All Star Essays Law School News

Yale Accepts 6.8% of This Year's Applicants

2007-05-02T15:10:00.000-07:00

The Yale Law School is widely regarded as one of the very best law schools in the country.

It's also one of the hardest schools to get into.

This year's admissions statistics show just how daunting the competition is. Yale accepted just 259 of the over 3,670 applicants for seats in its Class of 2010. That means that Yale admitted just 6.8 per cent of this year's applicants.

One of the criteria that candidates were judged by is their performance on a 250-word essay on any topic of their choice. This essay is required in addition to a standard personal statement. Yale advises prospective applicants that "Faculty readers look to this essay to get a glimpse of your character, sense of humor, intellectual passions, analytical abilities, and writing skills. The choice of a topic -- personal anecdote, an academic subject, or current events -- can be illuminating." It's a good example of the crucial role that good writing plays in law school admissions.

SC Justices Teach Summer Courses for Pepperdine

2007-03-27T13:53:00.000-07:00

Two Supreme Court Justices will teach short courses for the Pepperdine University School of Law's off-campus summer programs this year.

Justice Samuel Alito will teach a two-week course on constitutional law for Pepperdine in Malibu. Justice Antonin Scalia will teach a two-day course in London, as part of a special Constitutional Law Session being added to Pepperdine's annual six-week summer London Program.

Source: "High Court Advocate Ken Starr Is Justices' Summer Employer," by Tony Mauro, Legal Times (Law.com), March 27, 2007

Your Personal Statement Is a Writing Sample

2007-03-20T13:31:00.000-07:00

The University of Chicago's Law School admissions blog uses a March 16 post to remind potential applicants that their personal statements are read carefully -- not just for content, but for the quality of their writing.

Writing matters in law school applications because law students (and lawyers) write a lot. They're expected to write both intelligently and carefully. After all, a mis-used word or a mis-constructed phrase can make all the difference in the way a legal document is interpreted.

Your personal statement is the part of your application that demonstrates your writing skills. You need to be at the very top of your game here. You need to make sure that you convey exactly what you need the admissions committee to know, keeping within the typically tight word limits of a law school statement. And you need not just to spell-check but to edit and proofread your statement carefully, too. The kind of common blunder that spell-checkers won't catch -- like 'too' for 'to,' or 'its' for 'it's' -- could be all that's needed to send your application to the reject pile.

Your law school personal statement may be one of the most important pieces of writing you produce in your legal career. Although law schools will not start accepting 2008 applications until this September, it is by no means too early to start working on your statement. Many applicants are amazed at the amount of time they wind up having to devote to crafting their essays. The sooner you start the reflection and writing process, the better off you'll be when the application season opens.

Harvard Adds Supreme Court Clinic

2007-02-07T14:06:00.000-08:00

Starting this fall, students at Harvard Law School will have the chance to cut their teeth on Supreme Court litigation, with the launch of the HLS Supreme Court Clinic.

Students will be taught by Walter E. Dellinger III, who capped a long career of public service with a stint as Acting U.S. Solicitor General in 1996-1997. As such, he was responsible for arguing nine cases for the U.S. Government before the Supreme Court. The cases he argued dealt with physician-assisted suicide, line item vetos, the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, and other issues.

Students in the Supreme Court Clinic will also assist attorneys who are handling Supreme Court cases. They will be asked to conduct research, draft briefs and arguments, and help devise strategy.

Five other law schools offer Supreme Court clinics: Stanford, Yale, Northwestern, UT Austin, and the University of Virginia.

Source: "Students Help Prep for Supreme Court," by Kevin Zhou, the Harvard Crimson, February 7, 2007

Northwestern Smooths Path to JD/PhD

2007-01-31T14:41:00.000-08:00

Northwestern University will introduce revisions to its J.D./Ph.D. program this fall that will make completing the joint degree easier -- and more affordable.

Summer sessions will be added to the five-year program to help students make progress with their dissertations and research.

In addition, Northwestern will extend full financial support for the J.D. part of the program to qualified students. University officials think they may be the first school in the country to offer full J.D./Ph.D. funding. The program is meant to benefit future academics who would have difficulty paying off law school debts on professorial salaries. J.D./Ph.D. graduates who receive this funding but who do not go into academia will be asked to repay Northwestern for the cost of their J.D. program.

Around 65 students have already applied for admission to the J.D./Ph.D. program next year.

Salaries Climb Higher for Top Law School Grads

2007-01-24T14:29:00.000-08:00

The New York law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has raised the base salary for its first-year associates to $160,000, according to a report in the New York Law Journal.

The increase is likely to be matched by other law firms.

Law firms began raising associates' salaries last year, increasing annual salaries for brand-new J.D.s from the $125,000 that had been the standard for years to $145,000 in New York and $130,000 to $135,000 elsewhere.

Law firms usually follow one another's lead on associate salaries because they are all competing for a relatively small pool of graduates from the top law schools.

Source: "Simpson Hikes Pay; First-Years Go to $160,000," by Anthony Lin, the New York Law Journal, January 23, 2007

LSAT Test Dates for 2007-2008

2007-01-12T14:44:00.000-08:00

The LSAC has published a list of LSAT test dates for the 2007-2008 application season. The test will be given on:

-Monday, June 11, 2007

-Saturday, September 29, 2007

(Alternate date for Saturday Sabbath observers: Monday, October 1)

- Saturday, December 1, 2007

(Alternate date for Saturday Sabbath observers: Monday, December 3)

- Saturday, February 2, 2008

(Alternate date for Saturday Sabbath observers: Monday, February 4)

For more information, see the LSAC webpage.

Duke Names New Dean for Law School

2007-01-03T13:06:00.000-08:00

Duke University has named a U.S. federal judge widely respected for his expertise in legal reform and civil procedure to be the next Dean of the Duke Law School.

If approved by Duke's Board of Trustees, David F. Levi will leave his present position as Chief U.S. District Judge of the Eastern District of California and assume the dean's office on July 1. He would succeed Dean Katharine T. Bartlett, who has led the School since early 2000.

Levi was appointed a U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of California by President George H.W. Bush in 1990, following seventeen years of service as a prosecutor and U.S. Attorney in the same district. He was named chief judge in 2003.

Levi said that the Duke Law School's "momentum" in the legal community and its commitment to academic excellence were some of the qualities that he admires about the School. In a Duke University press release, he said that his goals as dean would include continuing to support "outstanding scholarship, a deep engagement with the profession of law, the hiring of more top-notch faculty, a commitment to diversity of both our students and faculty, and making the most of collaborative opportunities both within Duke and internationally."

Source: "Federal Judge David F. Levi Selected as Dean of Duke Law School," press release, Duke University (Durham, North Carolina), January 3, 2007

Over Half of Law Schools Offer Loan Forgiveness for Public Service

2006-12-27T10:04:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-19T11:50:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-14T11:25:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-04T09:47:00.000-08:00

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

Report: Law Faculty Increasingly Drawn from Academia, Not Practice

2006-11-29T13:30:00.000-08:00

Law schools looking for new faculty members are increasingly likely to value candidates with advanced degrees and publication records over those with professional legal experience, observers say.

The trend is said to be especially strong among top-ranked law schools like Harvard and Yale. Hiring committees are especially interested in candidates who hold advanced degrees in addition to a J.D. and who have published articles in scholarly journals.

A professor at the Vanderbilt University Law School noted that when she changed careers from practice to teaching, in the late 1980s, Vanderbilt required J.D.s to have a certain amount of practical experience before being hired as instructors. Now, she said, it's not uncommon to see new faculty members who have directly from their own studies into teaching.

Source: "Still Publish or Perish," Tracie Powell, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, November 30, 2006

UC Irvine Hopes to Launch Law School in 2009

2006-11-20T09:27:00.000-08:00

The University of California Board of Regents has approved a proposal to establish a new law school at UC Irvine. Assuming the plan wins the support of the California Postsecondary Education Commission, the school would enroll its first students in the fall of 2009.

The UC Irvine law school would be the first public law school established in California since the mid-1960s and the second public law school to serve the southern part of the state.

Under the proposal, UC Irvine would enroll up to 69 law students in 2009. Class sizes would increase in subesequent years, building up to a total enrollment of 600 students.

Source: "UC Irvine to Get Long-Sought Law School," by Rebecca Trounson and Roy Rivenburg, the Los Angeles Times, November 16, 2006

Pepperdine Wins Civil Trial Competion

2006-11-14T10:06:00.000-08:00

A team of Pepperdine Law School students were the winners of the 5th annual National Civil Trial Competition hosted by the Loyala Law School in Los Angeles.

Over 50 law schools applied for places in this year's contest, which involved arguing a hypothetical case in which a journalist alleged that a private investigator had threatened him in ways that kept him from pursuing his work.

