Law Librarian Blog

Kudos to Frank Houdek

Frank Houdek, former SIU law library director and associate dean for academic affairs since July 2007, has been appointed interim dean at SIU's School of Law. Houdek brings almost a quarter of a century of administrative experience at SIU to the job. In making the appointment, Interim SIUC Provost and Vice Chancellor Don S. Rice said, "He is a long-term member of the School of Law faculty and I believe he brings to the position both historical perspective and a vision of the future for the school. I think he is very well-positioned to prepare the school for a selection of a new, permanent dean." Read more about it. [JH]

Law Prof and Tax Reform Advocate Susan Pace Hamill Running for Alabama House Seat

Pope Benedict XVI Suggests Tax Policy

From Caritas in Veritate: "One possible approach to development aid would be to apply effectively what is known as fiscal subsidiarity, allowing citizens to decide how to allocate a portion of the taxes they pay to the State. Provided it does not degenerate into the promotion of special interests, this can help to stimulate forms of welfare solidarity from below, with obvious benefits in the area of solidarity for development as well." Hat tip to TaxProf Blog.

Alabama law prof Susan Pace Hamill made her academic reputation by attacking federal, state and local tax policy on faith-based grounds. Hamill's 2002 article, An Argument for Tax Reform Based on Judeo-Christian Ethics, 54 Alabama Law Review 1, 67-68 (2002), received national attention and was named on the list of best ideas by the New York Times in 2003. See also THE LEAST OF THESE: FAIR TAXES AND THE MORAL DUTY OF CHRISTIANS 126 (2003) (condemning Alabama’s current tax structure as unethical under Judeo-Christian principles, and calling on Alabamians to support tax reform), The Vast Injustice Perpetuated by State and Local Tax Policy, 37 Hofstra Law Review 117 (2008) and An Evaluation of Federal Tax Policy Based on Judeo-Christian Ethics, 25 Virginia Tax Review 671 (2006) (criticizing the federal tax policy trends of the Bush administration).

This former theology student found Hamill's arguments convincing. Applying in my opinion a non-controversial interpretation of justice as defined by Judeo-Christian principles to federal, state and local tax policies, Hamill repeated makes the point that people are tolerating unjust tax policies that are oppressing our poorest and most vulnerable citizens. Whether tax laws and policies in a civil society should be challenged on faith-based grounds is another matter. However, it is clear that Hamill's work has never been merely an intellectual exercise. Now Hamill is taking her arguments to Bible belt voters; she has announced that she running for an Alabama House seat. What are her chances? Don't know but it should be an interesting election campaign because, according to Wikipedia's Bible belt entry, 94% of the population in Alabama claim to be religious.

Hat tip to TaxProf Blog. [JH] 

Can $300,000 in additional scholarship money to prop up U of I's US News law school ranking be defended on moral grounds?

Following up -- hopefully for the last time -- on LLB's earlier coverage of the University of Illinois College of Law admissions scandal published here and here, the Chicago Tribune is reporting that during a hearing before the Mikva Commission last week, former U of I Law Dean Heidi Hurd testified that Chancellor Richard Herman “would reach into his discretionary funds" to provide additional scholarship money. Why? To help offset any US News law school ranking hit the College of Law might otherwise take for being forced to admit students of politically connected families who had subpar credentials. See the Tribune story, Documents: Law school billed U. of I. for $300K in 'scholarship support.' See also the Tribune's U. of Ill. dean traded admissions for scholarships.

How Much Scholarship Money? According to the first cited Tribune report, the College of Law received approximately $304,000 in additional scholarship funds for admitting 24 "special admits" between 2004 and 2007. If my math is correct, that's an average of $12,666.67 per clouted under-qualified admitted student. The story observes that "the dollar amount increased dramatically from the practice's inception, starting with $25,815 for three students in 2004 and jumping to more than $100,000 in scholarships for seven students in 2007."

Clearly under Hurd's watch as dean from 2002 through 2007, the College of Law got better at grabbing cash from the Chancellor's funds and improving its admissions under US News' all-powerful ranking metrics. From her web profile: "Under her Deanship, the College of Law significantly increased incoming student credentials to place them among the nation's Top 15 based on LSAT scores and median GPA." By the morally bankrupt standards of Chicago-style politics, Hurd proved her street credentials.

