Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Faith
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Work And The Meaning Of Life
Christianity Today: Work Matters to God Because We Matter, by David L. Bahnsen (Author, Full-Time: Work and the Meaning of Life (2024)): If one were to summarize the underlying thesis of the contemporary faith and work movement in a single sentence, it would likely be “Your work matters to God.” Dozens of books have been…
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Religious Lawyering In A Polarized Society
Amelia J. Uelmen (Georgetown), Religious Lawyering in a Polarized Society, 102 U. Det. Mercy L. Rev. 99 (2024): I am deeply humbled to be included in the stellar lineup of speakers in this lecture series and delighted for the occasion to be in conversation with the University of Detroit-Mercy Law School community. Thank you for the…
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NY Times: Yeshiva University Reverses Itself And Bans LGBTQ Club
Following up on my previous post, Yeshiva University Agrees To Recognize LGBTQ Student Group After Five-Year Battle: New York Times, Yeshiva University Reverses Itself and Bans L.G.B.T.Q. Club: Two months after Yeshiva University said it would recognize an L.G.B.T.Q. student club on campus, bringing a yearslong legal battle to an end, the school has reversed course…
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President Trump Names Three Professors To Religious Liberty Commission’s Advisory Board Of Legal Experts
White House Statement, President Donald Trump Names Advisory Board Members to the Religious Liberty Commission: Today, President Donald Trump has designated the following individuals to serve on the advisory boards of the Religious Liberty Commission. On May 1st, the President signed an Executive Order establishing the Religious Liberty Commission. He designated Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick as…
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This Week’s Ten Most Popular TaxProf Blog Posts
Legal Education: Paul Caron (Dean, Pepperdine), Projected 2026-27 U.S. News Law School Rankings: Overall New York Times, 89-Year Old Retired Florida Professor Left Bulk Of Her $2.8 Million Estate To 31 Former Students Adam Bonica (Stanford), Adam Chilton (Chicago), Kyle Rozema (Northwestern) & Maya Sen (Harvard), Law Professors Have Become More Liberal, But They Also…
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TaxProf Blog Weekend Roundup
Saturday: This Week's Ten Most Popular TaxProf Blog Posts Does Artificial Intelligence Have A Role In Legal Scholarship? For Everything Else, There's Taxes: Why Credit Card Rewards Should Stop Being Priceless ABA Legal Ed Council Votes Unanimously To Suspend Law School Diversity Accreditation Standard Until August 31, 2026 Due To Trump's DEI Crackdown Navigating The…
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What The World Needs From Pope Leo
New York Times Op-Ed: What the World Needs From Pope Leo, by Ross Douthat (Author, Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious (2025): The name alone often speaks volumes. In choosing to reign as Francis, first of that name, Jorge Bergoglio signaled clearly the style of his pontificate, which aspired to the simplicity of the saint…
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Pope Leo’s First Homily
Holy See Press Office, Holy Mass of His Holiness Leo XIV with the College of Cardinals: Even today, there are many settings in which the Christian faith is considered absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent. Settings where other securities are preferred, like technology, money, success, power, or pleasure. These are contexts where it is…
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Is Empathy A Sin?
Dispatch Faith: Is Empathy a Sin?, by Alastair Roberts (Theopolis Institute): Like other terms such as “freedom” or “love,” “empathy” is generally something of a “hurrah” word; people agree that, whatever it is, it is a very good thing. Recent decades have witnessed burgeoning literature on empathy. Simon Baron-Cohen, professor of developmental psychopathology at the…
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This Week’s Ten Most Popular TaxProf Blog Posts
Legal Education: Paul Caron (Dean, Pepperdine), Preview of the 2026-2027 U.S. News Law School Rankings: First-Time Bar Passage Ultimate Bar Passage Employment The Intercept, NYU Demands Law Students Renounce Protests Or Be Barred From Final Exams The Recorder, California Supreme Court Lowers Passing Score on February Bar Exam, Orders Return to Multistate Exam in July…
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TaxProf Blog Weekend Roundup
Saturday: This Week's Ten Most Popular TaxProf Blog Posts Georgetown Law Students Track 850+ Law Firms: Have They ‘Caved’ Or ‘Stood Up’ To Trump? WSJ: Wealth Of 19 Richest U.S. Households Increased By $1 Trillion Last Year February Bar Exam Pass Rates Fall In More Than Half The States, Including NY & TX Brennen: The…
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David Brooks: How To Survive The Trump Years With Your Spirit Intact
Following up on my previous post, David Brooks: My Decade-Long Journey To Faith: New York Times Op-Ed: How to Survive the Trump Years With Your Spirit Intact, by David Brooks: I had forgotten how exhausting it is to live in Donald Trump’s world. He’s not only a political figure. He creates a psychological and social atmosphere…
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Christianity And ChatGPT
