The #76 ranking is the second highest in LSU Law history, bested only by the school’s ranking of #75 in 2010. The U.S. News ranking of top law schools is a closely watched list among the nation’s public and private law schools.

“Taken together, the U. S News ranking, the #3 Best Value ranking by National Jurist/Pre-law Magazine (2012), our students’ consistently high rate of success on the Louisiana Bar Exam, and our graduates’ continuing strong performance in obtaining employment, confirm that we are providing our students with a valuable legal education at reasonable price,” according to LSU Law Chancellor Jack M. Weiss.

The LSU Law Center ranked 11^th in the nation in the percentage of 2011 graduates employed in full-time, long-term legal jobs within 9 months of graduation, according to an analysis published on June 25, 2012, by the Wall Street Journal. The ranking was based on detailed legal employment data reported by all accredited law schools to the American Bar Association.

Some 194 accredited law schools in the nation are reviewed by the magazine. LSU Law is one of only 6 public law schools from Texas to Florida, and only one of 3 law schools in Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi, public or private, ranked in the Top 100.

LSU Law entered the U.S. News Top 100 for the first time in 2004. The new ranking accentuates the Law Center’s positive movement in the rankings in recent years. “I’m pleased to report that we moved up three places, from # 79 to # 76,” said Chancellor Weiss. However, Weiss expressed some caution over the latest ranking.

“As I’ve said in previous years, the U.S. News rankings are notoriously unpredictable and are, in part, very subjective. Every law school dean holds his breath until the rankings are announced,” said Weiss. “As always at LSU Law, we will continue to make decisions that are in the best interest of our students and the state of Louisiana. A good U.S. News ranking is lagniappe, not our overriding goal.”

Factors in the rankings include Quality Assessment (peer assessment and assessment scores by lawyers and judges); Selectivity (undergraduate GPA at 25^th-75^th percentile, and acceptance rate); Placement Success (graduates employed at graduation, graduates employed 9 months after graduation, school’s bar passage rate in jurisdiction, and jurisdiction’s overall bar passage rate); and Faculty Resources (student/faculty ratio and expenditures per student for instruction, library, and supporting services).

“This is a remarkable achievement for the Law Center,” Chancellor Weiss said in offering his congratulations to the students, faculty, and staff. “Here’s hoping for an even brighter future for LSU Law,” he concluded.

The 60^th annual Mineral Law Institute will be held March 14 and 15 in the McKernan Auditorium at the LSU Law Center. 

This two-day event attracts energy leaders from across the state and country.  Topics that will be addressed include Recent Changes to the Conservation Act, Developments in Hydraulic Fracturing Technology and an Oil & Gas Law Update.  For registration information, please visit www.LSUcle.org or contact the LSU Law Center Continuing Education Department at 225-578-5837.

The Louisiana Mineral Law Institute recently published a new treatise for academicians and practitioners.  Edited by LSU Law Center Professor Emeritus and Emeritus Director of the Louisiana Mineral Law Institute Patrick Martin, the 16 chapter treatise was written by mineral law scholars and practicing attorneys. 

“I expect the Louisiana Mineral Law Treatise to be a valuable resource for oil and gas lawyers and landmen throughout the State,” said Professor Keith Hall, Director of the Louisiana Mineral Law Institute.  “Although I’ve had my copy for only a short time, I’ve already turned to it several times.”

The treatise is available at Claitor’s Law Books and Publishing, www.claitors.com.

The First Circuit is one of five Louisiana intermediate appellate courts.  The First Circuit’s territorial jurisdiction extends over sixteen parishes in the southeastern part of Louisiana.  The court is domiciled in Baton Rouge and normally holds hearings at its courthouse located at 1600 North Third Street.  As part of its educational outreach program, the First Circuit on occasion travels to various locations within its jurisdiction, such as Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center, to hold court. 

Attorneys representing clients with appeals pending before the First Circuit will be presenting oral arguments before three-judge panels.  The panel comprised of Judges James E. Kuhn, John T. Pettigrew (’72), and J. Michael McDonald (’77) will conduct hearings at LSU on February 18, 2013, and the panel comprised of Judges Randolph H. Parro (’67), Jewel E. Welch, Jr. (’80), and William Kline (’60) (retired, sitting pro tempore) will conduct hearings on February 19, 2013.  On behalf of their panels, Judge Parro and Judge Kuhn, as panel chiefs, invite the public to attend the hearings, with a special invitation extended to law, government, criminal justice, and civics classes. 

