this year.   He may have worried that this commitment to Division 1 basketball would drown the law school financially. By the way, have you heard anyting about an NYU merger?

BLACKBOARD ON YOUR IPHONE

Blackboard Announces iPhone Application

Blackboard, the leading course management company, is today announcing an application for the iPhone -- a device that has quickly become popular with many students. The new system will allow iPhone users to interact with their Blackboard pages anyplace they carry their phones. In a statement, Michael L. Chasen, president and CEO of Blackboard, said the application would "help students more deeply engage in the educational experience by creating learning opportunities that are not bound by time or place.”

For a mere $325, you, too, can be the proud recipient of a panel presentation and a published article

Red-Flag Conferences

For a mere $325, you, too, can be the proud recipient of a panel presentation and a publish

By MARGARET BROOKS

In the past few years, a new type of "scholarly" conference has sprung up. Held at exciting resort destinations, such as Las Vegas, these conferences offer attendees the chance to both present and publish papers at one event. Some even allow you to present a paper in absentia, so long as you have paid the conference-registration fee.

At first glance these conferences may appear legitimate, yet an analysis of their materials and Web sites reveals numerous red flags.

I found one group that sends out a series of garish, unsolicited e-mail messages to publicize its Las Vegas conference and associated journals. Everyone who goes to the meeting must pay a presenter fee, even merely to attend. In 2008 that minimum fee was $325. The name of the journal in which presenters will publish their papers is already preprinted on the online conference registration form. Participants are instructed not to e-mail the organizers before the event for any reason, even if they have a scheduling conflict for presenting their papers.

read the rest here

Laptops in the classroom: "Please Repeat the Question"

Please Repeat the Question from Amanda Bakale on Vimeo.

HT PrawfsBlawg Posted by Howard Wasserman on March 9, 2009

Top Images 2008

check out these great photos  - here's a sample

Download Top_Images_2008

Marry a Lawyer? Are You Crazy?

Valentine's Day has come and gone, but the question psychologist Fiona Travis raises is a perpetual one: Would someone have to be crazy to marry a lawyer? "It's not that lawyers lack relationship-building skills," she writes in a post at the blog Lawyer Avenue. "But, overworked, overburdened and squeezed by time -- and now, the worst downturn in two decades -- lawyers do exhibit communication and intimacy breakdowns peculiar to their education, their professional training and work environment."

And that is one of the nicer things she has to say about lawyers as marriage prospects. Consider:

• "The same traits that bring lawyers success in the workplace also interfere with their achieving meaningful, intimate relationships in the home."
• "When one combines the lawyer personality with the lessons learned in law school, the combination makes for great courtroom drama … but is also counter-productive in an intimate interaction with one’s spouse."
• "Individual lawyers may not have all the characteristics, but -- when they’re honest -- they will recognize that they possess such marriage-straining attributes as ambition, narcissism, skepticism, defensiveness, perfectionism and the need to be in control."
• "A disproportionate number of people who are less emotionally astute gravitate into the legal profession."

She's convinced me: Lawyers make lousy lovers. If anyone reading this is considering marriage to a lawyer, turn and run now. Travis makes this abundantly clear. That is her point, right?

But wait. Turns out Travis is married to -- you guessed it -- a lawyer. On top of that, she is the author of a book about how to succeed in such a marriage: Should You Marry a Lawyer: A Couple’s Guide to Balancing Work, Love & Ambition

They're Out to Get Me!

February 10, 20

MS. MENTOR

No matter how good you are at your work, your colleagues won't keep you if they don't like you

Question (from "Barton"): I am on the tenure track at a small college where a student filed a complaint against me full of false accusations. If I file a defamation suit against the student, would that be held against me by a tenure committee?

Question (from "Gretchen"): I just passed (barely) my third-year review, so my job is secure for the next couple of years, until the tenure vote. I discovered that two malicious colleagues campaigned against me, and I think it's because they don't like my subject area. I know I have the teaching record and publications to get tenure when I come up, so what can I do to get revenge against them?

Question (from "Coriolanus"): Don't you think we should do away with the whole tenure drama? I worked with some colleagues at Big Kazoo U whose bootlicking hypocritical stances just turned me away from teaching. There is so little grace and dignity left in the process when colleagues are ready to sell their souls for advancement. Talk about academic honesty. And these are the very people who can't stop whining about the greedy corporate CEO's. The university milieu is so full of false pretenses (from the hiring process to tenure) that I wonder how some have survived it for more than 10 years.

