Law Students

Prof’s Daughter, 17, Is Murdered After Alleged Kidnap in L.A. Law School Area

The murder of a California attorney’s 17-year-old daughter after she was allegedly kidnapped near Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles has stunned the local legal community. Lily Burk never returned home after running an errand for her mother at the law school Friday. Her body was found in…

Jul 29, 2009 10:52 PM CDT

Fair Use Nixed in Music Download Case, So Defense Team to Focus on Damages

The defense team in a high-profile illegal music downloading case against physics graduate student Joel Tenenbaum had hoped to rely on a fair-use doctrine defense. But after that plan was nixed by U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner, who said interpreting fair use in this manner would eviscerate copyright law, the…

Jul 29, 2009 8:12 PM CDT

UK Bar Group to Warn Students: A Legal Career Is Risky

The bar group representing solicitors in England and Wales is launching a new campaign to warn would-be lawyers that they could end up jobless and in debt. The Law Society plans to stress the competition for jobs and the high costs of legal training, according to Legal Week and the…

Jul 29, 2009 3:43 PM CDT

Bar Exam Tips: Stop Worrying & Ask Mom to Pray

Law grads taking the bar exam this week should stop worrying—but it wouldn’t hurt to appeal to a higher power, according to a blogger who has written five tips for test takers. Among the tips, posted at Kevin O’Keefe’s Real Lawyers Have Blogs: • Relax. “Don’t be one the nervous…

Jul 28, 2009 3:02 PM CDT

Iowa Law Students Use Wiki Rather than Texts in Employment Class

University of Iowa law professor Lea VanderVelde didn’t want to use a textbook in last spring’s employment law class because the material can quickly become dated. Her solution: Let the students research the law themselves and post it on a Wiki. VanderVelde told the Daily Iowan that the Wiki helped…

Jul 28, 2009 2:22 PM CDT

Law Grad Without a Credit Card Will Take Bar Exam, Thanks to Calif. Supremes

An order issued late Monday by the California Supreme Court has cleared the way for a law graduate without a credit card to take the bar exam today. Sara Granda, a 29-year-old indigent quadriplegic who receives disability benefits, says she paid the exam fee of $648 with a state-issued check.…

Jul 28, 2009 11:24 AM CDT

Will Credit Card Snafu Keep Disabled Law Grad from Taking Calif. Bar?

The California bar exam starts tomorrow, and the last word from officials was that Sara Granda wouldn’t be allowed to take it. The quadriplegic woman, who is indigent and receiving disability benefits, paid the more than $600 fee with a state-issued check, and hence the bar exam form she filed…

Jul 27, 2009 9:52 PM CDT

Harvard Is Blocking Continued Work on RIAA Case, Law Student Says

After a change in dean, Harvard Law School is reportedly making it difficult for a student to continue working on a high-profile file-sharing case that she says she has “lived and breathed and eaten” since September 2008. The school is not only refusing to provide the certification letter that Debbie…

Jul 27, 2009 4:57 PM CDT

Brooklyn DA Interns, a ‘Bumper Crop,’ Compete for Work and Chairs

The tough job market has apparently pushed more law students into unpaid internships at the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office, where they compete for office chairs, good assignments and permanent job offers. Public employment has become more attractive as law firms cut the number of summer associates hired, the New York…

Jul 27, 2009 12:21 PM CDT

Weil Gotshal Paralegal Ad Is Bummer for Recent Law Grads

A recent e-mail to 2009 law graduates trumpeted a BigLaw job opportunity they might wish to pursue in the Boston area. The problem was, it was a job advertisement for a paralegal position at the local office of Weil Gotshal & Manges. A copy of the job ad is posted…

Jul 21, 2009 7:57 PM CDT

UK Report Says Legal Profession Is Too Socially Exclusive

The legal profession in the United Kingdom is too socially exclusive, drawing lawyers from well-to-do families and private schools, according to a report released today. The report found that lawyers are more likely than other professionals to have grown up in affluent families, Legal Week reports. Lawyers born in 1970…

Jul 21, 2009 5:56 PM CDT

Triple Bad News for Law Students: Three Firms Ax Summer Associate Programs

Law students got some bad news from their career services offices today: Three law firms have canceled their 2010 summer associate programs. Above the Law had the report, based on e-mail announcements forwarded to the blog from students at two law schools. The law firms canceling the programs are Ballard…

Jul 20, 2009 6:28 PM CDT

A Dean’s Warning for Optimistic Law Students: Big Pay Goes to Small Number

Incoming University of Miami law dean thinks some law students need a dose of reality. Partly toward that end, she sent letters to incoming law students encouraging them to defer admission for a year. White told the Daily Business Review she wanted to encourage students to carefully consider the kinds…

Jul 17, 2009 6:45 PM CDT

Law Schools Worry More Firms Will Delay or Ax Campus Interviews

Law school officials are hoping decisions by two law firms to pull out of or delay on-campus recruiting are just aberrations. Morgan Lewis & Bockius is pulling out of all on-campus interviews this fall and axing its 2010 summer program, while Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe is pushing back the dates…

Jul 16, 2009 6:00 PM CDT

Harvard Law to Job-Hunting Students: Don’t Panic

Harvard Law School is advising students looking for jobs to avoid denial and panic—and come up with a Plan B. The school dispatched its advice in a March 6 memo, Bloomberg reports. “Almost every day, there is news of law firms laying off attorneys, delaying start dates, freezing salaries and,…

Jul 16, 2009 12:30 PM CDT