Want to Trim Costs of Legal Education? Allow Undergrad Law Degrees, Law Prof Says

A law professor and a BigLaw lawyer have a solution to the high cost of legal education: Allow would-be lawyers to take the bar exam after obtaining an undergraduate law degree. Northwestern University law professor John McGinnis and Kirkland & Ellis associate Russell Mangas outline their proposal in an opinion…

Jan 18, 2012 1:53 PM CST

Tiger Mom Law Prof Didn’t ‘Click with the Law,’ But She Didn’t Stop Trying

The Yale law professor who wrote a book about “Tiger Mom” parenting says she didn’t like BigLaw and she didn’t like law school. Now, in an interview with the Careerist, Professor Amy Chua credits her own parents for teaching her the value of hard work, helping her succeed even when…

Jan 13, 2012 11:30 AM CST

Federal Judge to Serve as Founding Dean of New Law School in Dallas

A federal judge has been selected as the first dean of a new Texas law school expected to open in 2014 in a renovated former department store in downtown Dallas. Administrators of the University of North Texas Dallas College of the Law today announced that senior U.S. District Judge Royal…

Jan 11, 2012 9:08 PM CST

A View from AALS: What Change Looks Like

When historians of the 31st Century convene to consider this question: How did America manage (or fail) to renew itself at the beginning of the 21st Century to continue its remarkable period of economic, political and cultural leadership? They will consider themselves quite lucky if they have comprehensive access to…

Jan 11, 2012 4:42 PM CST

Website Names Sotomayor a ‘Top 20 US Progressive’

An online consumer publication in the United Kingdom has named Justice Sonia Sotomayor a “top 20 U.S. progressive.” No other justice made the list compiled by the NewStatesman.com. “It has been said that Sotomayor has lived the American dream: born in a Bronx housing project, full scholarships to Princeton and…

Jan 11, 2012 1:03 PM CST

Some Recruiters Advise Job-Seeking Lawyers to Leave LLMs off Resumes

Getting an LLM doesn’t necessarily help job-seeking lawyers, and may even hurt them, according to a legal recruiter. Some recruiters at Major, Lindsey & Africa advise lawyers to leave advanced law degrees off their resumés, according to Steven John, a managing director at the recruiting firm. The National Law Journal…

Jan 11, 2012 12:34 PM CST

Outgoing Law Dean Offers Suggestions: Admit 1Ls Without B.A. Degrees, Share Profs

Do incoming law students need to have B.A. degrees? Not necessarily, according to the outgoing dean of New York Law School. Richard Matasar has long backed more flexibility for law schools. He elaborated on some of his ideas on Thursday during the annual meeting of the Association of American Law…

Jan 9, 2012 11:30 AM CST

Law Profs, Judges Make List of Best Paying Lifestyle Jobs

If you are looking for a job that pays the most for the least amount of work, consider becoming a law professor, judge or magistrate. All three careers made a list of jobs that pay above average but require fewer hours than average. AOL Jobs compiled the list using information…

Jan 4, 2012 2:11 PM CST

Political Discrimination Suit Against Former Dean to Go to Trial, says Appeals Court

A federal appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit against the former dean of the University of Iowa College of Law for failing to hire a part-time employee as a full-time instructor due to her conservative politics. The district court initially granted Carolyn Jones’ motion for summary judgment, which claimed that…

Jan 3, 2012 7:21 PM CST

Law Profs from Wisconsin, Illinois Die on Christmas Eve

Two law professors noted for their publications have died on Christmas Eve. University of Illinois law professor Larry Ribstein, who wrote for the Truth on the Market blog, died at the age of 65 in Fairfax, Va., the Champaign News-Gazette reports. He has expertise in corporate and securities law. His…

Jan 3, 2012 12:20 PM CST

Journalism & Justice: Did Innocence Project Student Reporters Get Too Close to Lawyers?

Jan 1, 2012 11:10 AM CST

Michigan Law Dean Makes Almost $458K, Ranks 11th on School’s Pay Scale

Updated: The law school dean at the University of Michigan makes an annual salary of $457,964. That puts Evan Caminker in 11th place among the school’s highest-paid employees, along with its current business school dean ($550,000), former b-school dean, who remains on the faculty ($448,155), medical school dean ($524,509) and…

Dec 21, 2011 11:29 PM CST

Gloria Allred and Politicking Law Prof Make List of Top 10 Quotes of the Year

Celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred and former Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren are being recognized for their turns of phrase on a list of this year’s top 10 quotations. Yale law librarian Fred Shapiro assembled the list that will be used in his next edition of the Yale Book of Quotations,…

Dec 19, 2011 3:28 PM CST

Law Dean Considers Law School ROI, Says Grads Should Earn 6 Times Tuition for Good Financial Outlook

Legal academics like to think their students are studying the law because they want to advance justice, right wrongs and serve the underprivileged. But most students are motivated at least partly—and often substantially—by the lure of money, according to a law dean who decided to evaluate whether law school makes…

Dec 15, 2011 11:30 AM CST

UT Chancellor Orders Review of Law School Foundation Funds in Wake of Dean’s Resignation

The chancellor of the University of Texas Systems has ordered tighter controls over the flow of funds from a charitable foundation that has directed millions of dollars to the UT law school over the past several decades. Friday’s directive from Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa came a day after law school Dean…

Dec 12, 2011 10:08 PM CST