Law Schools

28 Harvard law profs blast new sexual-assault policy as ‘stacked against the accused’

Twenty-eight current and former Harvard law professors are blasting the university’s new sexual assault policy as lacking “the most basic elements of fairness and due process.” The professors outlined their objections to the policy in an opinion column published by the Boston Globe. The New York Times, Bloomberg News, the…

Oct 16, 2014 8:24 AM CDT

Too old to attend law school? Not this 93-year-old, who is auditing courses at Yale

Harold Kent, 93, isn’t a sedentary kind of guy. “I could never just hang around, go home to retire,” he tells the New Haven Register. “That’s not for me.” Kent keeps busy working part time at a commercial real-estate firm and attending Yale Law School, where he is in his…

Oct 15, 2014 6:45 AM CDT

Elon Law to cut total tuition by nearly $14K and offer law degree in 2.5 years for all

Elon University School of Law has announced the creation of a new curriculum that represents what the school is calling a groundbreaking new model for legal education. The new curriculum, announced in press release Thursday, will be the nation’s first standard JD program lasting less than three years, Luke Bierman,…

Oct 9, 2014 4:55 PM CDT

Northwestern is rated top law school for career prospects; which schools topped other categories?

Which law schools offer the best quality of life? The best career prospects? The Princeton Review has published the answers (reg. req.), based on its survey of more than 19,500 students at 169 law schools. TaxProf Blog has highlights. The schools rated as best for career prospects are: 1) Northwestern…

Oct 9, 2014 10:00 AM CDT

Cooley Law School plans to close its Ann Arbor campus at year’s end

The Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School intends to close its Ann Arbor campus at the end of December. Students at the Ann Arbor campus can take classes at any of the school’s four other campuses, including at Lansing or Auburn Hills about an hour away, according to…

Oct 6, 2014 7:02 AM CDT

Did law grad make the wrong choice? Her $300K in education debt easily fails ROI calculation

Lisa K. graduated from Pepperdine law school, but she easily flunks the return-on-investment calculation. Forbes tells Lisa’s story in a two-part article (here and here) that explains how to calculate whether grad school is worth the investment. The 39-year-old woman racked up more than $300,000 in student debt getting a…

Oct 1, 2014 7:15 AM CDT

Law school accreditation standards get update after 6 years of effort

The six-year odyssey of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar to revise the standards and procedural rules for accrediting U.S. law schools has finally reached a happy ending. Well, almost. The ABA House of Delegates, voting in August at the association’s annual meeting in Boston,…

Oct 1, 2014 2:20 AM CDT

Is Thomas Jefferson law school ‘a canary in the coal mine of legal education’?

As Thomas Jefferson School of Law seeks to restructure its bond obligations, a former president of the Association of American Law Schools suggests it won’t be the only school in trouble. Former AALS president Michael Olivas tells the Chronicle of Higher Education (sub. req.) that Thomas Jefferson may be “a…

Sep 25, 2014 9:06 AM CDT

Law school gets $759K federal agriculture grant

Vermont Law School is getting a $759,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which provides funds to study legal issues related to agriculture. The grant will fund a three-year partnership between the school’s Center for Agriculture and Food Systems and the USDA’s National Agriculture Library, the Associated Press reports.…

Sep 24, 2014 5:25 PM CDT

Drexel renames its law school for trial lawyer who is donating $50M

Drexel University’s law school is changing its name to the Thomas R. Kline School of law to honor the Philadelphia trial lawyer who is donating $50 million to the school. Thomas Kline’s gift is the largest in the history of the law school, which opened in 2006, and is among…

Sep 18, 2014 10:27 AM CDT

Law school misses bond payment, seeks to restructure obligations

Thomas Jefferson School of Law is “engaged in constructive dialogue” to restructure its obligations to bondholders after missing a June 26 payment. In a statement provided to Above the Law, the school says it has paid most of the June payment, and it has an interim agreement running through Oct.…

Sep 17, 2014 6:46 AM CDT

Suspended law student sues Penn State Dickinson, says law school denied her a fair hearing

A suspended law student has filed a federal civil rights suit against Pennsylvania State University’s Dickinson Law School and three administrators. Nicole Suissa contends in the suit that the law school unfairly pressured her not to assert her rights and didn’t follow its own required procedures in improperly disciplining her…

Sep 16, 2014 1:15 PM CDT

Race makes a difference in society, Sotomayor says

In a series of appearances in Oklahoma this week, Justice Sonia Sotomayor talked about the impact of race in society and the BigLaw firms that dominate Supreme Court litigation. At an appearance at the University of Tulsa on Wednesday, Sotomayor said she wouldn’t be where she is today without affirmative…

Sep 12, 2014 8:11 AM CDT

Iowa won’t end bar exam for state law grads but considers scheduling test during 3L year

The Iowa Supreme Court has turned down a proposal to eliminate the bar exam for graduates of the state’s two law schools, but it is still considering changes to the process. The court turned down the Iowa State Bar Association’s diploma privilege proposal on Friday, report the Gazette, the Associated…

Sep 8, 2014 7:26 AM CDT

Law profs should limit fear-inducing cautionary tales, article says

Law professors who use cautionary tales in the classroom may not be as persuasive as they thought. Law professors use cautionary tales to encourage students to proofread their work, to be truthful in court, to update authority and to use proper citation form. But social science research suggests the fear-inducing…

Sep 4, 2014 8:00 AM CDT