Legal Education

What do falling bar-passage rates mean for legal education—and the future of the profession?

Erica Moeser, president of the National Conference of Bar Examiners, says the cause of the current slump is “deceptively simple.” So simple, in fact, that she doesn’t know how anybody could think otherwise.

Sep 1, 2016 4:40 AM CDT

Law prof and journalist team up to hold police accountable for their actions

Sitting in his office at the University of Chicago Law School just over a year ago, attorney and professor Craig Futterman was talking about a video almost no one had seen. It was a dashboard-camera recording of a white Chicago police officer killing a black teenager.

Sep 1, 2016 4:30 AM CDT

Program helps profs teach students how they can be the lawyers they want to be

Legal education is more than teaching students how to think like lawyers, Neil Hamilton says: They should graduate with a sense of how to act like one, too, in a way that works for them individually.

Sep 1, 2016 2:20 AM CDT

Can it be? Fun CLE?

Anyone who’s ever been in a law school lecture hall knows the feeling: Your foot has fallen asleep and your mind is wandering to a sunny beach when you realize your coffee cup is empty and drinking more isn’t necessarily going to spark your interest in the lecture at hand.

Sep 1, 2016 2:10 AM CDT

ABA responds to accreditation panel’s threat to suspend its role

Facing a Department of Education panel recommendation that the ABA’s accreditation power for new law schools be suspended for one year, the association has responded by filing a confidential comment.

Sep 1, 2016 1:10 AM CDT

California governor cites high law school costs in vetoing mandatory pro bono bill

California Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday vetoed a bill that would have required would-be lawyers to complete at least 50 hours of supervised pro bono work before admission to the bar. Brown cited the high cost of legal education in vetoing the bill, report the Sacramento Bee and the Recorder…

Aug 31, 2016 8:50 AM CDT

Sophomore looks forward to her JD, which she’ll start on as an undergradate

When Aja Miyamoto is a senior at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, she will also take two law school classes as part of a program that allows people to get a combined undergraduate-JD degree in six years. Graduates of the school’s “3-plus-3 program” save one year of tuition, and the…

Aug 30, 2016 1:00 PM CDT

Police video shows ex-wife of slain law prof Dan Markel reacting to news of his shooting

The ex-wife of slain Florida State University law professor Dan Markel told a Tallahassee police officer that her brother had joked when he gave her a new TV that it was cheaper than hiring a hit man. ABC News obtained video of the July 2014 police interview with the ex-wife,…

Aug 26, 2016 3:47 PM CDT

Mike Pence once authored a comic strip about law school

Donald Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, has made no secret of the fact that he didn’t like law school, telling one interviewer that he wouldn’t wish it “on a dog I didn’t like.” But he managed to see humor in the unhappy situation, the Washington Post reports. Pence…

Aug 26, 2016 12:15 PM CDT

Rapper goes to law school in pursuit of stability

A hip-hop artist whose 2015 album Unorthodox made the iTunes hip-hop/rap Top 40 is now a first-year law student at University of Southern California Gould School of Law. Roosh Williams tells Law.com he chose law school because he hopes to practice entertainment law, and some day run for office. “I’m…

Aug 26, 2016 8:00 AM CDT

Law prof loses assault suit over alleged shoulder grab by colleague

An Ohio Northern University law professor who sued over an alleged “strong and tight” squeeze of his shoulder by a colleague has lost his case. U.S. District Judge Jack Zouhary ruled against the professor, Scott Gerber, in a bench trial. “This is a case seemingly ripped from the pages of…

Aug 25, 2016 3:00 PM CDT

Law professor is among those killed in attack on American University of Afghanistan

An assistant law professor at American University of Afghanistan was among those killed in an attack late Wednesday that claimed the lives of at least 13 people. The attack on the school in Kabul ended early Thursday, about 10 hours after it began, report the New York Times and Al…

Aug 25, 2016 10:04 AM CDT

Law firms may bill for work of unpaid interns, ethics opinion says

Some labor and law-student groups are criticizing a New York ethics opinion that says law firms may bill clients for the work of unpaid student interns. The Committee on Professional Ethics of the New York State Bar Association issued the opinion in March, the New York Law Journal (sub. req.)…

Aug 25, 2016 9:15 AM CDT

Should students call law professors by their first names?

It may seem odd—and perhaps uncomfortable—for an associate to use Mr. or Ms. when speaking with a partner. But few lawyers refer to judges by their first names, even if they’re friends. For law professors, the question of what students should call them can be a bit ambiguous. Shima Baradaran…

Aug 23, 2016 1:45 PM CDT

Conservative groups push for constitutional convention; would it open Pandora’s box of mischief?

Conservative groups pushing for a constitutional convention are just six states short of their goal. Thirty-four states are needed to call a constitutional convention under Article 5 of the Constitution. So far 28 states have adopted resolutions for a constitutional convention to consider an amendment that requires a balanced federal…

Aug 23, 2016 9:46 AM CDT