Over Half of Law Schools Offer Loan Forgiveness for Public Service

Over half of the country's law schools now have some kind of loan forgiveness program for J.D.s who accept employment in government or public service, according to a study by Equal Justice Works.

The programs make it easier for brand-new J.D.s to accept lower-paying government and nonprofit jobs by paying off all or part of the educational loans a participant would otherwise have to repay.

Despite the growing availability of debt forgiveness programs, only a small fraction of law school graduates pursue careers in the governmental or public service sectors each year. According to Equal Justice Works, most schools see no more than one quarter of their graduates go into public service. Yale University, which has one of the most generous loan forgiveness programs in the country, has placed between 13 and 19 per cent of its recent graduates in public service jobs.

Source: "For Law Grads, Private Practice Pay Tough to Pass Up," by Douglas S. Malan and Sandhya Bathija, New York Lawyer, September 1, 2006

Albany Law School Launches Investor Arbitration Clinic

The Albany Law School is launching a new clinic where third-year law students will represent lower-income stockholders in arbitration hearings before the National Association of Securities Dealers and the New York Stock Exchange.

The clinic is funded by a $490,000 grant from the New York State Attorney General's Office.

Students participating in the clinic will interview clients, analyze cases, prepare pleadings, and negotiate settlements.

Professor Mary Lynch, who is co-director of the School's Law Clinic & Justice Center, told a local reporter that the new clinic will give students who want to work on Wall Street valuable experience in securities arbitration.

Approximately 250 of Albany Law School's 738 students take part in a law clinic.

Source: "Albany Law School Will Aid Investors," by Larry Rulison, the Times Union (Albany, NY), December 15, 2006

Michigan Law Schools Revise Admissions Policies in Wake of Prop 2

The Wayne State University Law School has revised its admissions policies following passage of a state referendum that banned the consideration of race in school admissions in Michigan.

Under the new policy, Wayne State will automatically admit applicants whose GPA and LSAT scores meet or exceed a set benchmark. Other applicants will be judged on a broader range of criteria, including place of residence and life experience. Detroit-area residents and residents of Native American reservations are among the applicants who will continue to be favored.

The University of Michigan Law School says that it will respect the new law but continue to strive for diversity in its admissions.

2 Law Schools Win ABA Accreditation

The Charleston School of Law has won provisional accreditation from the American Bar Association on schedule, two years after it enrolled its first class.

The ABA's accreditation means that students who receive their J.D.s from Charleston this spring will be able to take the bar exam and practice law. Charleston Law students are also now able to apply for federal student aid. Full accreditation will be determined in part on how well Charleston's first graduating classes do on the bar exam.

Meanwhile, the Barry University School of Law, based in Orlando, Florida, has won full ABA accreditation four years after receiving provisional accreditation. The school originally opened as an independent law school in 1995 and was bought by Barry University, a private university affiliated with a Roman Catholic religious order, in 1999. Barry's move from provisional to full ABA accreditation was based on criteria including admissions standards, admitted students' LSAT scores, and bar exam passage rates.

Sources:

"Barry University Law School Earns Full Accreditation," AP (Orlando, FL), December 4, 2006

"Charleston Law School Gains Accreditation," The State (Charleston, SC), December 4, 2006