The Faculty Lounge

Jennifer Reynolds Named Interim Dean of Oregon Law

Professor Jennifer Reynolds has been named interim dean of the University of Oregon School of Law effective April 15.  Reynolds joined the law school in 2009 and holds a JD from Harvard.

Hiring Announcement: University of Oklahoma College of Law (Assistant Professor of Legal Practice and Director of Academic and Bar Success)

From a recent email message:

The University of Oklahoma College of Law invites applications for a full-time Assistant Professor of Legal Practice and Director of Academic and Bar Success. This 9-month ranked renewable-term faculty position is non-tenure-track and will initially consist of three annually renewable one-year contracts followed by eligibility for subsequent, five-year presumptively renewable contracts. Ranked renewable-term faculty at the College of Law have faculty voting rights, except in matters of tenure and tenure-track hiring and promotion, and are expected to meet proportionate faculty committee and service obligations.

The person hired will be expected to provide and coordinate onsite and remote support for bar examinees each year during June and July and will receive a summer stipend for this work.

The successful candidate will be expected to accomplish the following:

• Administer a comprehensive academic and bar success program.

• Teach two in-person bar preparation courses per year.

• Manage a high volume of in-person student meetings, identify individual student test-taking and study challenges, and provide strategies for improvement.

• Ensure that all bar support and academic success courses meet programmatic goals, have academic rigor, and provide students with the knowledge and skills needed for bar passage.

• Prepare and monitor Academic and Bar Success budget.

• Identify resources necessary for student academic and bar support.

• Collect and analyze data on student performance.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• J.D. from an ABA-accredited law school.

• Successful completion of a bar examination in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.

• Two of three of the following: law school teaching; experience or formal education in academic advising or academic success; experience or demonstrable interest with regard to bar examination readiness, administration, or design.

Preferred Qualifications

• 5 years experience teaching bar examination preparation courses.

• 5 years experience academic success advising experience.

• Bar support success demonstrated by bar passage rates that consistently outperform the state average in either a UBE or state-specific bar examination jurisdiction.

 

Trump on Gettysburg

[Cross-posted on Prawfs Blawg]

In a recent speech at Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, former President Trump had this to say about the Battle of Gettysburg:

The Battle of Gettysburg. What an unbelievable — it was so much and so interesting, and so vicious and horrible, and so beautiful in so many different ways. It represented such a big portion of the success of this country. Gettysburg, wow. I go to Gettysburg’s Pennsylvania to look and to watch, and the statement of Robert E. Lee, who’s no longer in favor, did you ever notice that? No longer in favor. ‘Never fight up hill, me boys. Never fight up hill,’ he said. Wow. That was a big mistake. He lost his great general.

That was not Trump's first expression of admiration for Robert E. Lee, who committed treason in defense of slavery and did not talk like a pirate. In 2017, Al Brophy and I published an oped in the Chicago Tribune explaining why Trump's comparison of Lee to George Washington was offensive and wrong:

Why Trump is wrong to equate George Washington with Robert E. Lee

By Alfred Brophy and Steven Lubet

PUBLISHED: August 20, 2017

The recent neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, Va., was purportedly held to protest the municipality’s decision to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. In an alarming news conference, President Donald Trump seemed to indicate respect for the marchers’ goal, if not their tactics.

If the Lee monument is removed, he asked rhetorically, “are we going to take down statues to George Washington?” The president’s personal lawyer was even more explicit, circulating an email that directly equated Washington with Lee. Under the subject line “The Information that Validates President Trump on Charlottesville,” the email said: “You cannot be against General Lee and be for General Washington (because) there literally is no difference between the two men.”

The comparison, now made by both the president and his attorney, is deeply offensive for some reasons that should be obvious to everyone and others better known to historians.

First and foremost, of course, is the fact that George Washington was a patriot and Robert E. Lee was a traitor. Washington led his countrymen in battle to win the independence of the United States, while Lee did his utmost to destroy our “more perfect Union” for the sake of chattel slavery.

And make no mistake, the very purpose of the Confederacy was to perpetuate and expand slavery. The Confederate Constitution, which Lee took an oath to uphold and defend, prohibited laws “impairing the right of property in negro slaves,” meaning that no state could ever abolish slavery even if it wanted to. In all, there were 10 specific references to slaves or slavery in the Confederate Constitution. The 11 state secession conventions focused on Abraham Lincoln’s election as a threat to slavery, and declared the need to leave the Union to create a slaveholders’ republic.

