Professor Robert Blomquist of Valparaiso Law (no that’s not him - that’s our own Christopher Columbus Langdell) has written “Thinking about Law and Creativity : On the 100 Most Creative Moments in American Law.”
From the abstract:
This article makes a bold new proposal—the articulation and ranking of America’s most creative legal moments—designed to energize and clarify our synoptic thinking about the nature of legal creativity. Starting with the opinions of numerous eminent legal historians on the most creative moments in Anglo-American law, we will explore the meaning of creative moments in law, and advance to analytically compare legal creativity with other kinds of creativity (corporate, artistic, military and rhetorical). Then we will heuristically entertain a ranking of the top hundred moments in American law and a justification for the ranking.
Coming in at number 17 (just above Oliver Wendell Holmes’ seminal monograph The Common Law) is Langdell’s case method for the study of law, invented right here at HLS, of course, complete with library as “laboratory.”
Blomquist is careful to call his list and ranking “tentative,” so feel free to disagree with him after perusing his rankings and the justifications that follow. But don’t even think of knocking Chris down below the top twenty…
Brian Leiter’s newest ranking of law school graduates on the teaching market (from 2006-08) is out - I see Harvard didn’t fare too badly.
Hat tip to the Law Librarian blog.
HLS 3L José Klein has created the Learned Handmade Plates, a series of dishes commemorating significant U.S. Supreme Court decisions and current Justices of the Court.
The Learned Handmade Plates web site shows images of each of the 31 plates and includes detailed information about each case and judge that is depicted.
According to the HLS student newspaper, Klein’s work satisfied his 3L writing requirement.
The plates are available for purchase. Looks like there are also some magnets for sale.
If you’re considering a career in the legal academy, TaxProfBlog has posted an updated list of fellowships for aspiring law professors.
HLS has the largest number of different programs listed, with seven. (Woo hoo, one more than Yale or NYU!!) The post, by Univ. of Cincinnati Associate Dean Paul Caron, also includes a number of links to useful information about becoming a law professor.
Over at the Volokh Conspiracy, the conspirators offer this advice to would-be federal judicial clerks.
Some law schools may worry that their students can’t see the forest for the trees.
Not so at Vermont Law School, where they’ve designed a nice interactive map of various species of trees on the campus.
Red Oak (Quercus rubra) at VLS
The architecture column in today’s Boston Globe is all about the buildings at HLS, particularly the new Northwest Corner building.
The author’s description of “a pompous pile known as Langdell” is what caught my eye.
Send me your own alliterative characterization of our fair edifice, and I’ll post the best ones that I receive.
This article from the National Jurist shows what graduating law students will earn on average. Harvard grads are listed at $110,000/year.
TaxProf Blog has a list of the most overrated law schools among the top 14 in the latest U.S. News & World Report ranking. Harvard is #7. Below that is the latest SSRN ratings where Harvard is still #1.
Paul Caron of TaxProf Blog shows that the number one downloaded paper from SSRN is from HLS Professor Louis Kaplow.
This data was compiled by The Federal Appellate Clerks Blog, see the blog for the complete reports.
Top 10 law schools by total number of graduates securing circuit court clerkships:
1. Harvard University (55)
2. Yale University (50)
3. Stanford University (26)
4. University of Chicago (25)
5. Columbia University (22)
6. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (20)
7. University of Texas, Austin (19)
8. Georgetown University (18)
8. New York University (18)
8. University of California, Los Angeles (18)
Top 10 law schools by the percentage of clerks for 2008-09 based on the total 2008 graduating class:
1. Yale University (26.5%)
2. Stanford University (15.2%)
3. University of Chicago (13.0%)
4. Harvard University (9.9%)
5. Northwestern University (6.9%)
6. Duke University (5.9%)
7. Columbia University (5.7%)
8. University of California, Los Angeles (5.4%)
8. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (5.4%)
10. University of Pennsylvania (4.8%)
Michelle Weyenberg looks at the U.S. News & World Report law school rankings and asks if they take into consideration what law school students care about. Her finding is no. Read the article here.
Read about the changes in curricula and Dean Kagan’s take on legal education from this article.
Skadden: D. Choate, Hall: C+. Ropes & Gray: B-. Looking at a law firm? Check its report card first.
Building a Better Legal Profession, a grassroots movement begun by law students at Stanford, wants law students, law schools, and law firm clients to exercise their market power by engaging only those firms demonstrating a commitment to demographic diversity, pro bono participation and billable hour reforms. BBLP has created diversity rankings and diversity report cards to draw attention to differences between law firms. BBLP produces statistics on law firms employing more than 100 attorneys in six major markets: New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Boston, Northern California and Southern California-LA. The BBLP Diversity Rankings cover five groups underrepresented in the legal profession: women, African-Americans, Hispanics, Asian-Americans and openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered individuals (LGBT). BBLP obtained its data from the National Association for Legal Career Professionals directory of law firm employment statistics. See the New York Times for recent news coverage (registration required).
