Law School 2013 Enrollments Are Down Dramatically

The numbers on the attached chart are quite shocking. One is left with the inescapable conclusion that except for the Top 5 or 10 Law Schools, legal education has to change and change dramatically. Several will simply disappear.

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2013/10/1l-enrollment-.html

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Hastings Law School Dean Delivers Some Straight Talk About the State of Legal Education

Law schools need to "reboot" says Dean Frank Wu of Hastings. Looks like Wu is backing up his statements with some action -- Hastings will be accepting 20% fewer students than last year,

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/05/02/hastings-law-school-dean-wants-to-reboot-legal-education/

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Financial Valuations of Largest U.K. Law Firms

Allen & Overy leads the pack, valued at $4.2 billion (USD).

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/02/27/magic-circle-firms-in-the-ftse-100-its-theoretically-possible-new-report-says/

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Who Needs Divorce Lawyers?

Another commoditized area of legal services ripe for the taking. Not surprisingly the Texas Bar is digging in their heels. Perhaps the most droll (funny) line in all of this was the last sentence in the full article in today's WSJ (don't know if it appears on this blog link). In any case it read as follows:

"In Texas, divorce lawyers contend that the divorce forms likely will be used by many people of means, who can afford a lawyer and be better served by paying one."

Let me see. I have money. Let's say a lot of money. Instead of flying economy I should be compelled to fly business and first class. Because I will be better served? What if I don't want it or need it? Doesn't that count for something?

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/02/24/are-divorce-lawyers-necessary/

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Litigation Financing and Conflicts of Interest: A New Report on the Experience from Land Down Under

Since Australia’s high court in 2006 gave litigation funding its stamp of approval, the industry has grown significantly.

In a new report sponsored by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, an Australian law professor takes a look at how the practice — where businesses invest in high-stakes legal disputes, sharing the risks and potential rewards — creates conflicts of interest.

The conflict argument has been made in the U.S., which is still feeling its way in the field, but Australia’s track record is longer. And the report concludes that the country’s experience should be a lesson to the legal community here.

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/02/10/australia-a-cautionary-tale-of-litigation-financing/

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Interview with New York Times Reporter, David Segal regarding his critical reporting on Law Schools in the U.S.

http://volokh.com/2012/01/26/interview-with-david-segal-on-his-nyt-law-school-series/

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What is the Impact of "innovative" Curricula at Law Schools?

Do "clinical" programs at law schools assist students in getting entry-level jobs as DA's or PD's?  Ditto for "environmental law" programs for jobs with the EPA or in private practices that specialize in environmental law?

According to data of Professor William Henderson at the University of Indiana, the answer is "it has no impact". The question then is, is it that these programs have limited intrinsic value or do prospective employers fail to understand or appreciate their merit?

http://volokh.com/2012/01/15/legal-education-reform-but-how/

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Law Should be an Undergraduate Degree, Two Authors Say

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/

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Law Schools Still Lack Transparency in Job Placement Statistics, Study Says

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/01/17/report-law-schools-still-stingy-with-job-placement-data/

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Thomas Jefferson School of Law Message to its Students: Its Your Fault

http://abovethelaw.com/2012/01/thomas-jefferson-school-of-law-believes-its-2011-graduates-to-be-kind-of-stupid/

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What is Law School for Anyway?

Recent Association of American Law Schools ("AALS") meeting floated reforms that are just "nibbling around the edges" and "re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic", says former Association of Corporate Counsel ("ACC") General Counsel, Susan Hackett.

http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202538352545&rss=nlj&slreturn=1

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How Will Law Schools Respond to Central Question of our Time?

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2012/01/law-schools-.html

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USC Has Highest California Bar Passage Rate Among California Law Schools; Thomas Jefferson Law School Is Dead Last Among ABA Accredited Law Schools

More "elite" law schools Stanford (91.1%), Berkeley (88.9%) and UCLA (84.9%) all scored below USC.  Widely perceived Tier 2 or even Tier 3 Law School, Pepperdine (86.3%) ranked ahead of UCLA.

But the most disturbing data points relate to the firms that ranked at or towards the bottom of the heap.

Elie Mystal from the "Above the Law" really nails it as it relates to Thomas Jefferson Law School. Says he:

"These numbers show that the oft-maligned Thomas Jefferson School of Law has clearly not been maligned enough. TJSL charges people $40,100 per year in tuition, and two out of three graduates failed the bar the first time around. No wonder this school is getting sued. No wonder people act like the school is a complete joke. No wonder its very existence as an accredited law school makes the entire process of ABA-accreditation look like a complete farce.

In my opinion, a 33% pass rate should result in an immediate revocation of accreditation status and, if there were any justice in this world of rank profiteers, a full refund for the students who paid for a service that so failed to meet their needs. Note that the next lowest school passed over half of their first-time test takers!

