Law Commons^™

Why Write?, Erwin Chemerinsky

Erwin Chemerinsky

This wonderful collection of reviews of leading recent books about law provides the occasion to ask a basic question: why should law professors write? There are many things that law professors could do with the time they spend writing books and law review articles. More time and attention could be paid to students and to instructional materials. More professors could do pro bono legal work of all sorts. In fact, if law professors wrote much less, teaching loads could increase, faculties could decrease in size, and tuition could decrease substantially. The answer to the question "why write" is neither intuitive …

Kevin M. Clermont, Kevin Clermont, Peter Martin

Kevin M. Clermont

From the video archives of the Cornell Law School Heritage Project. The interviewer is Peter W. Martin; the videographer, Michael d’Estries. This video covers Professor Kevin Clermont’s reflections on his career as a law professor at Cornell Law School. Clermont is a specialist in the procedural aspects of litigation. After his graduation from Harvard Law School in 1971, Prof. Clermont clerked for the late Hon. Murray Gurfein of the Southern District of New York, and then spent two years in private practice as an associate at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. Since joining the Cornell Law School Faculty in 1974, …

Reflections On Starla Williams: In Appreciation Of A Friend, Linda L. Ammons

Linda L. Ammons

No abstract provided.

Overcoming Writer's Block And Procrastination For Attorneys, Law Students, And Law Professors, Meehan Rasch

Meehan Rasch

Law is a particularly writing-heavy profession. However, lawyers, law students, and law professors often struggle with initiating, sustaining, and completing legal writing projects. Even the most competent legal professionals experience periods in which the written word just does not flow freely. This article provides a guide for legal writers who are seeking to understand and resolve writing blocks, procrastination, and other common writing productivity problems.

Tough Love: The Law School That Required Its Students To Learn Good Grammar, Ann Nowak

Ann L. Nowak

No abstract provided.

Do Law Schools Mistreat Women Faculty? Or, Who’S Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, Dan Subotnik

Dan Subotnik

No abstract provided.

Why I Teach (A Prescription For The Post-Tenure Blues), R. Michael Cassidy

R. Michael Cassidy

In this brief essay from a collection of articles designed to demonstrate the scope and breadth of issues in legal pedagogy, Professor Michael Cassidy explores an important psychological event for many in the legal academy - the post-tenure blues. He offers reasons to keep doing what we do - teach with joy, inspiration and a sense of purpose for the next generation. He encourages us to think of our own reasons for what keeps us going in an occupation that many of us think is one of the best in the world.

Tales Of A Law Professor Lateral Nothing, Paul Secunda

Paul M. Secunda

This Essay seeks to uncover the mysterious world of the law professor lateral hiring market, which has become increasingly important in the last number of years as law schools seek to build their reputations in this U.S. News & World Report world through the hiring of prominent faculty members.

Although the advice and guidance given in this essay are sometimes written with tongue firmly in cheek, I do attempt to accomplish two important objectives here. First, there has been scarcely anything written about the lateral hiring market for law professors, as opposed to the cottage industry that has been devoted …

Keeping Feminism In Its Place: Sex Segregation And The Domestication Of Female Academics, Nancy Levit

Nancy Levit

The thesis of Keeping Feminism in Its Place is that women are being "domesticated" in the legal academy. This occurs in two ways, one theoretical and one very practical: denigration of feminism on the theoretical level and sex segregation of men and women on the experiential level intertwine to disadvantage women in academia in complex and subtle ways.

The article examines occupational sex segregation and role differentiation between male and female law professors, demonstrating statistically that in legal academia, women are congregated in lower-ranking, lower-paying, lower-prestige positions. It also traces how segregation by sex persists in substantive course teaching assignments. …