May 11, 2011

UW Law School announces the 3 finalists in the search for the new dean.

From the law school website:
Nicholas W. Allard, partner at Patton Boggs in Washington, D.C. Allard is chair of the law firm's lobbying, political and elections law practice. Allard has been an adjunct professor at George Mason University School of Law, Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business and Georgetown University Law Center. He earned his law degree from Yale University, was a Rhodes Scholar earning a master's degree from Oxford University and received a bachelor's degree from Princeton University.

Allard served as administrative assistant and chief of staff to the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan from 1986 to 1987, and from 1984 to 1986, he was minority staff counsel to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, where he served as legal counsel to Senator Edward Kennedy. He is also a prolific author on a broad range of issues, including more than 20 articles on Internet law, new media and privacy.

Gene Nichol, professor and director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina School of Law. Nichol was president of the College of William & Mary from 2005-2008 and earlier served as dean of the University of North Carolina School of Law from 1999-2005 and dean of the University of Colorado Law School from 1988-1995. He earned his law degree from the University of Texas and has a bachelor's degree from Oklahoma State University, where he also played varsity football.

Nichol was James Gould Cutler professor and director of the Bill of Rights Institute at William & Mary from 1985-1988. He has also taught at Oxford, Exeter, Florida and West Virginia. He founded the Byron White Center of Constitutional Law at the University of Colorado (1990) and the Center for Civil Rights at the University of North Carolina (2001). Nichol is co-author of Federal Courts; Federal Courts: Cases and Comments; and contributing author of Where We Stand: Voices of Southern Dissent. In 2004, he was named Pro Bono Professor of the Year at the University of North Carolina.

Margaret Raymond, William G. Hammond professor of law at the University of Iowa College of Law. Raymond has been a professor at the University of Iowa since 1995, serving in a number of campus leadership roles, including president of the University Faculty Senate. Raymond earned her law degree from Columbia University and has a bachelor's degree from Carleton College. She served as a clerk to the late Justice Thurgood Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge James L. Oakes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Following her clerkship, Raymond worked in private practice, first as a commercial litigator and later as a criminal defense lawyer. Her scholarship focuses on constitutional criminal procedure, substantive criminal law, and the professional responsibility of lawyers. In 2004, she received the Collegiate Teaching Award at the University of Iowa Law School. Raymond is the author of a Professional Responsibility casebook, The Law and Ethics of Law Practice.
Comments?

69 comments:

Fred4Pres said...

Who will raise the most money for the school?

Isn't that the most important criteria for the job?

Automatic_Wing said...

They all seem notably lacking in victim-group credentials. Are any of them gay, trans or gender non-conforming?

Sal said...

I don't see any diversity there.

Edward said...

I know Nichol was an extremely controversial president and William and Mary, and was forced out, mostly for being way too left and PC for a tradition obsessed school.

I doubt that would bother UW Law.

Anonymous said...

With an undergraduate degree from OSU and a law degree from Texas, Gene Nichol is a highly conflicted soul.

He'll emotionally shut down every fall - and you won't be able to get a single decision from him until...what...February, if you're lucky.

MayBee said...

Allard would bring in the money.
Nichol would bring the school waaaay to the left.
The woman would be a woman.

MadisonMan said...

What Fred4Pres said.

How often are people who have already run two Law Schools as dean hired to run a third? That must be kinda rare, so I'll argue that the woman will get the post because the other guy it too old.

Who does Biddy want?

Trooper York said...

Which one will be pissed about you blogging?

Ricardo said...

"The woman would be a woman."

Just the way I like them.

Trooper York said...

Keep your eye on the ball.

The Drill SGT said...

wow, Allard will really be taking a pay cut.

Nichols, way to leftist, IMHO

Raymond?, the diversity slot

Ernst Stavro Blofeld said...

Going strictly by the posted bios, Allard would be a schmoozer who gets more money for the school. The second guy would get into a bunch of pointless fights with Walker. And the third candidate probably needs a few more years more seasoning in leadership positions.

DADvocate said...

Allard seems to have the best set of liberal credentials. If you dig a little, you can see Nichol appears quite liberal also. Raymond also shows a liberal background and was a strong supporter of Elena Kagan. She attended the same high school as Kagan and both clerked for Thurgood Marshall.

The academic bastion of liberalism is safe with any of these choices. I give the edge to Raymond because she's a she.

Mark O said...

Wow. There's a law school there?

caseym54 said...

Diversity? If they wanted that, there would be someone who clerked for Clarence Thomas in the running (wouldn't that be fun for Madison; a perpetual protest).

But no, this runs the gamut from left to far left.

Ann Althouse said...

Note that the 3 finalists are presented to the Chancellor (Biddy Martin), who makes the selection.

The Drill SGT said...

DADvocate said...
Allard seems to have the best set of liberal credentials. If you dig a little, you can see Nichol appears quite liberal also


Nichol is way too PC. He's the W&M President that got into a pissing contest with the alums and Virginia Legislature. W&M "declined to renew his contract"

paul a'barge said...

