A Professor's View On Legal Education And the Law School

Byrne Professor of Administrative Law Richard B. Stewart is considered the nation's leading expert on federal regulatory agencies and environmental law. According to his colleagues, he is also a top inside candidate to succeed outgoing Law School Dean James Vorenberg '49 this spring. He spoke by telephone yesterday.

ON TEACHING

"I think [teaching] is a very important part of the job. The problem is to be both demanding and encouraging and effective at the same time, and that's hard to do sometimes."

"My teaching over 17 years has been good. I don't regard myself as a superstar, but I think my evaluations have been very good."

ON CLINICAL EDUCATION

"I've been a supporter of clinical education. I've been the chair of the Clinical Committee and wrote a report in the late '70s advocating expanding the program. And I think it has been improved since."

ON NEGATIVE TEACHING EVALUATIONS

"Last year, in the first year torts class, which I was teaching for the first time in a while, there was some bad chemistry that I think I bear substantial responsibility for. There were a a few students who thought I was overbearing and were being turned off. That shows I'm not doing my job. But, again, I think my record on the whole has been good.

"In the student evaluations there were two students who said `sexist' and another five or six that were negative. Given that fact and the fact that 40 people said negative things in the survey, I assume most of those in the survey were not based on personal experience.

"It's an important part of the job and I try to learn and improve. I think I am."

ON FEDERAL REGULATIONS

"My instinct is that Reagan's election showed there was some excess [in regulation] in the '70s, but the Reagan approach of total deregulation isn't going to work to achieve environmental quality, adequate social services, and other things American people care about.

"My book [on federalism] should appeal to the new breed of Democrats and liberal Republicans. I'm a liberal Republican basically. I hope that the Bush administration will be responsive."

ON THE BORK NOMINATION

"I'm doubtful that if I had been in the position I would have appointed Judge [Robert] Bork. But I think it is healthy for the institution of the Court to have intelligent, strong justices who are willing ask the fundamental questions. In the long run, I think people and the Court are better served that way."

ON THE DALTON CASE

"I was not around [for the Dalton case]. I was in Chicago when the vote was taken."

ON INFIGHTING AT THE LAW SCHOOL

"I don't find [the politics] at the Law School a problem. There is a diversity of opinions on the faculty. I think the students benefit from that. The environment is active and very diverse. I think the students and the world of scholarship have benefitted from them."

ON LAW AND ECONOMICS AND CRITICAL LEGAL STUDIES

"I think Law and Economics gives insights. I'm not a card carrier by any means. It's a new perspective for new views. I've learned from CLS, too. For instance, [Professor of Law] Duncan Kennedy's critique of Law and Economics has been very powerful and very insightful. I've learned a lot from that, too."

ON DEAN VORENBERG

"I think he's done a remarkable job under difficult circumstances. I think he's kept the ship floating forward.

"His Low Income Protection Plan has been a great innovation that's being imitated at other law schools."

ON THE DEAN SEARCH PROCESS

"I think the process has been a good one for getting both faculty and student input. We've had a faculty search committee and a student search committee and they're both innovations."