Just Following Orders. According to the National Law Journal's coverage of Hurd's testimony, Hurd said she fought the pressure to admit clouted students "at every turn," was "incensed" by them, but felt she had no choice but to follow the orders of her university superiors. "I certainly did not take myself to have the authority to say 'no,'" said Hurd. This from a law prof whose most widely acclaimed work, Moral Combat (Cambridge UP, 1999), puts forth the the argument that the law cannot require us to do what morality forbids. If Hurd felt so strongly why didn't she put her deanship on the line? She could have become a whistle-blower like Glen Weissenberger did at DePaul Law. Few No one in the media would have questioned the veracity of Hurd's claims during the Boss Blagojevich era of Illinois politics. Instead, expediency trumped just saying "no" to corruption.

Here's a situation where interested parties who have lifetime job security did nothing publicly when going public was the only option left to treat all law school applicants equally. Defenses of the U of I College of Law in the wake of these revelations can be found in the law prof blogosphere. They all boil down to this -- admitting politically connected students to public law schools is a widely if reluctantly accepted practice because university administrators and law profs are powerless to do anything about it. Indeed, it is so widely accepted that in an open letter to the Chicago Tribune a group of U of I law profs had no second thoughts about characterizing political selections in law school admission as a "non-story story" and trading favors, in this case, additional funding, for admission to law school as "morally untroubling."  How can $300,000 in additional scholarship money to prop up a law school's US News ranking be defended on moral grounds? 

All Applicants Treated Equally. If ever there was an opportunity to end the corrupting influence of politics in public law school admissions, it presented itself at U of I when Blagojevich was governor. Instead, people just looked away when the devil put his hands on their shoulders. Thanks to the power of subpoenas and Chicago Tribune investigative reporting, the University of Illinois College of Law will now treat all applicants equally. In a letter to staff, faculty, students and alumni quoted by the National Law Journal, U of I Law Dean Bruce Smith writes "under my deanship, the college will give no 'special' consideration, treatment, or procedure to any application." See Illinois Law Dean Announces New Admission Policy in Wake of Scandal.

Perhaps the policy will be adopted at other public law schools... [JH]

1,100-plus Law Profs Members of the Legal Academy Sign Letter Supporting Sotomayor Confirmation

The letter opens with the sentence "We the undersigned professors of law write in support of the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor..." but

1. Commenting on the letter on The Volokh Conspiracy, Jonathan Adler asks, "what percentage of the 1,100-plus signatories to the letter are sufficiently familiar with her record to have reached an informed, expert judgment?" Good question.

2. How many of the signtories are actually law profs? From a comment to Adler's post:

I was curious to see who signed on to this letter from my alma mater (Univ. of Texas at Austin). Of the 23 UT Law signatories, approximately a quarter are made up of adjunct professors (2), clinical professors (3), and the interim head of the school's law library (1). I'm not really intent upon denigrating the worth of these folks; but, given that the value of the letter in question largely rests on the credentials and positions of the signatories, one cannot help but note their actual credentials and positions. Of the remaining UT Law signatories, what stands out most is how many faculty (many of whom are quite liberal and no doubt sympathetic to Sotomayor's nomination) are missing from the letter. One wonders if UT Law is representative of other schools in this regard. If so, even on its own terms, the letter is a bit underwhelming.

Text of the letter and list of signatories here and head count by law school and state here. [JH]

Admissions on Corrupt Admissions: University of Illinois and College of Law Officials Testify They Tried to Get Jobs for Law School Grads and Additional Scholarships for Being Forced to Admit Clouted Students to Law School

Testifying before the Mikva Commission that is investigating corruption in University of Illinois admissions, Chancellor Richard Herman admitted he sought jobs for law school graduates after being forced to admit to the University's College of Law under-qualified students from politically connected families. See LLB's early post, Did the University of Illinois Barter Jobs for Law School Grads in Exchange for Law School Admission of Under-Qualified, Politically Connected Students? The answer is "yes." According to this Chicago Tribune story, no evidence was presented that law grads were hired but the College of Law did receive additional scholarship money for accepting the "special admits."

