Law Students

This law school conducts meetings on a seven-seat conference bike

Why host meetings at a conference table when you can be riding a conference bike? That was the thought of J. Rich Leonard, the dean of Campbell University’s law school, who saw a conference bike at a moot court competition in Vienna and decided to bring the idea to his…

Nov 5, 2018 7:45 AM CST

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

For Law Student Mental Health Day, ABA groups focus on ways to promote well-being

Approach someone if you think he or she is having mental health problems, but don’t make assumptions or give examples of why you think something is amiss, says Laurie J. Besden, executive director of Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers of Pennsylvania.

Oct 9, 2018 6:00 AM 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

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

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

Harvard’s racial diversity is worth investing in—and defending

As sometimes the only African-American student in my otherwise all-white classrooms at Harvard College, chatting in the dining hall surrounded by peers and friends, I have learned this: For a diverse learning environment to occur, racial diversity and not racial homogeneity is key. My classmates come from the varying socio-economic…

Sep 7, 2018 6:00 AM CDT

Exploring the contours of context in using the N-word in class

While this may serve a pedagogical purpose for non-African-American students, it can create an abusive and degrading learning environment for African-American students, whose very reaction to the word is used as a teaching point.

Aug 28, 2018 6:05 AM CDT

Halting the hover: Dealing with helicopter parents in law school (podcast)

As an associate dean of the University of Houston Law Center, Sondra Tennessee has witnessed her share of helicopter parents. She’s seen parents ask law schools to switch their child’s professor, because they didn’t think he or she was a good fit.

Aug 27, 2018 6:05 AM CDT

An open letter to potential law students: Know the truth

With the recent news that some BigLaw starting salaries are rising to $190,000, it’s no wonder that law school continues to be a top destination for recent college graduates. However, the truth behind those starting salaries—and given the volatility of the legal job market and the effects of globalization and technology on the business of law—should give one pause before taking out $200,000 in school loans.

Aug 13, 2018 6:00 AM CDT

While number of lawyer jobs have been decreasing, law school applications are up more than 8%

Law school applications have increased by more than 8 percent, and some schools are reportedly concerned about over over-enrollment.

“Because the demand was so strong, some schools are finding that they may have had higher yield rates than they had in prior years, and they may have larger classes than they aimed for,” Kellye Testy, president of the Law School Admissions Counsel, told Law.com. She advises matching enrollment with employment opportunities for new lawyers.

Jul 31, 2018 2:40 PM CDT

Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh got mostly glowing evaluations from his law students

Law students who evaluated Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s classes gave mostly glowing evaluations to the future U.S. Supreme Court nominee.

One student at Georgetown was so impressed that the 2007 evaluation read: “I honestly believe I took a class that was instructed by a future Supreme Court justice." Others rated Kavanaugh as their best professor ever. Students said he was accessible outside of class, evenhanded, fair-minded, well-versed in the materials and smart. One noted his “great hair!”

Jul 23, 2018 7:05 AM CDT

Can law students improve contracts drafted by accomplished lawyers?

I had had great teachers of contracts, but they emphasized theory, not practice. I resolved to prepare law students to tackle the costly, time-consuming problems of contract ambiguities. Many years of practice allowed me to make good on this resolution.

Jul 16, 2018 7:15 AM CDT