ARCHIVE FOR JUNE 2009

June 30, 2009

Bar Passage Rates a Factor Worth Considering During the Admissions Process

Individuals planning on applying to law school during this upcoming application season are most likely in the midst of narrowing down their list of target schools and deciding on the programs for which they’ll ultimately complete an application. Factors to consider during this process of course include the academics, community, resources and organizations present at each program.

Another factor worth considering when researching law schools, however, is a program’s Bar passage rate. A school’s Bar passage rate reflects the percentage graduates who pass the exam and who are first-time test takers. The Internet Legal Research Group (ILRG) keeps a record of these passage rates online.

Although the Bar Exam may seem far in the distant future for current prospective students, the passage rate is still a factor of which applicants should be mindful during the application process. Not only do these rates affect a school’s overall ranking, but the rate is also a reflection of the level of preparedness students possess upon graduation.

To learn more about the Bar passage rates, visit the online resource published by ILRG. It would also be worth considering the percentage of individuals admitted to the Bar by state, as reported by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE).

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# posted by admin @ 11:49 am in General

June 25, 2009

CLEO Summer Institute 2009

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Council on Legal Education Opportunity’s (“CLEO”) annual Six-Week Summer Institute, a non-profit program run through the American Bar Association Fund for Justice and Education.  Approximately 80 students are taking part in the program this year, which is being held from June 7-July 17 at the University of Pittsburgh Law School and Southern Illinois University School of Law.  The Institute mirrors the experience of the first weeks of law school, providing instruction in essential skills, such as legal research and writing, as well as fundamental blackletter law topics, such as contracts and criminal law, to prepare students to excel at law school.  Courses are taught by law professors at the host school, and students receive extra support from the two teaching assistants, frequently alumni of the Institute, who live with them in the residence halls on campus.

CLEO is designed to benefit law school applicants and admitted students who come from under-privileged and non-traditional backgrounds, many hailing from urban and rural areas that do not offer much in the way of academic and personal support to prospective law students.  Many CLEO students each year have been accepted to law school on the condition that they attend CLEO prior to matriculating, while 60% have already been accepted to their school of choice and are attending the program to get a head-start on their law school career.  CLEO boasts that over 95% of participants each year attend law school in the fall.  Graduates of the Summer Institute are urged to take advantage of other professional development opportunities offered by CLEO, including bar preparation assistance and career fairs.

The cost of participating in the Six-Week Summer Institute is $2,000 per student, though the program reserves several spots in each class for low-income students, who pay just $200.  Applicants to the Institute must also apply to at least one CLEO Member School or Supporting/Sustaining Institution, in addition to submitting LSAT scores, a personal statement and a completed application.  The deadline for CLEO Summer Institute applications is usually in early February.

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# posted by admin @ 4:39 am in Events

June 24, 2009

Study Abroad a Growing Opportunity at Leading Law Schools

As law becomes increasingly international in its scope, law schools are making efforts to ensure that their students graduate with international experiences and understandings. One popular way for students to gain global insights is to participate in a study abroad program. Many schools now have programs and resources which enable law students to spend a semester or summer at another school in a foreign country.

Cornell Law School, known for placing emphasis on international law and global perspectives, encourages its students to spend one or summer abroad – longer, in the case of those individuals pursuing dual degrees. In this way, Cornell students have the chance to approach legal systems and legal subjects from a non-U.S. perspective. Students also gain insights to new cultures and are able to learn from faculty members perhaps holding different opinions than professors at Cornell.

Students at Cornell can apply to study abroad during their fourth, fifth or sixth semesters. There are 15 programs in which students can enroll, although there is also an option for students to design a “term away” at a school not currently partnered with Cornell. Students who apply can choose between programs located in such places as Germany, Hungary, South Africa, China, Australia and Israel.

Students unable to dedicate a semester to traveling abroad are offered the opportunity to study at an international location during summer vacation. The Paris Summer Institute, for example, is a five-week program which focuses on international and comparative law. Students come from all over the world each year to study at the Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne.

The University of Mississippi Law School offers its students similar study abroad opportunities. Students in good standing at the school are allowed to count 12 credits from a semester abroad, or six credits from a summer abroad, towards their JD degree. The university has a partnership with nine schools, eight in Europe and one in Uruguay, to which students may travel during their second or third year. Like Cornell, however, Mississippi allows its student to craft their own self-initiated study abroad experience if the school they hope to attend is not one of the schools with whom the university is currently partnered.

Although Cornell and University of Mississippi both provide their students with a range of impressive and valuable study abroad opportunities, many law schools now encourage students to gain international insights through a trip to a foreign country, whether for a semester abroad, a summer program or an internship. These opportunities, Cornell and Mississippi claim, offer students the chance to familiarize themselves with international laws and procedures and become more aware of the discrepancies between the U.S. government and the law enacted in other nations.

