Law Schools

ABA Committee Considers Changes in Terms and Conditions of Law School Employment Policies

Should law schools be required to offer tenure or other forms of security of position to all full-time faculty members? That is the question at the heart of two alternative proposals now being considered by an ABA committee that is working on a comprehensive review of law school accreditation standards.…

Jul 11, 2011 11:34 PM CDT

Law Prof Responds After Chief Justice Roberts Disses Legal Scholarship

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has raised hackles with his suggestion that there is a disconnect between the scholarship of law professors and the work of practitioners. Roberts knocked law professors and their work while answering questions at the 4th Circuit Judicial Conference in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.,…

Jul 7, 2011 10:29 AM CDT

Minnesota Law School Considers Taking Itself Private

With public funding increasingly unreliable, the University of Minnesota’s law school is mulling the option of taking itself private. By giving up public funding, the school would have more control over its operations, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune, which reports that the university’s business school is also considering going…

Jul 5, 2011 4:44 PM CDT

Police Find Dismembered Body Outside Apartment of Missing Law Grad

Updated: Police in Macon, Ga., discovered a dismembered body on Thursday outside the apartment building of a missing Mercer law grad after a friend reported her missing. Police were working to identify the body, Macon.com reports. The missing woman, 27-year-old Lauren Giddings, had recently graduated and was preparing for the…

Jul 1, 2011 2:31 PM CDT

State of the Union: The Nation’s Lawyer Population Continues to Grow, But Barely

Source: ABA Market Research Department, Illustration by iStockphoto. The U.S. legal profession is going through some heavy turbulence these days: downsizing at larger law firms, a more competitive business environment, the growing impact of globalization and technology, and angst about job prospects and debt. Nevertheless, the national lawyer population still…

Jul 1, 2011 5:59 AM CDT

Prof: Some May Balk at Their Tone, But ‘Scambloggers’ Put National Spotlight on Problems in Legal Ed

“Scambloggers,” a term used to describe people whose writing focuses on the allegedly misleading way that law schools market themselves to potential law students, plays an important part in the profession’s evolution, according to a recent article in the Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology. Lucille Jewel, an associate…

Jun 30, 2011 7:50 PM CDT

Minority Enrollment Down at Florida’s Public Law Schools; UF Dean Concerned

The National Law School Admission Council reported last week that black enrollment at the University of Florida Levin College of Law dropped 10 percent between fall 2006 and 2010. And at the Orlando, Fla.-based law school of historically black college Florida A&M University, Hispanic enrollment dropped by a third between…

Jun 27, 2011 5:42 PM CDT

Retired BigLaw CEO to Serve as New Law School Dean for University of Western Ontario

A former chairman and CEO of one of Canada’s biggest law firms says he had no idea when he retired at the beginning of the year that his next gig would be as a law school dean. But Iain Scott, 59, says the unusual appointment will make use of a…

Jun 22, 2011 9:01 PM CDT

Law Prof Settles Suit Alleging Duquesne Discriminated in Dean Appointment

Duquesne University law professor Vanessa Browne-Barbour has settled her suit claiming discrimination in the school’s appointment of a dean. Details of the settlement were not disclosed, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Browne-Barber, who is black, had alleged both race and sex discrimination. Browne-Barber had claimed the…

Jun 22, 2011 1:29 PM CDT

Some Law Schools Are Admitting Fewer Students. Hold the Applause

A handful of law schools have announced plans to shrink their incoming classes, leading to speculation about the reasons why. Is the move designed to better students’ chances of landing a job or to better the schools’ rankings in U.S. News & World Report? Inside Higher Ed points out that…

Jun 21, 2011 12:08 PM CDT

US News Likely to Change Law School Ranking Methodology in Wake of ABA Action

U.S. News & World Report will probably change its law school ranking methodology to reflect the new and more detailed job placement information the ABA’s law school accrediting arm has conditionally agreed to start collecting. If more detailed information on the types and status of legal jobs becomes available, U.S.…

Jun 20, 2011 3:17 PM CDT

Appeals Court Upholds Suspension for 3L Who Used Online Contract in Drafting Class

A third-year law student at the University of La Verne who was suspended for using an online contract in her drafting class has lost an appeal in state court. California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled against the student, Katrina Yu, on her state law claim, the Metropolitan News-Enterprise reports.…

Jun 20, 2011 11:00 AM CDT

FTC Should Probe Law Schools’ Employment Stats, Recent Grad Asserts

A recent law grad is getting some support for his assertion that the Federal Trade Commission could investigate whether law schools are violating federal consumer protection law. Joel Murray, a recent graduate of the University of California at Davis law school, posted a paper outlining his conclusions at the Social…

Jun 17, 2011 12:48 PM CDT

Longtime U of Montana Law Prof Denied Emeritus Status Decries ‘Petty’ and ‘Inexplicable’ Decision

A conservative constitutional scholar who formerly taught at the University of Montana for 23 years has been denied emeritus status in a faculty vote. Rob Natelson, who retired in May 2010 as a tenured faculty member to join the Independence Institute, said he was disappointed by the “petty” and “inexplicable”…

Jun 16, 2011 10:57 PM CDT

Ex-Inmate Earns Yale Law Degree, Gets Ready to Take Florida Bar Exam

A former drug dealer who used his prison time productively, getting a high-school equivalency diploma and reading prodigiously so he was ready to enroll in college after his release, has now passed another milestone. Andres Idarraga earned his law degree from Yale University last month, and is now getting ready…

Jun 16, 2011 9:44 PM CDT