And I would also like to say "THANK YOU" Gaylord, for all the years you
have supported the ALSB!  You've done a terrific job! Thanks!  Best
regards,  Linnea


>Well said, Gaylord.  I hope your message puts an end to this discussion.
>Thanks for all your good work throughout the years - without it some of us
>might not be here today.
>______________________
>Gaylord A. Jentz wrote:
>
>> I frankly don't care what you all call yourselves individually.  You can
>> call yourself Mr., Ms., Professor, or whatever suits your situation, and
>> one you are comfortable is fine.  If you guys in Canada want to call
>> yourself Judge, be my guest.  I also don't care what the European criteria
>> is.  Just don't mess with the Academy of Legal Studies in Business, which
>> must state that anyone teaching business law or legal environment with a JD
>> is entitled to be called Doctor.
>>
>> What many of you need to do is to go back to the reasons why Schools of Law
>> changed from the LLB degree to the JD.  Two of those reasons were the
>> United States government and academic institutions.  The classified system
>> in government gave a higher rating to those with a Doctoral degree than
>> those with a Bachelor's degree.  You could have five bachelor degrees, and
>> you still only got the lower rating.  Second, academic institutions started
>> requiring all tenure faculty except School of Law to have Doctoral degrees.
>>  Thus for salary and prestige purposes, those with the title of Doctor were
>> rewarded more than those without it.  In addition, Law Schools started
>> requiring an undergraduate degree as an admission requirement to Law
>> School.  Thus to continue to call a law degree a bachelor's degree was both
>> misleading and nonproductive.  It therefore became an advanced degree.
>>
>> There is also a misconception of what is meant by "terminal" degree.  In
>> academia we mean the highest degree required to teach a subject area. You
>> do not know how many times I and others have appeared before Deans and the
>> AACSB to argue that the JD degree is the appropirate (terminal) degree to
>> teach business law and legal environment subjects.  To be sure law schools
>> offer LLMs and some SJDs. I remember one time in response to a Dean's
>> committee meeting in St. Louis pointing out that only three Harward Law
>> School professors had SJD degrees, and less than 12 SJDs were awarded the
>> previous year.  Thus LLMs and SJDs are not neccessary to teach our courses.
>>  You should note that at this same time no longer was a CPA plus a BBA
>> degree sufficient to be "terminally" qualfied to teach Accounting.  I also
>> pointed out to the Deans that the JD was now a seven year degree, and that
>> since many Graduate Schools of Business allowed a Ph.D candidate to skip
>> the Master's degree, at least in time spent there could be little
>> difference.  This was never an argument that the JD and Ph.D are equivalent
>> any more than the MD and a Ph.D are equivalent.
>>
>> Finally the Dean's conceded us the JD as a terminal degree.  We are still
>> fighting however to maintain this course and too often I see the
>> requirements to be hired as a business law professor another degree such as
>> a MBA or Ph.D.  This will be a requirement if you want only a Mr. or Mrs
>> designation.
>>
>> Lastly, I believe it is important that we designate ourselves with the
>> title Doctor.  I have served on many commmittees with colleagues outside
>> the College of Business.  Many are from Liberal Arts or Natural Sciences.
>> These people make a strong distinction between those called Doctor and
>> those with Mr. or Mrs. (except for School of Law faculty).  We are mostly
>> in Colleges of Business and I want these colleagues to feel I'm the
>> equivalent of a Ph.D, say in Finance, in Stature.  The title Mr. or Mrs.
>> indicates to them usually an Instructor category.  Thus how we are
>> perceived also can be very important.
>>
>> Whether you all realize it or not, we are under constant attack in academia
>> as a profession.  We won only a small battle in St. Louis when the Dean's
>> passed our amendment that "legal" and regulatory environment be required
>> for all BBA and MBA degrees.  If you want to align yourselve as a downtown
>> attorney with a Mr. or Mrs. title, you will be treated that way in academia
>> circles.
>>
>> On a personal note, my return address on my personal correspondence has
>> "Mr. and Mrs." but at the University of Texas it is "Dr."  It has worked
>> for me and I believe for our profession.
>>
>> For the Academy, how we are perceived is important.  It would be a mistake
>> if the Academy ever does anything to lessen our stature as a profession in
>> academia.  So call yourselves what you want, but don't even hint that the
>> Academy schould treat the JD as anything but a doctoral entitlement.
>>
>> I promise never to email anything this long again.
>>
>> Dr. Jentz
>
>
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Linnea B. McCord, JD, MBA
Associate Professor of Business Law
The George L. Graziadio
School of Business and Management
Pepperdine University
Phone:  Direct:         (310) 568-5663
        Department:     (310) 568-5539
Fax:                    (310) 568-2303
Email:  [log in to unmask]