Law Schools

Lawsuits target law reviews at Harvard and NYU, saying they favor women and minorities

A Texas group filed two suits over the weekend alleging that two prominent law reviews violate federal laws by giving preferences to women and minorities when selecting some of their members and choosing articles for publication. The suits (here and here) target the Harvard Law Review and the New York University…

Oct 10, 2018 3:15 PM CDT

Study: Average price of a JD drops amid declining class sizes, costing $1.5B a year in lost tuition

Law schools have cut class sizes and offered tuition discounts that lowered the average inflation-adjusted cost of a law degree by 6 percent from 2010 to 2016, according to a new study. The result: ABA-accredited law schools are collectively losing an estimated $1.5 billion a year in tuition in current…

Oct 9, 2018 2:30 PM CDT

Oklahoma University College of Law associate dean resigns over sexist, homophobic writings

A law professor and associate dean for academic affairs at the Oklahoma University College of Law voluntarily resigned Tuesday after his discriminatory writings about women and same-sex marriage in a 2014 book came to light. The controversy stems from Brian McCall’s book titled To Build the City of God: Living…

Oct 3, 2018 2:45 PM CDT

LSAT to start transitioning to digital format in 2019

Starting in July 2019, the Law School Admissions Test will begin transitioning to a digital format. For the first test, some examinees will be assigned to take the test with a tablet device and others will use paper and pencil, according to a news release from the Law School Admission…

Oct 3, 2018 1:05 PM CDT

After student protests, Kavanaugh tells Harvard Law School he won’t teach in January

Brett Kavanaugh has informed Harvard Law School that he won’t teach his class on the Supreme Court in January. Students were informed of the U.S. Supreme Court nominee’s decision in an email late Monday, report the Harvard Crimson, the Washington Post and the National Law Journal. The Crimson was first…

Oct 2, 2018 9:16 AM CDT

Gender equity has come a long way, Justice Ginsburg tells Columbia Law students

Speaking Friday at a Columbia Law School event honoring her 25th year on the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told the audience that at one point, she was too intimidated to speak in class. So the justice—who began law school at Harvard, and transferred to Columbia when her…

Sep 24, 2018 4:00 PM CDT

Yale Law’s Chua, Rubenfeld deny advising Kavanaugh clerk candidates to dress a certain way

Following recent articles from the Huffington Post and the Guardian reporting that Yale law professors Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld told women seeking clerkships with U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh that he preferred a certain look, the law school’s dean responded with a memo to students and faculty, stating…

Sep 24, 2018 12:01 PM CDT

University of Alabama School of Law receives record $26.5M gift, new name

Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr., a Florida attorney and developer, has agreed to donate $26.5 million to the University of Alabama School of Law over the next four years. The donation is the largest in the university’s history and includes naming rights, the Herald-Tribune reports. The school will be known as…

Sep 21, 2018 4:14 PM CDT

Group of Harvard Law students call for school to remove Kavanaugh as an instructor

Four students at Harvard Law School, where U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is a lecturer, have written an opinion piece calling for the school administration to remove him as an instructor "unless a full and fair investigation is conducted."

Sep 21, 2018 1:05 PM CDT

Women comprise most of BYU Law’s 1Ls for the first time

For the first time, women comprise the majority of first-year law students at Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark Law School. Out of 104 students, 52 percent are women, Stacie Stewart, the law school’s dean of admissions, told the Daily Herald. In 2012, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day…

Sep 20, 2018 1:29 PM CDT

How to be—sort of—happy in law school (podcast)

Law school can be a lonely, stressful time, and it’s easy to feel like you're failing to fit the model of the perfect law student. But there’s no one right way to go to law school, says sociology professor Kathryne M. Young, author of How to Be Sort of Happy in Law School; you can craft your own experience.

Sep 19, 2018 6:00 AM CDT

Moritz family disputes development fees pulled from $30M gift to Ohio State’s law school

The family of Michael Moritz, the late lawyer who donated $30.3 million to Ohio State University in 2001 and whose name is attached to its law school, is disputing how the college is using the gift. Lou Ann Moritz Ransom—the widow of Michel Moritz—and their son, Jeff, claim the donation…

Sep 18, 2018 1:04 PM CDT

New web platform helps users research meanings of words used in Constitution, Supreme Court opinions

A web platform that provides law-related historic linguistics information was announced Monday by Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark Law School.

Sep 17, 2018 8:00 AM CDT

Some courts, law schools affected by Florence starting to reopen

Continuing coverage: Florence is now a tropical depression in the Ohio Valley, and while damage from the onetime hurricane is still being felt, some courts and law schools are reopening.

Sep 17, 2018 7:48 AM CDT

Some ex-students join Charlotte School of Law in limited settlement fund motion

Updated: A joint motion to settle a proposed class action brought by former students of the shuttered for-profit Charlotte School of Law was filed Tuesday with one group of plaintiffs opting not to join. The school agreed to pay $2.65 million for a limited settlement fund, Law360 reports. The action…

Sep 13, 2018 6:05 AM CDT