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# posted by admin @ 5:00 am in General, School: Cornell, School: Minnesota

June 23, 2009

Robert C. Post to be 16th Dean of Yale Law School

In a news article Monday morning, Yale Law School officially announced that Robert C. Post, who has served as a Yale Professor since 2003, will become dean of the school beginning July 1. This announcement comes after weeks of speculation among the law school community. Last week, we discussed the fact that the appointment seemed inevitable, but it wasn’t until this week that Yale was ready to make the news official.

Post will be the 16th dean of Yale School. He succeeds Harold Hongju Koh, who has been nominated for the position of legal advisor to the Department of State. The entire news story announcing Post’s appointment can be found on the Yale Law School website.

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# posted by admin @ 3:00 am in School: Yale

June 19, 2009

Harvard Law School’s New Curriculum

We hinted in last week’s post that longtime HLS professor Martha Minow, who will succeed Elena Kagan as dean of HLS in just two weeks, played a major role in the development of Harvard Law’s new curriculum.  Given Professor Minow’s involvement in the creation of the new curriculum and the fact that the members of the incoming Class of 2012 will be the first to experience these changes in their entirety, we have summarized many of those changes below.

The new curriculum, which was developed by a committee of HLS faculty over the course of 18 months and authorized in December of 2008 to go into effect for the Class of 2012, is the largest overhaul in Harvard’s law curriculum since the nineteenth century.  Former Dean Elena Kagan, who left HLS in early 2009 to accept a position in the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, had made curricular reform a central goal when she began her tenure as dean of the Law School in 2003, and led her committee of Harvard Law faculty to identify the most important skills and disciplines that twenty-first century lawyers would need to learn to become successful practitioners of the law.  The faculty committee quickly agreed that Harvard needed to update the system of law education in three areas: international law, problem-solving as part of the quotidian practice of law and the organization of the upper-level curriculum.

Many changes to the upper-level curriculum, which include the institution of Programs of Study, which help upper-level students organize the final two years of study at HLS, were authorized and implemented in time for the Spring Term of 2006, and have allowed 2 and 3Ls to enroll in joint degree programs in greater numbers than before.  Parts of the new 1L curriculum have also been tested beginning during the 2006 school year.

The Class of 2012 will be the guinea pig for the bulk of the changes beginning in their first year, when the revised 1L curriculum goes into effect.  In addition to the first-year courses, such as Criminal Law and Contracts, that have characterized Harvard’s law education since the 1870s, 1Ls will also have to take a problem-solving course that would give them early experience dealing with real-world issues that arise in the practice of law.  To make room for these changes, Constitutional Law, which had been part of the 1L curriculum, is no longer a required course, but students are encouraged to take advantage of HLS’s variety of upper-level Constitutional Law courses to help satisfy elective requirements.

The reception of these changes to the Harvard Law curriculum has so far been positive.  While alumni, students and faculty alike were initially wary that the new focus on practical skills might start HLS on the path to becoming a trade school, like MBA programs are today, the guidance provided to students through the Programs of Study and the renewed emphasis on problem solving and critical thinking have largely reassured critics that HLS remains an institution devoted to the development of analytical thought and intellectual growth.

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# posted by admin @ 4:00 pm in Law School News, School: Harvard

Yale Professor Robert C. Post Considered for Yale Deanship

There’s talk amongst the law community that Yale Law School intends to make Robert C. Post, a David Boies Professor of Law at Yale, Dean of the institution beginning in the 2009-2010 school year. Although this news is not yet official, as there has not been a press release at this point, many are convinced that the announcement is imminent.

Post graduates from Harvard University in 1969 and went on to receive his J.D. from Yale in 1977.  Before returning to Yale as a professor, Post first obtained a Ph.D. in History of American Civilization at Harvard (1980) and taught at the University of California at Berkeley. Post’s areas of specialization include constitutional law, First Amendment, legal history and affirmative action. Although Post was temporarily on leave for the 2009 spring term at Yale, he has taught such courses as Legislative and Popular Constitutionalism and Democratic Constitutionalism.

The notion that Post is to become the next Yale dean was discussed in a recent AbovetheLaw blog post.  When asked if this was the case, Post admitted that he had no choice at the time but to answer with, “No comment.”

If he becomes the next Yale dean, Post will succeed Harold Hongju Koh, the 15th Dean of Yale Law School and Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law. After being nominated by the Obama administration to serve as the Legal Adviser of the State Department, Koh stepped down from the dean position. Professor Kate Stith is now serving as the acting dean.

Other individuals being considered for the position include Acting Dean Kate Stith, Professor Reva Siegel and Professor Heather Gerken.

