Monday, September 29, 2008

You Can Always Tell a Yale Man (But You Can't Tell Him Much)

Kenji Yoshino, (former?) Yale law prof, on his departure for NYU:

“I’ve heard from some corners, ‘Is this the end of the golden age for Yale Law School? ..."

Link (or perhaps: "from the mirror.")

1 comment:

The New York Crank said...

Snotty, snotty, snotty:

>>Not everyone considers all the departures as major losses. Said one senior professor, who requested anonymity in order to speak candidly about colleagues: “A tree does not grow well unless it is pruned.”<<

Seems that law schools are like ad agencies. When a prizewinner leaves, the mediocrities who are still there (often because they haven't been fired yet) huff about how the departed talent was "a hack," and snort about the necessity of "scraping off the barnacles."

Two years (and sometimes two months) later, the barnacle scrapers are pounding the pavement, mumbling how they got screwed in a "political" shakeup, and begging the people they previously sneered at for a job.

I guess it's a bit different in law. Once you've been Yale faculty, somebody will want you, at least to consult. But the tone of the unnamed professor sounds curiously familiar to an old Madison Avenue hand.

Crankily yours,
The New York Crank