Current copies of the court’s docket are available on the court’s website.  For additional information, visit www.la-fcca.org. 

Read the story here.

 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/29/opinion/law-school-is-worth-the-money.html?hp

“For the Louisiana legal community, this is highly valuable information on important recent cases dealing with civil law matters,” said Professor Olivier Moreteau, Director of the Center of Civil Law Studies, and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Civil Law Studies. “For our LSU Law students, this is a great opportunity to test their civilian skills, identify and discuss recent evolution. With limited time involvement, they can have the experience of having a note published in a professional journal circulated all over the world.”

The Center of Civil Law Studies (CCLS) was established in 1965 to promote and encourage the scientific study of the civil law system, its history, structure, principles, and actualities. Its purpose or mission is to facilitate a better understanding and further development of the private law of the State of Louisiana and other civil law jurisdictions, particularly those of continental Europe and Latin America, through theoretical and practical activities, such as publications, translations, sponsorship of faculty and student exchanges, visiting scholars, seminars, and lectures.

“Only a short time ago, the Energy Law Center was only a dream,” said LSU Law Center Chancellor Jack M. Weiss. “Now that dream has become a reality.”

“Legal and regulatory issues in the energy industry have become more and more specialized and complex in the past 30 years,” Weiss said. “The LSU Energy Law Center will have a multidisciplinary and global focus and will foster the highest level of legal expertise in energy law studies, broadly defined.”

The LSU Energy Law Center will offer a wide range of courses never before offered at the Law Center to provide students with the opportunity for the concentrated study of energy law. In addition, the Law Center will develop collaborative and cross-enrollment opportunities for courses with the LSU A & M campus in content areas that will enhance the knowledge base of students in energy law. Potential programs with courses for cross enrollment include Geology, Petroleum Engineering, Nuclear Sciences, Coastal Sciences, Environmental Science and Chemical Engineering, among others.

The Center will provide an integrative, multidisciplinary approach to energy law study that will complement and add to cutting-edge thinking about legal education. “Our graduates pursuing the study of energy law will be ‘prepared for practice’ and ready to assist with complex projects involving teams of interdisciplinary professionals in the energy industry,” said Weiss.

In addition to preparing graduates for practice in complex energy matters, the Center will also provide opportunities for students at LSU A&M to gain an understanding of the legal subject matter relevant to the science, engineering, and other disciplines critical to 21st century energy. The Center also will offer enhanced continuing legal education of attorneys in the energy field. In addition, the Center will serve as a repository of research and a source for consultation with law firms and businesses throughout Louisiana and the Gulf Coast.

LSU Law’s already considerable contributions to the State’s economic development will grow as a result of strengthening its educational focus on energy. The Center will develop competencies in students that will advance energy-related commerce and drive economic success.

Serving as the initial Director of the Energy Law Center will be Robert D. Sloan. With 40 years of legal experience across the globe, Sloan will bring a broad professional and international perspective to the directorship of the Center. Sloan served most recently as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Entergy Corporation in New Orleans. He will join the faculty in November as a Professor of Professional Practice.

A rising star among oil and gas scholars and teachers, Keith Hall joined the faculty as Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the Louisiana Mineral Law Institute. Hall will teach a range of courses focusing on, and building from, his core expertise in oil and gas law. As director of the Mineral Law Institute, Hall also will lead this longstanding annual CLE program.

Professor Blake Hudson has also joined the faculty as an Associate Professor of Law. Hudson already has developed a strong reputation as a scholar and teacher of environmental and and natural resources law and policy. Hudson holds a joint appointment with the LSU School of the Coast and Environment. Previously, Hudson taught for three years at Stetson University College of Law.

The Law Center has recently established a new student-edited journal, the LSU Journal of Energy Law and Resources, to provide students an opportunity to write and publish in the energy field.

Professor Mark Glover’s article, A Therapeutic Jurisprudential Framework of Estate Planning, which is published in the Seattle University Law Review, was featured in the Journal of Things We Like (Lots).  The feature can be accessed here.

Professor Ed Richards presented Public Health Policy and Legislation as Tools to Drive Population Health at the 2012 Childhood Obesity and Public Health Conference at Pennington Biomedical Center on October 24.

