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Dean, School of Law University of Miami

The University of Miami invites nominations and applications for the position of Dean of the School of Law. The next Dean should be an innovative thinker and approachable leader who welcomes the opportunity to articulate a vision for the growth of a law school that builds on its long history of excellence. The University of Miami, considered among the top tier institutions of higher education in the U.S. for its academic excellence, superior medical care, and cutting-edge research, is the largest private research university in the southeastern United States. The University comprises eleven degree-granting schools and colleges, which are Architecture, Arts and Sciences, Miami Business, Communication, Education, Engineering, Law, the Miller School of Medicine, the Patricia and Philip Frost School of Music, Nursing and Health Studies, and the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. The core of the University is its 2,660 full-time faculty housed in three academic campuses within the greater Miami area. The University receives over $360 million annually in external research funding and has been classified as a Doctoral University with Highest Research Activity (R1) by the Carnegie Commission. We strive to create an environment where everyone contributes to…

I wasn’t one of those people who decided to become a lawyer after watching To Kill a Mockingbird, Witness for the Prosecution, and Twelve Angry Men, but they were some of my favorite movies. These movies and TV shows like Suits, How to Get Away with Murder, and Law & Order “teach” students and the general public that practicing law is sexy and/or confrontational. When I teach, I try to demystify and clear up some of the falsehoods, and that’s easy with litigation-type courses. When I taught Business Associations, it was a bit tougher but we often used movies or TV shows to illustrate the right and wrong ways to do things. As an extra credit assignment, I asked students to write a critique of what the writers missed, misrepresented, or completely misunderstood.

This semester, I will be teaching a transactional drafting course where the students represent either the buyer or the seller of a small, privately owned business. I would like to recommend movies or TV shows that don’t deal with multibillion dollar mergers, but I haven’t been watching too much TV lately. I’m looking for suggestions along the lines of Silicon Valley (which…

Twitter tells me that there was a good bit of conversation at the AALS conference about the law review-based system of scholarship. If you want to try your hand at a different system, namely the double-blind peer-reviewed system, here is a call for papers from a legal journal in that system. 

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The Atlantic Law Journal is now open for submissions and is soliciting papers for its upcoming Volume 21 with an expected publication date in summer 2019. We are now also accepting book review submissions for books related to business law/society/legal studies.  The Atlantic Law Journal is listed in Cabell’s, fully searchable in Thomson-Reuters Westlaw, and listed by Washington & Lee. The journal is a double-blind peer-reviewed publication of the Mid-Atlantic Academy of Legal Studies in Business (MAALSB). Acceptance rates are at or less than 25%, and have been for all our recent history. We publish articles that explore the intersection of business and law, as well as pedagogical topics. Please see our website at http://www.atlanticlawjournal.org/submissions/ for the submission guidelines, the review timeline, and more information regarding how to submit. Submissions or questions can be sent to Managing Editor, Dr. Evan Peterson, at petersea@udmercy.edu.

 

 

It’s the  start of a new year and a new semester. As Joan wrote earlier this week, we need to step back and take stock of our mental health. I’m the happiest lawyer I know and have been since I graduated from law school in 1992, but many lawyers and students aren’t so lucky. In fact, I probably spend 25-35% of my time on campus calming students down. Some have normal anxiety that fades as they gain more confidence.  I often recommend that those students read Grit or at least listen to the Ted talk. Others tell me (without my asking) about addictions, clinical depression, and other information that I should not know about. I know enough to refer to them to help. Closer to home, my 22-year old son has lost several friends to suicide. Many of those friends went to the best high schools and colleges in the country and seemed to have bright futures. And as we know, the suicide rate for lawyers is climbing.

Thankfully, the American Bar Association has gathered a number of resources for law students here. Practicing lawyers can find valuable tools for lawyer well-being here and a podcast for lawyers…

To start the New Year, I found a few thoughtful quotes to help me get in a good state of mind. I thought I’d share. Wishing you health, love, and success for 2019. 

“A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.” – Henry Ford

“It is difficult, but not impossible, to conduct strictly honest business.” – Mahatma Gandhi

“Don’t bargain yourself down before you get to the table.” – Carol Frohlinger

“Goals are dreams with deadlines.” – Diana Scharf Hunt

“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” – Stephen A. Brennan

If you are looking for podcasts over the break, I recommend Professor Brian Frye’s Ipse Dixit. I have only listened to a handful of the 75 episodes, but I learned something new in each one.

