- Making waves in the law blogs: critique of elite law schools’ continuing tendency to elevate theoretical over practical forms of scholarly work [Brent Evan Newton (Georgetown), SSRN, forthcoming in South Carolina Law
Review; some reactions from Steve Bainbridge and, at Prawfsblawg, from Rick Garnett, Kristen Holmquist, and Paul Horwitz]. I argue along similar though not identical lines in the earlier chapters of my forthcoming book.
- Law schools inflate placement statistics by only interviewing alums who are employed [Above the Law] And does sheer spending dominate the U.S. News algorithm for ranking top law schools? [same]
- Calls grow for disclosing academic economists’ conflicts of interest [Salmon]. Will lawprofs’ be next?
- Rutgers-Newark law school clinic pursues long-shot lawsuit seeking to hold Iraq war unconstitutional [Jonathan Adler/Volokh]. If you’re a New Jersey taxpayer with doubts about whether you should be obliged to support such lawsuits, you may be one of those horrid meanies guilty of “‘kneecapping’ academic freedom” according to one not especially temperate defense of clinics’ work [Robert R. Kuehn and Peter A. Joy, AAUP] More: Adam Babich, “Controversy, Conflicts, and Law School Clinics” [SSRN via Legal Ethics Forum, and thanks for kind mention in latter]
- “Should Conservative and Libertarian Law Students Consider a Career in Legal Academia?” [David Bernstein/Volokh; some further thoughts from Paul Horwitz, Prawfs]
Filed under: law schools, New Jersey, Schools for Misrule
One Comment
Conservative or libertarian law students considering academic careers? Why not? They probably stand as good a chance getting hired there as anywhere else. Which is to say “not good.”
I once interviewed with the Manhattan DA. I made it to the second level of interviews. I faced three female DA’s who sat at the far end of the table. One asked about my first summer internship, which was with a conservative/libertarian legal group. Her jaw hit the floor. Her sisters practically got ANGRY with me for daring to present myself to them.
I was never called back.
Let it be a cautionary tale to today’s law student. Maybe things have changed, but I doubt it. Unless you’re guaranteed a job somewhere or with someone who doesn’t care, be very careful about what you reveal about your politics. It is probably different for Harvard or Yale students — you’re so high up, nobody really cares what your politics are. But the rest of us have to keep in mind that the legal profession, like academia, has a strong left-wing orientation, and it is not interested in “diversity”.