During summer 2012, Professor Bill Corbett worked on several publications.  He completed work on the second edition of his coauthored Torts casebook: FRANK L. MARAIST, JOHN M. CHURCH, WILLIAM R. CORBETT, H. ALSTON JOHNSON & THOMAS E. RICHARD, TORT LAW: THE AMERICAN AND LOUISIANA PERSPECTIVES (2d ed. 2012).  He completed the annual supplement to a coauthored labor law book: DOUGLAS E. RAY, WILLIAM R. CORBETT & CHRISTOPHER DAVID RUIZ CAMERON, LABOR-MANAGEMENT RELATIONS: STRIKES, LOCKOUTS & BOYCOTTS (2d ed. 2004).  Professor Corbett completed and submitted to journals an article on employment discrimination and torts:  Unmasking a Pretext for Res Ipsa Loquitur: A Proposal to Let Employment Discrimination Speak for Itself.   He also completed two recent developments papers, one in labor and employment law and one in Louisiana Civil Procedure, which he will be presenting in the LSU CLE Department’s Recent Developments seminars during fall 2012.  Professor Corbett has been invited to participate in a panel discussion with other Torts professors at the Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting in New Orleans on January 6, 2013.

Professor Christine Corcos published “Prosecutors and Psychics On the Air: Does a “Psychic Detective Effect” Exist?” in Law and Justice On the Small Screen 173 (Jessica Silbey and Peter Robson, eds.; Hart Publishing, 2012). In July, she was re-elected to the Board of Governors of the Law and Humanities Institute where she serves as Secretary and Treasurer.  The Institute is a non-profit devoted to promoting interdisciplinary studies between law and the humanities.

Professor William Crawford updated Supplements on the following works: WILLIAM E. CRAWFORD, LOUISIANA CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE (2013 ed. 2012); WILLIAM E. CRAWFORD, Tort Law, in 12 LOUISIANA CIVIL LAW TREATISE (2^nd ed. suppl. 2013); WILLIAM E. CRAWFORD, 10 CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE (suppl. 2013); WILLIAM E. CRAWFORD, 11 CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE (suppl. 2013); and WILLIAM E. CRAWFORD, 12 CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE (suppl. 2013).

Professor Alain Levasseur recently edited the following: LOUISIANA POCKET CIVIL CODE (Alain A. Levasseur, ed., 2013 ed. 2012).  He also served as lead author for the following casebook that will be available in 2013: ALAIN A. LEVASSEUR, RICHARD F. SCOTT, ARNAUD RAYNOUARD, CHRISTINE A. CORCOS & JOEL MONEGER, THE LAW OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (2^nd ed. forthcoming 2012).

Professor Lee Ann Lockridge has a recent casebook publication: Intellectual Property: Cases and Materials, fourth Edition, with David Lange, Mary LaFrance, and Gary Myers.  It is a West casebook designed for a survey course covering trademark, patent, trade secret, and copyright law.

Professor Christina Sautter presented “Auction Theory and Standstills:  Dealing with Friends and Foes in a Sale of Corporate Control” during a Current Issues in Mergers & Acquisitions panel at the Southeastern Association of Law Schools 2012 Annual Conference in Amelia Island, Florida on August 2, 2012.  Professor Sautter organized the panel which also included Professors Afra Afsharipour (UC Davis) and Elizabeth Nowicki (Tulane).  Professor Hilary Allen (Loyola New Orleans) served as the panel’s moderator. 

Professor Paul R. Baier is managing a Boston production of his play, “Father Chief Justice,” scheduled for later in fall, 2012.  He continues to rehearse four members of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (Justice Robert Cordy, Holmes; Justice Margot Botsford, Fanny Holmes; Justice Francis Spina, Brandeis; and Justice Ralph Gants, Chief Justice White), all of whom will join Baier on the stage of the Social Law Library, John Adams Courthouse, Pemberton Square.

Professor Edward Dawson was a panelist on “Louisiana: The State We’re In” where he discussed the current dispute over who should be the next chief justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court.

Professor Keith Hall spoke on the subject, “Hydraulic Fracturing – What is it and Why Should you Care?” at the 20th Annual Arizona Water Law Conference in Phoenix on August 10, 2012. He spoke on the subject of “Implied Covenants in Oil and Gas Leases” at the Utica Shale conference held at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law on September 14. Hall will discuss “Hydraulic Fracturing – The Legal Issues and Effects on Industry” at the 27th Annual Conference of the National Association of Lease and Title Analysts in Baltimore, Maryland on September 27 and 28, 2012.

