Law Schools

What comes next for ABA-accredited law schools with two-year pass rates below 75%?

Under the old version of Standard 316, which sets bar passage requirements for ABA-accredited law schools, the Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar entertained all sorts of exceptions—including having a 75% pass rate for all graduates over the five most recent calendar years, or at least three of those five years. It’s been said no law school has ever been out of compliance with it.

Mar 5, 2020 2:46 PM CST

Tenured law professor who lied to IRS will return to teaching

A tenured bankruptcy and corporate finance law professor who lied to the Internal Revenue Service will keep his job at the University of Minnesota.

Mar 5, 2020 2:05 PM CST

Texas university remains out of compliance with admissions standards, ABA legal ed section finds

The ABA's Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has found that the embattled Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law remains out of compliance with a key admissions standard. The section council has also asked the school to appear at its May meeting as it determines "whether to impose sanctions, including removal of approval."

Mar 4, 2020 1:02 PM CST

Lawyer, author and founder of program for wrongfully convicted dies at 52

Laura Caldwell, a lawyer, author and founder of a project that supported the wrongfully convicted, died Sunday after a long battle with breast cancer.

Mar 4, 2020 11:03 AM CST

Law school tech classes may not bring job opportunities, but they do help teach practice skills

Chicago-Kent College of Law students can learn about legal analytics. Students at Emory University School of Law in Atlanta have the opportunity to work in startup groups with MBA students, as well as graduate-level students from the Georgia Institute of Technology. And at the University of North Texas at Dallas College of Law, students taking a class about representing people who experienced domestic violence hear stories from “virtual victim” avatars to learn about the listening process.

Feb 27, 2020 5:15 PM CST

Want law profs to embrace technology? Show them how it improves their teaching

“In terms of how I decide to use technology, I ask myself if it will make me a better instructor. I never try to use technology just because I want to use technology. There’s got to be a pedagogical reason,” law professor April Gordon Dawson says.

Feb 27, 2020 2:43 PM CST

Afternoon Briefs: Texas university leader leaves without blame for law school scandal; judge sides with immigrants

Texas Southern University president leaves school with no blame for alleged law school misconduct Texas Southern University is parting ways with its president without any claims of wrongdoing, which is a change from earlier this month, when the school’s board of regents voted to fire him based on allegations that…

Feb 21, 2020 4:50 PM CST

Afternoon Briefs: George Zimmerman sues Dems over tweets; Concordia Law finds new parent school

George Zimmerman sues Buttigieg and Warren over tweets The neighborhood watch volunteer acquitted in the murder of unarmed teen Trayvon Martin has filed a defamation suit against Democratic presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg. The Feb. 18 lawsuit filed for George Zimmerman targets two tweets. One by Buttigieg read:…

Feb 20, 2020 3:56 PM CST

Afternoon Briefs: Trump agrees he makes AG Barr’s job difficult; fired BigLaw lawyer denies harassment

Trump agrees he makes Barr’s job difficult but keeps tweeting President Donald Trump acknowledged Tuesday that his tweets make U.S. Attorney General William Barr’s job more difficult, even as he continued to share opinions on how the Department of Justice should do its job. On Twitter on Wednesday, Trump shared…

Feb 19, 2020 4:28 PM CST

Law schools see an increase in bar passage rates, new ABA data shows

The bar passage rate for first-time test-takers has increased by nearly 5 percentage points, according to data released Monday by the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.

Feb 18, 2020 2:41 PM CST

Afternoon Briefs: Donor says law school not honoring wishes; Justice Thomas says judges aren’t ‘mass media icons’

Attorney disputes his University of Michigan Law School gift Lance J. Johnson, a Minnesota lawyer who had donated $150,000 to the University of Michigan Law School and had planned to leave it $2 million more in his estate, now claims that the school is not honoring his wishes. Johnson, who…

Feb 12, 2020 3:17 PM CST

Another law school seeks acquisition, after parent university announces closure plan

Concordia University School of Law, a Boise, Idaho, institution with new ABA accreditation, had a 100% bar passage rate for its class of 2016, but its future as of Monday is unknown, following the announcement that its parent school, the Concordia University campus in Portland, Oregon, is closing.

Feb 11, 2020 3:34 PM CST

Justice Ginsburg calls for renewed effort to pass Equal Rights Amendment

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg celebrated Monday evening the centennial of the 19th Amendment that gives women the right to vote as a “miracle” and a “first step towards equal citizenship stature for women.” But she still holds out hope for another goal of the suffragist movement—the adoption of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Feb 11, 2020 10:43 AM CST

Texas university moves to fire its president over law school admissions scandal

The president of Texas Southern University may be out of a job after TSU regents alleged that he failed to promptly report information about an admissions scandal at the Thurgood Marshall School of Law.

Feb 7, 2020 2:43 PM CST

Training for nonlawyers to provide legal advice will start in Arizona in the fall

The University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law has started a two-year pilot project that licenses a small group of nonlawyers to give limited legal advice on civil matters stemming from domestic violence. The individuals will be known as licensed legal advocates.

Feb 6, 2020 3:18 PM CST