Law Students

Penn Law is quicker to discipline whites than minorities, controversial prof alleges in lawsuit

The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School is facing a lawsuit alleging that the school violated First Amendment principles and anti-discrimination laws when it disciplined a professor for her controversial remarks.

Jan 21, 2025 12:29 PM CST

Mythbusters: What do we really know about online law schools?

The journeys of individual students enrolling in online law school are as varied as the programs themselves, the ABA Journal finds. Currently, only law schools with brick-and-mortar campuses can gain ABA accreditation for their online JD programs. To date, 19 have received that blessing, and others are carefully considering joining the ranks.

Jan 15, 2025 11:34 AM CST

Supreme Court agrees to review cases involving student loan debt and preventive care

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear three new cases, including challenges to a federal rule that forgives student debt and to the part of the Affordable Care Act that requires insurance companies to cover some preventive care services.

Jan 13, 2025 3:20 PM CST

10 ways the bar exam could change in 2025

After 2024’s seismic shifts in the bar exams around the country, aftershocks will continue to roll through the new year, experts say. The ABA Journal spoke with several such experts; these are 10 of their predictions for 2025.

Jan 2, 2025 10:15 AM CST

Meet 11 ABA members who inspired us in 2024

In this year’s Members Who Inspire series, the ABA Journal featured 11 outstanding ABA members who brighten the world around them.

Dec 20, 2024 2:12 PM CST

Law school diversity persists after affirmative action ban, new ABA report finds

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling against race-conscious affirmative action policies did little to impact the makeup of 2024’s first year law students, according to the 2024 Standard 509 Information Report data overview from the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.

Dec 18, 2024 9:20 AM CST

Applications for law school up an ‘unnatural’ 35% from 2023

It’s shaping up to be very competitive year for aspiring law students.

Dec 5, 2024 4:53 PM CST

Law students are more diverse, face more debt than 20 years ago, new study says

Compared to 20 years ago, law students today are a more diverse group and more face student debt despite their career goals staying about the same, according to new research from Indiana University’s Center for Postsecondary Research.

Nov 22, 2024 1:32 PM CST

Aspiring law students could skip standardized admissions testing under new ABA variance

A work-around to the mandatory use of standardized testing for admissions to law school was approved as the council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar voted allow law schools to accept students who do not take the Law School Admission Test or another standardized exam.

Nov 13, 2024 3:18 PM CST

Legal Ed council adds diversity and inclusion language back into law school standard proposal

The council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar is reversing course, adding specific language regarding diversity and inclusion back into a contentious accreditation standard after an earlier attempt to broaden it drew criticism.

Nov 8, 2024 4:30 PM CST

California Supreme Court approves state’s Kaplan-created bar exam

Updated: The State Bar of California’s plan to create a new exam enabling the licensing test to be taken remotely, as well as at in-person test centers, has been green-lighted by the California Supreme Court, allowing the first administration of the Kaplan North America-developed test to move forward in February 2025.

Oct 24, 2024 9:34 AM CDT

‘The Calculator Mistake’: Denial, hostility won’t help lawyers deal with emergence of AI

My high school trigonometry teacher was, by his own admission, “old school.” He didn’t allow us to use calculators. Ever. Instead, all decimals had to be divided by hand, all formulas known by memory, and all square roots worked out on paper. We were unlikely to walk around with calculators when we got older, he explained, and so we had to be able to work things out with only a pencil and our brain.

Oct 23, 2024 2:00 PM CDT

New ‘Law of the Police’ class open to law students, lawyers and the public

Starting next week, lawyers and law students can learn more about policing and the law, from anywhere and for free.

Oct 10, 2024 3:02 PM CDT

This law school is among the 1% that allow use of AI to write admissions essays

Can would-be law students use generative artificial intelligence programs, such as ChatGPT, to write admissions essays? Fifty-four percent of surveyed law schools have no official policy on the issue, according to a survey by test prep company Kaplan.

Oct 9, 2024 2:47 PM CDT

Finding a Pathway: Assisting Native American and Indigenous law students requires confronting the challenges they face

Aspiring Native American lawyers face a host of unique challenges in their journeys to, through and beyond law school, even as law schools and legal associations offer support throughout the pipeline all the way to their first job. Research about Native and Indigenous law students and lawyers uses a variety of criteria, making it hard to compare facts and figures. But all point to the same fact: Native and Indigenous people are underrepresented in the legal profession, starting in law school.

Oct 1, 2024 3:40 AM CDT