Althouse: "Finally, something is being done to address the critical shortage of Elis in the rapidly growing field of legal education!"

July 11, 2012

"Finally, something is being done to address the critical shortage of Elis in the rapidly growing field of legal education!"

Biff, talking about this.

25 comments:

test said...: Let's call it the Create Jobs for my Friends Program.

Because there's nothing like doubling your bet when the bubble's about to burst.; 7/11/12, 1:50 PM
Chip S. said...: It would be a good idea if the curriculum consisted of the subjects essential to the kind of social engineering law profs seem to love pontificating about. Like economics and statistics.

Alas, no.; 7/11/12, 1:54 PM
MadisonMan said...: Shouldn't a Social Scientists somewhere first do a study to see if this approach betters legal education?; 7/11/12, 2:12 PM
Patrick said...: Because there are not enough eggheads teaching law.; 7/11/12, 2:15 PM
Rocketeer said...: The first class' dissertation titles will no doubt include:

"Would You Like Fries With That: The Role of Legal Education in My Future of Delivering Fast Food Meals"

"Children, Poverty, and the Law: Why Did I Waste the Last Several Years, and Do This to My Family?"

and

"Possible Punitive Measures That Could Be Taken Against Those Who Commit Human Rights Abuses, Like Charge Exhorbitant Tuition for Dubious Legal Degrees"; 7/11/12, 2:17 PM
Carol said...: Great, more teachers who never practiced. That's the ticket!

What happened to the LL.D.?; 7/11/12, 2:38 PM
Russ said...: What is "Elis", for the uninitiated?

I read "elois" (as in the opposite of morlocks), but that doesn't make a ton of sense either.; 7/11/12, 2:39 PM
test said...: Plural of Eli.

The Yale nickname?; 7/11/12, 2:50 PM
FleetUSA said...: I totally disagree that we need more "eggheads" teaching in law schools.

My very best law professors were practitioners who understood how to do it with actual clients and cases.; 7/11/12, 2:53 PM
sean said...: More Elis is always good. But an even greater divide between those who practice law and those who teach it is probably not good, at least not if you have moderately utilitarian goals for the legal system. If you believe that law review articles written by law profs and never read by anyone except other law profs are a social good, then you have your reward.

(For those who need to ask, "Elis" are also called "Yalies," although the former term is more affectionate. See, e.g., the well-known song "Saving Ourselves for Yale," which contains the lyric: "When finally married we lie/We'll be with an Eli."); 7/11/12, 2:56 PM
Patrick said...: I'm with you Fleet. I was being sarcastic.; 7/11/12, 2:58 PM
Patrick said...: Although I would admit one of my best profs was an egghead. The class, however has had little impact, it was just very interesting.

These days, tuition is way too high to pay for "very interesting."; 7/11/12, 3:00 PM
Wince said...: Russ said...
What is "Elis", for the uninitiated?

For a second, I thought Althouse might be reminiscing about the sign and her stay a BU Law.

"Ellis the Rim Man"; 7/11/12, 3:03 PM
lemondog said...: Is this yet another indicator of America’s economic decline, rather than spurring people to create innovative products we retread legal types to produce more legal types?; 7/11/12, 3:06 PM
paul a'barge said...: Elis? Shoot, I never liked that name. Let's make it painful for mothers to name their children "Eli". Good idea.; 7/11/12, 3:31 PM
mtrobertsattorney said...: AS long as Greek, Latin and Philosophy are requied, it might be a good idea. It is, after all, a Doctor of Philosophy degree; 7/11/12, 3:36 PM
Michael K said...: "What happened to the LL.D.?"

Exactly. My son graduated from one of those lower class law schools that never make it onto the surveys. He's a partner in a national firm and heads their northern California and Nevada offices. He is busy and , really, his only fault is that he voted for Obama.; 7/11/12, 3:39 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: Eli is a crossword gimme.

But the NYT will disguise the glue so the gimme is less gimme. We NYT solvers are like that. We don't like our gimmies too obvious, it takes the fun away from being more clever than everybody else. So the clue might be Both Bill and Hillary Clinton and the solver goes, well what do they have in common that's three letters, oh, they both went to Yale, well, there's the wedge into this intractable corner.; 7/11/12, 4:07 PM
Ralph L said...: The Yale Law Dean used "transition" as a verb. Guess I'm going to Hahvahd.; 7/11/12, 4:21 PM
lemondog said...: (For those who need to ask, "Elis" are also called "Yalies,...

Googled Eli derivation: Elihu Yale

So now I know.; 7/11/12, 4:33 PM
lemondog said...: Correction

Elihu Yale; 7/11/12, 4:36 PM
Eli Blake said...: Sorry, but I already have a job that I like. Not going into legal education.; 7/11/12, 5:21 PM
Biff said...: I now have a tag on the Althouse blog? Once I return from celebrating at Mory's, I'll really need to step up my game as a commenter!

@leslyn - I'm glad that I'm not the only one who sees "Elvis" when reading "Elis." I also hear "elides" when I say "Elis."; 7/11/12, 8:10 PM
Rob said...: Face it, the Yale Law Ph.D. is a way for people who went to less prestigious law schools to get their tickets punched and their rumps stamped "USDA Inspected and Approved." I doubt there will be many graduates of the top tier of law schools who will be inclined to participate, but someone like Elizabeth Warren who did well at a minor law school and wants to teach at a highly selective school, it's a good alternative to faking your minority credentials.; 7/11/12, 8:27 PM
Biff said...: Some quick thoughts:

(1) The article in the alumni magazine was titled, "The more schooling, the better: Yale adds a PhD in Law." I wish I knew exactly how much that title was intended to be tongue-in-cheek.

(2) The first line of the article was "One in ten American law professors went to Yale Law School." Yale's press release further informs us that the "deans of eight of the top ten law schools...received their legal education at Yale." What, me worry?; 7/11/12, 8:41 PM