Bargaining Jobs for Admissions. The Chicago Tribune reports Chancellor Herman tried to downplay disclosed email exchanges with then Dean Heidi Hurd about the jobs-for-admissions scheme as being "sarcastic and facetious," a claim Hurd made in a letter to the Chicago Tribune. Commission members were not persuaded.

"I love jokes, but I have to tell you that this isn't something I would think you would want to joke about or Dean Hurd would want to joke about. The law school was giving up something of importance. When you were asking for something to compensate you weren't joking. That was a serious request," Mikva said.

"That would be a fair characterization," Herman replied.

Herman said he discussed the jobs only after being forced to admit the student and said there was no "bargaining beforehand."

"I like euphemisms," Mikva said. "But sometimes you have to say a spade is a spade, a cow is a cow."

Commissioner Doris Lowry also chided the chancellor's actions. "Once the bargaining opportunity presented itself, you chose to bargain," she said.

Additional Scholarship Money to Avoid US News Law School Rankings Hit for Admissions. The Tribune story also reports that U of I College of Law admissions dean Paul Pless testified that the College of Law insisted upon additional scholarship money so the law school could entice better-qualified students in exchange for admitting politically connected students with weak credentials. The goal was to counteract any negative hit to the rankings. Mikva, a former federal judge, pointed out that the scholarship funds, which came from the chancellor's budget, could have gone to other students if they had not been allocated to the law school.

"I honestly believe that my intent was to manage the situation," Chancellor Richard Herman said. "It is only looking back on it in aggregate, which the recent revelations brought to light, that one can step back and say we shouldn't have this process."

A open letter from a group of University of Illinois law professors that accuses the Tribune of being overly harsh in its reporting on university officials can be found here. Has the Tribune been too harsh? [JH]

Law School Not Golden Ticket to Secure Employment: Univ. of Miami Law Urges Incoming Students to Consider Deferring Their Admission Until 2010

Law Firm Layoffs and Employment Prospects

In a New York Times commentary, Another View: In Praise of Law Firm Layoffs, Dan Slater, the former writer of The Wall Street Journal Law Blog, argues that layoffs at law firms are the best thing to happen to the legal industry in years. On Workplace Prof Blog, Jeffrey Hirsch (Tennessee) writes "because I've personally witnessed too many students fail to get jobs or had offers withdrawn, my soul can't let me agree with his premise." Many more in the legal academy would agree with Hirsch's opinion than Slater's.

In a memo published by Above the Law, University of Miami School of Law Dean Patricia White is urging incoming students to consider deferring their first year of law school until the fall of 2010.

While I would like to believe that this year's elevated acceptance rate reflects the great sense of excitement about the Law School and its future that led me to become its new Dean, I fear that some of it may be related to the shortage of jobs in the current economy. Perhaps many of you are looking to law school as a safe harbor in which you can wait out the current economic storm.
 
If this describes your motivation for going to law school I urge you to think hard about your plans and to consider deferring enrollment. Law school requires an enormous investment of work, energy, time, and money. It is very demanding intellectually and emotionally. Beyond this, in these uncertain and challenging times the nature of the legal profession is in great flux. It is very difficult to predict what the employment landscape for young lawyers will be in May 2012 and thereafter.

Above the Law writes, "Listen to this woman. Look at what you are putting into law school: 'investment,' 'time,' 'money.' Look at what you are getting out of it: 'uncertain,' 'challenging,' 'flux.' Going to law school is not a golden ticket to the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory of secure employment." See also, sidebar (above right).

In response to an unprecedented percentage of applicants admitted to the University of Miami Law School who have accepted the School's offer, Miami is offering the following benefits to applicants who defer their enrollment to Fall 2010:

Guaranteed $5,000 Public Interest Deferral Scholarship when completing 120 hours of public service. This scholarship would be in addition to any other scholarship award you may receive (not to exceed the cost of tuition).

Increase your likelihood of selection for a $75,000 Miami Scholars Scholarship award ($25,000 each year for 3 years). This is a scholarship designed to encourage and reward public service.

If qualified, be among the first group considered for all 2010 scholarships.

Apply your entire $300 seat deposit to Fall 2010, rather than receiving only a partial refund and forfeiting the balance.

