ARCHIVE FOR DECEMBER 2009

December 31, 2009

Admissions Blog: Yale’s (203) Admissions Blog

Last week we discusses Stanford Law School’s recently released admissions blog; the week before we highlighted Harvard in Focus. This week, we’d like to point out yet another admissions blog that students can use as a valuable resource.

Yale Law School, like Stanford and Harvard, provides an admissions blog that discusses a range of topics - various categories of topics discussed include, “Applying,” “Bad Ideas” and “Student Life.” The blog - entitled the (203) Admissions Blog - is a great resource for students considering applying to Yale, as the various posts provide an insider’s look at different aspects of the admissions process, Yale curriculum and student life. It’s also just as good a resource for students already intend on applying - the information gained from reading to blog will be valuable when writing your personal statement and during interviews.

For additional information about Yale Law School, make sure to check out the Clear Admit’s Guide to Yale Law School. Inside, you’ll find information on student body demographics, independent research opportunities and study abroad offerings.

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# posted by admin @ 8:00 am in Admissions Blogs, Law School Guides, School: Yale

December 30, 2009

Climate Change Professorship Endowed at Columbia Law

In a recent press release, Columbia Law School announced that it has established the world’s first endowed professorship in climate change law, the Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice.

The Law School’s initial distinction is slated for Professor Michael Gerrard, who is the current Director of the CLS Center for Climate Change Law.

The announcement was originally made in mid-December, during the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, reflecting the timeliness of Columbia’s maneuver.  With climate change legislation slowly making headway in the U.S. Congress, law schools have followed suit, focusing more research and coursework on current aspects of environmental law and reform.

Upon receiving the professorship, Gerrard echoed the relevance of the issue.

“In the midst of the international negotiations in Copenhagen, and with comprehensive federal legislation under debate in Congress, this center for scholarship and teaching can help address one of the world’s most pressing problems,” he said.

The CLS Center for Climate Change Law is relatively new itself.  Despite its inception in early 2009, though, the center has hosted conferences on the House’s Waxman-Markey bill, the Obama Administration strategy for Copenhagen, the U.S.-India climate framework and biosequestration, among other initiatives.

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# posted by admin @ 12:00 pm in Law School News, School: Columbia

Admissions Tip: Interview Prep

Earlier this winter we posted some very basic interview etiquette information that will help candidates ensure that everything is in order on the big day.  Today, we turn our attention to some steps one can take to prepare for the interview itself.

1) Know what to expect. This might go without saying, but interview types and duration vary across programs.  We therefore encourage law school applicants to do research regarding their schools’ interview processes.  Thinking carefully about the format of the interview and the person conducting it will influence the sort of questions you might come prepared to ask and help you arrive at a mindset conducive to success.

2) Review your materials. Because it’s important that you reinforce your positioning during the interview, reading over your essays and reflecting on the themes presented in your application is a great first step in preparing to speak about your ideas and objectives.

3) Tell them something they don’t know. In addition to reinforcing your existing message (a critical component of most interviews), the interview is also a great time to expand or add new information to your file via the interviewer’s notes.  Have there been any major developments in your candidacy that you should share?  Have you visited the campus or spoken with students since submitting your written materials?  Have you made any strides toward your goals?  Even if just an example from work or a school or an activity that relates to the interview question but didn’t fit into your essays, it’s a great idea to approach the interview with the goal of enhancing the admissions committee’s knowledge of your candidacy.

4) Anticipate and practice. Though it’s impossible to predict the exact questions you will be asked, the type of interview and historical data will provide some great clues as to the sort of information the interviewer will be seeking.  In general, you should be prepared to be questioned about your academic and professional history, personal strengths and weaknesses, interest in the law and the school’s law program, and career goals, as well as current legal issues in the news.  It’s a good idea to not only reflect on what you might say in response, but to actually practice articulating your responses.

Best of luck to all those who are preparing for interviews!

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# posted by admin @ 8:00 am in Admissions Tip

December 29, 2009

Report Chronicles Year’s 27 Innocence Project Exonerations

Throughout the fall semester, we relayed a few examples of the tangible impact law school students have had while advocating for clients via innocence clinics.

Now, a recently released report, conveyed by the University of Wisconsin Law School, compiles a more comprehensive list of successful innocence clinic projects.

The report, “Innocence Network Exonerations 2009,” chronicles the overturned cases of 27 wrongly-convicted individuals in the past year.  The cases were won by 54 affiliated Innocence Network organizations at law schools, public defenders, and other reinvestigation offices.  Nine of the organizations are international, stretching the member group abroad.

“Every one of these cases had ripple effects well beyond the innocent person who was in prison.  Entire families are forever changed when a loved one is wrongly convicted, and victims of crime are poorly served when true perpetrators evade justice,” said Wisconsin Law’s Keith Findley, who doubles as president of the Innocence Network.  Wisconsin Law was responsible for three of the 27 exonerations.

