Building a Better Legal Profession

06/22/2016

Hello BBLP,
Last week, The New York Times published another strong but tough look at contemporary legal education through the experience of Valparaiso University's School of Law.

A few conclusions arise from the piece:
- For prospective students: Buyer Beware. Know what you're getting into, how much law school will cost, and what your prospects are after graduation. If you will carry a massive debt load, be wary of attending a school that does not produce graduates who earn top-dollar. If high-stakes corporate law isn't what you want to do, consider less expensive schools and pursue scholarships.
- For law schools: The days of charging high tuition to pay for professors who produce a lot of scholarship while accepting too many students than the legal market can employee seem to be ending. Consolidation, shrinking enrollment, and tuition caps are good options. Law schools need not be businesses that maximize profits. Instructing the young and giving them the tools and inspiration to pursue justice should be the sought-after goal.

Take a read and share your comments below.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/19/business/dealbook/an-expensive-law-degree-and-no-place-to-use-it.html

Thousands of debt-ridden law school graduates highlight a once unthinkable question: Should their law schools close?

08/18/2015

The NY Times has an interesting article about work policies at elite firms (law and not). Notably, it reports a detectable shift: "[T]here are some signs of change, as more and more young highly credentialed workers acknowledge that they can’t fulfill their responsibilities as husbands, wives, parents and friends while ascending through their organizations....Alternative work arrangements [at law firms] are proliferating, and many previously elite firms are finding they no longer have the profits or the partnership slots to make the Cravath system work, abandoning the field of play to only a tiny number of ultrasuccessful firms." http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/18/business/work-policies-may-be-kinder-but-brutal-competition-isnt.html.

Top-tier employers may be changing their official policies in a nod to work-life balance, but brutal competition remains an inescapable component of workers’ daily lives.

05/06/2015

Big News out of the Big Apple regarding its Big Test:
"In his speech, the chief judge said adopting the uniform exam 'is a huge step towards a national, uniform bar exam for the entire country,' which he characterized as 'not only desirable but necessary for the mobile, interconnected society in which we live.'"
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/06/nyregion/new-york-state-to-adopt-uniform-bar-exam.html

The state’s chief judge said he expected the move to result in a “domino effect” with the remaining states, given New York’s prominence in the legal world.

04/27/2015

The New York Times has an important piece on the Class of 2010. In short, they graduated at a very difficult moment for the legal profession and many have struggled. "About 20 percent of law graduates from 2010 are working at jobs that do not require a law license . . . and only 40 percent are working in law firms, compared with 60 percent from the class a decade earlier." While the outlook for lawyers now entering or graduating from law school is better (see previous post), the Times article reinforces the importance of reforming law school to educate lawyers who meet actual demand, and the need for prospective law students to enter law school with their eyes open. The prospective student should ask him/herself: (1) What do I want to do? (2) Where did I get in? and (3) How much will it cost? For instance, the article quotes a lawyer who attended South Texas College of Law. He wanted to do high-stakes M&A work and took out loans to finance his education. Now, he's a solo practitioner working family law. Truth is, there are only so many M&A law jobs out there, they tend to be located in NY and employ students from a certain set of schools. The takeaway: Caveat emptor ("buyer beware). http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/27/business/dealbook/burdened-with-debt-law-school-graduates-struggle-in-job-market.html

About 20 percent of 2010 graduates have jobs that do not require a law license, a new study shows, and only 40 percent are working in law firms.

04/17/2015

An interesting piece on -- a reduced supply of students may improve law applicants' chances of admission, while giving them more power to build a better law school community and a better legal profession.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/01/business/dealbook/despite-forecasts-of-doom-signs-of-life-in-the-legal-industry.html

Changes in the job market have led to declining enrollment at law schools, but several new studies show reasons to be optimistic about a career in law.

02/19/2013

Retraining programs and internships are helping onetime lawyers get back in the profession.

01/31/2013

Interesting story from today's New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/31/education/law-schools-applications-fall-as-costs-rise-and-jobs-are-cut.html

Applications are headed for a 30-year low, reflecting increased concern over soaring tuition, crushing student debt and diminishing prospects of lucrative employment upon graduation.

01/07/2013

Amlaw reports that most elite law firms exclude women from their management committees. It's not a surprise since most elite law firms have only 15% female equity partners. Do you think they are going to put the secretaries on the executive committee? The problem is insufficient numbers of female partners, period.

http://abovethelaw.com/2013/01/leading-lady-lawyers-ranking-the-am-law-100-by-women-in-leadership-roles/

09/11/2012

Biglaw apparently is known for being especially inconsiderate of the feelings of employees. Not a surprise. As firms get bigger and social distance between managers and associates grows, it is easier to have your employees work long hours with less appreciation.

Are corporate legal departments "nicer" than law firms? If so, why? In-house columnist Mark Herrmann, a former partner at a major law firm, offers his thoughts.

06/21/2012

It’s time to stop fooling ourselves, says a woman who left a position of power: the women who have managed to be both mothers and top professionals are superhuman, rich, or self-employed. If we truly believe in equal opportunity for all women, here’s what has to change.

05/22/2012

And please don't take the fax machine. This is so silly...

05/03/2012

More evidence that the legal profession is extremely regressive on diversity. The decline since 2000 is almost certainly explained by the retirement of the Carter appointees and the "moderate" politics of many of the Clinton appointees. How will the next 15 years look as the Clintonites retire and the Bush appointees dominate the courts? Turn a whiter shade of pale.

The federal courts made no progress last year in their push to bring more diversity to the ranks of judicial law clerks, according to the latest statistics released May 2 by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.