[JH]

Did the University of Illinois Barter Jobs for Law School Grads in Exchange for Law School Admission of Under-Qualified, Politically Connected Students?

Factors other than GPA/LSAT scores ought to be taken into consideration when it comes to law school admissions but what was happening at the University of Illinois College of Law is not an example that illustrates this point. The Chicago Tribune is reporting that former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich pressured University of Illinois Chancellor, Richard Herman, and the former dean of the University's College of Law, Heidi Hurd, to admit under-qualified students who were politically connected. In exchange for admitting those students, university officials attempted to obtain jobs for College of Law graduates. 

How many politically connected students? According to the Chicago Tribune article, the College of Law admitted at least 24 so-called "special admits" during a four-year span. "[T]hey had lower grades and standardized test scores than the general applicant pool and they lagged behind their classmates once admitted. On average, they maintained a 2.86 grade point average during their first year compared with the 3.2 grade point average for the overall class ... One faced formal disciplinary charges and left the school." The Chicago Tribune article also reports that "law school officials showed their disdain for the special admits and even worked behind the scenes to campaign against them."

What did it cost to get under-qualified politically connected students admitted to the University of Illinois College of Law? Five jobs for graduating law students suggest internal e-mails released last week and published here by the Chicago Tribune. Quoting from an email attributed to then Dean Hurd by the Chicago Tribune, the College of Law allegedly bartered admission for "very high-paying jobs in law firms that are absolutely indifferent to whether the five have passed their law school classes or the Bar." As noted by Brian Leiter (Chicago), the Chicago Tribune glosses over the sarcasm in this particular email. In a letter to the Chicago Tribune that denies any jobs-for-admission scheme, former Dean Hurd writes, "While my sarcasm was clearly lost on the tin ears of some, my e-mail exchanges in response to queries about this were on their face facetious." However, there is more damning evidence that U of I and its law school were active, if relucant, participants in a corrupt admissions scheme.

Corruption in law school admissions, "Chicago-style." Chicago Tribune reporters Jodi S. Cohen, Tara Malone and Robert Becker write "the e-mails paint a picture of how law school officials operated a parallel admissions review for clouted students. They withheld denials until the year's end, cleared decisions with top university administrators, and debated whether to accept candidates with stronger credentials -- or stronger connections. Several clouted students received full-ride scholarships." Commenting on the content of the incriminating emails, Above the Law writes, "Warning, these emails are not safe for naive people who are unaccustomed with the 'Chicago-style' of getting things done."

This snip from the Chicago Tribune's Sunday editorial entitled "U. of I.'s cynical breach of public trust."

We don't know how many U. of I. and government officials participated in -- or, by their silence, tolerated -- corrupt admissions. We trust that federal prosecutors and the gubernatorial commission chaired by retired Judge Abner Mikva will uncover each betrayal of the public trust, and identify the schemers and witnesses.

Illinois citizens must turn to the feds and Mikva because, with the most recent revelations, U. of I. trustees and administrators have lost whatever last shred of credibility they had. We hope the independent investigators also demand to know why this most recent batch of devastating e-mail didn't surface -- despite the Tribune's request under Illinois' notoriously weak Freedom of Information Act -- until the feds began raining subpoenas on state universities.

Think this through: How deeply did the influence of money and politics corrupt U. of I. admissions? Deep enough that the U. of I. apparently would foist its cynical game on the rest of Illinois by attempting a barter: If we have to take these weak applicants, you have to put some of our grads into public or private law jobs. Thanks, U. of I.

Two comments.

First, it sounds like Boss Blagojevich was taking tips from the first Mayor Daley's playbook in Blagojevich's attempt to acquire absolute control of Illinois state government. Those of us who call Chicago our home have seen this sort of thing happen time and time again in Illinois politics. Now where did I put my old copies of Len O'Connor's Clout: Mayor Daley and His City (1984) and Mike Royko's Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago (1971)...

