Archive for August, 2009

Texas Tech’s School of Law was ranked 19th out of the nation’s almost 200 law schools in Best Value according to the National Jurist.

Out of Texas’ nine law schools, Tech’s School of Law was the only one listed in the magazine’s September 2009 issue.

“We are pleased, of course, that we are recognized in this way,” said Richard Rosen, vice dean of the School of Law. “And I think it shows the quality of legal education we are providing here.”

The magazine determined best value by examining three factors: tuition costs, bar-passage rates above the states’ average and employment rates for graduates exceeding 85 percent within nine months after graduation.

According to the magazine, each of the 65 selected schools had a few qualities in common — small size, strong clinical programs and an emphasis on fostering relationships within the law school community.

Tech’s School of Law focuses a lot of time on preparing its students for actually practicing law and representing clients, Rosen said, and it is important to prepare the students for work after school.

[Daily Toreador]

U.S. Senator Herb Kohl will be the next guest for “On the Issues” with Mike Gousha at Marquette University Law School Wednesday, Sept. 2. The event will be held at noon in Eisenberg Memorial Hall, 3rd Floor of the Law School, located at 1103 W. Wisconsin Ave.

Wisconsin’s senior senator will visit the Law School to discuss health-care reform and other important issues facing the nation. Kohl, a Democrat, was first elected to the Senate in 1988. Before entering the world of politics, he helped build his family-owned business, Kohl’s grocery and department stores. Senator Kohl is also the owner of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Gousha, an award-winning journalist, continues his “On the Issues” series of provocative and insightful interviews with local and national public officials, journalists and other newsmakers throughout the year. A complete schedule is available online.

[Media NewsWire]

Jonathan Phillips’ first emotion was joy.

After two years of trying to get into the University of Florida’s law school, and spending this past summer on the waiting list, the Gators’ kicker was finally accepted into the program Aug. 13, just four days before orientation.

The smile, though, quickly faded.

“It kind of sunk in that I have so much work to do,” said Phillips, a Wellington High graduate. “People are asking me how I’m going to do it, and the truth of the matter is I have no idea.”

Phillips, 23, who began class Monday, is believed to be the first person to play football for the Gators while attending law school.

“That’s a great story,” Florida coach Urban Meyer said. “He was actually excused from practice. Can you believe that? Jerk wasn’t there today because he had to go to law school orientation. Bad guy.”

It certainly won’t be the last time Phillips has to skip a football activity to tend to law school responsibilities. Like the other first-year law students, Phillips is taking five demanding classes, and attendance is mandatory. Two days a week, he will only catch the last 30 minutes of practice because of his class schedule.

He will be reading until 1 a.m. most nights, and waking up at 5 a.m. to lift weights with the other special teams players. He also has practice for two hours every day, plus special teams meetings.

“I’ve told him he’s crazy,” said Bobby Kane, a fellow first-year UF law student and the Gators’ back-up punter from 2005-08. “He’ll be OK for now, but his biggest problem will come in November and December, when exams come around. That’s the time of the year when football starts getting good.”

[Palm Beach Post]

Although the University School of Law received its highest number of applications this year, jobs for law students are drying up across the country.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that law students are competing for half as many openings at big firms as they were last year.

The University just ushered in its most highly credentialed class in the school’s 150-year history, and the increase in applicants might be attributable to the recession.

“I think the economy contributed, but did not account for it,” Director of Law Admissions Paul Rollins said. “[The University School of Law] is an excellent law school and a good value.”

Rollins said there is a need for high value legal education during an economic recession, noting the School of Law received more than 3,000 applications for the class of 2012. Slightly more than one-quarter of those applicants were admitted into the school.

Those 241 newly enrolled students have a median undergraduate GPA of 3.7 and a median LSAT score of 164 – 180 constitutes a perfect score. More than half of the class scored at or about the 90th percentile of LSAT takers nationwide.

[UGA]

The National Law School of India University (NLSIU) here has shut down for 10 days to prevent the spread of the influenza A H1N1 virus that has killed 20 people in Karnataka.

The decision to close down the famous law school follows several educational institutions here closing down for a few days.

“The decision was taken as a precautionary measure. The university decided to close for 10 days, so that the entire campus can be fumigated. The fumigation process has already started,” NLSIU Vice Chancellor R. Venkata Rao told IANS.

The university decided to close in the wake of a swine flu death in its neighbourhood Nagarabhavi here last week. The university will reopen Aug 30.

However, none of the university students have tested positive for the virus during their screening recently at the Mallige Hospital.

“We don’t want to take any chances. When the university reopens, students will be asked to bring their medical certificate. We may further screen the students,” said Rao.

Due to the “forced” closure, the academic calendar of NLSIU has suffered. Few mid-term internal exams that were scheduled for next week have been postponed.

I can’t understand Conor’s contempt for us recent law school graduates. Sure, it’s easy to make fun of the stereotypical corporate attorney who gets paid $500 dollar an hour to pick his nose, but most of us don’t fit that bill. I recently graduated from a private law school and put myself six figures in debt to do it. I spent my time in law school doing legal aid work. All of my clients were poor; most were elderly and/or veterans. I defended them against criminal charges, against predatory landlords, and helped them fight through government red tape.

The economy being what it is, only the top five in my graduating class had what you would consider “big law firm” jobs waiting for them after they graduated. Most of my class is struggling to find jobs that will pay us enough to live on while paying off our loans. One of my classmates left a $120K a year job to go to law school, and now after three years, he can’t find a job that pays more than $50K a year.

[The Atlantic]

As Ted Kennedy kept vigil by his brother Bobby’s casket on the funeral train traveling to Washington, one of his former law professors from the University of Virginia took a turn sitting with him.

“There was almost a sense of fright apparent in him,” said Mortimer Caplin, who had taught both Kennedy brothers at U.Va.’s law school.

The level of responsibility that now was on his shoulders weighed on him, Caplin recalled yesterday. “Suddenly, the kid in the family is the head of the family.”

Caplin believes that burden led to the bleak period of well-known personal troubles that followed his brother’s assassination in 1968.

“He had a tumultuous life,” he said, but Kennedy worked through his problems and became “the king of the Senate” through his commanding presence and skill in getting legislation passed.

Caplin and others who knew Kennedy during his days at U.Va. said it was clear early on that he would make his mark in public service.

Kennedy had a finely developed sense of justice even then, law school classmate A.E. Dick Howard said.

“It was not synthetic,” said Howard, a constitutional expert on U.Va.’s law school faculty.

Caplin and Howard said Kennedy was an especially good oral advocate and won a prestigious moot-court victory.

“He was kind of an average paper student, but he was very good on his feet,” Caplin said.

[Times Dispatch]