LSAT

Law Profs Want Schools to Stop Reporting LSAT Scores to U.S. News

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From the files of “things that will never freaking happen,” the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) is telling law schools to discontinue divulging LSAT scores to U.S. News for the publication’s annual rankings. SALT should duck before that flying pig smacks it upside its head. The National Law Journal reports:

[SALT] has urged law schools to stop providing U.S. News with their incoming students’ LSAT scores on the theory that the immense pressure to snag incoming students with high scores is making it harder to admit diverse classes. The median LSAT scores of the entering class accounts for 12.5% of each law school’s U.S. News score — a greater weight than the magazine gives to average grade point average or acceptance rate.

Not only is this something that will never happen, it’s also an idea that is beyond dumb. Quite an exacta there from the law teachers…

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LSAT: Testing Wealth, Not Logic

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In our little world, the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) is a career-defining moment. A few points on the test can mean the difference between going to a law school that can get you a job, or going to a law school where you’ll be locked in gladiatorial combat with every other student in order to finish in the top 10%.

But does this test really tell us anything about a person’s logical reasoning ability? Does it tell us anything about one’s ability to be a lawyer? It’s been well-documented that the LSAT is a great indication of past performance, a solid indicator of law school performance, and a very poor judge of future legal success.

So what is the LSAT really testing anyway? We all know really smart people who didn’t do too well on the LSAT, and we all know incredibly dumb people who got a high score.

On the Huffington Post, Noah Baron argues that the LSAT is really testing one thing: whether or not you are wealthy enough to spend the time it takes to prepare for the exam…

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Non-Sequiturs: 04.01.10

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* What we talk about when we talk about federalism: University of Chicago law professor Alison LaCroix, author of the just-published Ideological Origins of American Federalism, discusses the relevance of federalism for current policy debates. [Political Bookworm / Washington Post]

* Speaking of the Founding, if there’s another Constitutional Convention, I demand that all delegates wear wigs. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Mother sues hospital after the staff gave her the wrong baby to breast feed. So, I guess she won’t be appearing on the Project Wet Nurse reality show I just made up in my head. [BL1Y]

* What does Google think about the LSAT? [LSAT Blog]

* Minorities do better than whites when it comes to getting hired into tenure track positions at American law schools. But don’t start getting melanin injections just yet. [ABA Journal]

* Becoming a lawyer for the Catholic Church is a lot like becoming a lawyer for any other organization. [Slate]

* Former Duke lacrosse head coach Mike Pressler settles his lawsuit with the university. I’d say that he should go to a strip club to celebrate, but that would probably look bad. [NewsObserver]

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Snowpocalypse LSAT at Georgetown

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Georgetown Law logo.jpgWe were beset by technical difficulties here at ATL yesterday (as we explained in our Twitter feed). We apologize for the site outages; hopefully the situation will be better next week.
At least we didn’t have to go out in the snow. Our brethren in D.C. were not as fortunate. The Washington Post reports:

The full weight of winter brought life in much of the Washington region to a standstill Saturday as a storm predicted to be one of the most powerful on record dumped 12 to 21 inches of snow overnight. …
[O]fficials pleaded with people to stay off the roads until conditions improve. People were confined to their homes by the mountains of snow, many in the dark as trees brought down power lines.

Stay off the roads? But we’ve got an LSAT to take, damn it.

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Flame War: Testmasters v. Top Law Schools

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flame war.jpgInternet message boards tend to be rough-and-tumble places. Enter at your own risk. (This includes Above the Law comments — if you don’t like them, don’t read them.)
There may be employment risks for posters at Top Law Schools (“TLS”), a message board for gunners planning to apply to law school. This is one of those places online where people talk about what to bring to the LSAT and trumpet their acceptances by various law schools. In other words, it’s the place where future law school list-serv psychos cut their teeth.
Yesterday, Top Law Schools claimed that test prep company TestMasters is discriminating against its readers. A TLS moderator wrote a post alleging that a reader’s application to work as an LSAT instructor for TestMasters was rejected based on his being a frequent TLS poster. The moderator posted the rejection email the reader received (we’ve replaced the name of the TestMasters director with a pseudonym):