Second, I seriously doubt U of I or its law school are the only public institutions of higher education that have been "persuaded" to admit under-qualified students from politically connected families. Granted the full scholarships are a bit over the top but some IHE administrators are probably envious that they didn't think up a jobs-for-admission scheme. Or maybe they have... [JH]

You're on Cheaters Camera

In Cheating 2.0: New twists on a venerable temptation are confronted by law schools (National Law Journal) Leigh Jones reports how law students are taking cheating to the next level by using their cell phones, taking advantage of flaws in some computerized exam software apps by logging out of and then back into the exam software, et cetera.  Note the detection methods some law schools are using, like Florida Coastal's reliance on cameras in its facilities to catch cheaters during finals. For more, see Mitchell Rubinstein's posts on Adjunct Law Prof Blog: Cheating In Law Schools and Hi Tech Cheating. [JH]

Ezra Rosser: A normal human being trapped in a law faculty body

In On Becoming "Professor": A Semi-Serious Look in the Mirror, 36 Fl. St. Univ. L. Rev. 215 (2009), [SSRN], Ezra Rosser, WCL Assistant Professor of Law and co-editor of Poverty Law Prof Blog, promises to "say something about legal academia" and delivers on that promise. Edgy by law review standards, Ezra's 14 page parody article is a delight to read. Don't forget to check the footnotes. My favorite is footnote 41. [JH]

Robert C. Post Appointed Yale Law School Dean

Robert C. Post has been appointed the Dean and Sol and Lillian Goldman Professor of Law at Yale Law School, effective July 1, 2009. Here's the press release. [JH]

Interim Dean of DePaul Law Appointed

Following up on LLB's earlier post about the DePaul fiasco, Provost Helmut Epp announced today that Illinois Appellate Court Judge Warren D. Wolfson, 76, has been named interim dean of the DePaul University College of Law. Judge Wolfson will assume the position effective Aug. 15. He was appointed to a two-year term as interim dean. A national search will be launched next summer to fill the deanship permanently.

Judge Wolfson was first assigned to the Circuit Court of Cook County in 1975, elected to a full term in 1976 and retained in that position through five consecutive terms from 1982 through 2006.  Prior to his career on the bench, Judge Wolfson spent 18 years in private practice, specializing in criminal defense. Judge Wolfson was a trial advocacy instructor at The University of Chicago Law School from 1985 to 2000. He has served as an adjunct professor, instructor and lecturer at the IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law since 1971, teaching courses in evidence and trial advocacy and directing the trial advocacy program since 1983.

The following law faculty resolution was presented to the DePaul University Administration:

The Faculty of the College of Law protests the recent actions taken by the University administration without consultation with, or involvement by, the students, faculty, staff, or other members of the College of Law community. We are especially saddened and angered by the summary removal of our Dean, Glen Weissenberger. We strongly believe that these actions violate the principles of trust and shared responsibility that have characterized, and should continue to characterize, the governance of the College.

As a faculty, we are united in our commitment to the continued excellence and diversity of the University and to the Vincentian mission. We are proud of the contribution that the College of Law—students, faculty, and staff—have made toward these shared ends. It is our unanimous view that the unilateral actions taken by the administration are unfair to our students and to other members of the College of Law community who have contributed to and relied upon the progress the College has made under Dean Weissenberger’s leadership.

We particularly emphasize our opposition to the University administration’s announced intention to install an interim dean without any input from the College of Law community. We strongly urge the administration not to implement this action.

[JH]

Honesty Not the Best Policy at DePaul: Law Dean Fired for Disclosing Required Information to ABA Accreditation Committee; Associate Dean Resigns in Protest

DePaul Law's Associate Dean for Research, Scholarship & Faculty Development Resigns

Last Friday, Stephen Siegel, Distinguished Research Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Research, Scholarship & Faculty Development at DePaul resigned his associate deanship, "effective when the expected announcement is made that an interim dean has been appointed from outside the law school community without any faculty input or consultation," In an email to the DePaul Law community, Professor Siegel wrote "although I strongly disagree with the decision to remove Glen [Weissenberger], my resignation is tied into the mode of his replacement." Professor Siegel explained: "In my 37 years of service to DePaul I have served under 5 deans. (I'm not counting interim and acting deans). Four of them were replaced mid-term. ... I whole-heartedly welcomed [the three mid-term replacements before Glen] and only wished the University had acted sooner. But every previous time, the University turned to the faculty with expectation and trust that we would step into the breech - and we did, superbly, working cooperatively to bring the best out of the situation. This time, although we have the most talented and prestigous collection of faculty we ever have had - we have effectively been put into a two year receivership - with no consultation, dialogue, trust." As associate dean, Professor Siegel noted his role in the administration of DePaul Law was "doing work that Glen would otherwise have to do ... I was an enabler - I enabled Glen to do other things. I do not want to enable this transition."

