ABA Committee to Revisit Bar Passage Accreditation Standard

An American Bar Association committee appears to be having second thoughts about its tentative decision last year not to recommend any changes in the law school accreditation standard dealing with bar passage rates. What precipitated the collective change of heart? A preliminary analysis of attrition rates for candidates who sat…

Jul 16, 2012 7:41 PM CDT

Freeh’s Scathing Report an Unusual ‘Road Map’ to Litigation Against Penn State, Lawyers Say

Sadly, institutional cover-ups concerning suspected or actual sexual abuse of minors are not a rarity. But what is unusual is the scathing internal report made to Pennsylvania State University’s board of trustees this week by former FBI Director Louis Freeh concerning Jerry Sandusky. Discussed by Freeh at a news conference,…

Jul 13, 2012 7:12 PM CDT

Report Says Joe Paterno Knew of Sandusky Concerns in 1998

Penn State coach Joe Paterno and other university leaders failed to protect children from abuse by Jerry Sandusky, according to a report by former FBI director Louis Freeh. “Our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky’s child victims,” Freeh said. “The…

Jul 12, 2012 2:24 PM CDT

ABA Council Denies Duncan School of Law’s Accreditation Appeal

The governing council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has affirmed its denial of Lincoln Memorial University’s Duncan School of Law’s bid for provisional accreditation. The council notified the school of its decision in a letter Thursday, according to papers (PDF) filed Friday in…

Jul 9, 2012 6:00 PM CDT

US Law Schools Expanding Clinical, Professionalism Offerings, Survey Shows

U.S. law schools have been beefing up their clinical and professionalism programs in response to the shifting economy and various calls for curricula changes from academia and the media, a new survey shows. Three-quarters of the schools surveyed cited the changing job market as a reason for the curricula changes.…

Jul 5, 2012 4:20 PM CDT

Law Prof Sees Securities Issues in Proposal to Finance Education Through Stake in Grads’ Future Pay

A University of Chicago law professor is pointing out some securities problems in a proposal to finance education with a venture capital model. The proposal by University of Chicago professor Luigi Zingales is for investors to finance college education in exchange for a fraction of students’ future incomes—or perhaps a…

Jun 25, 2012 10:30 AM CDT

Sandusky Defense Tells Jurors Accusers of Ex-Penn State Asst. Football Coach Have Financial Motive

Updated: A group of young men who have accused a former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach of sexually abusing them as youths have a financial interest in the outcome of the criminal case in which he is now at trial, defense counsel said Monday in opening statements. And defense…

Jun 11, 2012 6:15 PM CDT

Legal Ed Section’s Council Puts Off Decision on Accrediting Foreign Law Schools

Leaders of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, which accredits U.S. law schools, have postponed a decision on whether to start accrediting foreign law schools. The section’s governing council, which met Saturday in Boston, was supposed to act on a committee’s recommendation that it not…

Jun 11, 2012 5:46 PM CDT

Focus of Next Supreme Court Term Will Be Race, Columnist Predicts

The focus of the next Supreme Court term will likely be race, according to a journalist who used to cover the court. In an Opinionator column for the New York Times, former Times reporter Linda Greenhouse makes her prediction. “Race is the project of the Roberts court—more than enhancing corporate…

Jun 4, 2012 11:30 AM CDT

A Big Mess in Little Neck: Clause in 17th Century Land Trust Causes Modern-Day Ruckus

Jun 1, 2012 9:20 AM CDT

Few Jobs, But a Rack of Suits: Law Grads Claim Their Alma Maters Duped Them

Jun 1, 2012 8:30 AM CDT

Two Students Are Charged in Bullying Attacks on Teen Before His Suicide

A New Jersey prosecutor revealed charges on Wednesday against two students accused of terrorizing a high school freshman who later committed suicide. Lennon Baldwin, 15, committed suicide on March 28 after he was assaulted by one of the youths at school, and then robbed in a parking garage by the…

May 31, 2012 2:31 PM CDT

Judge Rules for School District in Suicide Death of Teen Featured in ‘Bully’ Documentary

A federal judge in Georgia has granted summary judgment to a school district accused of deliberate indifference to the plight of a bullied student who committed suicide. U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy ruled (PDF) for the Murray County school system in a case filed by the parents of 17-year-old Tyler…

May 22, 2012 3:06 PM CDT

Harvard Had a Stronger Claim to Facebook than the Winklevoss Twins, Law Prof Says

Policies buried in college student handbooks are being cited by universities asserting that they are due a cut of the profits from inventions conceived on campus. Harvard wasn’t one of them, Stanford law fellow Brian Love writes in the Boston Globe. Facebook was invented by Mark Zuckerberg and his friends…

May 18, 2012 2:04 PM CDT

Why Onetime Teacher Eric Justin Toth Is Pictured on FBI Billboards Across the Country

The FBI has replaced Osama bin Laden on its most wanted list with Eric Justin Toth, a former school teacher at Washington National Cathedral’s exclusive Beauvoir elementary school. Toth, now 30, is accused of recording his students on a camera he secretly installed in the third-grade class bathroom, the Washington…

May 17, 2012 3:54 PM CDT