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# posted by admin @ 11:20 am in Law School News, School: Yale

June 11, 2009

Martha Minow Named Dean of Harvard Law School

On Thursday June 11, 2009, President of Harvard University Drew Faust announced the appointment of longtime Harvard Law Professor Martha L. Minow to the Dean of the Faculty of Law position, effective July 1.  Professor Minow, the Jeremiah Smith, Jr., Professor of Law at HLS, takes over from Acting Dean Howell Jackson.  The search for a new permanent dean of the law school began in March, when former Dean Elena Kagan was confirmed as solicitor general of the United States.

Minow, who holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and a Master’s in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education, played an essential role in Harvard’s ongoing curriculum reform by co-chairing the HLS committee exploring ways the law school could update its curriculum to reflect the needs of 21st century attorneys.  Among the changes she helped implement include an expanded focus on international legal issues and promoting greater cross-registration between HLS and other schools within Harvard University.  Most importantly, she introduced the new Programs of Study, which help upper-level students organize Harvard’s extensive course offerings to create a law education with depth and breadth, providing students with pathways to pursue subjects that suit personal interest as well as the needs of a future career.

Professor Minow is a widely-published scholar, and her interests include research on equality and inequality, human rights and transnational societies, law and social change, and religion and pluralism.  She has been on the faculty at Harvard Law School since 1981, where she began as Assistant Professor of Law following clerkships for Judge David Bazelon of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Justice Thurgood Marshall of the Supreme Court of the U.S., and has since received several appointments and awards for her teaching, including the HLS Sacks-Freund Award for Teaching Excellence in 2005.  Recent courses include the 1L required course in civil procedure, constitutional law, nonprofit organizations, jurisprudence and the legal profession.  Professor Minow is just the second woman to hold the position of Dean of the Faculty of Law at Harvard University, following Professor Elena Kagan, who was the first.

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# posted by admin @ 1:46 pm in Law School News, School: Harvard

June 9, 2009

Schools Offer Employment Aid to Recent Graduates

In the midst of a summer in which many new graduates from the Class of 2009 find their job offers at private law firms deferred for several months and have run into increased competition for public interest positions as a result, top law schools have stepped in to help recent alumni find immediate employment and improve their practical legal skills.  Public interest fellowships and expanded L.L.M. programs created with the needs of unemployed 3Ls in mind are just a few examples of the assistance that law schools are currently offering students who are understandably bewildered by their employment situation.

Northwestern and U.C.L.A. have turned to their own L.L.M. programs to give unemployed and deferred recent graduates options to enhance their marketable skills.  In April, U.C.L.A. introduced Transition to Practice, a new year-long post-J.D. program for new graduates designed, according to the U.C.L.A. School of Law press release, to “replicate significant parts of the learning that comes in the first year of practice, but in a controlled learning environment.”  The Transition to Practice program curriculum calls for students to participate in part-time externships and clinics as well as engage in extensive research and writing.  A highlight of the new program is a workshop that teaches students the basics of lawyering, particularly the skills that new J.D.s typically pick up in their first years of practice.  Learning these skills prior to entering the workforce is likely to make graduates of the Transition to Practice program highly marketable to employers, who will be happy to be relieved of the burden of teaching the new hires these essential skills.  Taking a cue from U.C.L.A., Northwestern has extended the deadlines for its Tax and Human Rights L.L.M. programs and offers to take some financial pressure off unemployed recent graduates by waiving one semester of tuition for either L.L.M. program, according to a memo sent to recent graduates.  Perhaps most importantly, the memo notes that Northwestern is now allowing all graduating students with University Health Insurance to apply for a short-term extension of benefits while they look for employment or tide them over until their deferred start date.

Other schools are expanding their public interest clinical offerings and fellowships to include recent graduates among the eligible candidates for stipends.  Last year, the University of Texas School of Law implemented a public interest internship-to-work program providing support to students interested in going into public interest or government after graduating from law school, and has decided to continue the program this year.  Through this initiative, called the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Career Launch Program, U.T. gives students a stipend of $6,000 to work in an unpaid internship over the summer while they study for and take the bar exam, with benefits ending once they receive their exam results.  The reasoning behind this time frame is that the majority of non-profit organizations do not have the resources to pay newly-minted J.D.s who cannot officially practice law, and that even if the unpaid internship does not lead to a full-time paying position following the end of the Long Career Launch Program period, participating students will have made connections in their target career sector that should help them going forward.  Last year, 35 students participated in the Long Career Launch Program, and U.T. hopes that just as many, or more, will benefit from the stipend, particularly given the increased need the Class of 2009 has for such services.  The Long Career Launch Program is aimed at graduating students who are committed to entering public service.  The University of Michigan Law School has established a similar short-term fellowship program to support students who take unpaid internships following graduation.  Michigan’s program provides students with up to $4,000 to work in Michigan Law-affiliated clinics and a few select external organizations for a period of 12 weeks following graduation.

