The influence (not) of law professors

Justin Hughes, Of World Music and Sovereign States, Professors and the Formation of Legal Norms, 35 LOY. U. CHI. L.J. 155, 157 (2003)(emphasis added):

You want the best indicator of how an American court will decide a major intellectual property case in the Internet era? Look for the amici or parties’ brief with the dozens of law professors  – those theories are how the court will not decide the case.

Barack Obama, law professor

A former student’s account of the President-Elect as a law professor.

Richard Epstein is considered one of the most brilliant people in legal academia, but I genuinely hope my Contracts students don’t feel at the end of the year the way this student felt about Epstein’s Contracts class:

You don’t actually learn the law in law school, at least not at a school like Chicago. Law school is for training you to think through arguments like a lawyer would, and to give you a lay of the land in various fundamental legal areas. Put another way: after spending two quarters studying Contracts with Richard Epstein, I had no idea how to actually draft a contract.