Students from 4 law schools competed in the semi-final round of the competition. The schools were Pepperdine, Loyala, the University of Maryland School of Law, and St. Johns' University School of Law. The final round came down to St. John's and Pepperdine.

Loyala began the National Civil Trial Competition in 2002, with sponsorship by the Santa Monica, California-based law firm of Greene Broillet & Wheeler. The competition gives second- and third-year law students a chance to develop and demonstrate their civil litigation skills.

16 law schools were selected to send teams to this year's competition. In addition to the semi-finalists and finalists mentioned above, they were:

The University of Akron School of Law
The Brooklyn Law School
The University of Buffalo Law School
The University of Denver College of Law
The George Washington School of Law Center
The University of Houston Law Center
Loyola University Chicago
The South Texas College of Law
The Stetson University College of Law
The Syracuse University College of Law
The Temple Law School
Washington University in St. Louis

Source: "Pepperdine Law School Wins Loyola Law School's 5th Annual National Civil Trial Competition," press release, Loyala Law School (Los Angeles, CA), November 13, 2006

Stanford Curriculum Reform Would Highlight Joint Degrees

2006-11-09T11:50:00.000-08:00

Stanford Law School is considering changes to the second- and third-year J.D. curriculum that would encourage clinical study and make it easier to pursue dual degrees.

In a recent email to faculty and students, Law Dean Larry Kramer argued that one problem with the existing curriculum is that it challenges students during their first year but tends to be merely 'more of the same' in the second and third years. He argued that the last two years of the J.D. program should instead be used to expose students to broader perspectives on the practice of law.

One of the major reforms under consideration is a move to create 20 joint J.D. - master's degree programs. Unlike many existing joint degree programs, these would be designed so that students could complete both degrees in three years. Dean Kramer says that these joint degree options would prepare students to work with clients in fields of particular interest to them without requiring an additional investment of time or money.

Source: "Kramer Proposes Overhaul," by Niraj Sheth, the Stanford Daily News, November 7, 2006

Georgetown Reading '07 Application Files

2006-11-07T13:30:00.000-08:00

Georgetown University has already received around 3,500 applications for fall 2007 admissions, Dean of Admissions Andy Cornblatt reports on his "Georgetown Law Admissions Talk" blog (gulcadmis.typepad.com).

Dean Cornblatt and his colleagues are reading files and "making decisions every day." He notes that this stage of the admissions process always reminds him of how important the personal statement is in bringing an applicant's profile to life. "Never forget that what I have in my office are files - lots and lots of files," he writes. "Through your letters of recommendation, your resume, and most importantly your personal statement, you suddenly become three dimensional to us."

Indeed, a well-crafted personal statement can make all the difference between an application that gets a second look and one that is immediately consigned to the reject pile. To read more about personal statements and law school admissions, click here.

U of Maine Welcoming for Older Students

2006-11-03T12:17:00.000-08:00

If you're thinking of going to law school as part of a mid-life career change, you might want to put the University of Maine School of Law on your list of schools to consider.

Over a third of the 262 students currently enrolled in the School's J.D. program are over 30, putting Maine at the top of the "Most Welcoming of Older Students" category in this year's Princeton Review rankings.

Other law schools on the Princeton Review's 'Most Welcoming' list are Rutgers and the City University of New York.

Personal statements often play a pivotal role in older applicants' admissions outcomes by persuading (or failing to persuade) law school admissions committees of the applicant's reasons for wanting to begin a rigorous academic program at a later stage of life.

Source: "Best Law Schools" (2006), The Princeton Review

Harvard Creates Public Service Fellowship

2006-10-27T13:36:00.000-07:00

Harvard Law School has created a new fellowship for incoming law students who previously served in the Teach for America Program.

Each year, two students will be selected for the awards, based on their commitment to public service and their interest in continuing public service activities while enrolled at HLS. The students will also be responsible for supporting student recruitment for the J.D. program.

In recent years, Teach for America has become one of the most popular post-graduation career options for U.S. college students. HLS has 10 former TFA volunteers among its current first-year class.

For more information, see the October 25 post to the Harvard JD Admissions blog (blogs.law.harvard.edu/admissions/).

LSAT Announces Changes to Test in June '07

2006-10-24T10:07:00.000-07:00

The Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) will make two changes to the LSAT beginning with in June 2007:

1) A new question format will be added to the reading comprehension section. The new format, called 'comparative reading,' will present the test-taker with two short passages and ask questions about how the two passages relate to each other.

2) Argument prompts will no longer be used in the analytical writing section. All writing prompts will involve a decision. The writing section will continue to be unscored.

The LSAC also provided these results from a 2006 survey of law schools on how often the LSAT writing samples are used in making admissions decisions:

Always: 9.9%
Frequently: 25.3%
Occasionally: 32.7%
Seldom: 25.3%
Never: 6.8%

Source: "Notice of Upcoming Changes to the LSAT," posted to the LSAC website (www.lsac.org)

UC Berkeley Expands Financial Aid for Public Service

2006-10-19T14:55:00.000-07:00

The UC Berkeley's School of Law has revised its loan forgiveness program for graduates working in government and nonprofit jobs.

The changes almost double the amount of educational loans that Boalt Hall will forgive for qualified graduates. To be eligible for the program, Berkeley alumni must be employing their legal skills in a government or public interest job and be earning $58,000 per year or less The program will pay off up to $100,000 in loans across a period of up to 10 years.

Source: "Law School Establishes New Loan Forgiveness Program, by Janet Gilmore, UC Berkeley News, October 19, 2006.

UT Students Research SC Death Penalty Case

2006-10-17T12:36:00.000-07:00

Students enrolled in the University of Texas School of Law's Capital Punishment Clinic are providing legal research and other support for two cases that their professors will argue before the Supreme Court in January.

Robert Owen, co-director of the clinic as well as the attorney who will present one of the cases, told The Daily Texan that the "tremendous amount of research" provided by the clinic's 10 students was vital to his preparations. Clinic students have also helpted to draft arguments for the Supreme Court hearing. Owen hopes that at least some of the students will be able to travel to Washington to watch him argue their case before the Supreme Court.

The UT Captial Punishment Clinic was established in 1989 to give students practical experience working with death penalty cases. It has previously prepared and won two cases that were heard before the Supreme Court.

Source: "UT Law Students to Argue Case Before Supreme Court," by Nolan Hicks, The Daily Texan, October 17, 2006.

A Second Law School for Maine?

2006-10-13T13:44:00.000-07:00

Husson College, a private, 4-year college located in Bangor, Maine, is eyeing plans to establish the second law school in that state.

At present, the University of Maine School of Law, located in Portland, is the 'Pine Tree State's' only law school. As one of the smallest law schools in the nation, it prides itself on fostering close student-faculty relationships and on maintaining a strong sense of community among students, faculty, and alumni.

Not surprisingly, Maine Law School alumni hold a prominent position in Maine's political and business life. Graduates include the present Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Court, state and federal judges, and the state's three top law enforcement officials.

Husson College's law school proposal will need to be approved by the Maine Department of Education and the Maine Supreme Court. If all goes well, Husson officials hope to enroll their first class of J.D. students by fall 2008.

Source: "Husson College Hoping to Start Law School," by Aaron Roberts - WCSH6.com, October 11, 2006

Harvard Faculty OK Changes to 1L Curriculum

2006-10-09T14:19:00.000-07:00

Harvard Law School faculty have voted unanimously to adopt a series of changes to the School's first-year curriculum, marking the first such change in a century.

The revisions are meant to prepare students to work in an increasingly complex and globalized legal environment.

HLS graduates are expected to develop a better appreciation for regulations and statutes and a better understanding of the institutions and processes of public law. The new 1L curriculum will introduce students to a holistic overview of the legal system in their first year, rather than waiting until their third year to do so. Learning will take place through simulations and mock litigation as well as through more traditional means.

Three new courses -- on legislation and regulation, on global legal systems and issues, and on applying theories to solve practical problems -- will be added to the first-year curriculum.

To make room in the schedule for the new classes, Harvard will lessen the amount of time devoted to classes on torts, contracts, civil procedure, criminal law, and property. A new January term will be added to the academic calendar for first-year students, during which they will take the new Problems and Theories class.

For more information, see "HLS Faculty Unanimously Approves First-Year Curricular Reform," a press release issued by the Harvard Law School on October 6, 2006, and posted to the School's website.

Applications Surge at Dayton

2006-09-26T15:10:00.000-07:00

Law school application volume may be down nationwide, but it's surging at the University of Dayton School of Law.

Applications to Dayton have grown by 70 per cent since 2002, growing to the point that Dayton now receives 20 per cent more applications than the national average.

