Law school applications have continued to drop — with the number of applicants down by 15.6 percent from last year. While the numbers are not final, it appears the total number of applicants will be down from 87,500 in 2010 to less than 67,000 this year.
More lawsuits will soon be filed against law schools over misleading employment data, despite a dismissal of the first such case to come before a judge. But law schools are confident that most, if not all, of the lawsuits will be dismissed and never make it to trial.
Thomas M. Cooley Law School offers the largest number of courses in intellectual property, according to The Mitchell Report on Intellectual Property Curricula, an independent report by researchers at William Mitchell Law School.
Cardozo School of Law, Whittier College and Chicago-Kent follow Cooley with William Mitchell in fifth place in the study. The study measured curricula at 205 ABA-accredited law schools and 17 non-ABA accredited schools.
The Univeristy of Utah plans to build a new $60.5 million building for its law school, assuming it can raise the necessary money.
The new building would include a plaza, outdoor cafe and gateway for the university. More importantly, it would significantly increase the amount of square footage per student. The school currently provides seven square feet of non-classroom space per student. The proposed building will add 60,000 square feet.
The public institution has vowed to raise all the money through donations, most of which has already been pledged.
Thirty-two law schools have voluntarily released detailed employment reports to a non-profit organization that seeks to make such data more accessible to law students and prospective students, Law School Transparency reported.
“We asked for these reports to help prospective law students find the law schools that best meet their career objectives,” said Kyle McEntee, executive director of Law School Transparency. “Together, these reports provide prospective [law students] access to timely, thorough, and comparable employment information.”
An exclusive study by The National Jurist shows there is a clear correlation between incoming LSAT scores and bar exam performance. But some schools buck the averages — with Louisiana State, Campbell University and Stanford University at the top of the study in terms of performance.
Current students at Rutgers School of Law-Camden will graduate with a degree from Rutgers even if a proposed merger of their school into Rowan University takes place, the school’s board of governors decided.
Law students had been concerned the merger would hurt their employment chances — as the Rowan name is not known widely outside of New Jersey. But students and faculty are still upset with the proposed merger.
Lawrence Connell, the tenured Widener University law professor who sued his school’s dean and two students, has settled his lawsuit.
“All claims amongst all parties have been resolved amicably and Professor Connell’s employment with the University and Law School has been concluded,” a statement from his attorney said. “Specific terms of the resolution are confidential.”
Twelve additional law schools have been sued over claims that they misled prospective law students by falsely inflating employment rates, and the primary attorney behind the suits says employment figures for full-time legal jobs are closer to 40 percent, instead of the 68 percent reported by the National Association for Legal Placement.
St. Louis University is moving its law school eight miles from the main campus into the city’s downtown, the school announced.
The 1,100-student school will start the 2012-2013 academic year in the new 260,000-square-foot building.
The building is a gift from Joe and Loretta Scott, and will be named after the couple. Joe Scott is founder and owner of Scott Properties, which owns and manages more than 2 million square feet of office, medical, retail and warehouse space in the St. Louis region.