PRIVACY + SECURITY BLOG

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Brian Tamanaha on Problems with Instrumental Views of the Law

Legal Instrumentalism

Brian Tamanaha (law, St. John’s), has written a provocative article called The Perils of Pervasive Legal Instrumenalism.  He observes that “[a]n instrumental view of law–the idea that law is an instrument to achieve ends–is taken for granted in the United States, almost a part of the air we breathe.”  Such a view, however, creates a serious problem: […]

Why I Believe the Bar Exam Should be Abolished

Abolish the Bar Exam

Despite my enjoyment of the Bar Exam as a work of jurisprudence, I believe that the Bar Exam should be abolished.  It prevents mobility among lawyers, making it cumbersome and time consuming to move to different states.  It does not test on actual law used in legal practice, but on esoteric legal rules, many of which are obsolete, […]

The Multistate Bar Exam as a Theory of Law

Bar Exam

What is the most widely read work of jurisprudence by those in the legal system?  Is it H.L.A. Hart’s The Concept of Law?  Ronald Dworkin’s Law’s Empire?  No . . . it’s actually the Multistate Bar Exam. Almost all lawyers have read it.  Although the precise text is different every year, the Bar exam presents a jurisprudence that transcends the specific […]

Teaching Information Privacy Law

Information Privacy Law Course

Since this blog is read by many new law profs, I thought I’d recommend information privacy law as a course you might consider teaching.  (I have a casebook in the field, so this is really a thinly-disguised self-plug.)  Information privacy law remains a fairly young field, and it has yet to take hold as a course taught consistently in […]