Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Law School
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“Dean’s List”: a Novel
Michael Orey (NYU Law Public Affairs Director and Adjunct Professor) has published a novel about legal academia, titled “Dean’s List.” A description, from amazon.com:
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“Another One?”
The University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where I am a faculty member, has announced the launch of a new student-edited law journal: the “University of Pittsburgh Journal of Health Law and Policy.” I have some comments about student-edited law reviews generally, below the jump.
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AU Washington College of Law Appoints Dean
Michael Barry has been named dean of American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL). Barry is the former President and Dean of South Texas College of Law in Houston. He will begin his new role on July 1, 2026.
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Belmont Announces New Dean
Belmont University announced the appointment of Deborah Farringer as the new dean of Belmont Law, effective August 1, 2026. She currently serves as the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Director of Health Law Studies.
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Judges Jump the Gun Again
The Harvard Crimson reports that a group of conservative federal judges are once again wreaking havoc with the idea that clerkship hiring should be delayed until a fixed deadline. Judges for decades have attempted, abandoned and attempted again to set a date to level the playing field and bring order to the process for overworked
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Who picks a Dean
This guest essay from the Louisville Courier Journal tells a story about what happened in March at the University of Kentucky Law School when, according to the author, the University leadership named a federal judge, Greg Van Tatenhoveas, dean over the express objection of a substantial majority of the law faculty. Of course, if accurately
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Teaching Tidbit: End Your Classes with Style
As we get close to the end of the semester, it is worth a moment to consider how you would like to end your spring classes. As a student, I never liked lukewarm goodbyes like “I see our time for today is up. Good luck on the final!” An ideal end of the course brings
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Faculty Focus: Why Students Ignore Feedback and Tips to Fix It!
Dr. Julia Colella (Faculty Focus), Why Students Ignore Feedback and Tips to Fix It!, April 13, 2026 According to Mather and Scheepers (2025), providing students with feedback is one of the most important aspects for teaching and learning. However, it is not uncommon for students to avoid engaging with feedback, even when instructors invest significant time in providing detailed comments. Written/typed feedback is often overlooked,
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NCCU Names New Law Dean
Joseph Karl Grant, who is currently serving as interim dean at Capital University School of Law in Columbus, Ohio, will assume the role on July 1. Grant has been at Capital since 2008 and previously served as the associate dean for Administration and Finance prior to becoming interim dean at Capital.
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Teaching Tidbit of the Week: Navigating the Dog Days of the Spring Semester
I begin this post from the premise that law teachers have the best job imaginable. We have reasonable teaching loads compared, for example, to our undergraduate liberal arts colleagues, and we get to teach adult students who, for the most part, come to us motivated and willing to work hard. Nevertheless, about this time of
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Edutopia: Effective Ways to Facilitate PD for Teacher Growth
Kasey Short (Edutopia), Effective Ways to Facilitate PD for Teacher Growth: To help teachers realize their potential, school leaders can create systems that provide relevant feedback, encouragement, and new learning opportunities (April 7, 2026) One topic that is underdeveloped in legal education is creation of systems for professional teaching development for faculty. While many law
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Ed Week: Dear Administrators: Here Are 7 Things Teachers Want You to Know
Madeline Will (Education Week), Dear Administrators: Here Are 7 Things Teachers Want You to Know (May 24, 2023) In this short essay, a K-12 teacher identified seven things teachers want their administrators to know. As a former administrator returning to full-time teaching, all seven resonate, although they play out differently in law schools. The article
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Does the JD Pay Off Financially?
Following TaxProf Blog posts by Paul Caron and Sloan Speck summarizing new research as to the financial worthiness of the JD degree, summarized in a recent report from the Postsecondary Education & Economics Research [PEER] Center at American University. I read TaxProf Blog only intermittently; I learned about the new research via a LinkedIn post
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Ups and Downs of Law School Applications
Over on LinkedIn, Mike Spivey, CEO of Spivey Consulting and a familiar name in the world of law school admissions consulting, wrote last Friday that overall applicants in this cycle are up +10.6% at this point, roughly (as he writes) 90% done with the cycle, compared to being up +33% early in the cycle. He
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FSU Launches Dean Search
FSU College of Law has launched its search for a new dean. FSU seeks a visionary leader who will shape the future of legal education. Candidate materials should be received by May 4, 2026 for fullest consideration. Nominations and inquiries should be directed to Werner Boel and Ashlee Musser FSULawDean@wittkieffer.com. The full job description can
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Teaching Tidbit of the Week: How to Own Your Mistakes
This posting focuses on best practices when, inevitably, we make mistakes when we are teaching. In the category of mistakes, I include: allowing typos to go uncorrected on exams and other assessment-related errors, misstating the law or the analysis of a hypothetical, forgetting or mispronouncing a student’s name, implementing a new (or even time-tested) teaching
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AALS Webinar: AI Tools for Law Faculty
On April 15, 2026, from 2 PM – 3:30 PM Eastern/11 AM – 12:30 PM Pacific, the AALS will host AI Tools for Law Faculty, the second installment of its recently-launched “AALS/West Academic AI in Legal Education Webinar Series.” The webinar will feature an all-star team of expert panelists, Alexandria Serra of UMKC, Tracy Norton
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New Law Student Loan Programs
From Inside Higher Ed – more on how law schools are responding to the new student loan legislation that goes into effect on July 1. Two law schools are launching new loan programs to help close funding gaps created by new limits to federal graduate student loans. The University of Kansas and Washington University in St. Louis both plan
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Innovative Teaching – Magic: The Gathering
From a recent piece in the ABA Journal describing a new court at the University of Iowa College of Law that will be based on a card game. In the popular fantasy card game Magic: The Gathering, players act as wizards who cast spells that summon creatures to defeat their opponents in strategic combat while
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SALLD Statement on Role of Academic Law Library Directors
The Society of Academic Law Library Directors (SALLD) has published a “Statement on the Role, Qualifications, and Institutional Protections of Academic Law Library Directors” in response to events at Yale Law School, which I posted about here. From the Statement:
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Financing Law School as Feds Pull Back
Law Schools everywhere will be thinking hard about how students will pay the bills once the $50,000 federal cap kicks in this fall. Now the University of Kansas and Washington University have decided to launch their own loan programs with fixed interest rates to spare students some of the less advantageous features of private loans.
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The Learning Curve: The Winter/Spring Issue
AALS Section on Academic Support, The Learning Curve (Winter/Spring 2026). The newest issue of The Learning Curve is out this week, and it is filled with helpful and inspirational ideas for reaching students (articles by Dayna Smith of Vermont Law and Andrew Realon of George Washington), being student-centered as a model for teaching client-centered lawyering
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Teaching Tidbit of the Week: Collaborate with Your Students in Course Design
This post takes a deep dive into ways professors can collaborate with their students in designing their courses topic, explaining the benefits to students and professors from giving students a greater role and offering guidance to professors inclined to invite their students to be collaborators in the design and teaching of their classes. Why Involve
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EducationWeek: Seven Things Teachers Want Administrators to Know
Madeline Will (EducationWeek), Dear Administrators: Here Are 7 Things Teachers Want You to Know (May 24, 2023). While this short essay was meant for k-12 educational leaders, I was struck by the fact that law school faculty might wish to share similar thoughts with their deans. I have excerpted a few paragraphs to give you