Law Schools

Reports of Law School Cheating Increase Along with Focus on Grades

There is a reason why campus psychological counseling programs treat more law students than medical or business students, according to a law school career official. The economic downturn has increased employers’ focus on law school grades, leading to more competition and higher levels of stress among law students, according to…

Dec 4, 2009 2:06 PM CST

Missing Michigan Law Student Committed Suicide

Police have found the body of a first-year University of Michigan law student reported missing last month. Casey Neil McGinnis, 35, had hanged himself in a wooded area near a recreation center, according to AnnArbor.com. He had a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota and had battled alcohol and depression…

Dec 4, 2009 12:28 PM CST

U.S. News to Add Peer Assessment to Part-Time JD Program Rankings

For the next edition of its annual law school rankings, U.S. News & World Report will ask deans to rate other part-time JD programs and factor those ratings into those programs’ rankings. Law school deans, deans of academic affairs, chairs of faculty appointments and other tenured faculty will be asked…

Dec 3, 2009 10:28 PM CST

Online Law Grad Petitions to Take Bar, Cites High Cost of Traditional Ed.

Valarie Wallin, a graduate of an online law school, has passed the bar in California and Wisconsin. Now she wants the Minnesota Supreme Court to allow her to take the exam there. Wallin is joining with three other petitioners to ask for a change in Minnesota rules that allow only…

Dec 3, 2009 5:51 PM CST

Georgetown Law Dean Snags U.N. Post

The dean of Georgetown University Law Center let students and faculty know that he’s leaving in January to take a post with the United Nations. T. Alexander Aleinikoff, who’s been dean since 2004, sent an e-mail announcing the news that he’d accepted the position of deputy high commissioner in the…

Dec 2, 2009 9:59 PM CST

Law Schools Link Up with Foreign Counterparts for Double Qualification

A growing number of law schools are linking up with foreign counterparts to offer students the chance to learn about the law in home and overseas jurisdictions. In the United States, Columbia and Cornell university law schools are partnering with various schools in Europe to offer double qualifications in law…

Dec 2, 2009 5:08 PM CST

Some Law Firms Add Mini Round of 2L Recruiting

Some law firms that made a limited number of offers during on-campus recruiting are returning for a new round of interviews with second-year law students. The reason, according to the American Lawyer: Students got multiple job offers and turned down some law firms, leaving some unfilled 2010 summer associate positions.…

Dec 2, 2009 12:32 PM CST

Harvard Law Students Clamor for Aid and Public Interest Jobs, Forcing Changes

Updated: Harvard Law School has reinstated free coffee and announced stipends of $35,000 to 12 graduates working in public interest law. But in a year of tight budgets, something had to give. Now on the chopping block: a pilot program announced last year that waived third-year tuition for students who…

Dec 1, 2009 1:11 PM CST

Beautician Wins Major Property Case for Mom, Gets Law School Scholarship

A 23-year-old beautician with no legal training who made headlines by defeating a big British property developer in a High Court case earlier this month is now headed to law school, with the help of a scholarship. Young, blond and apparently underestimated, Georgina Blackwell saved her mother’s home and business…

Nov 30, 2009 10:40 PM CST

Georgetown Antes Up $1M to Offer ‘Free’ Tuition to Public Interest Grads

At least one well-known institution has reportedly found a way to cut the cost of law school for graduates who pursue public interest careers, and another is going to follow suit. In a plan that dovetails with a new federal program that allows public interest lawyers to pay only 10…

Nov 30, 2009 5:57 PM CST

Law Schools Reporting Drops of Up to 45% in On-Campus Interviews

A news report on the bleak job market for law grads is filled with numbers illustrating the problems. The law school at the University of Texas at Austin reported a 45 percent drop in on-campus interviews, ABC News reports. At Harvard, the percentage of employers participating in law student recruitment…

Nov 30, 2009 2:29 PM CST

Court Stands Firm: Law License Denied Because of Unpaid Student Loans

A law graduate denied bar admission because of unpaid student loans saw another setback earlier this month, when a New York appeals court refused to reconsider its decision in the case. On Nov. 19, the court refused Robert Bowman’s motion for reconsideration, the New York Times reports. Bowman’s student debt,…

Nov 30, 2009 1:14 PM CST

Legal Group Files FCC Complaint Over Adam Lambert Performance

A legal group advocating traditional family values has filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission over Adam Lambert’s provocative performance at the televised American Music Awards. The complaint (PDF) by Liberty Counsel says Lambert’s Nov. 22 performance included simulated sex, “suggestive crotch grabbing” and “homosexual open-mouth kissing,” according to…

Nov 30, 2009 12:47 PM CST

Calif. Western Law Grads’ Gowns to Be Made from Recycled Plastic Bottles

California Western School of Law has announced that it will use graduation caps and gowns made from recycled plastic bottles. “We are proud to be the first law school in the country whose graduates will be wearing gowns made of 100 percent recycled materials,” said Kathleen Seibel, California Western’s assistant…

Nov 25, 2009 6:50 PM CST

‘The Right Program for Every Student’ Is Not a Contract, Court Tells 2L

A transfer student unhappy with his “C” grade in a legal writing course has lost a lawsuit seeking to force New York Law School to change to a pass-fail system. Plaintiff Timothy Keefe claimed he was disadvantaged when New York Law School placed him in Legal Writing II, according to…

Nov 23, 2009 2:15 PM CST