Law Students

These top-ranked law schools have cut 1L class sizes by more than 25%

Even top-rated law schools are seeing smaller class sizes after a drop in applications. Although admittances at top-tier schools have risen by a median 7 percent since 2011, Bloomberg Business reports, first-year class sizes have dropped by a median of 5 percent at the nation’s top 20-ranked law schools over…

Jan 28, 2016 5:45 AM CST

Outsourcing company will open office in law school library

Suffolk University Law School has found a use for some unused space in its law library. Legal outsourcing company Integreon will create an office there and pay students to work on projects such as due-diligence, e-discovery and document review, contract review and legal spending analytics, according to a story by…

Jan 27, 2016 6:15 AM CST

Harvard closes probe into defaced portraits of black law profs

The Harvard University Police Department has been unable to identify the perpetrator who defaced the portraits of black law professors with tape. The police department closed its probe without identifying a suspect or motive, police spokesman Steven Catalano told the Boston Globe and the Harvard Crimson. The law school is…

Jan 26, 2016 11:21 AM CST

LSAT profiles of current law students signal more troubles ahead; has low point been reached?

The decline in bar-exam scores and bar-pass rates is likely to continue through 2018, given the LSAT profiles of current law students, according to a law professor who has examined the data. However, a turnaround could be ahead for those graduating after that date, says Jerry Organ, a law professor…

Jan 25, 2016 5:45 AM CST

Charleston School of Law launches new spring admissions program

Charleston School of Law in South Carolina has launched a new admissions program that allows students to begin classes in the spring and graduate in 2½ years. The new program, one of only a few such programs in the country, distinguishes the school as an “innovator” in legal education, Dean…

Jan 22, 2016 1:55 PM CST

Sir Mix-A-Lot’s old cell number given to lawyer—who now gets raunchy texts, he cannot lie

Jonathan Nichols was still a law student at Seattle University when he started getting some unusual texts and messages on his new cellphone. The invitations to test-drive Ferraris or a Lamborghinis and suggestive photos of women clearly weren’t meant for him, the Seattle Times reports. And Nichols also refused the…

Jan 12, 2016 4:15 PM CST

More than 25% of law students have had psychiatric and substance-use disorders; are they hiding it?

A significant number of law students are struggling with mental health and substance use issues, yet they are reluctant to seek help, according to a survey published last month. More than a quarter of surveyed law students said they had been diagnosed at some point for depression, anxiety, eating disorders,…

Jan 12, 2016 5:45 AM CST

Would-be lawyer won’t have $260K in student loans erased; SCOTUS refuses to hear appeal

The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to hear an appeal by a would-be lawyer who has been seeking to discharge more than $260,000 in business and law school debt in bankruptcy. Mark Tetzlaff, 57, graduated from Florida Coastal School of Law, but has repeatedly failed the bar exam. He said…

Jan 11, 2016 3:05 PM CST

Judge refuses to toss suit over law school’s employment stats; trial is set for March

A California judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit claiming that Thomas Jefferson School of Law inflated its employment statistics. In a Dec. 28 decision (PDF), Judge Joel Pressman of San Diego allowed the students’ claims and set a March trial date, Above the Law reports. “Never before has a…

Jan 7, 2016 9:53 AM CST

Want to attend a law school with better job and bar-exam outcomes? It will cost you

Law students typically pay higher tuition to attend schools with better job and bar passage rates, according to an analysis of law school questionnaire data released by the ABA in December. Private and public law schools with the best job outcomes cost about 20 percent more, according to the analysis…

Jan 4, 2016 5:45 AM CST

New York’s attorney general and law clinics aid entrepreneurs

New York City is wooing more tech startups to headquarter there with a new, free program that offers expert legal advice for establishing a legally sound organization. Spearheaded by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the New York City Corporation Council, the program also gets help from two legal…

Jan 1, 2016 1:20 AM CST

Law student is shot and killed while pounding on apartment door

A third-year law student was shot and killed last week while banging on an apartment door in a tragic misunderstanding, his friend says. The student, 31-year-old Richard Rizal McGee, was visiting Jonathan Wade in Las Vegas when the incident occurred, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. After a night of drinking,…

Dec 29, 2015 7:24 AM CST

Law school nonprofit buys Bill Henderson’s Lawyer Metrics company

A nonprofit group made up of about 200 law schools is acquiring the assets of Lawyer Metrics, a company formed in 2010 partly to help law firms use statistics to hire and retain the best legal talent. The Access Group announced the acquisition in a press release (PDF). Lawyer Metrics…

Dec 21, 2015 3:40 PM CST

ABA posts law school consumer info for 2015

Law school consumer information for the entering class of 2015 is now available on the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar’s website, the section said in a press release Wednesday. The information at the section’s website comes from the annual questionnaires ABA-approved law schools are required…

Dec 16, 2015 4:33 PM CST

Seton Hall basketball player is also a law student

A basketball player for the Seton Hall Pirates is also a 1L at the university’s law school. The player, Braeden Anderson, shifted his focus from a possible career in the NBA when he broke his neck in a 2013 car accident, the New York Times reports. Now he is placing…

Dec 15, 2015 6:15 AM CST