Columbia Law School has also created a public interest fellowship, though the scope of its new offering, called the Social Justice Pathways Fellowships, is much more highly concentrated on a few students than the new programs at Texas or Michigan.  The Social Justice Pathways Fellowships at Columbia are designed to support five graduating students from the Class of 2009 for eight months as they carry out work in the public interest or government services sectors.  The fellowship comes with a stipend of $25,000 and places the students in non-profit and government organizations that match their career goals.  Like Texas’s program the Social Justice Pathways Fellowships are aimed at students who are interested in working in public service in the long-term.

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# posted by admin @ 2:48 pm in School: Columbia, School: Michigan, School: Northwestern, School: UCLA, School: University of Texas-Austin

June 8, 2009

LSAT Test Dates 2009-2010

With the 2009-2010 application season quickly approaching, it’s time for law school candidates to begin signing up and preparing for the LSAT. The first official test date, is today, June 8th.  It marks the start of this year’s LSAT schedule.

The official test dates and locations can be found on the LSAC website. Below is a list of the LSAT test dates for the 2009-2010 application season:

Monday, June 8, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010

The majority of applicants are expected to attend the Saturday test days, as the Monday and Tuesday tests are generally reserved for Sabbath observers.  All scheduled LSAT tests will begin at 8:30 a.m. - the exception being the June 8th test, which will begin a 12:30 p.m.

Generally, it is recommended that applicants take the LSAT before the February test dates, as many of the top schools, including Harvard, Stanford and NYU, require that candidates take the LSAT no later than the December proceeding the year they hope to matriculate. If this is at the case at your target schools, you may want to consider signing up for the September test to ensure that you have a fallback date in the event that you do not perform up to your expectations the first time around.

Once you’ve decided on a test date, it will be time to start preparing – it’s never too early to begin taking practice exams and reading through review books. Doing so will help you get a sense of your current weaknesses, allowing you to devote adequate time addressing them before you sit for the exam. To find sample questions or to purchase practice tests, you may want to visit the LSAC website.

We wish you the best of luck as you begin preparing for this important element of the application process!

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# posted by admin @ 9:17 am in Deadlines, LSAT

June 3, 2009

Northwestern’s New Accelerated J.D. Program

The 27 students in the first class of Northwestern University School of Law’s Accelerated J.D. program (A.J.D.) began summer semester the week of May 18, 2009, becoming the first students in a top-tier school to embark on a two-year J.D. program.  Northwestern Law took steps to create a condensed J.D. degree program following the American Bar Association’s 2004 decision to relax rules requiring that all J.D. programs be completed in six semesters, and is thus far just the third law school in the U.S. to do so.  The Northwestern Law A.J.D. program is designed to more efficiently deliver the J.D. than the traditional three-year program, effectively removing the 3L year during which most students explore various legal specialties they may want to practice as a career.

In the accelerated program, enrolled students complete the degree over the course of five semesters rather than the traditional six, but take the same number of credits as students in the traditional three-year J.D. program – or more.  To accomplish this, A.J.D. students start classes in May and take three foundation courses, such as Civil Procedure or Contracts, as well as two additional courses prior to the arrival of the traditional J.D. 1Ls.  During the Fall and Spring semesters of their first year, A.J.D. students take the remaining doctrinal courses with the traditional J.D. 1Ls and participate in the On-Campus Interview season alongside their traditional J.D. classmates.  The summer positions at law firms and legal organizations that A.J.D. students secure at this time constitute the only opportunity for practical employment available to A.J.D. students, unlike traditional J.D. students, who have two consecutive summers to work.

In the second year, A.J.D. students are free to take electives in both the fall and spring semesters, and then graduate in May with the J.D..  Despite the shorter duration of the program, A.J.D. students end up taking more credits than the traditional J.D. students because the A.J.D curriculum requires its students to take extra courses, such as Business Associations and other business-related disciplines, during the first three semesters.  A.J.D. students take five courses for at least three semesters to accommodate the additional curricular requirements, as opposed to the three or four courses taken by traditional J.D. students.

Given the limited exposure to practical legal experience relative to the three-year J.D. that A.J.D. students gain during their two years spent in law school, the accelerated program is aimed at prospective students who have a solid sense of their career goals and do not need the extra year to explore specialty areas.  As a result, Northwestern Law seeks students with several years of work experience for the A.J.D. – the members of the flagship class have a median of six years of experience coming into Northwestern – and particularly targets students who come from a business background.  To that end, Northwestern accepts both the LSAT and the GMAT for the Accelerated J.D. application.

Though some of the program details may seem similar, the Accelerated J.D. program at Northwestern Law should not be confused with the Two-Year J.D. for International Lawyers also offered there, which is designed for international students who already hold a law degree from another country and seek to take the bar exam in the U.S.

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# posted by admin @ 7:16 am in School: Northwestern

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