Wisconsin bar redefines ‘diversity’ to settle challenge to clerkship program; both sides claim success

The State Bar of Wisconsin has agreed to redefine “diversity” as it applies to its Diversity Clerkship Program to settle a challenge filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty.

Apr 9, 2024 2:49 PM CDT

Shake-up in US News’ 2024 law school rankings

Updated: The 2024 U.S. News & World Report Best Law Schools rankings is riddled with ties, including three ties in the top tier, and a few unusual jumps. As predicted by rankings watchers, Stanford Law School and Yale Law School came out on top—but in a tie for first that those experts didn’t expect.

Apr 9, 2024 12:30 PM CDT

State affirmative-action bans decreased racial diversity by up to 47% at top public law schools, study finds

Representation of minority students in public law schools has “decreased substantially” in states that banned affirmative action after 1996, according to a study of first-year law students.

Apr 3, 2024 3:23 PM CDT

ABA proposal to accredit online law schools faces opposition from law deans

A proposal to accredit fully online law schools has met pushback from 26 law school deans, saying more information is needed regarding bar pass and employment rates of online law school graduates.

Apr 3, 2024 12:25 PM CDT

Artificial intelligence could make originalist analysis easier, federal appeals judge says

Determining the meaning of constitutional provisions at the time that they were drafted, as originalism requires, can be “highly laborious and time-consuming,” according to a federal appeals judge.

Apr 2, 2024 9:17 AM CDT

Academic freedom standards are now part of ABA’s accreditation process for law schools

Apr 1, 2024 12:15 AM CDT

George Mason University’s law school remains ABA-accredited after financial showing

The George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School has demonstrated that it complies with an ABA accreditation standard requiring sufficient financial resources, according to an announcement posted online.

Mar 19, 2024 9:07 AM CDT

Which law schools will top the US News rankings? Here are three predictions

U.S. News & World Report hasn’t yet released its latest law school rankings, but that hasn’t stopped some observers from making predictions based on ABA data.

Mar 18, 2024 12:55 PM CDT

The Supreme Court seems bitterly divided. Two justices say otherwise

Conservative Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s first congratulatory phone call after her confirmation was from Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the court’s leading liberal. The unlikely pair are now headlining joint public appearances to make the case for disagreeing more agreeably at a time when the country is more polarized than ever.

Mar 18, 2024 11:30 AM CDT

This state is creating a way to skip the bar exam and making it easier to pass for those who take it

The Washington Supreme Court has adopted alternative pathways to a law license, becoming the second state to do so in a little more than four months.

Mar 18, 2024 10:58 AM CDT

Biden recalls time he bluffed knowledge of torts case and why he changed his mind about civil-trial work

President Joe Biden digressed when answering questions last fall about documents stored at his vice presidential residence to remember his tough torts class at the Syracuse University College of Law and the first job that he got after graduation.

Mar 14, 2024 2:34 PM CDT

24% of law students expect to work in public service, survey says

Public service appears to be more of a career goal among today’s law students than for those who came before them.

Mar 13, 2024 2:45 PM CDT

New bar passage stats show several law schools below ABA cutoff

Western Michigan University’s Thomas M. Cooley Law School had the lowest two-year bar passage rate for 2021 graduates among ABA-accredited law schools, according to data released Monday by the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.

Mar 11, 2024 5:45 PM CDT

Newer law school in Florida gets provisional accreditation from the ABA

A law school that opened in Jacksonville, Florida, in August 2022 has obtained provisional accreditation from the ABA, paving the way for its graduates to take the bar exam.

Mar 5, 2024 11:12 AM CST

ABA considers expanding law school diversity standards

Updated: Law schools have come a long way since the “good ol’ boys” days, but they aren’t inclusive enough yet, according to the ABA’s Standards Committee.

Feb 28, 2024 9:59 AM CST