In a L.A. Times article on the opening of the new UC-Irvine Law School, Dean Erwin Chemerinsky pinpoints a problem afflicting many law schools:

When he graduated from law school in 1978, Chemerinsky was confident that his diploma would open the door to nearly any opportunity. He was equally certain he hadn't received a good legal education.

That the school was Harvard might surprise some. That the candid constitutional scholar and civil rights attorney would ruffle the ivy on the nation's oldest law school should come as no surprise.

"The law faculty wanted the best students they could get and then have nothing to do with them after they arrived," said Chemerinsky, a professor at USC Law School for 21 years before moving to Duke University in 2004. "Teaching is the most important thing we do."

I was struck by the very different attitude at my son's liberal arts college — the faculty there overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to reduce the teaching load from five courses to four because they did not want to detract from the teaching mission of the school.  I wonder if any law school faculty has voted down a proposal to move from four courses to three.