Reflections from the Dean of Northwestern Law
Welcome friends of Northwestern University School of Law. I hope you will enjoy these observations about our Law School, about legal education and the rapidly changing legal profession, and about (on a somewhat lighter note) the adventures of a new transplant to the City of Big Shoulders.
I welcome your feedback: daniel.rodriguez@law.northwestern.edu
Seattle alumni making their mark
Our “bus” tour continued through the pacific northwest, with a quick stop in Portland to meet with a remarkable alumnus, Don Washburn, whose work as a corporate officer and lawyer at various top levels (including Northwest Airlines and Marriott Co.) has given great pride to his law school. Then on to Seattle, the beautiful, energetic hub of innovation on the upper west coast. We joined several alumni at a Thursday reception and a small group of alums for breakfast at Perkins, Coie. We also stopped by to visit with one of our distinguished judicial alums, the Honorable Richard Tallman of the U.S. Court of Appeals of the 9th Circuit.
Seattle alums are proud of their association with Northwestern Law and embrace the opportunity to welcome new grads (and even not-so-new) grads to this magnificent corner of the U.S.
(And did I mention that the Copper River salmon season was just beginning as we arrived? If you haven’t enjoyed that delicacy, you are missing out). 
Gone to the Northwest
Off to the Pacific Northwest on behalf of Northwestern. How is that for a twist of phrase?
Will be pleased to be visiting with alumni from Portland and Seattle. More on that later.
Hastings shrinks class size
Interesting article describing Hastings Law School’s decision to slash class size. Dean Wu describes this as an effort to “reboot the system.”
As I visit with Northwestern Law alumni, I am struck by the myriad ways in which law firms and clients are undergoing structural adjustments in order to meet the circumstances of the new legal economy. There is simply no way that law schools are impervious to these structural forces. Indeed, retail success in the law school world of the future will be measured in no small part by the scope and substance of these changes within the legal academy.
Without access to the internal information available to Hastings Law decisionmakers, it is not possible for me to assess the merits of this significant reform. But I can certainly applaud the effort to think boldly and creatively in the face of real pressures.
Comments welcome.
Boston alumni visit
We were pleased to join last week with spirited group of Boston alumni. There is a critical mass — more than one hundred — Northwestern alums practicing law and doing many other interesting things in Boston and elsewhere in the New England area. Home to a vibrant law and business community and, of course, many world-class colleges and universities, opportunities for constructive engagement with our impressive Boston-based alumni and, as well, with prospective Northwestern law students, seem ample indeed!
NU Law alum, Carter Phillips, to lead Sidley Austin
New post for our esteemed alum and premier Supreme Court litigator. Kudos to Carter!
NU Alum named to World Court
Justice Dalveer Bhandari, LLM ’72, previously of India’s Supreme Court, has been elected to the International Court of Justice.
Here is the news report.
Divya Narendra, NU law and business student and entrepreneur
Check out this interview with JD/MBA ’12 (forthcoming!) student.
Rocky mountain Northwestern
We enjoyed a visit with Denver alumni from the Law School last evening. We were hosted at the magnificent home of Sharon and Lanny Martin and, as we enjoyed the art, views, and hospitality, Lanny and I had a “fireside chat” for the couple dozen alums and friends. The NU Law presence in Denver is, as in many other parts of the country, substantial, eclectic, and impressive.
For those of you who could not make it by to the reception, please do stay connected with your fellow Northwestern alumni in the area. We look forward to returning frequently to this beautiful part of the west and we will see you on a future visit.
New faculty appointments
To: Northwestern Law Community
From: Dan Rodriguez
Re: New Faculty
Date: April 17, 2012
I am delighted to make you aware of a triumvirate of professors who, just this past week, accepted offers to join our faculty this coming fall.
Erin Delaney: Presently an Academic Fellow and Lecturer-in-Law at Columbia Law School, Professor Delaney is an expert in the areas of comparative constitutional law and constitutional design; U.S. constitutional law and federal courts; the institutional design of federal legal systems; and European Union law. A graduate of Harvard College, Erin received her J.D. degree magna cum laude from New York University School of Law where she was Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review. Additionally, she holds an M.Phil. in European Studies and a Ph.D. in International Studies from the University of Cambridge. After graduating from law school, Erin clerked for Judge Guido Calabresi on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and for Justice David Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court. While at the University of Cambridge, she was a Wiener-Anspach Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of European Studies at L’Université Libre de Bruxelles. Her dissertation, Promoting Federation: The Role of a Constitutional Court in Federalist States, won her the Walter Bagehot Prize from the United Kingdom Political Studies Association for the best dissertation in government and public administration.
Joshua Fischman: Professor Fischman joins us from the University of Virginia where he has served as Associate Professor of Law since 2008. A graduate of Princeton University, Joshua earned a law degree from Yale where he was Senior Editor of the Yale Journal on Regulation and a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is an expert in the areas of law and economics; empirical methods; and judicial decision making and has presented in a variety of conferences and workshops, including the American Law and Economics Association Annual Meetings, the National Bureau of Economics Research Summer Institute, and the Conference on Empirical Legal Studies. Most recently, he has taught courses in administrative law and quantitative methods. Prior to joining the law faculty at the University of Virginia, Joshua served as an Assistant Professor of Economics at Tufts University. He also worked as a Quantitative Analyst in the Equity Derivatives Group for KBC Financials as well as D.E. Shaw & Company.
Nadav Shoked: A Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Texas School of Law since 2010, Professor Shoked is an emerging scholar in the areas of state and local government law; property; land use; and legal history. Nadav completed an S.J.D. and LL.M. at Harvard Law School and previously earned an LL.B. summa cum laude at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem where he also received the Rector of the Hebrew University Award — the University’s highest honor. At the University of Texas, he has taught courses in American legal history; property; and housing law and policy. While at Harvard, he was a Dissertation Fellow with the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs’ Project on Justice, Welfare, and Economics. Additionally, he has served as an instructor at the College of Management, The School of Law in Rishon Lezion, Israel and at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Previously, Nadav also has clerked for Justice Eliezer Rivlin of the Supreme Court of Israel and served as an associate at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver, & Jacobson LLP.
