Law Students

Atlanta Firm Cuts 6 Incoming Associates; Nixes Summer Program to Save Jobs

Incoming associates at the Atlanta midsize law firm Morris, Manning & Martin got the bad news last night: Their jobs are gone. The firm rescinded offers to six incoming associates and canceled its summer program, which affects nine law students. In an e-mail interview with the ABA Journal, Managing Partner…

Mar 17, 2009 7:23 PM CDT

All the Dismal News for Law Students Now In One Place

While some legal news services and blogs remain transfixed by the never-ending deluge of law firm layoffs (the 12-day tally of axings tops 3,000) others have intermittently reported the future fate of 3Ls and 2Ls. For anxious law students, The Shark has helpfully compiled the bad news, rescinded or adjusted…

Mar 16, 2009 3:21 PM CDT

Winstead Cancels Summer Associate Program

A spokeswoman for Dallas-based Winstead has confirmed that the law firm is canceling its summer associate program this year, but she offers few details. Spokeswoman Shannon Tipton told the Tex Parte Blog that the law students now out of a job will be getting a stipend, but she couldn’t say…

Mar 13, 2009 3:46 PM CDT

Broaden Job Search, Maybe Go Solo, Officials Tell Worried Law Students

As a growing number of major law firms delay start dates for incoming associates and make record-breaking layoffs (some 2,700 have been announced since Feb. 27), it’s obvious that worried law students have good reason to be concerned about finding work. For the first time, there wasn’t enough employer interest…

Mar 11, 2009 8:49 PM CDT

Study Finds No Racial Gap in LSAT Alternative Measuring Lawyer-Like Qualities

A study of an alternative to the Law School Admission Test found it was better at predicting lawyer effectiveness, but no better at predicting success in law school. Another plus for the alternative test, developed by professors at the University of California at Berkeley, is that its scores had no…

Mar 11, 2009 1:02 PM CDT

Tax Profs’ Movie Recommendations for Law Students

Few movies involve taxes as a central plot element, but that hasn’t stopped members of the TaxProf Listserv from offering their tax film recommendations for law students. Robert Nassau, a Rochester, N.Y., tax lawyer and adjunct law professor at Syracuse, is assembling the list, TaxProf Blog reports. Nassau noted the…

Mar 10, 2009 2:02 PM CDT

Don’t Try This in Your Next Cover Letter

Some legal job applicants are too creative in their cover letters. Here’s an example of a bad cover letter: “Not all people are criminals, but even criminals are people too.” Here’s another: “If assiduousness and passion were candy, then I would leave you with a mouthful of cavities.” And another:…

Mar 5, 2009 5:21 PM CST

Law Students Report Positive Reaction to No-Laptop Policy

A law professor who banned laptops in his first-year criminal law class surveyed his students about their reaction—and found it was generally positive. UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh had the results in a memo to his collegues (PDF) and on his blog, The Volokh Conspiracy. Seventy-one percent of the students…

Mar 5, 2009 1:43 PM CST

The Bluto Blutarsky Option: Arizona State to Offer Seven-Year JD

Students who would like to earn their law degree at a more leisurely pace may want to consider Arizona State’s Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law. The school has announced a new flexible schedule program that gives students seven years to earn a law degree. The program allows students to…

Mar 5, 2009 1:06 PM CST

Minn. Lawyer Job Ads Plunge 50%; State Law School Applications Surge 20%

Updated: The tough job market is extending to Minnesota, where job ads in the state bar publication Bench & Bar are down 50 percent. Eric Caugh, the hiring partner at the Minneapolis office of Zelle Hofmann, tells the Minneapolis Star Tribune that the downturn is producing a flurry of resumés…

Mar 2, 2009 1:37 PM CST

Law Firm Layoffs Make Job Search Harder for Law Students

As laid-off lawyers look for work, they are competing not only against each other but a fresh crop of would-be legal eagles about to graduate from law school within the next year or so. And for those still in the legal education pipeline, the ongoing deluge of bad news about…

Feb 27, 2009 6:50 PM CST

Albany Law School Freezes Tuition

Albany Law School is freezing its tuition next year, keeping the amount at this year’s level of $38,900. Dean Thomas Guernsey told the National Law Journal that the decision was made in recognition of the financial stress that many students are facing. In “these particularly uncertain times, we want to…

Feb 26, 2009 4:50 PM CST

Survey Finds One-Third Drop in Summer Associate Offers

Law students recruited in the fall for 2009 summer associate positions are seeing a one-third drop in job offers, according to a recent survey by the National Association for Law Placement. The median number of offers to current 2Ls for summer associate positions at firms of all sizes fell from…

Feb 25, 2009 3:26 PM CST

Law Applications Surge at Some Schools, But National Increase Is Less Than 1%

Applications to Duke University School of Law hit an all-time record high this year, surging by 4 percent, and the University of Pennsylvania Law School saw a 6 percent increase, to the second-highest number of applications on record. The 6,300 or so applications at Duke represent a 4 percent increase…

Feb 24, 2009 8:33 PM CST

Harvard Law Interns Aiding Death-Row Inmate Detained by Sheriff, Suit Says

Two Harvard law students working as legal interns on behalf of a Texas death-row inmate were stopped by sheriff’s deputies and ticketed for criminal trespassing after they tried to interview a corrections officer at home, a lawsuit alleges. The students, who were interning with the Texas Defender Service during their…

Feb 24, 2009 2:57 PM CST