A big thanks to Brian for putting all of these podcasts on legal scholarship together. The podcasts cover a wide range of legal topics, mostly in an interview format with other professors. 

I may update this list from time to time; feel free to e-mail me with additions. Looks like a pretty strong hiring season for business law. Updated 12/04/18.

Law School Professor Positions – Business Specialty Sought

  1. Barry University 
  2. Belmont University
  3. Campbell University
  4. Cardozo
  5. Case Western University
  6. Duke University
  7. Drake University (Director of the Entrepreneurial/Transactional Law Clinic)
  8. Drake University (Assistant, Associate, or Professor of Law)
  9. Drexel University
  10. Emory University
  11. Florida A&M University 
  12. Louisiana State University
  13. Mercer University 
  14. Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  15. Saint John’s University
  16. Seton Hall University
  17. Southern Illinois University Carbondale (Professor of Practice) (9/17/18 deadline or until filled)
  18. University of Alabama
  19. University of Arizona (International Business Law Focus) (Review begins 9/28/18)
  20. University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
  21. University of Buffalo
  22. University of California, Berkeley (initial review 8/15/18; accepted through 3/1/19)
  23. University of California, Davis
  24. University of California, Irvine
  25. University of Connecticut
  26. University of Kentucky
  27. University of Louisville
  28. University of Miami
  29. University of Nebraska
  30. University of New Mexico (Oil & Gas Focus)
  31. University of North Texas at Dallas
  32. University of Oregon (Business Law Clinic)
  33. University of Pittsburgh
  34. University of Richmond
  35. University of Saint Thomas (Miami)
  36. University of South Carolina
  37. University of Wyoming 
  38. Washington & Lee University
  39. Washington University (St.

…

I knew it would be impossible. There was no way to relay my excitement about the potential of blockchain technology in a concise way to lawyers and law students last Friday at the Connecting the Threads symposium at the University of Tennessee School of Law. I didn’t discuss cryptocurrency or Bitcoin other than to say that I wasn’t planning to discuss it. Still, there wasn’t nearly enough time for me to discuss all of the potential use cases. I did try to make it clear that it’s not a fad if IBM has 1500 people working on it, BITA has hundreds of logistics and freight companies signed up to explore possibilities, and the World Bank, OECD, and United Nations have studies and pilot programs devoted to it. As a former supply chain person, compliance officer, and chief privacy officer, I’m giddy with excitement about everything related to distributed ledger technology other than cryptocurrency. You can see why when you read my law review article in a few months in Transactions.

I’ve watched over 100 YouTube videos (many of them crappy) and read dozens of articles. I go to Meetups and actually understand what the coders and developers…

Did I lose you with the title to this post? Do you have no idea what a DAO is? In its simplest terms, a DAO is a decentralized autonomous organization, whose decisions are made electronically by a written computer code or through the vote of its members. In theory, it eliminates the need for traditional documentation and people for governance. This post won’t explain any more about DAOs or the infamous hack of the Slock.it DAO in 2016. I chose this provocative title to inspire you to read an article entitled Legal Education in the Blockchain Revolution.

The authors Mark Fenwick, Wulf A. Kaal, and Erik P. M. Vermeulen discuss how technological innovations, including artificial intelligence and blockchain will change how we teach and practice law related to real property, IP, privacy, contracts, and employment law. If you’re a practicing lawyer, you have a duty of competence. You need to know what you don’t know so that you avoid advising on areas outside of your level of expertise. It may be exciting to advise a company on tax, IP, securities law or other legal issues related to cryptocurrency or blockchain, but you could subject yourself to discipline for doing so…

The Washington and Lee University School of Law seeks to hire a faculty member with research and teaching interests in the fields of corporate law, securities regulation, and/or commercial law.  Our school has a long history of outstanding scholarship and teaching in these areas, and we are excited to advance our trajectory with a new hire.  In addition to this subject-matter focus, we look for an individual who will embrace and meaningfully contribute to our close-knit, collegial, and intellectually vibrant community. 

We warmly invite applications for a position as Assistant or Associate Professor of Law beginning July 1, 2019, and we are particularly focused on lateral candidates with between 2-4 years of experience.  In all cases, candidates for the position must demonstrate a record of excellence in both teaching and scholarship.

Washington and Lee University School of Law is an Equal Opportunity employer that does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran’s status, or genetic information with regard to employment.  We have a commitment to enhancing the diversity of our faculty and, in that regard, we welcome candidates who are members of communities that…