Law Schools

Harvard Law Student’s Racist E-Mail Goes Viral; Dean Calls It ‘Sad & Unfortunate’

The dean of Harvard Law School has now weighed in concerning a student’s racist e-mail that reportedly went viral on the Internet this week. Dean Martha Minow describes the e-mail in a statement today to the law school community as “troubling” and a “sad and unfortunate incident” that “prompts both…

Apr 29, 2010 6:32 PM CDT

Trial Looms in Hard-Fought Law Prof Sexual Harassment Case at GMU

Updated: She says he sexually harassed her. He says he did nothing wrong. And nearly a year of hard-fought federal litigation between George Mason University and the two former and current law professors doesn’t seem to have come close to resolving the dispute. After the exchange of some 100,000 documents…

Apr 28, 2010 12:26 AM CDT

Billionaire Harvard Alum’s Big Bucks to Help 10 Law Grads Get Public-Interest Jobs

A well-known graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School is donating $1 million to the two schools, part of which will fund public-interest jobs for 10 law school alumni. Sumner Redstone, the executive chairman of Viacom Inc., announced the donation and the funding of the 10 Redstone Fellowships for…

Apr 27, 2010 7:26 PM CDT

Law Prof Sees Parallels Between Tuition Hikes and Subprime Mortgage Bubble

A University of Illinois law professor sees parallels between the subprime mortgage crisis and the proliferation of law school debt. Writing at the Conglomerate blog, Professor Christine Hurt makes her argument. “For a couple of decades now (and until a few years ago), the conventional wisdom was that real estate…

Apr 27, 2010 11:49 AM CDT

New 2-Year College Is Designed as Path to Law School for Onetime Underachievers

New Hampshire legislators have approved a new two-year college that is designed as a path to law school for community college students who were onetime underachievers. The founder and dean of the new college is Lawrence Velvel, the dean of the Massachusetts School of Law, the Concord Monitor reports. Velvel…

Apr 26, 2010 12:25 PM CDT

Survey: Most Pre-Law Students Confident re Own Prospects, But Dubious About Others

Despite the economic debacle of the past year or two, most pre-law students are confident about their own career prospects, a survey found. However, they express doubt about others’ ability to find the legal job of their dreams, according to a Business Wire press release. The survey by Kaplan Test…

Apr 21, 2010 11:25 PM CDT

Law Students Push for Transparency, More Info re Law School Employment Stats

Two Vanderbilt law students have created a new website where they hope to publish better job and salary information for all ABA-accredited law schools. Students Patrick Lynch and Kyle McEntee say law schools hide their employment data in aggregate form, the National Law Journal reports. “You may know that 50…

Apr 21, 2010 1:55 PM CDT

Researcher Says Law Students Need to Learn to Read Like Lawyers

Most law students are told they need to think like lawyers. But a Pennsylvania State University researcher says students also need to read like lawyers. The scientist and higher education professor, Dorothy Evensen, formerly worked as an item writer for the reading comprehension section of the Law School Admission Test,…

Apr 19, 2010 10:30 AM CDT

‘Litigation Prenup’ Limiting Pretrial Discovery to be Unveiled Today

A model “litigation prenup” agreement that limits discovery in contract disputes is being unveiled today at a law school dispute resolution conference. Companies would incorporate the agreement into contracts with partners, suppliers and customers, the National Law Journal reports. The agreement requires dispute resolution before litigation over contract disputes, and…

Apr 15, 2010 4:42 PM CDT

Health Care Law Will Make Student Loan Repayment Easier for Some Future Law Grads

Students considering taking out a loan for law school in future years should take a look at provisions in the new health care law that could make repayment easier. Under the law, new borrowers who take out direct federal loans can have loan payments capped at 10 percent of their…

Apr 15, 2010 3:23 PM CDT

US News Warns of Tough Times for Law Grads; Expert Says ‘It’s Just Like the Lottery’

U.S. News & World Report has a “reality check” for would-be students studying its new law school rankings: First-year associates at small firms are expected to make between $49,750 and $73,000 a year. And not everyone will be able to find a job, U.S. News warns. “Jobs are no longer…

Apr 15, 2010 12:17 PM CDT

Yale’s Still #1 in Latest US News Rankings; Harvard, Stanford, Columbia & Chicago Follow

Yale Law School still holds the No. 1 spot in the new U.S. News & World Report rankings this year, followed by Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, Columbia Law School and the University of Chicago Law School in the Nos. 2 through 5 spots, respectively. New York University takes…

Apr 15, 2010 6:09 AM CDT

U of Texas Launches New Dual Degree Program Focused on Law and Information

A new dual degree program being launched at the University of Texas at Austin will award both a juris doctor degree and a master of science and information studies degree after a three-year program of study. “The program results from the recognition that not only is digital information changing the…

Apr 14, 2010 6:25 PM CDT

Have US News Law School Rankings Leaked? Only Magazine Knows for Sure

Updated: There may have been a leak of the much-watched annual U.S. News & World Report law school rankings expected to be officially released within hours. But then again the purported new rankings–which put Yale University, Harvard University, Stanford University, Columbia University and the University of Chicago in first through…

Apr 14, 2010 5:43 PM CDT

A Marketing Prof Tries Law School, Encounters Stress Level that Is ‘Scarily High’

A 58-year-old marketing professor is a 1L at New York Law School, largely because of a stint on jury duty and a dinner party conversation with a woman who turned out to be the dean. Writing at Inside Higher Ed, Steve Cohen recalled how he told the woman about an…

Apr 14, 2010 11:00 AM CDT