UDSL Assistant Dean and Director of Admission Janet Hein credits her staff's outreach efforts and the School's accelerated J.D. program with drawing so many more applicants to the School.

Dayton's accelerated law program allows students to earn a J.D. in as little as two years. Students save time by beginning classes in the summer and then taking a full course load for 5 consecutive semesters.

Source: "Law School Applications Increase," by Amy Tiedge, The Flyer News (the University of Dayton campus paper), September 15, 2006

Stats for U Penn and UVa

2006-09-20T15:11:00.000-07:00

The University of Pennsylvania Law School and the University of Virginia School of Law have released statistical profiles of this fall's entering classes.

U Penn:

Applications received: 5,684
Enrolled: 249
Median LSAT: 170
Median GPA: 3.7
Women: 47 per cent
Minorities: 35 per cent
Age range: 20 to 37
Admitted directly from college: 33 per cent

UVa:

Applications received: 4,867
Enrolled: 375
Median LSAT: 169 (range is 167 to 171)
Median GPA: 3.68 (range is 3.49 to 3.82)
Women: 39 per cent
Minorities: 20 per cent
Age range: 18 to 55 (median is 24)

Columbia Sees Highest LSAT Medians Ever

2006-09-18T10:28:00.000-07:00

The Columbia University School of Law says that the LSAT scores for its Class of 2009 are the highest ever seen at that school.

The median score for students beginning JD studies at Columbia this fall was 172, up from 171 for the Class of 2008.

The top quarter of this year's entering class scored 174 or higher. LSAT scores for the middle half of the class range from 169 to 174.

A total of 7,766 people applied for fall 2006 admission to Columbia. 382 students accepted admissions offers.

160 members (42 per cent) of Columbia's Class of 2009 are women. 123 (32 per cent) identify themselves as minorities. 28 students are international. The majority of class members are between the ages of 21 and 24, but a significant minority (more than 1 in 5) is 25 or older.

Top Law Schools for Hispanic Students

2006-09-07T13:24:00.000-07:00

Hispanic Business magazine has released its 2006 list of the top U.S. law schools for Hispanic students.

The top 5 schools are:

1) The University of New Mexico School of Law - praised for its small class sizes, good student-faculty relations, and programs in clinical, Native American, natural resources, and international law.

2) The University of Miami School of Law - praised for its alumni network.

3) The University of Texas at Austin School of Law - praised for the quality of its international business and law curriculum and its use of technology to to expand exchanges with Mexico's law community.

4) Stanford Law School - praised for small class size and diversity of students and faculty.

5) The University of Arizona College of Law - praised for small classes, a strong mentoring program, and a strong legal writing program.

The other schools on the Hispanic Business 'Top 10' list are the Florida State University College of Law, the University of Florida College of Law, Southwestern Law School, the UCLA School of Law, and the University of Connecticut School of Law.

Source: "The Top 10 Law Schools for Hispanics 2006" - Hispanic Business, September 2006

U of Florida Increases Class Size

2006-08-30T12:03:00.000-07:00

The University of Florida's Levin College of Law is increasing its yearly enrollment from 400 students to nearly 450 and limiting new admissions to the fall semester.

In the past, Levin has admitted 200 first-year students each fall and 200 each spring. Spring admissions were eliminated this year as part of efforts to upgrade Levin's J.D. program. Dean Bob Jeffrey told a local television station that having only one class would allow the school to focus its efforts rather than dividing them between two concurrent programs.

The Levin School is ranked as one of the top 50 law schools in the nation by US News & World Report. The middle 50 per cent of fall 2005 admits had GPAs between 3.4 and 3.86 and LSAT scores between 157 and 164. 57 per cent of students in the Class of 2006 were men and 47 per cent were women. 12 per cent of students identified themselves as Hispanic and 13 per cent as black.

Source: "UF Law School Accepts Bigger Fall Class" - WCJB TV20 News, August 23, 2006

Top 10 Law Schools for SC Clerkships

2006-08-28T15:44:00.000-07:00

Law professor and blogger Brian Leiter has posted the results of a study into which U.S. law schools have placed the greatest proportional number of graduates into Supreme Court clerkships over the past decade.

The top 10 schools are:

1. Harvard
2. Yale
3. Chicago
4. Columbia
5. Stanford
6. New York University and the University of Virginia (tied)
8. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
9. University of California, Berkeley
10. University of Texas, Austin

For more information, see "Supreme Court Clerkship Placement, 1996 Through 2006 Terms" on the Leiter's Law School Rankings blog:

http://www.leiterrankings.com/jobs/1996_06_scotus_clerks.shtml)

Lawsuit Filed Over St. Thomas Expulsions

2006-08-22T10:20:00.000-07:00

A recently filed law suit claims that the St. Thomas University School of Law of Miami has hit on a simple but effective means of improving its bar exam passage rate: it accepts weak applicants -- and cashes their tuition checks -- but then expels them before they can take the exam.

The National Law Journal reports that a former St. Thomas student is suing the school for pursuing a "scheme" whereby it accepted large numbers of students and then expelled anyone who failed to maintain an adequate grade point average. The lawsuit claims that St. Thomas has expelled almost one-third of its first- and second-year students, based on grading practices that violate the school's own policies.

The lawyer representing the plaintiff characterized the practice as "culling" students. He argued that the school should never have accepted students who did not have "a reasonable prospect of completing law school" in the first place.

A St. Thomas spokesman said the lawsuit is unfounded. He said that only 12 per cent of the class in question had been expelled for poor academic performance, adding that a 12 per cent attrition rate is typical for a school of St. Thomas' standing.

St. Thomas' bar exam passage rate rose from 57 per cent in 2004 to 61.5 per cent in 2005. The average rate for all Florida law schools was 76 per cent in 2004 and 73 per cent in 2005.

Source: "Law School Sued Over Expelling Students," by Leigh Jones. The National Law Journal, August 16, 2006.

U of Georgia Welcomes Gifted, Diverse Class

2006-08-17T13:16:00.000-07:00

The University of Georgia School of Law's Class of 2009 has an average LSAT score of 163, on par with the top 10 per cent of test-takers nationwide.

The 163 average marks a record high for Georgia Law, tying with the average LSAT score set by one previous entering class.

The 232 students entering Georgia Law this year have an average undergraduate GPA of 3.62. 44.8 per cent of class members are women, 25.4 per cent are minorities, and 15 per cent come from out of state. The average age is 24.

Director of Admissions Giles W. Kennedy said that the School received over 2,400 applications for fall 2006 entry.

Source: "UGA School of Law Enrolls Talented and Diverse First-Year Class" - press release, University of Georgia School of Law (Athens, GA), August 15, 2006

Drexel Welcomes First J.D. Class

2006-08-17T10:40:00.000-07:00

Drexel University's new College of Law welcomed its first class of J.D. students at a ceremony held on August 16.

The class of 185 students has been divided into 3 sections of approximately 60 students each. They will be taught by 12 full time and 2 adjunct faculty members.

Drexel's J.D. education includes a cooperative internship with a local employer. To date, Drexel has secured co-op arrangements with 91 employers, including law firms, government agencies, corporations, and non-profits. The only other U.S. law school which follows this model is Northeastern University School of Law in Boston.

Drexel's first J.D. class has an average GPA of 3.4 and an average LSAT score of 156. 50 per cent have prior work experience and 33 per cent already hold graduate degrees.

The Drexel University College of Law has applied to the American Bar Association for provisional accreditation. It hopes to receive accreditation before the entering class of students graduates.

Source: "College of Law to Open Next Week," by Aditi Dubey. The Triangle (the Drexel University student newspaper), August 11, 2006.

How Do You Know Who Interviews Where?

2006-08-17T09:52:00.000-07:00

Smart law applicants think about career goals when they choose which schools to apply to. Those who aspire to high-flying legal careers focus on schools that will help them land first internships and then job interviews with prestigious firms.

Collecting that information can be a tedious process. The data is certainly available -- law schools publish annual career placement reports, and a number of firms list the schools they recruit at on their websites. But if you're just beginning your school selection research, you may not even know which law schools or law firms to look up.

The National Association for Law Placement (NALP) has a great website that can help solve that problem. Users can look up employers by field of practice, and then check which schools those employers have recruited at. Alternatively, you can also look up individual schools and see who has interviewed there.

The NALP Directory also posts employer profiles that show how many people the firm or organization anticipates hiring in the coming year -- and what the pay scale for interns and new hires is.

The one caveat about the NALP directory is that employers' participation is voluntary. It's an excellent source of information but may not be exhaustive. If you look up employers who hire prosecutors, for example, you'll only get a list of 11 employers, which certainly doesn't reflect the actual number of government agencies that hire prosecutors.