Faculty Pay ‘by Applause Meter’

from Inside Higher Education

It’s not like professors to think that they are so well compensated that it’s not worth hoping for a $10,000 bonus. But out of more than 2,000 faculty members at Texas A&M University’s main campus, only about 300 have agreed to vie for a bonus being offered for their teaching — and all they would need to do is have a survey distributed to their students.

The reason for passing on a chance at $10,000 is that many professors are frustrated by the way the money is being distributed: based solely on student evaluations. Numerous studies have questioned the reliability of student evaluations in measuring actual learning; several of these have noted the tendency of many students to reward professors who give them higher grades. Further complicating the debate is a sense some have that the university is endorsing a consumerist approach to higher education. The chancellor of the A&M system, Michael D. McKinney, told the Bryan-College Station Eagle: “This is customer satisfaction.... It has to do with students having the opportunity to recognize good teachers and reward them with some money.”

READ THE REST  here

The Teacher-Stupid Relationship

Jan. 9  Inside Higher Education

The Teacher-Stupid Relationship

By Scott McLemee

Somewhere out on The Edge of the American West, a professor sends a note to one of his young charges who has contacted him about the semester’s work:

You don’t need to apologize for emailing me two hours after class about an assignment not due until [much later]. It shows that you’re on top of things, and professors love stupids who are on top of things.

It turns out that the entry for “parapraxis” (as Freud himself preferred to call this sort of thing) in one of the online reference works gives another academic example:

An oft-told example is the story of the young university lecturer who invites her doctoral supervisor, a very eminent psychoanalyst, to give a guest lecture in the department where she has taken her first job. At the end of the distinguished lecture, the junior colleague stands up and says “I’d like to spank the speaker”, betraying some repressed frustration, or possibly unconscious sado-masochistic desire.

For some reason this calls to mind Adorno’s remark that nothing is true in psychoanalysis except for the exaggerations. (Unless I’m misremembering that.)

HAPPY NEW YEAR! exam fun

from PrawfsBlawg by Susan Kuo

When I include multiple-choice questions in my exams, I like to sprinkle into the mix a few just-for-kicks questions to give my students a mental breather. I’m enjoying the responses and thought I would share a couple.

Here’s one:

If the South Carolina School of Law faculty had a theme song, which of the following would it be?

(1) "Insensitive Stone Age Guys," Geoff Bartley

(2) "Everything Reminds Me of My Therapist," Nancy Tucker

(3) "I Can See Your Aura And It's Ugly," Mark Graham

(4) "I’m Interested in Apathy," TISM

(5) "Shiny Happy People," R.E.M

** Happily, answer choice (5) was the most popular selection, with (2) as a distant runner-up.  Here’s another (in our grim economic times, I deemed it wise to seek some career advice in the event of the unspeakable):

If Professor Susan Kuo were RIF’d (alternatively stated as "laid off," "fired," "terminated," or "sh*tcanned") from the faculty, what song title presents the best alternative career for her?

(1) "(Workin’ at the) Carwash," Rose Royce

(2) "Paperback Writer," The Beatles

(3) "Frontier Psychiatrist," The Avalanches

(4) "Bright Future in Sales," Fountains of Wayne

(5) "Cocaine Traffickin’," Ghostface Killah

** Over half of the class chose (2) for me, but (4) and (5) tied for second place. Good to know that I’ve options.

26 Actual Course Evaluations

HT:  Feminist Law Professors Blog

26 Actual Course Evaluations 

December 24th, 2008 (Posted by maverick)

These are real course evaluations made by students in various colleges and universities.

1. “This class was a religious experience for me…I had to take it all on faith.”

2. “Text makes a satisfying ‘thud’ when dropped on the floor.”

3. “The class is worthwhile because I need it for the degree.”

4. “His blackboard technique puts Rembrandt to shame.”

5. “Textbook is confusing…Someone with a knowledge of English should
proofread it.”

6. “Have you ever fell asleep in class and awoke in another? That’s the way
I felt all term.”

7. “In class I learn that I can fudge answers and get away with it.”

8. “Keep lecturer or tenure board will be shot.”

9. “The recitation instructor would make a good parking lot attendant. Tries
to tell you where to go, but you can never understand him.”

10. “Text is useless. I use it to kill roaches in my room.”

11. “In class the syllabus is more important than you are.”