What? No bloggers? Winning The Future (WTF)?

Anonymous said...

Tweedle dee, tweedle dum, tweedle doo.

Fen said...

Hire the black guy who's clean and articulate, is a dandy with the teleprompter, and promises to roll back the oceans.

Fen said...

The academic bastion of liberalism is safe with any of these choices

Reminds me of a job interview. Four women around a table asked me how I felt about diversity. A heavenly chorus interrupted everytime the said "Diversity". I must have been the only male in the building. And the only conservative.

chuck said...

They all look to be on the progressive side of things. I expect the result will be a decline in the intellectual quality of the UW Law School.

Anonymous said...

Is Margaret a lesbian? One imagines so in that her background doesn't seem competitive and yet, here she is. If so, she has the job. If not ,she is merely window dressing and the less offensive of the other two gets the nod.

Thorley Winston said...

I think it’s generally a bad idea to announce the “finalists” when conducting a job interview, particularly for the top position. IMO there shouldn’t be a public announcement until they’ve made their selection.

Chuck66 said...

Back in the 90s, Minnesota-Duluth needed a new chancellor. The selecting committee got it down to 4 finalist. All men. The...would it be the regents?...said that they would like to see more candidates to pick from. So the committee threw a women in the mix to. Guess who got picked?

Yes, sometimes the best candidates don't get picked if they are of the wrong gender or race.

Stan25 said...

Another example of a state hiring people from out of state, when there are people that live in that state that are just as qualified. Be nice if states would promote the people that have given their all to a school, fire department or any other state, county or city position. But no, the person has to be from out of state that does not know the issues that confront the particular enity they are hired to head. To top that off, they get an inflated salary and expenses for moving, when the local person can do the same job just as well.

Titus said...

If the woman candidate has big tits I say hire her. Otherwise, go with one of the men.

You can't go wrong with big tits.

tits...yum

Michael Haz said...

It won't be a heterosexual conservative. Although it should be, if only to promote diversity among the UW faculty.

The Drill SGT said...

To expand on my Nichols PC comment, He's the guy who took the historic WREN Cross out of the W&M Chapel, less it offend students. When the alums bitched and cut donations, he lied about the losses.

PS: will WI provide his wife a job as well. I found this nugget elsewhere from a year ago @ Brian Leiter's Law School Reports:

March 15, 2010
George and Nichol from North Carolina to Arizona
Glenn George, Professor of Law at UNC, is moving to the University of Arizona this summer to assume the position of vice president for legal affairs and general counsel. She'll also hold tenure in the law school. George will be joined a year later by her husband, Gene Nichol, who will also take a tenured slot in the law school. Nichol was the President of William & Mary from 2005-2008.

brucebrocka said...

A liberal, A leftist, and a liberal. Very good. Diversity is guud.

Harry Phartz said...

If Biddy makes the call I'd say my money is on the woman from Iowa.

If the first fellow had greater proficiency in garnering $, I think that would be a very good thing. My family (of 4) has 3 law degrees from UW Madison, and I think we all agree that there is no reason that UW can't rank with Iowa, or even Michigan, in time. It will take a lot of money, so if Allard is a $$ guy, I like it.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Nichol was..."Director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina School of Law".

Any idea what purpose this serves in a law school Althouse?

The Drill SGT said...

@AJ:

Other than being an employment center for unenployed leftist college presidents?

Fen said...

Racial grievance-mongering?

MayBee said...

Wasn't that John Edwards's thing?

Walt said...

Gene Nichol, take him, please! He's not done any serious scholarship during his tenure at the University of North Carolina, he's not a good writer and he works at offending just about everyone he meets, except John Edwards.

Walt-in-Durham

MayBee said...

Yes, it was.

http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb05/edwards020405.html

Roux said...

A lobbyist, a poverty rights professor and a legal ethics professor.... hmmmm? Which one is the best fit? My guess the lobbyist as he'll raise the most money.

Quasimodo said...

They'll pick the chick ... it's chic.

Almost Ali said...

No contest: Allard

Reliapundit said...

the one with the biggest tits.

Anonymous said...

Fen:

"The academic bastion of liberalism is safe with any of these choices

Reminds me of a job interview. Four women around a table asked me how I felt about diversity...."

Gawd! One of Dante' inner rings of Hell.

boldface said...

Margaret Raymond was a year behind me in law school, and IIRC was editor-in-chief of the law review. I remember she was whip-smart and a very pleasant person to boot. Of course, I haven't seen or spoken with her since I graduated.

KCFleming said...

Q: Which bathroom will the applicant use?

Anonymous said...

There is a mysterious 3 year gap, from 1988-1991, in Raymond's CV.

SteveR said...

My question is, is this the best they could do, or the best they chose to do?

Linda Rose said...

No. 1 Criteria: Fund Raising Capability
No. 2 Criteria: Far-left political ideology
No. 3 Criteria: Acceptability to union
No ability to teach required (This has never been a law school requirement)

Anonymous said...