That said, the NALP database is a great starting point to research the career aspects of law school selection. For more information, go to the NALP Directory's website:

http://www.nalpdirectory.com/index.asp

Employers Cast a Wider Net in Search for Associates

2006-08-08T09:52:00.000-07:00

Law firms are forced to work harder to identify and recruit associates as the national demand for legal talent continues to grow, the National Law Journal reports.

Law firms are planning more recruiting trips to more schools, conducting 'remote' interviews through videoconference facilities, and tapping alumni networks to draw in career candidates.

Baker Botts, for example, added Emory, Notre Dame, and Washington University in St. Louis to its list of recruiting destinations this year. Although the firm has always hired students from those schools, it has typically reserved recruiting trips for higher-profile schools such as Yale, Stanford, and Harvard. This year's tight competition for top legal talent prompted the firm's recruiters to take the extra step of sending recruiters to the lower-profile campuses.

Similarly, the University of Richmond School of Law's associate dean for career services told the NLJ that his campus was hosting recruiters for firms that had not targeted the school previously, including Haynes and Boone, Bingham McCutchen, and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman.

One of the qualities that recruiters are looking for in potential associates is some likelihood that candidates will stay with the firm if hired. Nationally, almost 4 out of 5 associates at private law firms seek other employment within six years. Recruiters say they expect job candidates to ask about work-life balance and strive to be honest about candidates could expect as an associate with a private firm, but note that candidates who ask too many questions about work-life balance risk being written off as not serious.

One standard that recruiters are not compromising on in their search for associates is academic standing. Baker Botts told the NLJ that it will not consider applicants for internships or associateships who fail to meet the firm's academic requirements.

Source: "Law Firms Rework Campus Recruiting," by Leigh Jones. The National Law Journal, August 3, 2006.

2007 Applications for Harvard Law School

2006-07-28T07:40:00.000-07:00

The Harvard JD Admissions Blog says that the School has submitted its 2007 application form to the LSAC and expects the form to be available online soon.

HLS's 2007 application introduces three minor changes from previous years:

Applicants will be asked to submit resumes. Assistant Dean of Admissions Toby Stock, who writes the HLS blog, says that resumes are being requested this year because they provide admissions committee members with "an easy way to get a quick sense for your activities and experiences." HLS plans to post some sample resume formats to its website.

The application will include a list of legal fields and careers and give applicants the option of indicating which, if any, they are interested in pursuing.

College certifications are no longer required as part of the application process. However, admitted applicants will have to submit college certifications before enrolling.

Source: "Fall Applications Coming Soon," Harvard JD Admissions Blog, July 27, 2006

Supreme Court Clinics Coming to Yale, UVa

2006-07-27T12:20:00.000-07:00

Yale Law School and the University of Virginia School of Law are introducing Supreme Court litigation clinics this fall, Law.com reports.

Yale and UVa will be only the second and third law schools in the country to offer third-year students a chance to work on Supreme Court litigation.

The clinics are modelled after the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic at Stanford Law School, created and taught by Prof. Pamela Karlan and Lecturer Tommy Goldstein. Clinic students helped make legal history this year by providing research and other support for Karlan and Goldstein's winning argument in Georgia vs. Randolph, a case contesting the legitimacy of a warrantless police search of the home of the Clinic's client. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Clinic's client on March 22.

According to Law.com, Harvard Law School is considering expanding the course it now offers on Supreme Court advocacy into a litigation clinic. Northwestern and Georgetown are also reported to be exploring the possibility of establishing Supreme Court clinics.

Source: "Attorneys Take Supreme Court Advocacy Back to School," by Tony Mauro - Law.com, July 20, 2006

Books Examine Changing Role of Supreme Court Clerks

2006-07-10T13:12:00.000-07:00

Two recently published books take a critical look at how the role of Supreme Court clerks has evolved over time.

Courtiers of the Marble Palace: The Rise and Influence of the Supreme Court Law Clerk, by Todd C. Peppers (Stanford University Press, paperback $21.95) traces the history of Supreme Court clerkships to the early part of the 20th century. Peppers argues that the power some clerks have today to draft opinions for their justices and to act as 'ambassadors' between their justices and others is unprecedented, but is also probably here to stay, simply because of the workload of the modern Court. If clerks were not able to perform the functions they do now, Congress would probably have to add more justices to the Supreme Court or create an additional, 'back-up' court to deal with the number and complexity of cases being brought forward, Peppers says.

Artemus Ward and David L. Weiden, by contrast, look at how willing clerks are to play an activist role in Supreme Court decision-making, in Sorcerers' Apprentices: 100 Years of Law Clerks at the United States Supreme Court (New York University Press, hardcover, $39). Ward and Weiden, who are political scientists by training, say that their research found that more of today's clerks say they 'often' tried to shape a justice's views than was the case in past decades.

Source: "Law Clerks: Who's That Whispering in the Justice's Ear?," by Emily Bazelon (book review) - the Washington Post Book World, July 9, 2006

USNWR Staff: Baylor Skews Rankings Data

2006-06-28T09:26:00.000-07:00

US News & World Report staff have accused the Baylor University School of Law of repeatedly submitting misleading data in rankings surveys, Inside Higher Education says.

The allegations center around data supplied by Baylor on first-year students' LSAT scores and grade point averages. USNWR research staff cite three cases in recent years where Baylor officials gave 'misleading' information. In two cases, researchers noticed the discrepancies and corrected them before the rankings went to print. This year, however, Baylor's submissions were questioned only after the rankings were published.

Baylor holds the 51st spot in this year's USNWR rankings. Critics say it should be ranked about 58, based on more accurate data.

Baylor officials are accused of skewing the GPA and LSAT data by omitting statistics for first-year students who begin law studies in the spring or summer. Baylor allows students with less competitive GPA and LSAT scores begin classes early in the year. Students with stronger numbers start classes in the fall. By reporting data for only the fall intake, Baylor inflates the median statistics for the entire first-year law class.

Baylor officials say they did nothing wrong, and that they submit the same data to USNWR that they do to the ABA. USNWR director of data research Robert J. Morse told IHE that he and his staff will monitor Baylor data more closely in the future and "make sure that it doesn’t happen again."

Source: "False Rank," by Rob Cappricioso - Inside Higher Education, June 28, 2006

Kansas City Firms Increase Associates' Pay

2006-06-26T12:29:00.000-07:00

Starting salaries for first-year associates at Kansas City law firms have risen to about $95,000, representing a 12 to 15 per cent increase over what area law firms typically paid in recent years.

Jim Heeter, managing partner of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP's Kansas City office, told the Kansas City Business Journal that local offices were forced to keep pace with salary increases that have been made nationwide. "Firms all across the country feel a need to meet the competition in order to get top legal talent," he said. "We consistently hire the top law school graduates. And in today's market, those people command a top salary."

Another attorney noted that there was increasing competition to recruit a limited pool of top law graduates. "If somebody is first in their class at the University of Kansas or the University of Missouri or UMKC and on the law review and interviews well, every big firm is going to be after that person. We are all chasing the same folks all the time," he said.

Source: "Law Firms Boost Salaries for New Hires," by Chris Grenz - the Kansas City Business Journal, June 23, 2006

UVA Showcases Members of Class of 2006

2006-06-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

The University of Virginia School of Law profiles four of its top 2006 graduates in a feature article posted to its website. Here are some excerpts from what two of the students had to say:

Tim Lovelace, awarded the Thomas Marshall Miller Prize:

Favorite law school experience: "I truly enjoyed the spirited debates that occurred almost daily during the past school year in the Black Law Student Association (BLSA) office. Students routinely engaged a variety of contemporary and historical issues and discussed the topics from an exceptionally wide range of political viewpoints."

Favorite class and best learning experience: "Professor Risa Goluboff’s Civil Rights History from Plessy to Brown seminar really challenged me to think critically and reevaluate the dominant civil rights narrative....The students in Professor Goluboff’s seminar were amazing. The students interrogated the readings and the assumptions underlying the legal doctrine, and their efforts made the learning experience truly memorable."

I knew I wanted to go to Virginia when: "I realized how much I loved the University. The Law School’s blend of collegiality and academic rigor is remarkable."

Advice for entering students: "Find your passion and live purposefully. UVA Law offers students a wealth of opportunities, so seize the day."

Lindsay Buchanan, awarded the James C. Slaughter Honor Award:

Favorite class and best learning experience: "Criminal Investigation with Professor Coughlin, Trusts and Estates with Professor Cushman, and Evidence with Professor Dudley were probably my favorites. Professor Coughlin had so much energy and such a palpable desire to get students to see how lopsided the criminal justice system can be that it really got me fired up to get out into the world and try to do something about it. It was exactly the sort of class I imagined I would have in law school. Professor Cushman is a master craftsman of law teaching. Someone once described sitting through a lecture of his as witnessing the sculpting of a perfect wedding cake—there are many layers, but in the end you see a perfect whole. He takes what could be a rather mundane area of the law and makes it intricate, challenging, and entertaining. And Professor Dudley, well, he’s Professor Dudley.