12. “I am convinced that you can learn by osmosis by just sitting in his
class.”

13. “Help! I’ve fallen asleep and I can’t wake up!”

14. “Problem sets are a decoy to lure you away from potential exam material.”

15. “Recitation was great. It was so confusing that I forgot who I was,
where I was, and what I was doing it’s a great stress reliever.”

16. “He is one of the best teachers I have had…He is well-organized,
presents good lectures, and creates interest in the subject. I hope my
comments don’t hurt his chances of getting tenure.”

17. “I would sit in class and stare out the window at the squirrels. They’ve
got a cool nest in the tree.”

18. “He teaches like Speedy Gonzalez on a caffeine high.”

19. “This course kept me out of trouble from 2-4:30 on Tuesdays and
Thursdays.”

20. “Most of us spent the 1st 3 weeks terrified of the class. Then
solidarity kicked in.”

21. “Bogus number crunching. My HP is exhausted.”

22. “The absolute value of the TA was less than epsilon.”

23. “TA steadily improved throughout the course…I think he started
drinking and it really loosened him up.”

24. “Information was presented like a ruptured fire hose–spraying in all
directions–no way to stop it.”

25. “I never bought the text. My $60 was better spent on the Led Zeppelin
tapes that I used more while doing the problem sets than I would have used
the text.”

26. “What’s the quality of the text? ‘Text is printed on high quality paper.’”

merry chanukah and happy christmas!

courtesy the Fail Blog:

ht Feminist Law Profs

Fess up! Who posted this comment?

glad to see we're finally getting some feedback!

Comments

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Posted by: Increase Penis Size | December 21, 2008 at 04:30 AM

new assessment of scholarly impact

HT Feminist Law Blog

holiday decorations

  HT Feminist Law BLog.

VIA

A LEGAL QUESTION - reposted

 reposted to correct some blog visual issues

   Is this statutory rape???  
 

  
  Or is It just a moosedemeanor.....

 

 

So much for "desperately needing guest bloggers" while Minna's gone

Hmm, let's look at the dates of her posts, shall we? 

She posted a million things yesteday,

then got on a plane . . . 

landed in Hanoi . . .

and posted a million things today!

But to be fair, it was tomorrow for her.

TYPEALYZER: Myers-Briggs analysis for blogs

Well, this says that we're INTP - duh!


How does it work?
For a long period of time, we have been training our system to recognize texts that characterize the different types. The system, typealyzer, can now by itself find features that distinguishes one type from another. When all features, words and sentences, are statistically analyzed, Typealyzer is able to guess which personality type the text represents.

---

Enter a blog (BETA)

Note: writing style on a blog may have little or nothing to do with a person´s self-perceived personality.

Read more about personality tests and theories or visit our Typealyzer group on Google!

http://

---

 

The analysis indicates that the author of http://kotplow.typepad.com/clinicians_with_not_enoug/ is of the type:

INTP - The Thinkers

The logical and analytical type. They are especially attuned to difficult creative and intellectual challenges and always look for something more complex to dig into. They are great at finding subtle connections between things and imagine far-reaching implications.

They enjoy working with complex things using a lot of concepts and imaginative models of reality. Since they are not very good at seeing and understanding the needs of other people, they might come across as arrogant, impatient and insensitive to people that need some time to understand what they are talking about.

Feminists Discuss More Than Periods

from Feminist Law Professors by Bridget Crawford

We discuss commas, too.  

Readers, when listing items in a series, do you use the “serial comma,” aka the comma before the conjunction?  The Chicago Manual of Style says you should.  The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage says you should not.  

Consider these two sentences:

 ”The shirts come in blue, yellow, and green.” (Chicago rule)

vs.

“The shirts come in blue, yellow and green.” (New York Times rule.)

It seems that law review editors allow an author to follow either rule.  Which rule do you follow?  Click below to indicate your comma preferences.  Or use the comments to talk about periods.

-Bridget Crawford

Which rule do you follow?
	Chicago Manual of Style
	New York Times Manual of Style and Usage
	I’ve never heard of a serial comma before now
	I didn’t know there was a rule

the obamobile in bubbe land

A FEW PICS FROM FLORIDA

THE OBAMOBILE

ONLY IN BOCA

THE RALLY (!)

cool design

THE LONGEST MILE

Fraternity members at Centre College walked a mile in five-inch heels to raise awareness of sexual violence. (Photograph by Kirk Schlea)

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