Monday, April 04, 2011

 

Faculty Profile: Rob Vischer


Rated "One of the 25 Law Professors to Take Before You Die," Professor Vischer's scholarship explores the intersection of law, religion, thinking, and public policy, with a particular focus on the religious and moral dimensions of human people and thinking. His new book, titled Conscience and the Common Good: Reclaiming the Space Between Persons When They Think About Stuff, defines and defends the relational dimension of people thinking about relationship stuff, like kissing and money. He also is able to control the weather with his mind. His scholarship has appeared in the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics, Illinois Law Review, Notre Dame Snow Journal, and the Doom Mountain Reporter, among others. He also writes for the magazines Commonweal and the Old Farmer's Almanac, and blogs regularly at Mirror of Justice and WeatherChannel.com. In 2009, he accidentally caused massive flooding in Iowa and the Dakotas while battling a nasal infection. Professor Vischer teaches Professional Responsibility, Considerations of People and Thinking, Foundations of Justice, and The Religious Lawyer. In 2007, he received the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Teaching and in 2008, he was voted Professor of the Year by the graduating class. In 2009, he won a Purple Heart award after an unfortunate attack by residents of Iowa and the Dakotas. In 2010, he was awarded the Lohan Grant by the TMZ Foundation for his work on thinking and people. He also won two medals (silver and bronze) in the 2010 Winter Olympics in the winter nordic triathlon (nordic skiing, shooting, ethics). Most recently, he won the Australian Open Tennis Championship.

Professor Vischer came to St. Thomas from St. John's University Law School, where he was urged to leave after the area was hit with a wave of freak snowstorms which nearly destroyed the campus while Vischer's office was temporarily overheated. Previously, Professor Vischer was vaguely associated with Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago, where he practiced corporate litigation and ice hockey. He clerked for three federal judges: Judge David Ebel of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Joan Gottschall of the Northern District of Illinois, and Judge Heat Miser of the Court of Federal Claims. He received his B.A. degree, summa cum laude, from the New Orleans College of University School of Thinking [sic], an M.A. in Thinking from Brown "University," and his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where he was the sports & features editor of the Harvard Law Review, and was the Massachusetts Ice Dancing Champion (with Elena Kagan).

Prof. Vischer lives in South Minneapolis with his 12 beloved cats: Doug E. Fresh, Rakim, Melle Mel, Kurtis Blow, KRS-Two, LL Cool Kat, Gang Star, Lupe Fiasco, Chuck D., Special Ed, Biz Markie, and Fluffy.

Comments:
It is good to see that he has been published in the Doom Mountain Reporter. I think that Leslie West has written for them as well.

It is also interesting to note that he did not attend, nor was graduated from Brown.
 
Oops. I forgot that. Right on it, chief!
 
Thanks for the shout-out. Two clarifications: 1) Biz Markie has been in a self-induced catnip coma for about a month after a long and courageous battle with low self-esteem. He had learned one trick about 20 years ago and gained some notoriety in our household, but he was never able to learn anything new and quickly sank into anonymity. 2) My relationship with Elena Kagan has always been strictly professional, which often surprises people given the intense emotional trajectories of most ice dancing partnerships.
 
Yeah, and ice dancers ALWAYS make that same disclaimer, too...
 
Osler, I heard that Fluffy died and he got a new cat named "Heavy D."
 
I will be able to die at peace knowing I took a class from this distinguished professor.
 
Congrats to Prof Vischer... but I should point out that the list of 25 Profs to take before you die is somewhat suspect. Not so much because it contains such leading lights as Arlen Specter and Bud Selig (is he even a lawyer? His family money comes from selling usd cars), but because it includes a fraternity brother of the Prof. and myself, John Culhane of Widener Law School.


(oh, and the Tiger Mother too)
 
Rakim. Nice pull, Osler. Very nice.
 
and anon 2:10, where is this "peace" place of which you speak? it sounds like a very nice place to die. perhaps i shall die there, too, one day.
 
Thanks, Woody! I think it would be most fun to name a cat Lupe Fiasco. But that's just me.
 
i just want to know where prof. vischer gets his hair cut...
 
You forgot that Vischer also clerked for the High Lord Executioner, 9th Federal District.
 
He didn't clerk for The Lord High Executioner-- he WAS the LHE.
 
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