The annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools shed light on the struggles that law schools are now facing, including their lack of focus on practical training.
Amid a treacherous job market, big law firms are putting pressure on law schools to shift their focus from intensive research to more hands-on training, noting that their clients are no longer willing to pay for firms to train new associates.
University of Delaware has announced plans to create the state's first public law school, set to open as early as 2015. Planned to be located on UD's Newark campus, the school would enroll approximately 200 students in its first year.
“Every major institution that we aspire to be peers with has a legal or medical institution,” President Patrick T. Harker said. “You want to do something you can do well, and we think we can do this very well.”
Former Kaplan University Law Dean Bennie Wilcox was found guilty on charges that he sent threatening emails and web posts during his time with the company. A jury convicted Wilcox on Dec. 10 and Judge Blanche Manning set a sentencing date of April 5, 2011.
Wilcox's legal troubles began in 2007 when he began sending out threatening messages under another company employee's names. Wilcox has been hired as dean in 2005, but was fired a year later. It is then that he made statements such as, “On July 13th 2007 we will take all of KU down and off line forever.”
The Council of the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar has decided unanimously to continue to consider accrediting law schools outside of the United States.
The Council was convened to respond to issues raised in a report by the Special Committee on Foreign Law Schools Seeking Approval under ABA Standards. The report was widely commented on, bringing the issue to the forefront.
Real estate developers in Southeast Washington are reporting that Kaplan has been looking for office space suitable for the opening of a law school.
Sources say that Kaplan hired real estate brokerage firm Jones Lang La Salle and has been looking for up to 130,000 square feet near the Washington Nationals' baseball stadium, in order to open a school in 2013. While Kaplan has declined to comment, the reports have developers scrambling to get in on the action.
According to a Kaplan survey of 1,383 pre-law students, a law school's rankings is the most important factor in their attendance decision. When asked “how important a factor is a law school's ranking in determine where you apply,” 86 percent say ranking is “very important.”
“Our survey shows that pre-law students are heavily influenced about where to apply to law school based on rankings, likely because of the perceived benefits that come with graduating from a top-ranked program,” Howard Bell, executive director of pre-law programs at Kaplan Test Prep said.
Looks like a second-year law student may be needing a lawyer of his own. An Ohio State University Moritz College of Law student has been accused of stealing law books from the campus library and selling them online for more than $10,000.
In 2009, University of Miami School of Law made headlines when they asked accepted students to take advantage of an incentive program to defer their enrollment until Fall 2010. At the time, Dean Patricia White asked potential students to consider their motivations for entering law school, fearing that many were joining to wait out the economic storm.
Looks like a second-year law student may be needing a lawyer of his own. An Ohio State University Moritz College of Law student has been accused of stealing law books from the campus library and selling them online for more than $10,000.
The competition between southern California law schools just got a lot more complicated. The Southern California Institute of Law recently filed suit against TCS Education System, claiming that the company is unlawfully affiliated with Santa Barbara and Ventura Colleges of Law.