Richard Murphy (Funding the Future), Christianity and ChatGPT: I asked ChatGPT: What is the essence of Christian teaching? Please ignore ideas promoted by St Paul. Focus on the Gospels. It suggested this, based presumably on a web search: Focusing solely on the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—and setting aside the later interpretations of St. Paul,…
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NY Times: The Cross Is A Hot Accessory, At The Intersection Of Faith And Culture
New York Times, A Hot Accessory, at the Intersection of Faith and Culture: When Arianna Salerno first moved to Washington, D.C., in 2022 to attend Catholic University she didn’t see many people wearing cross necklaces. But in the past year, she says she has noticed an uptick of the jewelry each time she takes the…
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Journal Of Christian Legal Thought Symposium: Law, Faith, And Artificial Intelligence
Symposium, Law, Faith, and Artificial Intelligence, 14 J. Christian Legal Thought 1-62 (2024): Articles Jason Thacker (Boyce College), Defining Humanity Down, 14 J. Christian Legal Thought 1 (2024) Jordan Furlong (Law21), The Multifaceted Impact of Generative AI on Lawyers & Legal Services, 14 J. Christian Legal Thought 8 (2024) Larry O. Natt Gantt, II (High…
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This Week’s Ten Most Popular TaxProf Blog Posts
Legal Education: Paul Caron (Dean, Pepperdine), Law School Rankings By First-Time Bar Passage Rate (2024) Paul Caron (Dean, Pepperdine), Law School Rankings By Ultimate Bar Passage Rate (2022) Paul Caron (Dean, Pepperdine), Law School Rankings By 10-Month Employment Rate (2024) Washington Free Beacon (Aaron Sibarium), Pervasive Pattern Of Racial Discrimination At Harvard Law Review Los…
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TaxProf Blog Weekend Roundup
Saturday: This Week's Ten Most Popular TaxProf Blog Posts The Seven Essential Law School Simulation Courses Next Week’s Tax Workshops California Supreme Court Demands Answers From State Bar On Its Use Of AI In Preparing Bar Exam Questions Tax-Exempt Status For NIL Collectives Sunday: Pope Francis's Legacy How JD Vance, A ‘Baby Catholic,’ Stumbled Into…
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Pope Francis’s Legacy
New York Times Op-Ed: Francis and the End of the Imperial Papacy, by Ross Douthat (Author, Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious (2025): Pope Francis, who passed to his reward on the morning after Easter at age 88, was a version of the liberal pope that many Catholics had earnestly desired all through the long reign of John Paul…
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How JD Vance, A ‘Baby Catholic,’ Stumbled Into A Clash With The Pope
Washington Post, How JD Vance, a ‘Baby Catholic,’ Stumbled into a Clash With the Pope: The first Catholic convert elected to the vice presidency has provoked an extraordinary string of conflicts within the church he joined six years ago. Only three Catholics have won the presidency or vice presidency. For the first two, Democrats John…
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‘A Citizen of Heaven And Harvard’: Honoring The Life And Ongoing Impact Of Bill Stuntz
Following up on my previous posts: Death of Bill Stuntz (Harvard) Harvard Law Review Tribute: Bill Stuntz Harvard Law Today, ‘A Citizen of Heaven and Harvard’: Honoring the Life and Ongoing Impact of William J. Stuntz: For William J. Stuntz, the law and religion were inseparable. At a recent gathering to honor the late Harvard…
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Three Law & Religion Articles
Anton Sorkin (Director of Law Student Ministries, Christian Legal Society), Riding the Second Wave: Three Articles That Speak to the Mission & Purpose of Institute for Christian Legal Studies: Throughout my work, I run across countless excellent articles that speak to the underlying richness of the law and religion tradition that feed into my work…
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Pepperdine Caruso Law 3L Commissioning Service
We hosted our 13th annual 3L Commissioning Service at Pepperdine Caruso Law last week. Like many of the best things at our school, it is the brainchild of a student. In 2012, 2L Raija Churchill proposed that the last Wednesday night Dean’s Bible study of the year model the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20) as a send-off for our graduating…
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This Week’s Ten Most Popular TaxProf Blog Posts
Legal Education: U.S. News, 2025-26 Law Specialty Rankings Legal Writing Trial Advocacy Omnibus Specialty Rankings Omnibus Specialty Rankings v. Overall Rankings Paul Caron (Dean, Pepperdine), Law Schools That Boycotted The U.S. News Rankings Los Angeles Times, California Bar Allowed Non-Lawyers To Use AI To Draft February Exam Questions, Will Ask Supreme Court To Lower Cut…
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TaxProf Blog Weekend Roundup
Saturday: This Week's Ten Most Popular TaxProf Blog Posts Nearly All Elite Law Schools Move Up Summer Associate Job Interviews To May And June Haneman: The Liminality Of Transactional Relationships 2025-26 U.S. News International Law Rankings Tax Day At North Carolina Law School Sunday: The Epic Jesus Follower Fail: The Cringe-Worthy Subplot Of Holy Week…
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The Epic Jesus Follower Fail: The Cringe-Worthy Subplot Of Holy Week Underscores The Truth Of The Gospel
Christianity Today Op-Ed: The Epic Jesus Follower Fail: The Cringe-Worthy Subplot of Holy Week Underscores the Truth of the Gospel, by Tish Harrison Warren (Priest, Anglican Church; Author, Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work or Watch or Weep (2021) (Christianity Today's 2022 Book of the Year)): From its earliest days, God has pursued and propelled the church…