SCOTUSblog gets press credentials; eBay defamation case is dropped after bloggers turn up the heat

Last month, SCOTUSblog won a Peabody Award for excellence in electronic media–the first blog to ever do so. On Thursday, it announced that it had at long last, the Senate Press Gallery has granted its reporter Lyle Denniston a press credential. “The Supreme Court’s general practice, which we expect to…

Apr 19, 2013 1:29 PM CDT

Home ownership becomes more elusive for those with student debt

In a reversal of past trends, Americans who borrowed money to finance their education are less likely to have mortgages at age 30 than their student-debt-free counterparts. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York issued the statistics on Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. The percentage who, at…

Apr 18, 2013 3:20 PM CDT

Law prof is under fire for creating fake identity

An Emory law professor who was named one of America’s top 50 rabbis by Newsweek magazine is under fire after a news report said he used a fake identity to join a rival rabbinic group. The Jewish Channel reported that Rabbi Michael Broyde had used the name Hershel Goldwasser to…

Apr 17, 2013 11:10 AM CDT

S&P revises outlook for Albany Law School, citing enrollment drop

As fewer students apply to law schools, some of those institutions are struggling to maintain enrollments—a problem reflected in a revised Standard & Poor’s outlook for Albany Law School. S&P has revised Albany Law School’s outlook from BBB/positive to BBB/stable. The Albany Times Union reported on the change in a…

Apr 16, 2013 11:20 AM CDT

Forget law practice. Half of surveyed prelaw students plan to use law degree in nontraditional jobs

Think a JD is only for law practice? If so, about 100 prelaw students disagree with you. Half of more than 200 prelaw students responding to a survey by Kaplan Test Prep said they plan to use their law degree in a non-traditional legal field, according to a press release.…

Apr 15, 2013 10:40 AM CDT

‘Lawyer Bubble’ author discusses what the future looks like for today’s new lawyers

Apr 9, 2013 2:05 PM CDT

Anonymous blogger wins round in Cooley’s defamation suit

The Thomas M. Cooley Law School lost a round in its bid to unmask an anonymous blogger when the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled last week that a trial judge erred when denying a protective order in the case. The appellate opinion (PDF) said the trial court failed to state…

Apr 9, 2013 12:07 PM CDT

Which law schools fared best and worst in the latest ABA data?

The University of Chicago Law School tops a list of accredited schools with the highest percentage of 2012 grads in full-time, long term jobs that require bar passage. The National Law Journal created the list and several others in an analysis of ABA data for the class of 2012 that…

Apr 8, 2013 12:32 PM CDT

Nearly half of 2011 law grads can’t afford a house, law prof concludes

Bleak employment numbers are one way to measure the misery of law graduates. Another way: Determine the percentage of grads who make so little money in relation to their law school debt that home ownership is out of the question. University of St. Thomas law professor Jerry Organ has crunched…

Apr 8, 2013 11:25 AM CDT

Attention law school shoppers: It’s now cheaper to get a JD from the University of Arizona

The University of Arizona’s law school plans to drop tuition and tout the lower prices as it markets to students in bordering California. The university’s James E. Rogers College of Law is cutting tuition by 11 percent for in-state residents and 8 percent for out-of-state residents, report the National Law…

Apr 5, 2013 12:29 PM CDT

Drexel to offer 2-year ‘Fast-Forward’ juris doctor degree program

Drexel University will soon offer a new “Fast-Forward” option that will allow some law students to earn a juris doctor degree in two years instead of three. The program will cost the same as a traditional three-year degree, will require students to earn the same number of credits, and “they’ll…

Apr 2, 2013 6:16 PM CDT

Cooley mulls ‘formal affiliation’ with Western Michigan University

Talks are under way to determine whether the Thomas M. Cooley Law School and Western Michigan University should enter into a formal alliance. Under the plan that is being considered, both institutions would retain their independent governance and separate finances. However, the connection that has been demonstrated by a number…

Apr 2, 2013 5:50 PM CDT

Job market for would-be lawyers is even bleaker than it looks, analysis says

The job market for prospective lawyers is even bleaker than the law school employment outcome data released Friday by the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar would appear to suggest, according to one group’s analysis of the data. Excluding jobs funded by law schools, only 55.1…

Apr 1, 2013 7:14 PM CDT

Top-traveling federal judge says he’s not ‘snowed’ by presentations at expense-paid seminars

Which federal judges attended the most expense-paid seminars in the last 4 1/2 years? The Center for Public Integrity analyzed judicial disclosure forms to find out. The most frequent expense-paid travelers were Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Wolle of the Southern District of Iowa and Chief Judge Thomas Bennett of…

Apr 1, 2013 11:00 AM CDT

Task force collects ideas on legal education reform

Duke University law professor Paul Carrington recalls overseeing a study on legal education reform in 1970 funded by the Ford Foundation. The conclusion: The third year of legal education is a waste of time that raises the cost of legal services. Better to cut the third year, according to the…

Apr 1, 2013 5:39 AM CDT