Drake University Law School will require students, starting with the 2013 entering class, to prepare an electronic portfolio containing short videos and documents evidencing the students’ proficiencies. Students will work with their advisors to update and improve the portfolio contents as well as their skills as they progress through school. Employers will have easy access electronically and contents will vary by student interest.
The Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law is starting the nation’s second clinic devoted to the research and study of executive clemency and the power of pardon.
The CUA Law/Ehrlich Partnership on Clemency was made possible by Robert Ehrlich, a former Maryland governor who is now senior counsel at King and Spaulding. Ehrlich’s tenure at governor was distinguished by the time he spent personally reviewing requests for pardons from convicted criminals.
Stetson University College of Law is introducing two new online ventures.
Home to one of the top-ranked trial advocacy programs in the country, the Gulfport, Fla.-based school is launching an online LL.M. in Advocacy, starting in August 2013. It will also launch an online version of the Stetson Journal of Advocacy and the Law in May. This is the second known law review designed to be read entirely online.
New York Law School launched the Center for Business and Financial Law in January, which will serve both J.D. and LL.M. students with academic and skills training in corporate, commericial and financial services law.
The University of Connecticut School of Law adopted a “practice-based learning” requirement which will ensure that all students have at least one intensive, supervised, live-lawyering experience before graduating from law school.
The new requirement takes effect with next year’s entering class.
Chicago-Kent College of Law is the latest school to start a solo incubator for its graduates.
CUNY Law School pioneered the concept in 2007 when it offered low-cost office space in Manhattan and staff support to a select number of graduates.
Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law is offering a new graduate certificate in health law, which will provide J.D. students with the opportunity to specialize in the expanding field.
“The Hall Center for Law & Health is a signature program at the McKinney School that dovetails perfectly with IUPUI’s focus on the life sciences,” said Dean Gary Roberts.
Rutgers School of Law – Camden has opened a new Immigrant Justice Clinic in August to assist low-income immigrants living in New Jersey. The clinic is funded by a two-year, $200,000 grant from the United States District Court of New Jersey to “improve the administration of justice in the courts.”
Valparaiso University Law School launched a new mobile online career tracking system for students, called VOLT. The program is designed to help law students plan and complete the necessary steps to advance their careers and pass the bar. It provides students with a scorecard which updates as students complete tasks, and benchmarks their progress against the rest of their class.
University of Virginia unveiled a new clinic that allows law students to provide legal services to aspiring entrepreneurs at the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration.
Richard Crawford, associate director of development for the law school's law and business program, said the Transactional Law Clinic is part of the school's effort to better prepare students to practice business law professionally.