Glen Weissenberger, the dean of the DePaul University College of Law since 2002, was fired effective immediately by University Provost Helmut Epp Thurday. Epp emailed the law school's faculty and staff saying "the working relationship between the dean and the administration had deteriorated to the point where it had become difficult to accomplish the college's work."

Weissenberger was fired apparently because of a recent letter he sent to the Consultant on Legal Education for the American Bar Association, disclosing that certain information about tuition revenue sharing given to the ABA Accreditation Committee was no longer accurate. [Text of Letter] According to published reports, he sent the letter last week because the ABA Accreditation Committee is meeting this week. Should be an interesting meeting.

About the dispute between the University administration and the law school, Brian Leiter (Chicago) reports "the College of Law at DePaul was entitled to 75% of its tuition revenues under an ABA-enforced agreement between the College and the University Administration; the University has repeatedly breached this agreement.  Professor Weissenberger challenged the University's failure to honor the agreement. Now he's been fired."

Mark Wojcik (John Marshall, Chicago) writes:

None of us can be happy about this. This is a dean, standing up for the rightful finances of his law school, who gets fired because he truthfully reports to the ABA Consultant on Legal Education that information before the Accreditation Committee was incorrect.  Dean Weissenberger correctly noted that he had a duty to report that the information was false and that's what he did.

An open letter by several junior DePaul law faculty members expresses the sentiments of many members of the DePaul Law community and the legal academy generally who are shocked by the University's action. Here's the text of their letter to DePaul University's President Holtschneider and Provost Epp (dated Friday, June 19, 2009)

Dear President Holtschneider and Provost Epp:
 
We, the undersigned junior faculty of the College of Law, were surprised and saddened by the abruptly announced decision to remove Glen Weissenberger as our Dean.  In light of the fact that some of us will be out of the country and unable to attend the meeting next week [The University has proposed holding a meeting with the law faculty this week], we are taking this opportunity to share our perspective on the tremendous and important work Glen has done for the College of Law, for us as junior faculty, and for the University.
 
Glen has worked tirelessly and successfully in the past few years to improve the College of Law’s academic reputation and to foster an environment in which we are able to thrive in our teaching, scholarship, and service.  He has improved DePaul’s national profile, reputation, and rank.  As a direct result, the University has been able to attract and hire a talented group of diverse law faculty, a goal of critical and ongoing importance to it.  The attraction and retention of a diverse law faculty inures to the University’s benefit—not just to the College of Law’s benefit—in every way and was not achieved (indeed, not even attempted) by any dean before Glen.  His commitment to public service in the Vincentian tradition has been exemplary.  Many of us were persuaded to come to DePaul over offers from higher ranked institutions because of Glen; not just because of his effect on the College of Law, but because of his vision, enthusiasm and integrity.
 
The benefits of these gains across the board must surely override any temporary difficulty in the working relationship between Glen and University administrators.  If University administrators are determined to replace Glen as dean, we have no doubt that they can find a way to work with him for the remainder of his term and ensure an orderly search process and transition, in order to spare everyone the embarrassment of a public rift and the concomitant damage to the College of Law’s morale and the University’s interests.
 
We are extremely concerned that this precipitous move on the part of University administrators would cause enormous damage to DePaul’s academic reputation and would harm our ability to continue to grow and thrive as junior scholars and teachers.  These personal interests are directly tied to the University’s and the College of Law’s interests.  We cannot overstate the effect that DePaul’s reputation and rank have on our ability to attract top-level students, publish in highly ranked law reviews, and gain invitations to present our work at national conferences.  The momentum that DePaul has gained in moving up the rankings and increasing its academic reputation would be seriously threatened by Glen’s abrupt removal, affecting DePaul’s national stature, its ability to raise funds, and its ability to attract and retain faculty and students.  This attempt to address one short-term problem would generate many more problems of much greater magnitude.
 