"Best learning experience? Participating in the Criminal Defense Clinic this year. For the first time, I got to work directly with clients in the criminal justice system and see how my law school classes—from Criminal Law to Criminal Investigation and Adjudication to Evidence—either did or did not apply to real people in the real world. The clinic supervisors, all local criminal defense attorneys, freely shared their experience and expertise in this challenging field of law with humor and humility. It was an inspiring and eye-opening experience. "

Best summer experience: "I worked at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. during the summer of my second year. I worked with incredibly smart people who were creative thinkers and cared about the law—not just about their jobs. In one month, I got to work on a case representing plaintiffs alleging discrimination against a large restaurant chain, have lunch with Paul Tagliabue, the Commissioner of the National Football League, and chat up the cast of a major Broadway show at the Kennedy Center. For a kid from Kentucky, this was exhilarating!"

I knew I wanted to go to Virginia when: "I came to visit, the sun was out, and everyone seemed happy. The building was full of natural light. The library had a view out to the Blue Ridge Mountains. People were on the softball field in the middle of the day. I thought, this would be a nice place to study and play. "

For more about what these and other Virginia students have to say about their school, see "4 in the Class of 2006," posted to the University of Virginia School of Law website (http://www.law.virginia.edu/home2002/html/news
/2006_spr/gradaward.htm).

UCLA Increases Clerkship Placements

2006-06-19T12:17:00.000-07:00

42 students and alumni from the UCLA School of Law have been selected for 2006-2007 judicial clerkships, reflecting a continuing increase in UCLA's clerkship placements.

Placements include clerkships at the U.S. Court of Appeals, the California Court of Appeal, Los Angeles Superior Court, the United States Tax Court, the Delaware Court of Chancery, and in federal and state courts across the country.

Two students will serve as clerks overseas, one with South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeals and the other with Israel's Supreme Court.

Assistant Dean for Career Services Elizabeth Moeller said that UCLA Law's increasing success in securing clerkships arises from the School's support for strong candidates and to its close relationships with judges across the U.S. In addition, she is quoted as saying in a UCLA press release, “This ongoing success is a testament to the excellent caliber of our students."

Source: "UCLA Law Placed 42 Judicial Clerkships Nationwide" - press release, UCLA School of Law, June 12, 2006

Tips for Getting the Most from a Summer Internship

2006-06-12T09:27:00.000-07:00

The New Jersey Law Journal recently offered four tips for law students who want to get the most out of a summer associate experience and increase the chances of receiving a job offer from the same employer the following spring. It's the basis of some good advice for aspiring J.D.s who are spending this summer working or volunteering at law-related organizations, too:

1) Talk to people. Ask questions about what's being done, and why. You'll not only learn more about how law is practiced on a day-to-day basis, but you just may strike up a relationship with someone who could write a good recommendation letter for you when the time comes.

2) Listen to what's going on. Develop your ability to retain what you hear completely and accurately, especially when you're being given instructions. Efficient listening is a important skill for attorneys.

3) Observe everything you can. Law is a complex process, and a lot of important things go on outside any one person's vision. Take every chance that arises to gain some first-hand familiarity with legal processes and procedures.

4) Think over what you've seen and heard, and decide what lessons you should take from your experience. Do you still want to work in a big law firm, after seeing it from the perspective of a temp? Do you still want to work in public interest law, after seeing the financial compromises people make to work there? Did you come away from your summer experience with a story that sums up why you want to be a lawyer? If so, start making notes – you just might have the perfect anecdote to build your personal statement around.

Source: "Create the Right Lasting Impression," by Michael Fekete - The New Jersey Law Journal, June 5, 2006

UNC Names New Dean, Considers Expansion

2006-06-09T11:13:00.000-07:00

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law has chosen John Charles Boger, an alumnus and longtime faculty member who is now the School's Wade Edwards distinguished professor of law, as its next dean.

Boger has taught at UNC for over 16 years. He is also deputy director of UNC's Center for Civil Rights.

UNC also announced that it was committing $2 million to the School of Law in recurring funds. The funds will be used to increase support staff and tenure-track faculty positions and to provide financial aid.

The University also said that it was launching a study to determine whether the law school should be expanded. The study will be completed by the end of this year.

Source: "UNC Names Dean of New Law School" - the Triangle Business Journal, June 7, 2006

2-Year JD Program Puts Dayton Students on Fast Track

2006-06-06T13:44:00.000-07:00

The University of Dayton School of Law has enrolled 40 students in the first cohort of its accelerated J.D. program.

The accelerated program allows students to finish their degree requirements in just 24 months. Dayton feels this makes a law degree a more attractive option for adults who are reluctant to commit to a three-year program for financial or career reasons.

Students in the accelerated program take 18 credits per semester for five semesters. They have three semesters of classes their first year, beginning with a summer semester in May and continuing through the fall and spring. This first year of classes is followed by a summer break that can be used for a summer job or internship. Students then return to campus for two more semesters of study and graduate in the spring.

Dayton officials think that applicant interest in the accelerated J.D. option explains why the School's application volume grew by 13 per cent this year, whereas law school applications decreased by 4.8 per cent nationwide.

Source: "Law School in Two Years Flat," by Leigh Jones. The National Law Journal (www.law.com), June 5, 2006

MPP Selects Associates from Top Schools

2006-06-02T12:25:00.000-07:00

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, a national law and consulting firm with offices in Los Angeles and New York, has issued a press release with brief profiles of its 2006 summer associates. The law schools the associates come from are:

In the firm's Los Angeles office:

Columbia University
Loyola Law School (Los Angeles)
New York University
The University of California, Berkeley (2 interns)
The University of California, Los Angeles (2 interns)
The University of Southern California

In the firm's New York City office:

Columbia University
New York University
Yale University

In the firm's Albany, NY office:

Albany Law School

Source: "Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, Announces 2006 Summer Associates" - press release, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP (Los Angeles, CA), May 30, 2006

Law Students Getting a Welcome Dose of Reality

2006-06-01T14:13:00.000-07:00

So many law firms make the same two complaints about young lawyers that their observations have become as familiar as the punch line to an old joke:

Too many J.D.s come out of law school with too little understanding of the legal work they need to perform as associates; and
Too many of them are leaving firms too soon, often because of disillusionment with the day-to-day realities of law practice.

Now there are several law schools and firms that are taking innovative approaches to addressing these shortcomings.

Harvard Law School is reportedly considering introducing its students to a more practical, problem-solving approach to law than they get through its traditional case study method. There is no hint that HLS plans to eliminate case studies, which are regarded as an excellent way to familiarize students with the law as a body of knowledge. However, an HLS committee is said to have been consulting with law firms, judges, legislators, business leaders and students about the skills and perspectives that J.D.s need to bring to the workplace along with their legal knowledge. The committee's recommendations for curriculum review are now under consideration by HLS faculty and staff and may be implemented later this year.

Summer internships are an important part of most law students' education, with internships at the biggest law firms being a much-sought-after prize. However, critics have complained that these internships often amounted to a summer-long entertainment for prospective hires rather than a substantive learning experience. Several firms are now changing course by giving their interns both structured training and more work responsibilities. One large Washington, DC-based firm goes so far as to send its best interns to a two-week-long litigation 'boot camp' where they act out roles in an imaginary patent case. Other firms conduct in-house training programs for their interns. Law firms hope that these initiatives will result in prospective hires who have a better grasp of the work they will do as associates, and who are able to perform at a higher level earlier in their careers.

How do the interns feel about this? By all accounts, they're pleased. They feel they're getting a more realistic picture of the work they will be doing after graduation, and they appreciate gaining skills that will help them advance in a competitive field.

Sources:

"In a Battle against Attrition, Law Schools Revamp Old Strategy" - the International Herald Tribune, May 9, 2006

"Summer Law Associates Get Down to Business" - the Wall Street Journal College Journal, May 26, 2006

New U of Denver Dean to Focus on Writing, Bar Preparation, Diversity

2006-06-01T12:04:00.000-07:00

Jose Roberto Juarez, the new dean of the Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver, wants to make Sturm one of the best writing programs in the country.

“If I could wave a magic wand, the one thing I would want to see happening in colleges and universities is a greater emphasis on writing, all the way down to the elementary level,” Juarez told the Laredo Morning Times. “If you want to be a successful lawyer or business person, you have to write well.”

Juarez's other goals include revising Sturm's J.D. curriculum and raising the school's bar passage rate. At present, about 70 per cent of Sturm students pass the Colorado bar exam on their first try. "Given the quality of students they have, the bar passage should be much, much higher," Juarez said.

