Law schools roundup

  • “Is Legal Scholarship Politically Biased?” [Chilton-Posner study] [Caron, Josh Blackman, Will Baude]
  • “Suffolk offers to buy out its whole law faculty” [Bainbridge]
  • Another injury lawyer, Thomas Kline of Kline & Specter, gets a law school named after himself after $50 million donation to Drexel [Philadelphia Inquirer via Caron]
  • Bonus quote from Kline partner and senatorial scion Shanin Specter: “I don’t think there are any lawyers in Philadelphia bringing claims that they know are not meritorious.” (So that’s a relief.) Meanwhile, grateful Drexel law dean praises Kline’s law firm as the one you should consider calling if, “unfortunately, someone in your family faced catastrophic injuries.” [same; compare encomium of Michigan State dean to Geoffrey Fieger upon Fieger’s $4 million donation to MSU in 2002]
  • So many fellow academics upset with U. of Chicago’s Brian Leiter and his frequent talk of legal action hasn’t helped [Chronicle of Higher Ed, Jonathan Adler, Leigh Johnson, Above the Law]
  • A law school study group with its own nondisclosure agreement [Patrice, AtL, Lowering the Bar]
  • Assuming we don’t abolish them: “Three Ideas to Improve Law Reviews (as Institutions)” [Dave Hoffman, ConcurOp]
  • Last year I spoke on varied subjects at law schools including Michigan, Buffalo, Chicago, Vermont, Baltimore, Nebraska, and Duquesne. Why not invite me to speak to your roundtable, class or Federalist Society Chapter? Contact editor – at – overlawyered – dot – com.

Forest Service: no photographing wilderness lands without permission

News reporters, nature lovers, scientists and Western lawmakers are in an uproar over the Forest Service’s plans to finalize a ban on taking photographs in federally designated wilderness areas without permission of the service. A spokeswoman “said the agency was implementing the Wilderness Act of 1964, which aims to protect wilderness areas from being exploited for commercial gain.. … ‘We have to follow the statutory requirements.'” [Oregonian, Coyote and followup, ABA Journal]

Update: Service backs down, at least to the extent of acknowledging that it needs to clarify the scope of the ban.

Don’t

Don’t yield to the temptation to enhance your “Los Angeles Business Litigation Attorney” website by posting pictures of your image Photoshopped in with celebrities [Svitlana E. Sangary, facing California bar discipline over charges of deceptive advertising and other misconduct; Lowering the Bar

September 26 roundup

  • Was California workers’ comp claim against NFL by former Tampa Bay Buccaneer-turned-P.I.-lawyer inconsistent with his mixed martial arts prowess? [Tampa Bay Times, Lakeland Ledger, earlier and more on California workers’ comp and professional football]
  • Salt Lake City’s $6,500 stings: “Secret Shopper Hired to Punish Lyft & Uber Actually Prefers Them” [Connor Boyack, Libertas Institute]
  • Are libertarians undermining public accommodations law? (If only.) [Stanford Law Review, Samuel Bagenstos and Richard Epstein via Paul Horwitz]
  • Why NYC is losing its last bed and breakfasts [Crain’s New York via @vpostrel]
  • U.S. continues foolish policy of restricting crude oil and gas exports, time for that to change [David Henderson first and second posts]
  • So it seems the New York Times is now committed to the theory that Toyotas show mechanical unintended acceleration;
  • OK, the future Kansas politician was at the strip club strictly on attorney business when the police arrived. Was he billing? [Politico]