The most noticeable thing about them all: they are ALL liberals. That means they are unlikely to hire conservatives.

MayBee said...

How is the John Edwards thing not a career-ender?

KCFleming said...

Can they walk the whole day, or do they have to rest in a stroller awhile?

traditionalguy said...

My advice is to hire Blago to consult on this decision. Dean of a Law School is too important of a job to just give it away. Then hire the most qualified...that is Jessie Jackson, Jr. U/W Madison would have at last broken the back of the whire racists that control the State. How nobly Liberal a goal can you get.

traditionalguy said...

Oops. "Whire" is the secret name for southern Norwegians.

Trooper York said...

Why did they fire Dean Martin?

MadisonMan said...

No. 3 Criteria: Acceptability to union

What union would that be?

foxlets14 said...

Why would Allard want to leave a partnership in Patton Boggs for Dean of a law school? He's in his late 50's, not of retirement age. No question about whether he's "conncted". As a partner in that firm he clearly is. From my office across the street I marvelled at the line up of limos in front of PB's offices at 2555 M Street every morning to take clients up the Hill to meet with government officials. If I were in Biddy's shoes, I'd be wondering how do we keep this guy down on the farm after he's seen DC?

foxlets14 said...

Why would Allard want to leave a partnership in Patton Boggs for Dean of a law school? He's in his late 50's, not of retirement age. No question about whether he's "conncted". As a partner in that firm he clearly is. From my office across the street I marvelled at the line up of limos in front of PB's offices at 2555 M Street every morning to take clients up the Hill to meet with government officials. If I were in Biddy's shoes, I'd be wondering how do we keep this guy down on the farm after he's seen DC?

pfennig said...

I'm just glad Kloppenburg isn't on the list.

eightfold said...

Gene Nichol stalked out of his job as Pres. of W&M in a snit, resigning abruptly mid-contract when informed by the governing board that the contract was not going to be renewed. The college was left in the lurch and the law school dean had to step in on an interim basis. It is astonishing that any reputable institution would consider him for an important position.

Bruce Hayden said...

I remember Nichols at CU, and, yes, he was controversial. Hard left, extreme even for Boulder. Probably what Wisconsin wants, and will fit in just fine in Madison.

Eric said...

Three completely different individuals, two of whom are under no serious consideration but will serve to demonstrate that a wide variety candidates were considered and it was a very difficult decision.

gadfly said...

Yes, Gene Nichol is the man. It won't take long for him to hide every cross on display at UW-Madison. He will then work a deal with Christian donors to withdraw substantial pledges needed keep the law professors at work publishing and researching instead of teaching. Both sides win!

Best of all is his Sex Workers Art Show which he takes to every campus that will employ him.

At William & Mary he had the "Wren Cross" put into a glass display case. At UW-Madison he will do the same with a cross-eyed pigeon, fresh from the capital dome.

Big Mike said...

I hope for the sake of you and your fellow faculty members that you don't get stuck with Nichol. The problems that underlay his controversial 2 1/2 year tenure at William & Mary were not due to his extreme leftism (William & Mary is not exactly Liberty University). The controversy arose from his arbitrary decision-making, his lack of willingness to consult with the faculty, and his lack of interest in or inability to build support ahead of time for his policies and decisions.

The trustees' decision not to renew his contract was a result of his alienating everbody around him, but especially the way he alienated large donors (one fellow was all ready to donate $12M, but withdrew it). That Nichol attempted to cover up losing the donations was only the last nail in his coffin.

hombre said...

"March 15, 2010
George and Nichol from North Carolina to Arizona
... George will be joined a year later by her husband, Gene Nichol, who will also take a tenured slot in the law school...."


I vote for Nichol for the UW. My alma mater, the law school at the University of Arizona, doesn't need any more lefties.

Patrick Henry was right! said...

Gene Nichol was run out of William and Mary for removing the Crucifix from the Chapel. He is the perfect left wing looney chioce for Madison. He should win in a landslide.

reader_iam said...

Nicholas Allard sure knows how to footnote, and here's an example.

reader_iam said...

I spent some time bringing up pdfs and more for the various candidates and reading them. I do find some things interesting, in terms of distillation. I don't think spending time on such things is particularly productive, much less effective--though it's better than going by what the purely efficient say, if you get what I mean--in real time for the vast majority of people.

(That said, there's useful knowledge to be gained, in terms of honing evaluative skills, thereof--personally speaking, only, of course: God forbid I should prescribe.)

reader_iam said...

Althouse: Interesting post of proxy.

dick said...

Did anyone bring up the tenure of Nichol at William and Mary. I remember reading that he was forced out for removing a cross from the chapel that was a big work of art owned by the college. Seems he was not very effective as president there. I would look long and hard at him for the problems he had there and whether he has changed enough that they won't crop up again at U of Wisc College of Law.

michael a. livingston said...

Sounds like the decline of Wisconsin will continue one way or another.