Among other statistics, the report reveals that 13 of the 27 exonerations were based on DNA testing, and nine people freed had served more than 20 years in prison.

The Innocence Network also includes clinics from such law schools as Yeshiva University’s Benjamin Cardozo School of Law, U. Virginia School of Law, U. Washington School of Law and U. North Carolina School of Law, among other institutions.

For the full report, please click here.

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# posted by admin @ 12:00 pm in Law School News, School: Wisconsin

Trivia Tuesday: Harvard Law School’s Low Income Protection Plan (LIPP)

Welcome back to Trivia Tuesday, Clear Admit’s weekly exploration into a leading law school.  Today we’re considering the Low Income Protection Plan (LIPP), Harvard Law School’s financial aid incentive program offered to encourage students to pursue public interest employment after graduation.

Like many leading law schools, HLS has developed a loan-repayment assistance program for students who secure full-time post-graduate employment in the government, non-profit organizations or academia.  Harvard’s program allows participants to pay a much smaller percentage of salary toward annual law school loan payments than they would on their own, with LIPP covering the difference.  LIPP requires no up front commitment to the public sector, which makes it one of the most generous loan forgiveness schemes offered by any leading law school.  Another distinguishing feature is that unlike most of its peers, HLS does not restrict participation in LIPP just to graduates who take public sector jobs.  Instead, some private sector occupations, such as clerkships and active Ph.D. study, also allow graduates to qualify for LIPP assistance.

In the past several years, HLS has affirmed its commitment to helping graduates find work in the public sector by offering LIPP as well as other programs designed to alleviate the financial burden of student loans.  The most radical of these was the Public Service Initiative (PSI), which offered students the chance to have their 3L tuition paid in return for a commitment to taking a public service job after graduation.  As we reported on December 2, the program will be suspended in 2011 because demand for the program outstripped the resources HLS had allocated for it and HLS is currently in the process of making significant budget cuts to deal with massive losses suffered by Harvard University’s endowment during the recession.  Despite the loss of PSI, which was only initiated in 2008, HLS renewed its commitment to LIPP and its Summer Public Interest Funding program, extending loan-repayment assistance to graduates whose private law firm jobs had been deferred and prolonging the maximum number of weeks students can take advantage of summer funding.

For more information about LIPP and Harvard’s other financial aid programs, be sure to consult the Clear Admit Law School Guide for Harvard Law School!

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# posted by admin @ 8:00 am in Public Interest Career Resources, School: Harvard, Trivia Tuesday

December 28, 2009

Columbia Law School’s Child Advocacy Clinic Meets With City Officials To Help College-Bound Foster Youth

Students working in Columbia Law School’s Child Advocacy Clinic recently took charge to help youth in foster care apply to, enroll in, and most importantly, graduate from college.  In New York City, foster care services end at the age of 21, but most youth do not graduate from college until they are 22, thus impeding their ability to achieve their diplomas.  Although foster youth enrolled in college can apply for an extension of services, called Exception to Policy (ETP), the bureaucratic guidelines, including the deadlines for ETP forms and the amount of time an ETP takes to be processed, are often too restrictive to be helpful.

To ameliorate this system, Columbia third-year student Lilli Scalettar and alumna Melissa Hazell ’09 contacted James F. Furcell, the Executive Director of the Council of Family and Child Caring Agencies, as well as John B. Mattingly, the Commissioner at New York City Children’s Services.  Through letters Scalettar and Hazell outlined the bureaucratic, financial, and emotional obstacles foster youth face in their attempts to gain a college education.  Scalettar and Hazell also encouraged Children’s Services to clarify with foster care agencies regarding what services each group is required to cover, such as room and board or clothing.

Both Mattingly and Purcell, as well as the senior staff of the New York City Administration for Children’s Services met with Scalettar and Hazell, as well as Columbia Law School third-year Zac Soto, a current teaching assistant at the clinic, to address these issues.  The Columbia contingent made a presentation regarding ways to increase the transparency and access of the system, such as giving foster youth more information about the documents necessary to gain ETP.  Soto cited that the senior staff were “highly responsive,” and currently the handouts from this meeting are being distributed at NYC Children’s Service, with a follow-up meeting planned for sometime in the future.

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# posted by admin @ 12:00 pm in General, School: Columbia

For Law Students and Graduates Coping With a Recession, an Article Offers a Forerunner

Using a past recession to offer perspective on current conditions, the American Bar Association’s ABA Journal addresses the legal landscape in its publication this month.

The cover story for the January 2010 issue, “When the Detour Becomes the Destination“, examines the legal recession of the early 1990s.  In that period, though the economic recession itself ended in 1991, the employment rate for law school graduates took longer to recover, resuming positive growth in 1994.

Despite the prolonged downturn, the article cites surveys from the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) that indicate that an “overwhelming majority” of graduates managed to find positions that utilized their law degrees.

The article makes use of a number of positive example “detours” to advocate creativity and flexibility while navigating the legal job market, as those listed in the piece initially obtained clerkships, part-time work and teaching positions, among other opportunities.

