Legal Education

Law students should be paid for externships and get salary info at campus interviews, ABA House says

The days of law students working in field placements for credit without monetary compensation may be coming to a close. The House of Delegates resolved Monday at the ABA Annual Meeting to urge law schools to let students receive payment and course credit for field placements.

Aug 5, 2024 6:05 PM CDT

Experienced dean will direct ABA Legal Education Section

Stepping down as dean of DePaul University College of Law, Jennifer L. Rosato Perea has begun the job of managing director for accreditation and legal education at the ABA at a contentious time. She’s aware of the long road ahead and takes it in stride.

Aug 1, 2024 12:30 AM CDT

Class of 2020 moves jobs, has less debt and is concerned about mental health, study says

The study from the National Association for Law Placement and the NALP Foundation, released Wednesday, showed 70% of all graduates have held two or more jobs in the three years since graduation, up from 69% of the class of 2019 surveyed a year earlier.

Jul 25, 2024 10:29 AM CDT

Is this a key moment for the bar exam?

The typically slow-moving wheels of bar exam reform have sped up in the past few months, creating a pileup of changes that some experts say makes this a key moment for the venerated-yet-dreaded licensing exam.

Jul 25, 2024 9:18 AM CDT

Hidden Talent Pool in Plain Sight: Corporate America wants you—for nonlegal roles

Management consulting firms and Big Four accounting firms have a secret weapon. It’s not particularly well-camouflaged. It’s there for anyone who bothers to look. Both of these thought leaders hire lawyers for a wide variety of nonlegal jobs. And they’ve been doing so for decades—everything from business development to crisis management to marketing.

Jul 25, 2024 9:14 AM CDT

‘Shaping the Bar’ author says bar exam protects legal profession, not public

Lawyer and author discusses with the ABA Journal’s Julianne Hill how the bar’s history of creating a method to test minimum competency is outdated and discriminatory.

Jul 24, 2024 8:48 AM CDT

Online law grad has ‘truly extraordinary’ case meriting waiver of Utah admission rules, top state court says

Updated: A graduate of an unaccredited online law school may take the bar exam in Utah, even though she did not satisfy a requirement for 10 years of experience in another jurisdiction before admission, the Utah Supreme Court has ruled in a 3-2 decision.

Jul 23, 2024 10:17 AM CDT

Harvard Law grad who sued over bar exam accommodations loses in 2nd Circuit

Updated: A graduate of Harvard Law School can’t sue for denial of her full requests for accommodations while taking the bar exam, a federal appeals court has ruled.

Jul 23, 2024 8:39 AM CDT

New Paths for Licensure: California confirms Kaplan bar exam, Arizona launches second chance program

As California grapples with budget issues and Arizona faces a shortage of lawyers, both states announced shifts to their licensure protocols, with ripples potentially impacting other jurisdictions.

Jul 19, 2024 2:16 PM CDT

Florida becomes 21st jurisdiction to commit to NextGen exam

Florida will adopt the NextGen bar exam starting in July 2028, becoming the 21st jurisdiction to use the new exam focused on assessing skills new attorneys need. The Florida Supreme Court approved the switch on Thursday.

Jul 18, 2024 1:50 PM CDT

Group slams NCBE for ‘scattershot’ approach to offering NextGen bar exam information

A statement from the Association of Academic Support Educators slammed the National Conference of Bar Examiners, saying its “scattershot approach to communicating essential information leaves law school academic support faculty without the clear, consistent and reliable guidance necessary to prepare graduates for the new bar exam” that 20 jurisdictions have committed to adopting.

Jul 11, 2024 3:28 PM CDT

Conservative group sues Northwestern University law school for alleged hiring discrimination against white men

Spurred on by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 ban of race considerations in college admissions, a conservative group filed a lawsuit against the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law on July 2, charging that it discriminates against white men in hiring faculty and in choosing articles for its law review.

Jul 3, 2024 2:06 PM CDT

‘United We Stand’: Lawyers must play crucial role in bringing our nation together

Unity is strength. The wisdom of that truth has been known since ancient times as reflected in Greek fables, such as Aesop's tales about The Four Oxen and the Lion and The Bundle of Sticks, and Chinese stories, such as The Five Chinese Brothers.

Jul 2, 2024 2:04 PM CDT

This partner has billed an average of about 12 hours per weekday since May 2023

Sullivan & Cromwell has sought about $200 million as debtor’s counsel in the bankruptcy of cryptocurrency exchange FTX based on more than 168,000 hours clocked by lawyers and staffers.

Jul 1, 2024 3:28 PM CDT

How did Scalia Law respond to seduction complaints against law prof? Lawmaker wants answers

A lawmaker who chairs the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce wants George Mason University to disclose steps that it took to investigate allegations that one of its law professors used his influence “to seduce young female law students.”

Jun 27, 2024 9:25 AM CDT