Law Schools

Around the Blawgosphere: Profs on Economic Realities; Can We Have ‘Authentic Conversations’ Online?

Profs’ Blogging Symposium This week, Legal Ethics Forum hosted the “LEF Symposium on Legal Education’s Response to the Economic Realities Facing the Profession.” It was conducted by having more than 20 law professors contribute posts over a three-day period about “the implications of economic pressures on the way we teach…

Feb 10, 2012 2:30 PM CST

ABA Files Motions to Dismiss, Stay Duncan School of Law Litigation

The ABA moved Wednesday to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a Tennessee law school in December after it was denied provisional accreditation by the association’s law school accrediting arm. Lincoln Memorial University’s Duncan School of Law is suing the ABA for alleged antitrust and due process violations over a Dec.…

Feb 9, 2012 8:32 PM CST

Widener Settles Suit Filed by Law Prof Criticized for His Violent Hypotheticals

Widener University’s law school has settled a suit by a professor who claimed he was defamed when the dean criticized his violent hypotheticals. Terms of the settlement with law professor Lawrence Connell are confidential, report the Associated Press, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Delaware Online. He will not continue teaching at…

Feb 9, 2012 6:05 PM CST

2 Former TSU Law Students Sue Over ‘Arbitrary and Capricious’ D Grade in First-Year Contracts Class

Updated: Jonathan Chan and Karla Ford expected to be second-year law students at Texas Southern University this year. Instead, the two are making headlines after filing an unusual federal lawsuit in the Southern District of Texas last week. It contends the D grades they got from an adjunct professor teaching…

Feb 8, 2012 7:50 PM CST

Top-Tier Law Schools Report an Increase in Summer Associate Hiring

Students at top-tier law schools are securing more summer associate positions, though the job numbers still fall short of levels before the recession. Reuters collected summer hiring statistics from top-tier law schools and found: • At New York University, about 70 percent of incoming third-year law students got summer associate…

Feb 8, 2012 2:58 PM CST

Law Prof’s Donation Gets Him Naming Rights to Harvard Law School Restroom

Berkeley law professor William Falik has obtained naming rights to a restroom at Harvard Law School with a $100,000 donation. Falik told Above the Law and the Daily Californian blog that he obtained naming rights after discussions with the school’s dean at the time—Elena Kagan. Outside the restroom in Harvard’s…

Feb 8, 2012 2:01 PM CST

Law School Offers Free 7th Semester of Study to Some Students, If They Postpone Taking July Bar Exam

One might think that a New York law school’s offer to cover the cost of a seventh semester of legal education for struggling third-year students would be seen as a positive. But some are complaining that the move is intended to benefit City University of New York School of Law,…

Feb 3, 2012 10:38 PM CST

Citing Environmental Concerns, Denver Law Clinic Helps Sue to Stop Christo ‘Over the River’ Project

Denver law students representing a group concerned about canyonland drilling necessary to anchor a massive Christo public art installation “Over the River” are suing to stop the project. Christo plans to stretch fabric over the Arkansas River for two weeks in August 2014, an effort that critics who’ve dubbed themselves…

Feb 2, 2012 11:40 AM CST

12 More Law Schools Sued Over Reporting of Law Grad Employment and Salary Stats

Updated: In a gathering storm that apparently may not yet have reached its full strength, lawsuits have been or will be filed today against another 12 law schools over the way they report employment data for their graduates, according to counsel for the plaintiffs. They say in a press release…

Feb 1, 2012 10:39 PM CST

Speaking Up: Helping Law Students Break Through the Silence of Depression

While vacationing with his family in the summer of 2005, Bill Treanor got the call every law school dean dreads. One of his most promising recent students, Fordham University School of Law grad Dave Nee, had taken his own life. “People were just devastated by his death,” says Treanor, now…

Feb 1, 2012 8:50 AM CST

High Court Should Space Out Opinions and Hire ‘Clear Writer’ to Summarize Them, Chemerinsky Says

Televised oral arguments are one way the U.S. Supreme Court could communicate better with the public, according to University of California at Irvine law dean Erwin Chemerinsky. But why stop there? Speaking at a symposium on the court and the press at Brigham Young University’s law school, Chemerinsky suggested several…

Jan 31, 2012 12:32 PM CST

Is Law School a Good Idea for Middle-Aged Professional? Experts Warn of Risks and Bias

A woman who describes herself as a middle-aged, midcareer government relations professional is thinking about a career change. The woman tells the Careerist she is going through career counseling and is thinking about becoming a lawyer with a focus on public service law. The blog asked two experts for advice.…

Jan 30, 2012 11:30 AM CST

Plan to Merge Rutgers-Camden and Rowan U Blasted by Students, Teachers on Both Sides

A plan unveiled this week by New Jersey’s governor to merge the Camden campus of Rutgers University, including the law school, with Rowan University in nearby Glassboro has been blasted by students and teachers on both sides. The combined school would be called Rowan University. Some, like law student Jeremy…

Jan 27, 2012 11:15 PM CST

NY Times Reporter Sounds off on Legal Education, Accreditation and the ‘Crazy’ Race for Rankings

New York Times reporter David Segal, whose recent series of stories on legal education has touched off a furor in the legal community, says law schools have taken the quest for higher rankings and greater prestige to “an incredibly destructive” place. Segal says the “madness” created by U.S. News and…

Jan 27, 2012 9:38 PM CST

Around the Blawgosphere: Takes on Apple’s iBook Author; Volunteer Job Requiring 5 Years Experience?

Launch’s Legal Fallout A big tech story this week was the Apple’s launch of iBooks Author, a free tool allowing users to create textbooks, which the company says will “reinvent textbooks” by allowing iPad users to access texts that are interactive and constantly updated and available at a relatively low…

Jan 27, 2012 2:30 PM CST