Law Schools

Is the LSAT overrated by law school officials? Study shows need for holistic assessment, profs say

Law schools give more weight to scores on the Law School Admission Test than merited by the test’s predictive powers, according to two researchers who studied the relationship between several variables and law school grades. A six-point difference in LSAT scores could make a difference in where a student is…

Jul 15, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Cuban lawyer gets Duke law school scholarship after speaking frankly to visiting Florida lawyers

A Cuban lawyer who criticized his government’s legal system in a talk to visiting Florida lawyers has received a full scholarship to Duke University School of Law. Osvaldo Miranda Diaz received the scholarship as a result of the efforts of one of the visiting lawyers, the Daily Business Review (sub.…

Jul 14, 2015 11:18 AM CDT

This law school will offer a partial tuition refund to grads who don’t find full-time jobs

Brooklyn Law School has announced it will pay some unemployed graduates 15 percent of their tuition costs. The program, called Bridge to Success, offers the payments to grads who haven’t found full-time jobs nine months after graduation, according to the New York Times and a press release. The program takes…

Jul 14, 2015 6:15 AM CDT

LSAT test takers increase for third time in a row

Is law school about to become popular once again? One statistic—the number of people taking the Law School Admission test—is indicating that more people are considering law school. In June, the number of LSAT test takers increased 6.6 percent over June of last year, report TaxProf Blog and the Wall…

Jul 13, 2015 8:41 AM CDT

Former law school CFO charged with using work AmEx card to pay $50K in personal bills

The former chief financial officer of a Florida law school has been arrested and charged with felony grand theft. John LaTorre, 56, is accused of using a work credit card issued to Barry University’s law school to pay $50,000 in unauthorized personal expenses, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Credit card charges…

Jul 10, 2015 10:55 AM CDT

New law dean says he demanded a lower paycheck

The constitutional law expert who is set to become the next dean of the University of Illinois College of Law says he wants to make law school more affordable, and he’s doing his part by insisting on slightly lower pay. Vikram Amar will make $325,900 when he becomes dean on…

Jul 10, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Suit claiming Widener law school used misleading job stats can’t proceed as class action, judge says

A federal judge in New Jersey has refused to certify a class action in a suit that claims Widener University School of Law posted misleading job statistics. In his decision (PDF), U.S. District Judge William Walls of Newark cited two reasons why the case could not proceed as a class…

Jul 6, 2015 12:17 PM CDT

Suits by law profs claim they were fired for opposing law school’s sale to InfiLaw

Two tenured law professors at Charleston School of Law have filed lawsuits claiming they were fired because they opposed the school’s sale to InfiLaw. The professors, Nancy Zisk and Allyson Haynes Stuart, filed the breach of contract suits against the school and its two owners in late June, report the…

Jul 6, 2015 11:39 AM CDT

What is the most underrated law school? The answer may surprise you

A 30-page paper published online Sunday by a law professor at the University of North Carolina contains a lot of data and analysis. But the results can be boiled down to a Top 10 list of “most underrated” law schools, with Campbell University’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law at…

Jul 2, 2015 10:10 AM CDT

Latest employment numbers for 2014 law school graduates don’t add up to a clear trend

A recently issued report on the employment status of 2014 graduates from ABA-accredited law schools raises one of those “glass half-full or glass half-empty” dilemmas. Actually, the data can support either of those interpretations—and probably both. On the one hand, the percentage of graduates from the 204 U.S. law schools…

Jul 1, 2015 1:50 AM CDT

Jurors reject law prof’s claim of anti-conservative bias in hiring

A federal jury in Iowa has rejected a conservative law professor’s claim that the University of Iowa law school rejected her for a promotion because of her political views and associations. Jurors in Danvenport ruled against Teresa Manning on Monday after a six-day trial, report the Associated Press, Radio Iowa…

Jun 30, 2015 11:22 AM CDT

Law school could lose $3M in funding; are lawmakers penalizing outspoken prof?

The University of North Carolina School of Law could lose $3 million in state funding—amounting to more than 10 percent of its budget—as a result of a proposal by a Republican state senator. The North Carolina Senate last week passed the budget cut proposed by State Sen. Tom Apodaca and…

Jun 24, 2015 9:30 AM CDT

Have you hired an innovation intern?

Dan Elliott of Michigan State University College of Law’s ReInvent Law Laboratory is going to Australia for August. He is not going there for vacation—it will be winter in Australia—but rather to be an innovation intern at Kain C+C Lawyers in the city of Adelaide. Kain C+C (which stands for…

Jun 23, 2015 8:30 AM CDT

Goodbye Rambo, hello ‘mindfulness’: More lawyers embrace Zen-inspired techniques

Unhappy with the aggressive side of the legal profession, a growing number of law firms and law schools are trying to develop “mindfulness.” Inspired by Zen-based breathing exercises, meditation and techniques to help individuals focus on the present moment, the mindfulness movement seeks to reduce the legal profession’s Rambo-like characteristics,…

Jun 19, 2015 10:40 AM CDT

ABA task force on law school financing calls for reforms

An ABA task force is calling for enhanced debt counseling for law students; “plain English” disclosures of loan repayment programs; an increase in the collection and public dissemination of law school financial data; and greater experimentation by schools to find new ways of lowering costs while maintaining sound educational programs.…

Jun 19, 2015 9:05 AM CDT