Law Schools

How this duo is trying to ReInvent law school

Editor’s note: Last week Paul Lippe noted several programs shaking up the traditional legal ed model. Here, two professors share details about one of those programs. Greetings from ReInvent Law, our law laboratory devoted to technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship at Michigan State University College of Law. You read that right.…

May 9, 2013 1:30 PM CDT

Which law schools pay tenured profs the most and least? Survey has 68 median salaries

If you are a tenured law professor, the University of California at Hastings may be a good place to teach. UC Hastings paid its tenured law profs the highest reported median salary among 68 schools responding to a survey by the Society of American Law Teachers. UC Hastings paid a…

May 9, 2013 10:39 AM CDT

Former law dean is now a prison chaplain; upcoming book chronicles his work

A former law dean is now pursuing a higher calling. David Link, who served for 24 years as dean of Notre Dame Law School, is a “priest with a passion for prison ministry,” the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram reports. Link was ordained as a Catholic priest in 2008 after the death of…

May 3, 2013 11:15 AM CDT

‘Leftist law professors’ stayed silent on high tuition while enjoying ‘sweet ride’, says law prof

Where is the outrage? It now costs more than $50,000 a year in tuition at many highly regarded law schools. So why aren’t liberal law professors who are concerned about class barriers rising up to oppose the oppressive cost? That is the question being posed by a well-known critic of…

May 2, 2013 2:00 PM CDT

Yale tops blog’s alternative law school rankings; focus is on schools delivering quality jobs

Move over U.S. News. There’s a new set of law school rankings that focuses on quality jobs, alumni satisfaction and education costs. The new ranking by Above the Law doesn’t consider LSAT scores, GPAs and the opinions of law school faculty members. “The time has come for a law school…

May 2, 2013 1:03 PM CDT

Is the legal job market really that lousy? Conventional wisdom ignores the long term, law prof says

Employment statistics on jobs held by law grads nine months after graduation don’t tell the whole story, according to an associate dean and professor at Widener Law School. D. Benjamin Barros, associate dean for faculty research and development at Widener, studied the longer-term employment picture for Widener graduates at its…

May 2, 2013 10:34 AM CDT

Law students need to stop talking like a ‘high school babysitter,’ former admissions dean says

Law students need to start using grown-up speech patterns, according to a former admissions dean at the University of Chicago Law School. Now an admissions consultant, Anna Ivey says law students put themselves at a disadvantage if their speech patterns don’t sound professional. “The client, boss, hiring partner, judge, etc.,…

May 1, 2013 11:20 AM CDT

Section keeps LSAT requirement for law school applicants—at least for now

To the possible chagrin of prospective law students throughout the United States, it appears likely that the national accreditation standards for law schools will retain the requirement that applicants take an admission test. For all intents and purposes, that means the LSAT. In March, the council of the ABA Section…

May 1, 2013 6:50 AM CDT

Simpler, tougher bar passage accreditation standard to be considered by ABA committee

An ABA committee has agreed in principle to a proposed new law school accreditation standard that would raise and simplify the current bar passage requirement. Under the proposed new standard, a law school would be required to show that 80 percent of its graduates who sat for the bar exam…

Apr 29, 2013 9:57 PM CDT

How to force change at law schools? Little agreement emerges at ABA conference

Should the ABA tighten law-school accreditation standards to force change? Or loosen them to allow for more experimentation? No consensus emerged on that question and several others debated on Wednesday during a conference sponsored by the ABA Task Force on the Future of Legal Education. The National Law Journal covered…

Apr 25, 2013 12:30 PM CDT

Law student accused in bird beheading waives preliminary hearing

A California law student charged in an alleged bird beheading waived a preliminary hearing on Wednesday. Justin Teixeira, a 3L at the University of California at Berkeley, is facing felony animal killing and torture charges for his alleged role in the beheading of an exotic bird at the Flamingo Las…

Apr 25, 2013 12:10 PM CDT

Bar passage or your money back: Law school offers partial refunds to some students

There could be an upside to failure for some students at Florida Coastal School of Law. Starting this fall, the school will give partial tuition refunds to qualified incoming students who flunk out after one year or who fail the bar after two tries, the Florida Times-Union reports. The refund:…

Apr 25, 2013 11:49 AM CDT

U of Texas put ‘golden handcuffs’ on law faculty with help of $213M private foundation

As the state attorney general continues to look into the operations of a private nonprofit foundation that helped raise money for the University of Texas Law School, details are emerging about the “golden handcuffs” that discouraged faculty from going to other institutions. Although there is nothing to indicate that any…

Apr 23, 2013 9:02 PM CDT

Quicker route to JD, uniform bar exam on ABA task force agenda; session will be live-streamed

Should law school be shortened with lower credit or time requirements for a JD? Should bar admissions officials offer the bar exam before law school graduation? Or create a unified national licensing system to reduce entry costs for new lawyers? Or create a category of limited-license legal professionals? Those are…

Apr 23, 2013 6:23 PM CDT

Dean sorry for censorship of college paper’s coverage of Chief Justice Roberts

A misunderstanding over the difference between how the high court’s press office approaches news coverage as opposed to promotional materials is being blamed for a decision to censor a college newspaper’s coverage of Chief Justice John Roberts and his visit to Lewis & Clark Law School earlier this month. Justice…

Apr 22, 2013 11:30 AM CDT