It is true that Washington was also a slaveholder, but that is where his resemblance to Lee ends. As Matthew Yglesias pointed out in Vox, we revere Washington today because of his many accomplishments on behalf of the nation that had nothing to do with slavery. He was the military leader in the Revolutionary War, he presided over the Constitutional Convention in 1787 and, perhaps most important, he established the precedent of peacefully leaving office at the end of his term.

Lee, in contrast, had virtually no achievements other than the military defense of slavery, which led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans. If Washington is remembered despite his connection to slavery, Lee is remembered only because of it. To be sure, Washington’s slaveholding is, and must be, an indelible stain on his reputation. Lee, by contrast, would have no historical reputation at all if he had not committed treason to defend human bondage.

There is one more distinction between the two men that depends on an understanding of abolitionist history. The lives of Washington (1732-1799) and Lee (1807-1870) did not overlap, and they were divided by a crucial inflection point in American attitudes toward slavery.

Worthwhile Canadian Music

The Canadian folk and folk-rock duo Ian & Sylvia began performing together in New York in 1961. They married in 1964 and broke up -- musically and maritally -- in 1975 (with at least one later reunion concert). Their most famous song, written by Ian, was "Four Strong Winds," which has been covered many times. In 2005, CBC listeners vote "Four Strong Winds" the greatest Canadian song of all time. 

Sylvia also wrote the much-covered song, "You Were on My Mind." 

Ian's cowboy hat was not an affectation. He had actually been a rodeo rider in British Columbia before he took up music. Sylvia was from Chatham, Ontario.  

[For those who did not get the reference in the post's title -- intended absolutely ironically, I assure you -- see here.]

CFP: Disability and the Family

This just in:

The International Academy for the Study of Jurisprudence of the family (IASJF) is pleased to send this reminder about its fifteenth international Symposium – on “Disability and the Family” – on Wednesday and Thursday, June 19-20, 2024. The Symposium will be hosted by the Faculty of Law of the University of Zaragoza in the city of Zaragoza, Spain, and co-organized by the Department of Law of the University of Verona, Italy. The Symposium will address the wide range of legal and social issues relevant to, or otherwise drawing upon the larger theme of disability in the family setting. A special focus will be the protection of persons with disabilities in the digital environment. Papers dealing with disability as an aspect of the more general issue of vulnerability in the family will also be accepted and will be featured in a special panel entitled: “Beyond disabilities: Protection of vulnerable persons in the family”. Interdisciplinary presentations are also welcome. In addition to English-language sessions, the conference will include at least one Spanish-language session.

Persons wishing to present a scholarly paper should submit a short abstract in English or Spanish of the paper they propose (no more than 200 words) including a working title, name, institutional affiliation, and full contact information of the author(s). Proposals should be sent to Professor Stefano Troiano ([email protected]) by May 6, 2024. Proposals for the Spanish-language session must also be accompanied by an abstract in English. Acceptances will be on a rolling-acceptance basis.

All symposium participants must register ($125 Academy Members, $170 non-Members, $125 Participants from Spain) and pay for their own transportation and hotel. Online registration is open on the IASJF website (http://www.iasjf.org). The registration fee includes all symposium meals. An optional tour of Zaragoza (not included in the fee) is scheduled for June 21, 2024.

Thomas Jefferson Law Seeks President and Dean

This just in:

Thomas Jefferson School of Law invites applications, nominations, and expressions of interest in the position of President and Dean of the law school. The law school seeks an innovative, inspirational CEO who can lead the institution successfully in the areas of strategic planning, academic and financial management, development, and student recruitment. It is anticipated that the appointment of the next President and Dean will be effective in the summer of 2024.

The Law School

Thomas Jefferson School of Law is an independent law school with an attractive, modern campus located in the heart of San Diego, California. It offers a program of legal education leading to the J.D. degree, as well as two LL.M. programs. Students may enroll full-time or part- time and they may attend classes in the day or the evening. The law school also offers a 100% online program that leads to the J.D. degree. The law school is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission and by the Committee of Bar Examiners of the State of California. Founded in 1969, the law school has graduated more than 7000 alumni.

 

Alicia Ouellette Named Dean of Lewis & Clark Law School

Lewis & Clark Law School has announced that Alicia Ouellette will be its next dean.  She is currently professor of law and president and dean emeritus at Albany Law School.  Ouellette, who holds a JD from Albany, will take over in January 2025.