New Dean at Pace Law School

I am pleased to share the news that Pace Law School has a new dean, the first dean to rise through the ranks of our faculty. The press release is reproduced below. The happy announcement came during our commencement ceremony yesterday morning. The day was lovely, and we were extremely fortunate that the rain held off until shortly after the ceremony ended. Another highlight of the event was a very moving address by our honorary degree recipient, Judge Theodore T. Jones, the newest member of the New York Court of Appeals. Judge Jones exhorted our new graduates to take seriously the legal profession's commitment to pro bono service, and discussed one pro bono case he took on where his client was acquitted despite all the odds being against him.

"Michelle Simon Named Dean of Pace Law School

We are proud to announce that Michelle S. Simon has been appointed dean of the school, effective May 18, 2008. She has served as interim dean since June 4, 2007 when she succeeded Stephen J. Friedman, who became president of Pace University.
Dean Simon has been a member of the Pace law faculty since 1985 and full professor since 2003. She is an expert in criminal law, civil procedure, and legal writing, all of which she teaches, and in which she has authored or co-authored 17 articles and book chapters on topics ranging from instructions to juries in criminal cases, guilty-plea negotiations, sex offenses, legal issues in AIDS, search and seizure procedures, and the legal autonomy of cities in urban planning.
Her extensive administrative experience at Pace Law School includes service as associate dean of academic affairs from 2001 to 2006 and work on 16 committees, including one on academic standards and another conducting a self-study, both of which she chaired. Until her new appointment, she directed the school’s programs in judicial studies and legal writing. She also has served for 10 years on the board of education of the Eastchester Union Free School district in Westchester County , which she now chairs.
Simon is a recipient of two top awards from Pace Law School, the Richard L. Ottinger Award for Teaching Excellence, 2000-2001, and the President’s Award for Excellence, 2003-2004.
A cum laude anthropology major at the State University of New York at Albany, she earned her JD, also cum laude, from the Syracuse University College of Law in 1981, having served for two years on the law review, the last one as the senior lead articles editor. After law school she clerked for Judge A. Simon Chrein, a United States Magistrate for the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York, and practiced for four years in the areas of products liability litigation and insurance defense as an associate at Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker in New York City."

Practice-Ready Graduates

Here is an article from the New York Lawyer about revamping of law school curricula to produce practice-ready attorneys. There is a list of schools that are revamping their curricula to provide more hands-on training, and a discussion of some of the changes that are being made: "more courses on regulatory law, new clinics, ethics courses, and classes designed to give students more practical writing, negotiating, and research skills." I was interested to learn that a group of ten schools that have already begun to revise their course offerings plan to issue a report on curriculum reform next year, and to read that some schools are giving more emphasis to their joint-degree programs. Although at some firms hiring partners and recruiting directors welcome the changes to law school curricula, at other firms, the traditional training of summer clerks and new associates is still the norm. As one partner said, "'Regardless of what they have learned in law school, we'll assume that there's still a lot to be done and a lot of learning to take place after they [join] us.'" And a number of attorneys would like new associates to hone their research and writing skills, perhaps through clinics or other courses.

On-going project

I have been experimenting with social software for my AALL presentation "Using Worldcat.org to Promote the Public Access Law Library." Feel free to send me comments. Click on "On-going Project" to get to my home page. I have posted a rough draft of my paper, too.

Mildred Loving Dies

Mildred Loving, who challenged Virginia's ban on interracial marriage, a hateful vestige of segregation, in the landmark case Loving v. Virginia, has died. The link to the story in the New York Lawyer is here. Loving and her husband, Richard, who died in 1975, "changed history in 1967 when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld their right to marry. The ruling struck down laws banning racially mixed marriages in at least 17 states." Chief Justice Earl Warren handed down the unanimous decision of the Court, declaring that "restricting the freedom to marry solely because of racial classifications violates the central meaning of the equal protection clause." For more information about the case, go to The Right to Marry section of the Exploring Constitutional Law website, which is maintained by Professor Douglas Linder of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School. The site also explores issues relating to gay marriage.

