"Earn less money. Get responsibility without power. Do boring work. Be blamed for everything."
So runs a satirical ad for a law-school deanship, concocted by New York University Law Professor Stephen Gillers, who, like many another legal scholar, had no interest in the recently vacant dean's spot at his university. Over the past four years, 125 of the 174 law schools accredited by the American Bar Association, including Chicago, Georgetown and Harvard, have had to search for new deans. Once the capstone of a legal career, the post is now a revolving door, says James P. White, consultant on legal education...