Law Professors

New law-review rankings put Yale behind Michigan, Penn, Texas and UCLA

Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School and Columbia Law School top a new list ranking law reviews. Yale Law Journal is in the No. 8 spot on the list, behind the law reviews of the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan, the University of California-Los Angeles and the University…

Feb 25, 2013 7:03 PM CST

Law prof mulls ethics complaints against school officials who publish misleading stats

A University of Missouri law professor says he’s tempted to file ethics complaints against lawyers at law schools who have lied about student data. Associate law professor Ben Trachtenberg tells Bloomberg Law that such deceit could be an ethics violation under state rules patterned after Rule 8.4 of the ABA…

Feb 25, 2013 12:15 PM CST

Left-out U of Chicago now 5th in new National Jurist rankings, but law profs remain critical

Due to a data entry mistake, the University of Chicago was initially left out of a list of the top 50 law schools published in the February issue of National Jurist. But that mistake, as well as some questionable data, has now been corrected, putting the U of C in…

Feb 21, 2013 10:51 PM CST

Want to read the latest Sentencing Commission report? Law prof blogger is tapped to get the news out

If you want to read a report by the U.S. Sentencing Commission on the impact of a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision, you will have to rely on the blogosphere. The commission is relying on back channels—or more specifically, an Ohio State University law professor—to release its new report, the…

Feb 15, 2013 1:29 PM CST

Legal theorist Ronald Dworkin dies at age 81

Legal theorist Ronald Dworkin has died at the age of 81. The cause of death was leukemia, report the Associated Press, the New York Times and the New York University School of Law, where Dworkin was a faculty member. He was also emeritus professor at University College London. The Times…

Feb 14, 2013 4:56 PM CST

Two-year law school was a good idea in 1970, and it’s a good idea now, prof tells ABA task force

Click here for access to all of our coverage of this year’s ABA Midyear Meeting. Duke University law professor Paul Carrington recalls overseeing a study on legal education reform in 1970 that was funded by the Ford Foundation. The conclusion? The third year of legal education is a waste of…

Feb 10, 2013 1:36 AM CST

Now is the time to go to law school, at least in this state, dean says

Updated: While critics continue to disparage the state of legal education, at least some of its top figures continue to balance calls for change with assurances to prospective students of law school’s current value. And one law dean is citing the regional hiring preferences of law firms and positive local…

Feb 7, 2013 3:54 PM CST

Can grand juries serve as check on prosecutorial overreach? Law profs offer ideas

The suicide of Internet “hactivist” Aaron Swartz is shining a light on proposals to rein in prosecutors through more powerful grand juries. Swartz took his life as he was awaiting a felony trial for downloading scholarly papers, leading to criticism that the U.S. Attorney’s stance in the case amounted to…

Feb 6, 2013 12:00 PM CST

Fired prof’s suit against law school is dismissed

A federal judge dismissed a breach of contract and wrongful termination lawsuit against the University of the District of Columbia’s David A. Clarke School of Law, filed by a professor who was denied tenure and subsequently fired. In granting the school’s motion to dismiss (PDF) U.S. District Judge Richard Leon…

Feb 4, 2013 6:25 PM CST

‘Massive layoffs’ predicted in law schools due to big drop in applicants

A plunge in the number of applicants to law schools will likely lead to closures and faculty layoffs, according to law professors following the statistics. Based on current trends, the number of law school applicants for the 2013 school year is expected to number between 53,000 and 54,000, a 30-year…

Jan 31, 2013 12:27 PM CST

Law school grapples with student surplus after switch to 3L practical skills training

Washington & Lee University’s law school had so many students accepting enrollment offers last year that it had to offer financial incentives to defer some of them until 2013. Even then, the school enrolled about 185 students in the fall of 2012, 50 more than usual. Indiana University law professor…

Jan 31, 2013 11:30 AM CST

Schizophrenics may be doctors, lawyers and other professionals, law prof says

Mental health professionals may be selling schizophrenics short when they advise their patients that they should not pursue or expect fulfilling careers, according to a law professor with mental illness. University of Southern California law professor Elyn Saks is a schizophrenic who received a MacArthur Foundation genius grant in 2009.…

Jan 29, 2013 12:00 PM CST

Proposal to let law students take NY bar after 2 years is worth study, says state’s chief judge

A proposal to let individuals who have completed two years of law school take the New York bar exam before they have earned their juris doctor degree is worth further study, the state’s chief judge said at a recent conference. Jonathan Lippman didn’t formally endorse the idea, which is still…

Jan 23, 2013 7:47 PM CST

ABA committee recommends keeping LSAT requirement

An ABA committee has approved two more chapters of recommended changes in law school accreditation standards. One of the two chapters covers admission policies and practices, and the other deals with organization and administration. The most significant of the proposed changes would retain a pared-down version of the Standards and…

Jan 22, 2013 7:32 PM CST

Reducing law school to 2 years would just add to lawyer glut, says law prof

For decades, a number of attorneys have contended that the third year of law school is an unnecessary waste of time. And, as law school graduates have become increasingly burdened with heavy debt loads, that argument has gained increasing weight. Leading attorneys, judges and law professors in New York are…

Jan 18, 2013 9:00 PM CST