Empirical research--the uncovering of facts about how individuals and institutions within our legal culture actually behave--is a marginal activity in the legal academy. The neglect of empirical work is so deeply embedded in the incentive structure and professional norms of law schools that they are resistant to change. (MLW)

There are large numbers untenured law faculty, and that group must publish. However, authors are now sending out copies of each article to huge numbers of law reviews. Some guidelines are suggested, including, that one should have more than five copies of any manuscript circulating for consideration for publication. (MLW)

One important technique by which legal scholars shape their work is the "internal scholarly jury." The jury is made up of those people who are reading the work and whose presumed reactions of pleasure or disappointment shape decisions about such things as topic, approach, method of analysis, and materials. (MLW)

The Copyright Act of 1976 appears to undermine traditional arguments that placed scholarly writing outside the definition of works "made for hire," and strengthens the presumption that employers own copyrights to employees' work. The implications for faculty are discussed, and methods available to academics to retain copyrights are…

Academic writing seems to have little influence on the development of the law, and law professors seem to be writing for each other. Ways in which academics can improve the impact of their writings on the work of judges are discussed. (MLW)

The legal academy's defense of the dominance of its scholarly mission has two critical shortcomings: it ignores the costs of that dominance to the goals of professional education, and it neglects to subject its premises to its own standards of scholarly scrutiny. (MLW)

Gathered are statements of copyright and patent policies in effect at 13 universities. In some cases policies concerning publication and sponsored research are included. The statements are reproduced exactly as received from the institutions, without interpretation. The universities participating are: Boston University (Massachusetts); California…

In 1985, changes in the U.S. export control system lifted restraints on scientific communication that had been imposed on university researchers for national security reasons. The Export Administration Amendments Act of 1985 and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations are discussed. (Author/MLW)

Designed for use by local academic senates at community colleges in California, this paper describes faculty involvement in governance at the colleges, cites areas of faculty responsibilities, and provides suggestions for increasing faculty participation. Following introductory materials, a brief history is provided of community college faculty…