What’s the hardest exam question you ever faced in law school? Was there one so difficult it is seared into your memory? One fiendish question I recall was on the final exam given by Judge Jay Plager in his Legislation class. I don’t recall the precise substance, but it was immaterial. There was a reasonably […]
Archive | Law Schools
Northwestern University Rejects Israel Boycotts
I am proud to say Northwestern University has strongly rejected the American Studies Association and other proposed boycotts of Israel, and reaffirmed its ties to Israel institutions. The following statement was released Friday by Northwestern University President Morton Schapiro and Provost Dan Linzer (emphasis mine): Recently the membership of the American Studies Association approved a […]
George Mason Law School Freezes Tuition
Here’s the press release: Visitors Freeze George Mason Law Tuition Fairfax, VA – December 11, 2013: The Board of Visitors of George Mason University voted today at its quarterly meeting to freeze the tuition of the law school for the upcoming year, for current and incoming students, and it declared its intention not to increase […]
Law School Electives and the Two-Year vs. Three-Year Debate
Whether the J.D. degree should take two years or three years is a recurring question in legal education. But a lot of the debate ignores one of the more unusual aspects of the J.D. degree: For the most part, the second and third years consist only of electives. The first year features a mandatory curriculum, […]
SCIL Loses First Amendment Challenge to Bar Passage Disclosure Requirement
By Jonathan H. Adler on August 21, 2013 8:38 pm in Academia, Bar Exam, Freedom of Speech, Law Schools, Legal Profession
As I noted here, the Southern California Institute of Law sought to challenge a requirement that it disclose the bar passage rate of its graduates. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the judge was not too impressed with this argument. SCIL’s attorney says the school may appeal. More from the WSJ Law Blog and ABA Journal.
Dean Sanctioned for Submitting False Admissions Data
Via Legal Ethics Forum comes news that former Villanova Law School Dean Mark Sargent received a three-year suspension from the Massachusetts Bar for knowingly submitting false admissions data. Former Illinois Law DeanAssistant Dean of Admissions Paul Pless was also reprimanded by the Washington State bar. [Note: Errors to this post have been corrected. Most significantly, as […]
Law School Applications Continue to Drop
Law school applications are down 18 percent and the number of applicants is down 12 percent. Paul Caron has details here. Relatedly, the LA Times reports on shrinking law school class sizes at California schools. Most schools face a stark choice between shrinking the size of incoming classes and lowering admission standards. In the coming […]
The “New Normal” in the Legal Profession
By Jonathan H. Adler on August 18, 2013 12:11 pm in Academia, Law School Tuition and Loans, Law Schools, Legal Profession
UNC’s Bernard Burk has an interesting new paper on changes to the legal profession and legal job market, “What’s New About the New Normal: The Evolving Market for New Lawyers in the 21st Century.” Here’s the abstract: Everyone agrees that job prospects for many new law graduates have been poor for the last several years; […]
California Law School Claims First Amendment Right Not to Report Bar Passage Rates
By Jonathan H. Adler on August 17, 2013 2:29 pm in Academia, Bar Exam, Freedom of Speech, Law Schools, Legal Profession
The WSJ Law Blog reports that the Southern California Institute of Law claims that it cannot be required to disclose the bar passage rate of its graduates as a condition of accreditation. Such a requirement, SCIL claims, runs afoul of the First Amendment. Southern California Institute of Law is suing bar association officials for requiring […]
Sixth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Suit Against Cooley Law
By Jonathan H. Adler on July 30, 2013 9:55 pm in Law School Tuition and Loans, Law Schools, Legal Profession
Today, in MacDonald v. Thomas M. Cooley Law School, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the SIxth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a suit by several former students at the Thomas M. Cooley Law School. Here’s the court’s summary of its opinion. The plaintiffs, twelve graduates of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School, sued their […]
Debating the Value of a Law Degree
By Jonathan H. Adler on July 24, 2013 8:16 pm in Law School Tuition and Loans, Law Schools, Legal Profession
The new study by Michael Simkovic and Frank McIntyre estimating the value of a law degree has sparked a substantial amount of debate and commentary, as I noted here and here. Most recently, WUSTL’s Brian Tamanaha, author of Failing Law Schools, went after the study on Balkinization arguing it systematically overstates the value of a […]
More on the Value of a Law Degree
By Jonathan H. Adler on July 21, 2013 4:46 pm in Law School Tuition and Loans, Law Schools, Legal Profession
Following up on his posts at Concurring Opinions discussing his study (with Frank McIntyre) attempting to measure the value of a law degree, Michael Simkovic rounds up the commentary and critiques of the study on Leiter’s Law School Reports. I noted prior coverage of the study here, and Paul Caron rounds up some additional coverage […]
On the Value of a Law Degree
By Jonathan H. Adler on July 18, 2013 4:40 pm in Academia, Law School Tuition and Loans, Law Schools, Legal Profession
In the NYT‘s Dealbook column, Ohio State’s Steven Davidoff discusses a new study, “The Economic Value of a Law Degree,” by Michael Simkovic and Frank McIntyre. This study purports to show that a law degree remains a good investment for many people. Here is the study’s abstract: Legal academics and journalists have marshaled statistics purporting […]
“An Employment Puzzle”: Merritt on Washington & Lee’s Placement Results
Over at The Law School Cafe, Deborah Merritt has a very interesting post on the placement results for graduates of Washington & Lee’s law school, which adopted a much-discussed practice-oriented program for the 3L year. Just a taste: Employers say they are eager to hire . . . better-trained, more rounded, more “practice ready” lawyers […]
Eliminating the “C” in Law School Grading?
By Kenneth Anderson on May 12, 2013 2:28 pm in Academia, Law Schools, Legal Professor, Uncategorized
Via Paul Caron at TaxProfBlog and the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, a proposal by Joshua Silverstein, law professor at Little Rock-Arkansas William Bowen School of Law, to eliminate the “C” in law school grading. Here is the SSRN abstract for “A Case for Grade Inflation in Legal Education,” forthcoming in University of San Francisco […]