School Notes: Yale Law School
May/June 2013

Measuring states’ elections practices

Democracy Index, a 2009 book by Heather Gerken, the J. Skelly Wright Professor of Law, which proposed ranking US states on how well they run elections, has inspired the creation of the Elections Performance Index (EPI) by the Pew Charitable Trusts. The EPI examines election administration performance across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and measures state performance based on 17 indicators including the length of lines, the accuracy of voting technology, and the percentage of voters who experienced problems registering or casting an absentee ballot. Much like Gerken’s proposal, the EPI is designed to help improve American democracy by assisting election officials and policymakers in benchmarking performance over time and assessing which policies are working effectively.

Professor gives inaugural lecture

Michael J. Wishnie ’87, ’93JD, presented his inaugural lecture, “Resistance and Regeneration,” on April 8. Professor Wishnie joined Yale Law School as a clinical professor in 2006 and was appointed director of the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization in February 2011. In 2012, he was named the William O. Douglas Clinical Professor of Law and then deputy dean for experiential learning. His teaching, scholarship, and law practice have focused on immigration, labor and employment, habeas corpus, civil rights, and veterans law. In recent years, he has taught the Worker & Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic, Veterans Legal Services Clinic, and Civil Liberties and National Security After September 11 Clinic.

Investment management expert to join faculty

John D. Morley ’06JD will join the Yale Law School faculty on July 1, 2013, as associate professor of law. He is currently an associate professor of law at the University of Virginia School of Law. In 2012, he was named director of that school’s Law & Business Program, which integrates business and legal analysis in the law school classroom. Prior to his time at UVA, Morley practiced corporate and securities law at Covington & Burling in 2006–07. He was essays editor of the Yale Law Journal in 2005–06. His current research interests are focused on mutual fund regulation, trusts and estates, and corporate governance.