During his exceptional tenure as our Dean, Glen has earned our admiration, our support, and most importantly, our trust.  Trust is the essential ingredient that binds together the faculty, staff, and students of any successful university.  Unfortunately, the administration’s decision with respect to Glen can only undermine that sense of trust that he and we have worked so hard together to foster.  We urge the administration to reverse its decision to remove Glen as our Dean.
 
Sincerely,

Before Weissenberger became dean (he was in the middle of his second five-year term that would have ended in June 2012 when he was ousted) DePaul Law was known as a municipal law school whose most high profile grads were past and present local Democratic party insiders. Under his direction, the school jumped from the third tier of the US News Law School Rankings to the Top 100. Although not competitive with nationally known Chicago law schools like the University of Chicago and Northwestern, DePaul joined the ranks of Chicago-based regional law schools under Weissenberger's leadership -- quite an amazing feat since it was accomplished in such a short time span. In the 2009 rankings, DePaul and Loyola-Chicago tied at 87, 10 spots behind Chicago-Kent.

Provost Epp, who was part of the Depaul University administration during the Finkelstein tenure scandal, has hired a new interim dean from outside DePaul but has yet to make the name public. Epp's termination of Weissenberger and appointment of an interim dean were actions taken without consulting the law school faculty. In a widely distributed email, DePaul law prof Stephan Landsman writes about this change of leadership:

When a Dean is appointed the whole of the law school community is consulted. Alumni, faculty, students, friends and donors participate in the discussions that lead to a decision. This is especially important in a law school, where respect for process and the rule of law are expected to govern both as a matter of principle and as an example to the professional students being educated.

In what appears to be an arbitrary exercise of power, as well as a potential breach of the accreditation rules of the ABA, it has been decided, without process or respect for dialogue within the community and without any evaluation of the cost to the institution, to remove the Dean of the DePaul University College of Law. This arbitrary and potentially illegal act will, doubtless, cause great damage to the reputation and future of the College of Law. It is likely to jeopardize the reaccreditation of the College of Law.

I believe that in this crisis it is time to ask the College of Law's friends for help and to respectfully request that they oppose this decision and demand that it be rescinded. I also urge each and every one of my colleagues to decline any invitation to serve as interim dean.
    
Unfortunately, both family and professional commitments will prevent me from attending the "meeting" proposed by the University's representative. (It should be remarked that the apparent author of the decision will not be appearing to explain his actions.) Dialogue before rash and potentially illegal action rather than after would have been the wiser response. It is my hope that cooler heads will eventually prevail and that the interests of the institution we love will be placed ahead of personal pique.

There is an online petition for Weissenberger supporters at United for Weissenberger.

Help Wanted. Reporting on the resignation of Associate Dean Stephen Siegel (sidebar, above right), Brian Leiter (Chicago) asks "Who will take the job of Dean at DePaul while Provost Epp remains in office?" Leiter adds:

In the midst of a severe economic downturn, including in the legal market, removing a successful Dean who is, by all accounts, well-liked and respected by faculty, staff, students, and alumni all because the Dean stood up for the interests of his College really defies belief.  There is, perhaps, someone at DePaul who ought to be summarily removed from office, but it does not appear to be Dean Weissenberger.

Stay turned. [JH]

Kudos to Washington & Lee's Sally Wiant on a Job Very Well Done for 31 Years

Sally Wiant will retire as director of the Washington and Lee Law School Library at the end of June after 31 years at the helm according to W&L's announcement. She will assume full-time duties on the Washington and Lee Faculty of Law. This fall, Sally will teach a practicum course on intellectual property in the Law School's new third-year curriculum.