Juarez also hopes to establish programs that would allow Sturm students to study law in Mexico and Latin America. He noted that Sturm already has a strong international law program, along with strong programs in tax and environmental law.

Juarez will be the third Hispanic presently heading a U.S. law school. He has long been concerned that a disproportionately small number of Hispanics pursue law degrees. He suspects that one factor discouraging Hispanics from applying to law schools is the emphasis that admissions committees place on LSAT scores. He thinks that the role LSAT scores play in law school rankings will make it difficult to get schools to agree to a different approach.

Juarez is moving to the University of Denver from St. Mary's University in San Antonio, where he has been a professor of law for over fifteen years. He taught courses in civil procedure, civil rights, federal courts, language rights, and professional standards. Earlier he was an attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund in San Antonio and Los Angeles, where he worked on employment discrimination issues.

Juarez said that he had been invited by other schools to consider deanships, but was never interested in the position until the position at Sturm opened up. "I did a lot of homework and found a very interesting law school," he said.

Juarez holds a J.D. from the University of Texas at Austin and a B.A. in history from Stanford.

Source: "Juarez Tackles New Role at Colorado Law School," by Tricia Cortez - the Laredo Morning Times, May 30, 2006

Bar Review Lawsuit Gets Class Action Status

2006-05-22T10:52:00.000-07:00

A U.S. District Court has extended class action status to an antitrust lawsuit brought against BAR/BRI, the largest provider of bar review courses in the U.S.

The suit accuses BAR/BRI of entering an illegal agreement with Kaplan to divide the LSAT and bar exam preparation market in order to keep course prices artificially high. "If we prove BAR/BRI and Kaplan, Inc violated the antitrust laws, several hundred thousand young lawyers who paid too much for their bar prep. courses will get some of their money back," lead counsel Eliot Disner said in a press release issued by his firm, McGuireWoods LLP. Disner alleges that BAR/BRI overcharged students by as much as $1,000 per course.

BAR/BRI estimates that approximately 9 out of 10 law students in the U.S. take one of its bar review courses.

Approximately 300,000 law students are believed to be eligible to take part in the lawsuit.

Source: "Federal Judge Certifies Class of Former Law Students Using BAR/BRI and Kaplan and Installs Special Master" - press release issued by McGuireWoods LLP (Los Angeles, CA), May 16, 2006

Stanford Draws Praise for Diversity Efforts

2006-05-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

Stanford fares better than other top law schools do in terms of faculty and student diversity, but it still has room for improvement, The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education says.

The Journal found that, overall, little progress had been made over the past seven years in the recruitment of black students or the retention of black faculty members at top law schools.

Stanford's diverse law faculty earned high marks in the survey. Stanford has made a concious effort to recruit a diverse faculty, Dean Larry Kramer told the Stanford Daily. 7 of Stanford's full-time faculty members are minorities, with blacks representing over 9 per cent of full-time professors.

By contrast, Stanford's performance in recruiting minority students is on par with the national average. Blacks represent 7.8 per cent of students enrolled at Stanford and 7.4 per cent of students enrolled in the nation's 25 top law schools.

Dean Kramer reiterated Stanford's commitment to maintaining a lively and diverse academic community. "We believe that it is very important to have a faculty body that is diverse in all the ways important in American society — which means racial and ethnic diversity, but also gender and intellectual approaches as well," he said. "Our efforts to recruit have been focused on finding candidates and convincing them that Stanford is the right place for them to be."

Source: "Diversifying the Law School," by Niraj Sheth - the Stanford Daily, May 19, 2006

UM Students Targeted by LSAT Prep Scams

2006-05-09T11:12:00.000-07:00

The University of Michigan campus paper reports that some students are falling victim to various LSAT prep scams.

The founder of a locally-based LSAT prep program said that a former student of hers had been caught impersonating her and teaching classes under her name. She said she was aware of other purported tutors who falsified test scores and had friends pose as references. Out of the roughly two dozen LSAT tutors advertising their services in the Ann Arbor area, she knew of only three whom she would recommend with confidence.

In a separate incident, an unspecified number of UM students who had enrolled in an LSAT prep course offered by Test Masters Educational Services in Texas were informed that their course was cancelled less than a week before its scheduled start date. When contacted by the campus paper, the head of Test Masters said that he was unaware that any courses were being offered in Ann Arbor under his company's name. (Test Masters Educational Services in Texas should not be confused with TestMasters, a nationally recognized test prep company also known as Robin Singh Educational Services.)

The paper adds that over 1,100 University of Michigan students and alumni applied to law schools in 2004-2005. About one-fifth of them were turned away by every school they applied to.

LSAT prep classes offered in the Ann Arbor area cost between $1,000 and $2,000. Private tutors charge hourly rates ranging from $35 to almost $250 per hour.

Source: "LSAT Prep Courses Prey on Students," by Ann Vandermay - The Michigan Daily, May 8, 2006

Penn State Plans Demolition of Historic Law School Building

2006-05-05T10:09:00.000-07:00

Penn State University has announced plans to demolish the Dickinson School of Law building this summer in order to replace it with a larger and more modern facility.

Trickett Hall has housed the Dickinson School since its founding in 1917. The red brick, colonial-style building has been a landmark of the Carlisle, Pennsylvania campus.

The new building is scheduled to open in 2008. A second law building is under construction on the University's College Park campus.

University officials say the new buildings are needed to provide law students with updated facilities and to accommodate growing enrollment. Applications to and enrollment in the Dickinson Law School have climbed dramatically in recent years.

Source: "Penn State to Raze 1911 Hall," by Meghan Hogan. Preservation, May 3, 2006.

Baylor Sets Top Bar Passage Rate for Texas

2006-05-05T09:58:00.000-07:00

Almost 98.9 per cent of Baylor Law School students passed the Texas Bar Exam this year, giving Baylor once again the highest bar passage rate of any Texas law school.

62 of the 64 Baylor students who took the February exam passed.

364 students from law schools across the state took the bar exam. 305 passed, making for an average statewide passage rate of 83.8 per cent.

Brad Toben, Dean of Baylor Law School, said that credit for the School's long record of high bar passage rates should go to the faculty and staff who prepare Baylor students to succeed on the exam. "I am very proud of their work with our students, which is so effective," Toben was quoted as saying in a Baylor press release. "The investment that they make in our students not only prepares them for great accomplishment, but also, very importantly, inures to the benefit of our profession and the public."

Source: "Baylor Law Tops Another Bar Exam Pass Rate." Press release, Baylor University (Waco, Texas), May 4, 2006.

Public Service Draws New Dean to CUNY

2006-05-04T10:40:00.000-07:00

Michelle J. Anderson, professor of law at Villanova University since 1998, has been named dean of the CUNY School of Law. She will assume her duties as dean on July 1.

Anderson says that CUNY's strong pubic service program was a main factor in her decision to accept the deanship. More CUNY graduates go to work in public interest law than graduates from any other U.S. law school do.

Anderson is a graduate of Yale Law School. She taught criminal law, criminal procedure, and feminist legal theory at Villanova, and is highly regarded for her work on legal aspects of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Source: "CUNY Law School Gets a New Dean," The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 5, 2006.

Law Profs Ban Laptops from Class

2006-05-03T11:17:00.000-07:00

AP reports that a growing number of law professors prohibit students from bringing laptop computers to class.

The professors complain that students are taking advantage of wireless Internet services to check email, surf websites, and play online games during class.

They also argue that students who type notes into their computers create a distraction for their classmates -- and that these students may not be absorbing much of the lectures and discussions they are taking notes on, anyway.

University of Pennsylvania Law Professor Charles Mooney told AP that he once asked a court stenographer taking down his testimony during a deposition what she thought of the case. She replied that she didn't remember any of what she had transcribed. "I thought, 'That's what my students are doing,'" Mooney told AP.

Mooney banned laptops from his classes two years ago. Some students withdrew from his courses rather than give up their computers.

This year, Mooney agreed to allow laptops into the classroom again, in order to compare the performance of students who used computers against that of students who took written notes. He concluded that it was in students' interest to return to the laptop ban.

Source: "More Professors Ban Laptops in Class," by Kathy Matheson - AP (Philadelphia), 3 May 2006

Added May 4, 2006:

Harvard Law School faculty and staff are reported to be debating a total ban on wireless Internet use during class.

The majority of students who responded to a Law School Council survey did not support the ban. 65 per cent of respondents opposed the ban, 25.3 per cent supported it, and 9.7 per cent had no preference.

In responses to other questions about a proposed ban, 23.7 per cent of respondents said that they would attend class less often if they were banned from accessing the Internet from classrooms.

38.6 per cent said they would pay more attention in class if Internet use was banned. 27.1 per cent said they would "find other ways to distract myself," and 29.4 per cent said they pay close attention to class even when they have Internet access.