As James Leipold, NALP’s Executive Director said while expanding on these detours, “this recession absolutely will change people’s careers.”

And while the current economic climate has exacerbated the landscape, the article also takes a long view of job placement, noting that employment rates were bound to drop slightly after 2007’s 91.9 percent mark, nearly a 20-year peak.

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# posted by admin @ 8:00 am in General, Law School News

December 25, 2009

Fridays From The Frontline

Hello and welcome to Fridays From The Frontline, Clear Admit’s awesome amble through the sometimes pleasing, often perplexing experiences of law school applicants and current students. This week in the ‘blawgosphere’ there was a collective sigh of relief as most exams were finally completed and a few days of recuperation were granted. Applicant bloggers have begun to hear back about their applications, which has been good for the most part.

0L Sue provided her second installation of Mandarin Mondays. 0L Ricky Nelson reviewed a book how to get the most out of law school, but wasn’t overly effusive with his praise. Miami ‘12 Goateed 1L enjoyed his vacation and caught up with non-law reading, though he was eyeing his constitutional law hornbook. After the first substantial snow of the season, NYU ‘12 IDWSJ was committed to purchasing a pair of winter boots, no matter the fashion challenges they would create. 1l Cee only had one exam left before her holidays could begin. Austin ‘12 Mariel completed all her exams and loved seeing her peers smiling and, gasp, laughing, again. NCSU ‘12 TDOT wanted to know the results of his exams so he could drink alone or with company. NYU ‘12 Soleil was officially half way through her first year of law school.

Harvard ‘11 Ivy Lea loved her dad, babies, and Texas skies. 2L Huma liked putting pop culture references into her law exams, or at least thinking about doing so. Northwestern ‘11 Jeremy managed his energy, not his time. 2L Kel linked to an article and wanted to know what her readers’ law school motivations were. Austin ‘11 New Law Mom shared a few second year law truths, like how wine tastes good and time changes everything. 2L Exhibit L survived finals and looked forward to her next semester, which will only have two exams for her to confront and conquer. 2L Googiebaba found that her tastes had changed since the years when she read John Cage poems.

Finally, in third year news, 3L (In)Sanity Gal compared relaxing during Christmas vacation during law school to the temptation to walk after six hours running a marathon: a really enticing idea that might just make everything feel like it’s that much harder. 3L I’m Nobody wrote  37 pages, and took two exams in 48 hours and feared that she would never be that productive again in her life.

And that wraps up this Fridays From The Frontline. We hope that those of you have a happy holiday season today and on through New Year’s!

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# posted by admin @ 8:00 am in Fridays From the Frontline

December 24, 2009

UC Hastings College of Law Names Frank Wu Dean

On Tuesday, the University of California, Hastings College of Law announced that Frank Wu has been named the school’s next dean.

Wu is a legal professor at Howard University who previously served as dean of Wayne State University Law School in Detroit, Mich.  Upon his appointment at Wayne State, Wu was the youngest law school dean in the country.

About the decision, Bruce Simon, Chair of the Hastings Board of Directors and co-chair of the Dean Selection Committee, said, “Wu is a brilliant, world-class scholar and national leader in higher education.  He was selected because of his powerful strategic vision for raising our 131-year-old law school to a new level.”

In making the decision, Simon was joined on the Committee by four board members and three faculty members, and an independent search firm also assisted.

Quoted in the full press release (PDF), Wu indicated that today’s law students must be prepared with career-oriented skills, the willingness to contribute in a global economy and the ability to blend other disciplines into their discourse.

Outside his views on a proper legal education, Wu also specified that he intends to begin the College of Law’s first-ever capital campaign.  Additionally, he plans to donate $25,000 of his salary every year to the school for scholarships and academic support.  Wu will assume the deanship on July 1, 2010.

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# posted by admin @ 12:00 pm in Law School News, School: UC Hastings

Admissions Blogs: The Faye-mous SLS Admissions Blog

Last week, we discussed HLS in Focus, Harvard Law School’s admission blog. This year, we’d like to highlight The Faye-mous SLS Admissions Blog. Like Harvard, Stanford Law School’s admissions blog is a valuable resource for prospective students hoping to gain an insider’s look at the program. Unlike HLS in Focus, however, Stanford’s blog has recently been introduced to the blogosphere, with its inaugural post being published on December 15th.

The new blog is written by Faye Deal, Stanford Law School’s associate dean for admissions and financial aid. Deal has served as Stanford’s associate dean since 1992. In her first post, Deal encourages her readers to, “Come along for the ride – you’ll find tips, you’ll get advice, you’ll hear from me, you’ll hear from guest bloggers, you’ll learn more about the school, you’ll have access to the SLS inside scoop. “

In her most recent post, Deal notes that the school is shutting down for the holidays, but indicates that the blog will be updated sometime shortly after January 4th, 2010.

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# posted by admin @ 8:00 am in Admissions Blogs, School: Stanford

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