I’ll take the Pepsi challenge with those numbers right now. Give me 10 Thomas Jefferson Law students for a year and I’ll find a way to get more than three of them to pass the California bar. Christ on an index card — it’s the bar exam, not organic chemistry. THERE IS NO MATH. Hearsay exceptions, memorize them; two questions down, 198 to go."

http://abovethelaw.com/2012/01/california-first-time-bar-passage-rate-holds-steady-shame-for-underperforming-schools-deepens/#more-126117

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Conservative Law School Professors Need Affirmative Action, Says Above the Law's Elie Mystal

From Above the Law:

"i’m going to be intellectually consistent as well. I think conservative profs should sue, and they should demand that the same kind of diversity we see applied to women or minorities when it comes to academic hiring decisions be extended to conservatives, too. Conservatives writ large aren’t a protected class, but the conservative law professor is damn near an endangered species. They need help, not because they are genetically predisposed to be crappy law professors, but because years of discrimination against them tell conservative legal minds to find something else to do besides become a law professor. There are lots of places where conservative principles are welcome, but legal academia isn’t one of them.

To combat that, they should get a plus factor. Just like with racial affirmative action, you can’t have a quota system. You can’t say “at least 20% of your tenured faculty must vote for Rick Santorum...

Granted, I think conservatives should have to ask for the help, but that’s just because I think making them beg for it would give them a little bit of an insight into how horrible it is to be in need of public assistance in this country, yet have to listen to freaking former hedge fund managers condescend about their work ethic, but that’s just me..."

http://abovethelaw.com/2012/01/conservative-law-profs-just-say-you-need-affirmative-action-for-intellectual-diversity-and-well-end-hiring-discrimination-against-you/#more-125256

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Credit Suisse Litigation Finance Group is Spun Off

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/01/09/credit-suisse-parts-with-litigation-finance-group/

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Second Circuit Overturns Refco Lawyer Conviction

A lawyer convicted for his role in a multi-billion dollar fraud at defunct commodities broker Refco Inc.,will get a new trial, a federal appeals court said on Monday. Click here for the Second Circuit’s opinion.

Joseph Collins, a one-time Mayer Brown partner and a long-time lawyer at Refco, was convicted in July 2009 of helping the owners and executives at the defunct commodities broker in a scheme to steal more than $2 billion by concealing its financial troubles. He was sentenced to seven years in prison. 

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/01/09/overturned-second-circuit-nixes-former-refco-lawyers-conviction/

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More on ABA President, Bill Robinson's Out of Touch Attitudes relative to the Plight of Law Students

Above the Law's Elie Mystal, has the following biting commentary:

"Robinson had the grace and the courage to tell law students it was their own fault for the rampant price gouging that happens as a result of the ABA’s ineffective oversight of law schools. It took real strength of character for Robinson to share this anecdote: “When I was going to law school . . . I sold my Corvair to make first-semester tuition and books for $330.” I mean, how many people in Robinson’s position would be so out of touch that they think prospective law students are driving automobiles that can cover a whole semester of tuition at an American law school!

That’s right, future 1Ls, don’t get too used to your Jaguar XKR. Don’t become too attached to your Lexus hybrid. You’ll need to sell your luxury automobile to pay for law school. D’uh!"

http://abovethelaw.com/2012/01/law-school-professionals-want-bill-robinson-to-put-a-sock-in-it/

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ABA President to UnHappy, Unemployed Law School Graduates: In this economy, "You should have known"

I am all for "tough love"and for taking responsibility for one's actions, but the sight of William Robinson, President of the ABA basically telling law graduates to pound sand on claims that law schools deceived them (and the the entire infrastructure that supports them, including the ABA), is way out of line.  Any exaggerations or material mis-statements are positioned as "outliers" and "exceptions".  Would Mr. Robinson be so cavalier in his assessment if we were talking about material mis-statements and omissions if we were talking about say, the Oil or Banking industries? The fact is employment statistics at many law schools were misleading, young impressionable students did rely on them and many entered law school and incurred substantial debt under the pretext of employment opportunities that were not nearly as strong as advertised.

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/01/05/aba-president-law-students-you-should-have-known/

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ABA Details Reasons for Denying Accreditation to Duncan Law School

Recall that immediately following a New York Times piece that was critical of ABA accreditation procedures (and, notably, in the article, Duncan was prominently featured) the ABA denied Duncan's accreditation application. A lawsuit immediately ensued.

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/01/04/aba-details-reasons-for-flunking-duncan/

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Alleged Discrimination Suit Against Conservative Law Professor Has Basis to Proceed, Eighth Circuit Says

A woman who alleges she was denied a job at the University of Iowa College of Law because of her conservative politics can proceed with a discrimination lawsuit, based on 1st Amendment grounds,  against the school’s former dean, a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday.

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2011/12/28/eight-circuit-revives-discrimination-suit-against-law-school-dean/

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