Source: "Hundreds Speak Up on Proposed Wireless Ban," by Stephanie Wiebe and Kathryn Baugher. The Harvard Law School Record, April 27, 2006.

Georgetown Extends LL.M. Deadline to May 31

2006-05-02T09:55:00.000-07:00

The Georgetown University Law Center is accepting 2006 applications for its LL.M. program through May 31. It encourages interested persons to submit complete applications as soon as possible, as the few seats left open in this year's class will be filled as qualified candidates are identified. Students admitted under this late deadline must enroll in fall 2006. Requests for deferral to 2007 will not be granted.

Georgetown has LL.M. programs for applicants holding U.S. and foreign law degrees. Programs open to U.S.-educated lawyers include those in taxation, securities and financial regulation, national security law, and human rights. A Future Law Professors Program and an individualized LL.M. program are also available.

For more information, go to the Georgetown University Law Center website: www.law.georgetown.edu/admissions/llm_general.html

Drexel Ahead of Curve on Inaugural Admissions

2006-05-01T10:12:00.000-07:00

Drexel University's new law school is well ahead of the curve on admissions for its first-ever class.

The University's target enrollment for J.D. classes beginning this fall was 120 students. To date, the Philadelphia Business Journal reports, over 210 applicants have responded positively to admissions offers.

Law school senior vice president Carl "Tobey" Oxholm III told the Journal that he expects that a significant number of these admits are waitlisted at other, already-accredited schools and unlikely to matriculate at Drexel if offered places elsewhere.

Drexel's law school is convening its first classes this fall. It expects to earn ABA accreditation by 2009, when its first class graduates.

The Drexel J.D. program will focus on health care law, entrepreneurial business law, and intellectual property law. It will follow Drexel University's model of cooperative education, requiring second- and third-year law students to spend six months of each year working for an employer. A number of Philadelphia-area law firms, businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies have expressed interest in participating in the program.

Drexel received 1,297 completed applications for fall 2006 admission. It admitted 383 applicants, making for a 30 per cent acceptance rate. The median college GPA for admitted students is 3.38 and the median LSAT score is 156. 53 per cent of admitted students are women and 22 per cent identify themselves as minorities.

Source: "Drexel Law School Surpasses Goal for 1st Class Admissions," by Jeff Blumenthal. The Philadelphia Business Journal, April 28, 2006.

U. of Virginia Alumna Wins Clerkship at World Court

2006-04-25T11:16:00.000-07:00

Najwa Nabti, a 2002 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, is the second recipient of a fellowship that supports UVA graduates while they serve as clerks at the International Court of Justice.

The Orrick International Law Fellowship awards up to $40,000 to selected University of Virginia graduates to cover relocation, housing, and living expenses while they work at the World Court. The program is funded by the international law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.

Nabti described the selection process to the University of Virginia campus newspaper as "very competitive...You're competing [for the fellowship] with any law student from U.Va. graduating anywhere from this year to five years ago, and the quality of people is very high. It's a very exciting opportunity and a great honor to represent U.Va. at The Hague."

Nabti is one of nine candidates worldwide to be selected to clerk at the IJC. The Court invites selected law schools to nominate candidates for the positions each year. Deena Hurwitz, director of the Human Rights Program and International Human Rights Law Clinic at the University of Virginia, said,"U.Va. is proud to be one of the law schools in the United States to participate" in the program.

Source: "Law Alumna to Serve as Clerk in World Court," by Stephanie Fees - the Cavalier Daily, April 25, 2006

Penn Law Gets $10M to Aid Grads' Public Interest Careers

2006-04-21T08:46:00.000-07:00

A Penn Law School alumnus has donated $10 million to the school to provide financial support to students entering public service careers.

Law School Dean Michael Fitts told the Daily Pennsylvanian that Robert Toll's gift was greatly appreciated. "We desperately need more young lawyers to take on society's challenges," he told the paper. But for too long the path to public service has been impeded by financial obstacles. Fortunately, Bob Toll has removed some of those barriers for years to come, and we are in his debt."

Toll, who graduated from Penn in 1966, is CEO of Toll Brothers Inc., a residential construction company. He designated $5 million of his gift to establish a Toll Public Interests Scholars Program this fall. The program will support funding of full first year scholarships and partial second and third year scholarships for students committed to practicing in the public sector.

Source: "Penn Law Gets $10M Donation," by Ben Marrone - the Daily Pennsylvanian, April 21, 2006

Technorati tags: University of Pennsylvania Law School, Penn Law

U. of Minnesota Law School Dean Steps Down

2006-04-20T11:07:00.000-07:00

Alex M. Johnson, who has served as Dean of the University of Minnesota Law School since 2002, announced this week that he will resign his deanship effective May 31. He will return to the University as a faculty member with dean emeritus status after taking a year of sabbatical.

Johnson has been credited with raising the Law School's profile and instituting changes that attracted a more competitive pool of applicants. He said in a 2002 interview that his priorities as dean included reducing the faculty-student ratio, retaining quality faculty members, recruiting more minority students, and improving the Law School Library.

The average GPAs and LSAT scores of Law School applicants increased under Johnson's tenure. The University of Minnesota placed 19th in this year's US News & World Report rankings.

A second-year Minnesota law student told the campus paper that she thought Johnson should have done more to support students interested in public service careers. “He failed to support and fund the public interest program and public interest groups," the student told the Minnesota Daily. "This is something we need for our law school to be one of the top 20 law schools in the nation.”

Source: "Dean of U Law School Resigns," by Jim Hammerand and Vadim Lavrusik - the Minnesota Daily, April 20, 2006

Technorati tags: University of Minnesota Law School, law school rankings, public service

W&L Law Dean Moving to Emory

2006-04-10T11:36:00.000-07:00

David Partlett, dean of the School of Law at Washington & Lee University, has been named the new dean of Emory Law School.

Partlett told the Rockbridge Weekly that the decision to leave Washington & Lee was difficult. "Working with the faculty, students and staff has been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life," he told the Lexington, Virginia newspaper. "In the last six years, we have all worked to build on W&L's strengths -- its commitment to excellence in teaching and scholarship."

Partlett, who holds his LL.B. from the University of Sydney, established new international exchange programs for W&L and expanded its LL.M. program. He is also credited with expanding the size of W&L's faculty and attracting an increasingly competitive student body. He raised a record amount of funds for projects such as the renovation and technological upgrading of School of Law's classrooms and other academic spaces.

In Atlanta, Ben Johnson, chair of the Emory Board of Trustees and member of the law school dean search committee, called Partlett's appointment "a wonderful addition to both the Emory community and the Atlanta and Georgia legal communities....He brings both a U.S. and global perspective to the law and legal education, and he has experience as a student, faculty member and dean at some of the nation's very best law schools, which will be a substantial asset as he begins his work at Emory."

Partlett will assume his duties at Emory on July 1. Washington & Lee said it would soon begin a search for his replacement.

Sources:

"W&L's David Partlett Named New Law Dean At Emory University," the Rockbridge Weekly (Lexington, VA), April 10, 2006

"Emory Names New Law School Dean." Press release, Emory University, April 7, 2006

ASU Law School Named for Justice O'Connor

2006-04-06T11:38:00.000-07:00

"ASU Names College of Law in Honor of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor"
Press Release - Arizona State University, April 5 2006

TEMPE, Ariz., April 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Arizona State University is naming the College of Law after retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, in honor of her career-long dedication to public service, her intellectual vigor and her sense of fair-mindedness.

The Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at ASU was announced at a press conference held today at ASU. Dignitaries attending the press conference included Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor and ASU President Michael M. Crow.

"We are establishing a permanent and living tribute to Justice O'Connor, one that will honor a native daughter who has provided extraordinary service to her state and country," said ASU President Michael M. Crow. "This will be a living tribute, because it will continue over generations of students."

"Justice O'Connor is a quintessential Arizonan, and we want to celebrate that," Crow added. "We want to associate ourselves and our school with the values that Justice O'Connor stands for, including integrity, public service, personal independence, the willingness to take risks, wonderful curiosity, high intellectual standards, and an abiding commitment to justice and the rule of law."...