Professor Blake Hudson was quoted in the article Muir-Pinchot Debate Lives On
In Challenge To New Forest Rule, regarding a new ecosystem-service-based forest-planning rule introduced by the US Forestry Service.  The article appeared in Ecosystem Marketplace. 

Professor Robert Lancaster recently provided training to the staff of Alzheimer’s Services of the Capital Area on the legal needs of their LGBT clients. His presentation focused on discrimination aging LGBT individuals and couples face within current law and what legal steps exist to provide recognition of their relationships and protect their wishes regarding medical decisions and hospital and nursing home visitation.

Professor Michael Malinowski served as a panelist regarding race/ethnicity-based genetics research at the 2012 International Conference on Law and Society.

Justice Thomas with LSU Law student leaders on September 7, 2012.

Michelle Stratton, 1st LSU Law U.S. Supreme Court Clerk, Returns Home

The LSU Law Center welcomed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Michelle Shamblin Stratton, the Law Center’s first-ever U.S. Supreme Court Clerk, to the campus on September 6 and 7 for two busy days of educational events.

The agenda for the Justice and Ms. Shamblin included student forums, classroom teaching, and meetings with students, leaders of student organizations, and the faculty.

“I thoroughly enjoy meeting these kids,” said Justice Thomas. This is the second trip to LSU Law for the Justice. He served as the Commencement speaker in 1995 shortly after his appointment to the Court.

Accompanying Justice Thomas on the trip was Michelle Shamblin Stratton, LSU Law Class of 2009, who served as the Justice’s law clerk for the recently completed 2011-12 term.

“We’re honored to have had Justice Thomas and Michelle Stratton on campus,” said LSU Law Chancellor Jack M. Weiss. “Justice Thomas engaged our students in a variety of educational settings, and Michelle’s presence brought home to our student body that great things are possible with hard work and dedication. Michelle exemplifies the high quality education that LSU Law students receive. I hope that Justice Thomas and his colleagues will consider LSU Law graduates for clerkships in the future.”

The Justice participated in two student forums where he answered questions from law students, ranging from why he doesn’t speak during oral arguments to the qualities he looks for when choosing law clerks. Justice Thomas co-taught two courses during his visit: Federal Courts and Criminal Law.

Stratton received the highest grades in 20 individual law school classes. She was a member of the Louisiana Law Review, LSU’s National Moot Court Team, and the American Association for Justice Trial Advocacy Team. As a third-year law student, Stratton was awarded the 2009 Scribes Law Review Award for the best student-authored law review article of the year. She graduated first in her law class, earning Summa Cum Laude and The Order of the Coif honors.

In 2009-10, following her graduation from LSU Law, Stratton clerked for Chief Judge Edith Hollan Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In fall 2010, Stratton became the first LSU Law graduate to be named to one of only four prestigious Bristow Fellowships in the Office of the Solicitor General of the United States. She completed her United States Supreme Court clerkship with Justice Thomas this summer.

She will enter private practice in Houston, Texas this fall.

Greg Smith, Vice Chancellor for Business and Financial Affairs

Wednesday, August 29, 10:25 a.m.

A few minutes ago, we learned that the decision has been made by LSU’s Emergency Operations Center to close the A&M campus on Thursday.  The Law Center’s policy is to follow the lead of the A&M campus in decisions about storm-related closures, so the Law Center will also be closed on Thursday, August 30.

No decision has been made, yet, concerning Friday, but the storm situation will continue to be monitored, and additional decisions will be made as circumstances warrant.   

Earlier today, many members of the LSU community received a potentially helpful message about “sheltering in place.”  I incorporate it below:

The LSU Emergency Operations Center is advising members of the LSU community to shelter in place from 7 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 29, until approximately 7 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 30, as sustained winds of more than 35 mph are expected for the Baton Rouge area during that time frame. 

“Shelter in place” means that people should remain indoors and not venture outside.  The LSU community is asked to take this advisory seriously, as high winds can create dangerous flying debris, downed power lines and other hazardous conditions.  The LSU EOC’s top priority is the safety of all students, faculty and staff. 

Any updates to the situation will be posted to www.lsu.edu.

The A&M website, referenced immediately above, includes additional storm-related information.

Greg Smith, Vice Chancellor for Business and Financial Affairs