New UB Law CSO blog

Lisa Patterson, Associate Dean for Career Services at University at Buffalo Law School, has lifted the corner of the veil on her excellent new blog, Our Noble Profession. Filled with both practical advice on job searching for law students and personal insight and commentary, this is a blog to watch. Betsy McKenzie, get well and hurry back--you have a kindred spirit to meet!

Big News from Drexel Law School

Drexel University Law School has been renamed The Earle Mack School of Law to honor Earle Mack, a philanthropist who has given the school $15,000,000. A matching amount will be contributed by Drexel and other donors. Drexel's good news is reported in the Philadelphia Business Journal. This is quite an achievement for a school that is only two years old.

Chaos at the British Library

Here's an interesting story from today's New York Times about the venerable British Library, which is apparently the victim of it own success. Since the Library's 1998 move to its new home on Euston Road and its decision four years ago to liberalize its admission policies, its reading rooms are now available to "'anyone who has a relevant research need.'" That includes such well-known authors as Lady Antonia Fraser as well as undergraduate students who "hog the seats...and gather into clumps of chattering hormonal aimlessness." The overcrowding at the Library has been the subject of two recent articles in The Times of London, one of which described Lady Antonia's twenty-minute wait outside in cold weather and her additional twenty-minute wait for the obligatory coat check. Lady Antonia and other long-time users of the British Library believe the students are using the reading rooms as gathering places, not places for serious research, and wonder why they cannot use their university libraries. In order to help manage the traffic, the Library has "installed plasma screens announcing which reading rooms are full, in the manner of municipal parking lots." The Library is also sending out monitors to remind users of correct behavior while using the facility. However, these measures are not placating users such as Lady Antonia's daughter Flora Fraser, who has praised the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, where readers can reserve a seat in advance over the Internet. "That way, no one turns up at the library only to find that all the spots are taken, a common problem at the British Library. 'Actually, I really recommend it,' [Ms. Fraser said]. 'Maybe the answer is to get on the Eurostar and go to Paris.'" I never thought I'd see the day when the British looked to the French as models of efficiency!

Brian Leiter's Influence

Here's a story from the Boston Globe about Professor Brian Leiter, author of several influential blogs, including the Law School Reports. The article discusses Professor Leiter's rankings of graduate philosophy schools, and how they can make or break a department: "Today Leiter's rankings, now based on a survey of hundreds of professional philosophers and posted online, are awaited in philosophy departments the way the World Cup brackets are awaited in Brazil. Applicants consult them, rising departments crow about them, programs past their prime fear them."

$1,000,000 Gift to Pace Law School

Pace Law School recently announced that it was given $1,000,000 by the venerable labor negotiator Theodore W. Kheel to create a dispute-resolution program focusing on environmental issues. Here is the link to Pace's press release on this generous gift. Pace is well known for its highly regarded programs in environmental law, and faculty members believe that conflict resolution in the area will grow because of such problems as climate change and protection of open space. The name of the center will be the "Kheel Center on Resolution of Environmental Interest Disputes," and it will headquartered at the Law School. The photo above shows Mr. Kheel with Pace University President Stephen J. Friedman, who was formerly Dean of the Law School.

Internet Access Blocked at University of Chicago Law School

Today's New York Lawyer reports that Dean Saul Levmore of the University of Chicago Law School has blocked student "access to the Internet in classrooms last month to help them concentrate on course instruction." Moreoever, Dean Levmore has received "inquiries from about 10 other law schools interested in possibly following suit on the move." This issue has been discussed extensively, of course, but what I thought conspicuously missing from the article was any mention of student reaction to the decision. The article is below.

No Porn During Torts: Law School Blocks Internet Access in Classrooms
New York Lawyer
April 16, 2008

By Lynne Marek
The National Law Journal
CHICAGO — The University of Chicago Law School began blocking students access to the Internet in classrooms last month to help them concentrate on course instruction, the school said.
Saul Levmore, who is dean of the school, said he had been trying to simply persuade students not to distract themselves with the Internet during class, but turned to simply shutting off access when he found that the school's building had the capability to block wired and wireless access.
"It got a lot easier when I found I had technology on my side," he said in an interview.
Keeping students from surfing the Internet during class is similar to keeping them from picking up calls on their cell phones, he said.
Levmore has received inquiries from about 10 other law schools interested in possibly following suit on the move, he said.