Legal Education

How the University of Minnesota Law School is dealing with a sizable drop in applications

The University of Minnesota Law School named a new law dean on Thursday who will carry out the school’s strategy for dealing with one of the largest declines in applications among the nation’s top 20 law schools. Ohio State University law professor Garry Jenkins will take over as Minnesota’s law…

May 16, 2016 6:15 AM CDT

George Mason law profs support name change to Scalia Law, apologize for university faculty

The law faculty at George Mason University doesn’t have a problem with changing the school’s name to the Antonin Scalia Law School. The law school’s tenured and tenure-track faculty on Thursday approved a resolution supporting the renaming, report the Washington Post and Bloomberg Big Law Business. The vote was unanimous,…

May 13, 2016 10:01 AM CDT

9th Circuit removes judge who slashed attorney fees from BarBri antitrust class action

A trial judge cannot simply cut by 70 percent the requested $1.9 million attorney fee award in a winning antitrust class action without providing a detailed explanation why he did so, a federal appeals court has ruled. A Wednesday opinion (PDF) by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of…

May 12, 2016 2:00 PM CDT

LSAC won’t eject law school that plans to accept GRE, at least for now

The Law School Admission Council says it is waiting for more information on the reliability of the Graduate Record Exam before deciding whether to oust a law school that is accepting the test from applicants. The LSAC posted a letter (PDF) this weekend saying its request for more information from…

May 10, 2016 10:21 AM CDT

GMU law school’s name change to honor Scalia should be delayed, says faculty senate

The ongoing battle over renaming the George Mason University’s law school to honor the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia intensified Wednesday when the faculty senate demanded answers about the influence of private donors on academic integrity, such as tying funds for scholarships to the continued service of the…

May 5, 2016 1:05 PM CDT

Employment data for 2015 law school grads is concerning, some law profs say

Updated: Out of everyone who graduated from ABA-accredited law schools in 2015, 70 percent have full-time, long-term employment in positions that require or prefer a JD, according to data (PDF) released Tuesday by the ABA’s Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. Comparatively, 69 percent of the 2014…

May 3, 2016 5:48 PM CDT

Scalia name change for George Mason law school shows viewpoint diversity, says university president

George Mason University, a public college, is not becoming too dependent on private donations, says its president, who has heard concerns about its recent $30 million in law school gifts from seemingly conservative donors. This spring, the law school received a $10 million donation from the Charles Koch Foundation, the…

May 2, 2016 10:20 AM CDT

Two reluctant entrepreneurs tackle challenge of copyright duration

Elizabeth Townsend Gard was researching British literature when it became clear that she would have to learn something about copyrights. It was 1994, and Gard was trying to start her dissertation on the author Vera Brittain, who is best known for her work set during World War I. She didn't know much about copyrights; she wanted to be a history professor. But she needed Brittain's writing to do her work, and it wasn't clear whether she could use it legally.

May 1, 2016 4:00 AM CDT

Loyola Chicago morphs its evening JD program into a weekend one

For the time-pressed aspiring JDs of the world, Loyola University Chicago's School of Law has an attractive offering: Starting this fall, it is turning its part-time, evening JD program into a weekend offering.

May 1, 2016 3:10 AM CDT

Faculty senate at George Mason expresses ‘deep concern’ about renaming law school for Scalia

The faculty senate of George Mason University has approved a resolution expressing “deep concern” about a $30 million gift that is tied to renaming the law school after the late Justice Antonin Scalia. The Wall Street Journal Law Blog and the New York Times cover the latest controversy over plans…

Apr 29, 2016 7:27 AM CDT

Touches weren’t sexual, says Berkeley law prof facing second disciplinary process

Sujit Choudhry, the former dean of the University of California at Berkeley School of Law who stepped down after a university finding that he repeatedly hugged his executive assistant, has filed a grievance (PDF) about a second disciplinary process, which he says could result in him losing tenure. The first…

Apr 26, 2016 2:43 PM CDT

Law prof ponders: If a highly advanced robot kills, is it murder or product liability?

We aren’t there yet. But a human-likerobot portrayed in the short story “Mika Model” could eventually be developed. And, if so, the central question of the story also could come to life, says law professor Ryan Calo of the University of Washington. That is, how should the legal system treat…

Apr 26, 2016 1:12 PM CDT

Are law school applications rising? So far applicant pool is larger and stronger, law prof says

Law school enrollment could jump 5.5 percent this year, according to a law professor’s analysis of applications so far. Jerry Organ, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, estimates that 57,500 people will apply to ABA-accredited law schools this admissions cycle, the National…

Apr 26, 2016 7:24 AM CDT

Suit says BarBri violates ADA; online study materials aren’t fully accessible to blind law grads

Three law students have filed a federal lawsuit against BarBri Inc. contending that the company’s online bar-exam preparation materials aren’t fully accessible to the blind. The suit, filed Monday in Dallas, alleges that BarBri violates the Americans with Disabilities Act by not providing appropriate accommodations, Texas Lawbook reports in an…

Apr 25, 2016 5:25 PM CDT

Former law school CFO takes theft plea; he will get probation and owe $24K in restitution

A former chief financial officer of Barry University’s law school in Orlando, Florida, has taken a plea in a grand theft case. John LaTorre, 57, had been accused last year of charging $50,000 in personal expenses on a corporate American Express account for the institution and of writing another $50,000…

Apr 25, 2016 3:15 PM CDT