Legal Profession Blog

Gonzales Faces Protests at Harvard Law 25th Reunion

Posted by Alan Childress
        Grading exams, I missed my law school class reunion last weekend.  Nevertheless, there were protests and heckles.  As it turned out, the Attorney General showed up, prompting some quick-action protests themed around Abu Ghraib.  Here is the story, from a Flickr website, Gonzales protested during harvard law reunion photoshoot.  And their photo of the '82 class photo, also featured on this Stop Torture site.  Protesters actually yelled "I don't recall" while the photographer was prompting "cheese."  I think I recognize Stu the Philly labor union lawyer to his right and down one.

Sserdlihc Was I Ere I Saw Childress

Apropos of Alan's post below, I have unearthed evidence that he was not shorter than Napoleon.  I have to admit that I now cannot recall if the photo at the left is of Napoleon, or from Alan's page on the Tulane Law School faculty web page.  If the latter, I believe it's a candid shot of a lecture in a Legal Profession class.

[Jeff Lipshaw]

Encyclopedia of Law and Society: American and Global Perspectives Announced by Sage, Out June 12

Posted by Alan Childress
Sage Publications announces its new Encyclopedia of Law and Society, to be shipped June 12.  It is edited by comparative law scholar David S. Clark (Willamette), shown right, and can be ordered from Sage here or Amazon here (the latter at a nice discount for pre-order).  The project includes a 5000-word entry "Lawyers," about the legal profession in the U.S. and comparatively, written by me.  I have attached that entry (with their permission) as a PDF file, LawyersChildress.pdf. 

The encyclopedia project was founded on David's vision and this ambitious mission:

     The three volume one million word Encyclopedia of Law and Society: American and Global Perspectives (Sage) is planned as the largest comprehensive and international treatment of the law and society field ever undertaken.  Its Advisory Board of 62 members, from 20 countries and six continents, represent interdisciplinary perspectives on law from sociology, criminology, cultural anthropology, political science, social  psychology, and economics.  Almost 700 entries will be biographical, historical, comparative, topical, thematic, and methodological, varying from 500 to 5,000 words. 

     By globalizing the encyclopedia's coverage, American law and society will be better understood within its historical and comparative context.  Conversely, the rich diversity of European, Latin American, Asian, African, and Australasian developments for the first time can be presented in one place.  In this way the truly holistic, interdisciplinary virtues of law and society can be revealed.

Childress Named Meyer Professor of Civil Procedure at Tulane

My friend and co-editor, Alan Childress, has been named to the Conrad Meyer III Professorship in Civil Procedure at the Tulane University Law School.  There are so many things one could say at this moment that would be wholly inappropriate to the tone of great honor, dignity, and solemnity I want to invoke.

Let's just review the bidding for a moment.  In addition to his Harvard law degree, Professor S. Alan Childress has a Ph.D. in Jurisprudence and Social Policy from the University of California at Berkeley.  Alan has been a member of the Tulane faculty since 1988, where he has taught "The Legal Profession" since 1990, and "Comparative Legal Professions" since 2002.  He is co-author of the classic treatise Federal Standards of Review.  While visiting at George Washington this year, he has mastered TypePad technology, and his contributions to this blog are widely admired (other than in certain quarters of the body art community).

Please join me in congratulating Alan on this honor.

[Jeff Lipshaw]

Accepting My Honor With Humility and Casual Diffidence

Posted by Alan Childress
Apparently I have been named Time Magazine's "Person of the Year," and my mother is beaming with pride.  My father still is not impressed.  I can't thank enough all the little people, like Jeff and Mike, mostly because who has time now that I have to go update my curriculum vitae.  (I try to put out of my mind the fact that Adolph Hitler was named their Man of the Year like in 1937.)  Avid reader of LPB knows that this latest honor follows on my being named "a popular law professor," not by my students of course but rather by the haute tattoo community.  I accept all such honors with the same sort of pride.

World Bank

Speaking of penalty for early withdrawals...  Teaching at GW this year, I am next to the World Bank up here in chilly DC.  Let me tell you, that bank is not user-friendly.  Barricades where the parking should be.  No ATMs or tellers I could find.  Lots of security guards everywhere, sure, but none would tell me where the ATM or tellers were.  What gives?

I'm guessing no toaster to open a new account either.  Maybe that's why it seems to be picketed every other week.  No problem controlling unruly protesters, though.  Next to the bank is the Impossible Mission Force building with even more security.  [Alan Childress]

NNR Heading as New Email Term

As newspapers and efficiency studies lament the time drain of emails (also affecting lawyers and society so that is my hook to say this here [I know, lame]), I propose we all start putting  NNR  for 'need not reply' in the headings right after RE (even with a title following) of all emails that just provide information.  I'd bet those emails would get opened first and more often than ones not so identified.  I think people believe they have to reply to an email to be polite so they do, and the endless communications snowball starts.  That could be cut considerably by an ethic of giving information with no expectation of reply.  If this catches on, I have calculated that email ping-pong will reduce by 642%.  --Childress

Comparative Legal Professions class in Greece

posted by Alan Childress

Two cherry pop-tarts, and I feel "badly" about the Iraq War.  There, I am officially a blogger. 

Mainly to practice using links and inserts, this post announces that Tulane Law School's summer school in Spetses, Greece--open to students from all law schools--includes a course in Comparative Legal Professions.  I will be teaching it (and can be reached by this corrected email).  The course description: 

Lawyers perform different roles in many countries. They are organized and regulated in various ways. Even the concept of "profession" defies a uniform label. This course explores the profession's functions and rules in nations of the civil law (including Greece, Germany, Venezuela, and Japan) and common law (UK and USA). Topics include advertising, conflicts, legal education, and advocacy.

Photo is a view from the site of Tulane's summer school program on the Greek isle of Spetses.  In addition to the above, it includes courses on international civ pro, contract theory, comparative family law, and healthcare & justice.  The 2007 session will run three weeks from June 17-July 6.  Tulane also has programs in Rhodos, Greece, as well as several other countries.  My opinion:  these programs are amazing and rewarding.  More photos from the Spetses program (spot the one with Justice Scalia?--his really great wife Maureen favors Greece) are here and that site's home [first] page.