In July, Caroline Osborne, research and instructional services librarian, will assume the duties of Acting Director of the Law Library.  The School will form a committee to conduct a national search for a new library director in August. [JH]

Martha Minow Appointed Dean of Harvard Law School

Martha Minow,  the Jeremiah Smith, Jr., Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and a member of the HLS faculty since 1981, has been named dean of the School effective July 1, 2009. Minow’s appointment follows the March confirmation of Elena Kagan to serve as solicitor general of the United States. [Announcement] [JH]

UK For-Profit Law School Operator BPP Acquired by US Interests

BPP Holdings, the parent company of for-profit UK law school BPP Law School, announced on June 8 that it had agreed to be acquired for £303.5 million ($485.11 million) by Apollo Global according to Jeremy Hodges at LegalWeek.com. Apollo Global is a joint venture between US for-profit educational company Apollo Group and The Carlyle Group private equity firm. BPP Law School is a leading UK provider of skills-based instruction (particularly of the post-graduate law practice course, or LPC, and was among the first for-profit law schools to grant degrees in the UK.  BPP appears to be Apollo Global’s second acquisition involving legal education, the first having been Mexico City-based Universidad Latinoamericana which offers the licenciatura degree in law. Hat tip to AmLaw Daily. [Rob Richards]

Party Law School Rankings

Students wanting to attend a top law school according to US News and SubtleDig's Party Law School Rankings should apply to Virginia, Berkeley and Michigan. Law librarians looking for a fun place to work take note. Here's SubtleDig's top 10 party schools with US News Law School Rank noted:

1 Arizona State (55)
2 Tulane University (45)
3 Seattle University (77)
4 Florida State (52)
4 University of Arizona (43)
6 University of Virgina (10)
7 UC Berkeley (6)
8 University of Michigan (9)
9 Arkansas - Fayetteville (94)
10 University of Alabama (30)

Method: "We spammed current law students with a “Please take our survey” email. We considered using the amount of responses per school as a factor in the rankings, as students with enough free time to answer such a frivolous email probably deserve recognition, but we were concerned about punishing schools for spam detection." Responses contributed 90% of the ranking. The other 10%? It was "based on the amount of bars and liquor stores within a one-mile radius of the law school" which produced a bias for schools located in large metropolitan areas. Obviously, this factor needs to be revised to produce more accurate statistics.

Complete law school party rankings. See also the specialty rankings. [JH]

Law School Exam Proctors Needed for Bathroom Patrol

The Syracuse Post-Standard is reporting that Syracuse University Law School has limited restroom breaks for 1Ls to one per final exam this year because students were suspected of using cell phones to text message. "During this exam period, we have received a significant number of reports from (first-year) students alleging academic dishonesty," read an e-mail sent by law school administrators. See SU Law school curbs bathroom breaks to flush out cheaters. [JH]

Kudos to Michelle Rigual

Michelle Rigual has accepted an appointment to become the next Law Library Director of the Dee J. Kelly Law Library at the Texas Wesleyan School of Law effective August 1st.  Michelle has been serving as Associate Director of the University of New Mexico Law Library where she was responsible for the Library's day-to-day operations, overseeing Faculty & Public Services, Technical Services, electronic resources, and collection development. She joined the University of New Mexico law library faculty in February 2003 as a reference librarian and moved up the ranks serving as Head of Technical Services, and Assistant Director for Technical Services, Electronic Resources, and Collections. Michelle also served at Co-Interim Director at New Mexico. With this wealth of experience, the Texas Wesleyan appointment should come as no surprise. Congratulations Michelle. [JH]

Why Law School Academic Support?

With the closing of the academic year upon us, Elizabeth Stillman (Suffolk) offers a personal reflection on providing academic support for law school students. See her Law School Academic Support Blog post.

Academic support providers, please note. Many students, for whatever reason, will not seek their help and turn to law library staffers instead. A little "networking" between the two departments would go a long way towards achieving the mission of supporting law students. [JH]

preLaw's Ten Most Innovative Law Schools

The 10 most innovative law schools according to preLaw's survey of law school deans are Chicago Kent, DePaul, Gonzaga, New York Law School, St. Louis Univ., Seattle, Syracuse, Touro, Detroit-Mercy and Washington & Lee. Kudos to all.

Social Media Law Student blog writes, "those advocating the use of social media in the legal profession may have a bit of an uphill battle when a law school named “top 10 most innovative law school in America” [i.e., Saint Louis Univ.] seems to show little knowledge about web 2.0 technologies. See Does Top 10 Most Innovative Law School in America Get Social Media? In St. Louis University's defense, the scope of the pre-Law survey was law school innovation generally, not just innovation in information technology, services and web communications. That would be a different survey, one, perhaps, Social Media Law Student should do. Might be interesting. [JH]