NY Law School's Law Review Marks 50th Anniversary

2006-04-03T11:44:00.000-07:00

"United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Addresses New York Law School Law Review’s 50th Anniversary Banquet" - press release, New York Law School (New York, NY), March 28 2006

NEW YORK, March 28, 2006 -- Student members of the New York Law School Law Review were treated to two once-in-a-lifetime experiences on Friday night, March 24: They celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Law Review, and their celebration was attended by a United States Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia, who also gave the keynote speech....
The banquet, held in the glittering ballroom of SoHo’s Puck Building, was attended by legal luminaries including renowned First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams and Arthur Abbey '59, president of New York Law School’s Board of Trustees. Justice Scalia was introduced by longtime friend Nadine Strossen, president of the American Civil Liberties Union. Despite their ideological differences, Strossen, a New York Law School professor, described Justice Scalia as a “genuine hero” for civil libertarians.
New this year, a video documentary, Insight & Substance: Fifty Years of the New York Law School Law Review, featured interviews with past law review editors, including the Honorable Roger J. Miner ’56, senior judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and managing editor of the law review, 1955–1956. The documentary was written, produced, and edited by Carra Greenberg 3L....
The New York Law School Law Review is edited and published entirely by students at New York Law School approximately four times a year. The Law Review publishes articles and notes by professors, judges, practitioners, and students on many areas of legal scholarship, including constitutional law, criminal law, international law, corporate law, legal education, and legal history. It serves not only as an academic forum for legal scholarship, but is designed to be an effective research tool for practicing attorneys and students of the law. The Law Review provides opportunities for members to develop their own editing and writing skills, with each issue containing pieces by student editors as well as outside authors.
Founded in 1891, New York Law School is the second oldest independent law school in the United States. Drawing on its location near the centers of law, government, and finance in New York City, its faculty of noted and prolific scholars has built the school’s curricular strength in the areas of tax law, labor and employment law, civil and human rights law, media and information law, urban legal studies, international and comparative law, and interdisciplinary fields such as legal history and legal ethics. New York Law School has more than 11,000 graduates and enrolls some 1500 students in its full- and part-time J.D. program. It is one of only two law schools in the metropolitan area to offer the Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Tax Law.

Liman Program Announces 2006 Yale Law School Fellows

2006-04-03T11:41:00.000-07:00

"Liman Public Interest Program at Yale Law School Expands"
Press release - Yale University, 30 March 2006

The Arthur Liman Public Interest Program at Yale Law School will hold its ninth annual colloquium on March 30 and 31.
The colloquium takes place in a period of expansion, growing diversity and a weaving together of Yale Law School not only with its undergraduate counterpart, Yale College, but also with several other leading universities and colleges, including Brown, Harvard, Princeton, Barnard and Spelman.
With fellowships to undergraduates for summer work in public interest and funding to Yale Law graduates to work for underserved populations, the Liman Program is a unique, intergenerational effort to build a community of concerned advocates focused on public service....
The seven new Yale Law School Fellows, to serve in 2006–2007:
Alice Chapman, a 2003 graduate, will serve her fellowship at the Immigrants’ Rights Project of the ACLU in New York.
Sameera Fazili, to graduate in 2006, will spend her fellowship year at Shorebank in Chicago, working with their affiliate Northern Initiatives to create a consortium of community development financial institutions in an innovative effort to raise investment capital for people with limited access to such funds.
Paige Herwig, also graduating in 2006, will work at the National Women’s Law Center in Washington, DC, where she will focus on state regulation of pharmacies, exploring ways to improve access to contraception.
Anna Rich, a 2003 graduate, will spend her fellowship year at the National Senior Citizens’ Law Center in Oakland, CA, to advocate for individuals with disabilities and for low-income seniors affected by Medicare’s new prescription drug plan.
Larry Schwartztol, a 2005 graduate, will hold the Program’s first joint fellowship, co-sponsored by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School; he will be a part of its Democracy Program and direct his efforts towards reform of state felony disenfranchisement laws and the enforcement of state voting rights for individuals with criminal convictions.
Marc Silverman, graduating in 2006, will spend his fellowship year at Advocates for Children in New York, where he will work on behalf of older youth with disabilities as they make the transition from schools to employment, post-secondary education, training programs and independent living.
Charisa Smith, a 2005 graduate, will begin a new project at JustChildren in Richmond, VA, where her focus will be on juvenile parolees in need of legal assistance to obtain housing, education, health care, mentoring and vocational training. She hopes to establish centers that will provide a range of services for this population.

Law Firms in Bidding War for Top Law School Grads

2006-03-28T11:47:00.000-08:00

"Why Law Firms FollowEach Other on Salaries"
By ASHBY JONES - Staff Reporter
The Wall Street Journal - March 23, 2006

The current salary battle roiling big law firms began the way such things usually do in the legal profession: with a calculated disruption of the status quo. Los Angeles-based Irell & Manella last fall said it was raising salaries for its first-year associate attorneys by $5,000 -- to $135,000.
When news of the pay raises broke, you could almost hear the collective groan of law-firm managing partners across the country. Why? Because they too would have to raise salaries to "stay competitive." And they did.
After a slight pause -- perhaps to see if Irell and another early hiker, L.A.-based Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, really meant it? -- other firms announced that they too were bringing their first-year salaries up to $135,000. The biggest New York firms in February leapfrogged the others and bumped first-year pay to $145,000. Since then, the walls have crashed in, with firms headquartered in London, Washington, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston and elsewhere all adjusting upward, the lion's share to $135,000. Not to be outmatched, Quinn Emanuel has since bumped its first-year pay, again, to $145,000.
Pay increases aren't cheap. They typically ripple up through the associate ranks, so within the first year they can cost in the millions -- money that comes straight from the partners' pockets. (The last major pay wave came in early 2000.) On the associate side, when you are working 2,200 hours a year, five grand pre-tax doesn't seem like it should be a job-choice clincher.
So what is it with big law firms? Is what they pay their entry-level lawyers really that important?
The answer is yes, strangely. In the world of big law firms, what you pay your first-year associates is that important.
The reason boils down to a supply-and-demand issue. First, the demand side: Over the past twenty years, the biggest law firms have gotten even bigger, thanks to a boom in work from international mergers-and-acquisitions to global capital markets to intellectual-property litigation. They've eaten up stagnating smaller general-practice firms, bought up elite intellectual-property boutiques and pushed hard into foreign territories. One of the more stunning examples happened over the course of several months in the fall of 2004, when three firms -- two based in the U.S. and one based in London -- merged to form DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary -- which now boasts more than 3,000 lawyers worldwide and offices in Beijing, Tokyo, and Tbilisi, Georgia, among others.
The biggest firms have also gotten a whole lot richer. According to surveys conducted by the American Lawyer magazine, only two firms were $100 million businesses in 1986, while in 2005, 184 firms topped the $100 million mark in gross revenues, with five pulling down more than $1 billion. The biggest of these firms represent the nation's biggest companies, charge huge fees, and can take on just about any legal matter. They pay top dollar and, generally speaking, work their associates hard.
The mega-firms need to hire associates at a much greater rate: The average incoming class size at the largest law firms has gone up significantly in the past 10 years, says Peter Zeughauser, the head of the Zeughauser Group, a Newport Beach, Calif., consultancy to law firms. For example, at Latham & Watkins, the incoming class of new associates world-wide has grown from 104 in 1996 to 273 last year, according to the firm.
Selecting these first-years is where the demand part of the equation comes in. Sizing up law students for their potential as great lawyers, or rainmakers, is a nearly impossible thing to do. Fancy schools, good grades and law-review smarts don't necessarily translate into workplace success. But these markers are about the only differentiators law firms have. Because it's so hard to judge students on the merits, the focus is on prestige. Says Mr. Zeughauser: "Law firms jockeying for position in the marketplace need that cachet to keep their brand strong."
Seeking prestige in their hires, the big firms turn to the top students at the most prestigious law schools to fill their ranks. And that pool has stayed mostly flat, experts say. "Demand is vastly outstripping supply for talented young lawyers," says Blane Prescott, a consultant to law firms with Hildebrandt International. "And that's a big reason behind why firms have to match salaries almost instantaneously."...

ABA Accredits St.Thomas Law School (Minneapolis)

2006-03-06T14:26:00.000-08:00

"St. Thomas School of Law Gets Early Accreditation"
By John Vomhof, Jr. - Staff Writer
The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal - February 14, 2006

The University of St. Thomas School of Law has received full accreditation from the American Bar Association (ABA), the school said Tuesday.

The ABA's House of Delegates voted to grant the accreditation at its midyear meeting Monday in Chicago. The ABA Accreditation Committee had unanimously approved full accreditation at a meeting last month.

St. Thomas Law School Dean Thomas Mengler said the decision came six months earlier than expected....

The University of St. Thomas School of Law opened in August 2001 and received provisional American Bar Association accreditation in 2003. The school now has 413 students.

The university previously had a law school from 1923 to 1933, but it closed due to the Great Depression.

St. Thomas becomes the fourth fully accredited law school in the Twin Cities, joining the University of Minnesota, Hamline University and William Mitchell College of Law.

Also see:

"We Are Fully Accredited!" - press release, University of St. Thomas School of Law (Minneapolis, Minnesota) web page