Education Law

Law Prof Proposes African Boarding School for Troubled Indiana Kids

An Indiana University law professor is proposing an unusual way to help troubled kids: Send them to boarding school in Africa. Law professor Kevin Brown is leading a group of Indiana professors backing a school in the West African nation of Ghana, according to the Associated Press and the Indianapolis…

Nov 17, 2009 3:47 PM CST

Law Firm Informant Points Finger at Lawyer for Other Lawyers in Pension Cases

A lawyer representing other lawyers in an ongoing probe of New York pensions being paid to attorneys who alleged did government legal work as private practitioners while being reported as state employees may himself have a dubious claim to his more than $120,000-a-year pension. Citing claims by an unidentified confidential…

Nov 13, 2009 12:56 AM CST

Iconic N.Y. Lawyer Settles Pension Probe; ‘Worked’ Over 1,200 Days in a Year

A Long Island, N.Y., private practitioner whose claims in government legal bills to have worked more than 1,200 days in a single year led to a massive probe of state pensions being paid to attorneys has agreed to give up his own benefits. Lawrence Reich, 69, will no longer receive…

Nov 5, 2009 7:50 PM CST

Chemerinsky Represents Teacher Who Called Creationism ‘Nonsense’

The dean of the University of California’s newest law school is representing a California high school teacher who called Creationism “religious, superstitious nonsense.” Law dean Erwin Chemerinsky of the UC Irvine law school is one of four lawyers representing history teacher James Corbett as he appeals a ruling that his…

Oct 27, 2009 4:36 PM CDT

Mom Tailed in School Registration Case Pursues Privacy Complaint

Suspected of improperly registering her child at a local school in Poole, England, 40-year-old Jenny Paton became the target of an undercover surveillance mission. Authorities obtained her phone records and tailed her for weeks as she went about her daily activities, driving her daughter to school. As it turned out,…

Oct 26, 2009 8:10 PM CDT

Missouri Cracks Down on Cyberbullying, Detains Teen for Creating Website

The detention of a Missouri high school student accused of creating a website to bully another student, is the latest in an aggressive crackdown on cyberbullying. The student, reportedly a ninth grade girl, had already been disciplined, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Police became involved, however, after school authorities…

Oct 16, 2009 1:44 PM CDT

Cub Scout, 6, Broke Weapons Rule With Camping Tool, School Says

Excited about becoming a Cub Scout, 6-year-old Zachary Christie couldn’t wait to use his new camping tool. But when he brought out the utensil—which can be used as a knife, a fork and a spoon at lunch at Downes Elementary School in the suburbs of Wilmington, Del., officials concluded it…

Oct 13, 2009 8:51 PM CDT

James Joyce Estate to Pay Scholar’s $240K Legal Bill in Fair Use Battle

In a settlement that may encourage other academics to push for their right to make fair use of excerpts of published material in their scholarly writing, the estate of famed author James Joyce has agreed to pay a $240,000 legal bill racked up by an English professor at Stanford University…

Sep 30, 2009 7:47 PM CDT

Fired Ave Maria Law Prof Gets Tenure in Whistle-Blower Settlement, Lawyer Says

A much-watched whistle-blower lawsuit by three former faculty members at Ave Maria School of Law is now concluded without ever having the central legal issue publicly addressed. A settlement by Stephen Safranek ends the Michigan state-court case, since the two other plaintiffs settled earlier this year according to the Naples…

Sep 21, 2009 6:18 PM CDT

Bonfire Could Return to Texas A&M, Following $2.1M Settlement

A 1999 accident at Texas A&M University that killed 11 students and one graduate and injured dozens of others ended a 100-year-old campus football tradition known as Bonfire. But the fire, which grew to bigger and bigger heights before a 60-foot-high stack of logs under construction collapsed a decade ago,…

Sep 9, 2009 11:55 PM CDT

Former Prof Arrested, Accused of Taking 2 Guns, 53 Rounds Into Law Library

A former adjunct faculty member at the University of Louisville’s law school was arrested Friday after allegedly bringing two handguns and 53 rounds of ammunition into the law school library around 8:30 a.m. Police were initially called about Thomas Irwin, 56, because a library employee who recognized him knew that…

Aug 26, 2009 8:13 PM CDT

Suit Blames School and Bullies for Girl’s Anorexia, Cites Title IX

A lawsuit filed against the Pittsburgh Public Schools claims a straight-A student developed anorexia because bullies taunted the girl about her weight and school officials did nothing to stop it. The suit filed by lawyer Edward Olds says the girl was bullied in sixth and seventh grade, the Associated Press…

Aug 20, 2009 2:06 PM CDT

Va. Tech Gunman Never Treated Despite Court Order, Mental Health Records Show

Mental health records released today for the gunman who massacred 32 people at Virginia Tech in April 2007 before killing himself show that he was never treated by the school’s counseling center despite multiple “triage” evaluations and a court order requiring that Seung-Hui Cho receive treatment. The records had been…

Aug 19, 2009 11:21 PM CDT

Accused of Discrimination, Football Coach Sues for Libel, Is Accused of Retaliation

After an attorney for a longtime worker at the University of New Mexico spoke to a local newspaper about her client’s discrimination lawsuit against a well-known football coach and the university, he sued the lawyer and her client for defamation. Now attorney Whitney Warner is threatening to pursue a retaliation…

Aug 19, 2009 10:25 PM CDT

Unemployed Grad Sues College for Failing to Get Her a Job

College graduate Trina Thompson has filed a $70,000 lawsuit that contends her school didn’t do enough to get her a job. Thompson filed the suit against Monroe College in a Bronx court on July 24, the New York Post reports. The suit claims the school’s career office didn’t give her…

Aug 3, 2009 3:43 PM CDT