Dear “John”,
We have decided to cancel your interview and reject your application to work for us as an LSAT instructor. Applications are currently at an all-time high, and we do not have the time or resources to interview TTT candidates whose social lives consist of making thousands of posts on internet discussion boards. TestMasters only hires people who are cool, and unfortunately you do not meet that requirement.
Best regards,
“I-Wish-I-Worked-For-Kaplan”
Programs Director
TestMasters

When we got the first of many emails about this, we thought, “A programs director who actually uses the term ‘TTT’? ‘People who are cool’? C’mon. This is fake.”
But TestMasters is not disowning the email, and it appears that “I-Wish-I-Worked-For-Kaplan” actually waded into the cesspool to defend herself.

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Most. LSATs. Ever.

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We’ve had a lot of evidence that prospective law students have hatched a diabolical plan to flood the legal market with fresh talent. But this graph from Most Strongly Supported tells it all:
Most Strongly Supported LSAT graph.jpg
My Lord.
Right now, I’m like Oliver Platt at the end of 2012. Shut the damn door or we’re all gonna die.
Some other observations after the jump.

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Justice Antonin Scalia Says Some of the Best Minds May Be Wasted on Law

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Justice Antonin Scalia headshot.jpgIn an interview with C-SPAN, Justice Antonin Scalia once again graced us with his worldview. As usual, it is as beautiful and terrible as the dawn.
The WSJ Law Blog sloughed through the interview transcripts and pulled out this gleaming diamond of truth:

I mean there’d be a, you know, a defense or public defender from Podunk, you know, and this woman is really brilliant, you know. Why isn’t she out inventing the automobile or, you know, doing something productive for this society?
I mean lawyers, after all, don’t produce anything. They enable other people to produce and to go on with their lives efficiently and in an atmosphere of freedom. That’s important, but it doesn’t put food on the table and there have to be other people who are doing that. And I worry that we are devoting too many of our very best minds to this enterprise.

I have never agreed with Justice Scalia more than I do at this very moment. I … I’ve … got something in my eye.
I move that LSAC must send this quote to anybody that applies to sit for the LSAT. I further move that anybody scoring an IQ above 139 who does not receive a federal circuit clerkship or better must forthwith abandon legal practice and be forced into labor on renewable energy, cancer treatments, or summer blockbuster screenplay editing. Do I have a second?
Scalia: ‘We Are Devoting Too Many of Our Best Minds to’ Lawyering [WSJ Law Blog]
Earlier: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Hates Acronyms, Loves Marisa Tomei

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Don’t Major in Criminal Justice If You Want to Go to Law School

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LSAT score curve.JPGWe have some interesting statistics that suggest legal sounding majors — like Prelaw or Criminal Justice — have a negative relationship with LSAT performance.
Courtesy of Tax Prof Blog, Professor Michael Nieswiadomy of North Texas, has given us average LSAT scores broken down by 29 differed undergraduate majors.
The bottom of the list is very interesting:

25. Education: LSAT = 149.4
26. Business Administration: LSAT = 149.1
27. Health Professions: LSAT = 148.4
28. Prelaw: LSAT = 148.3
29. Criminal Justice: LSAT = 146

A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. But is there something going on in criminal justice classes that makes people unable to complete a logic game?
After the jump, let’s look at what you should major in if you want to do well on the LSAT.

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Law Student of the Day: UVA Law Student Spitter

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UVA logo.JPGWe all know gunners who spit hot fire at professors. But we rarely see gunners who spit at the police. According to the Charlottesville police, one UVA law student can roll both ways.
From Newsplex:

A Charlottesville woman is facing felony assault charges after an altercation with a police officer on Thursday.
Elisabeth Epps, 29, is accused of spitting on a police officer early Thursday morning in the Market Street parking garage.

It appears that initially she was trying to keep her saliva safe within the confines of her car, but the police were having none of it:

Charlottesville Police say friends of Epps were trying to get her out of a locked, parked car after a night of drinking. When Epps would not respond to continued police instructions, officers broke the back window to get her.
After police removed Epps from the car, she continued kicking and screaming and then spit in an officer’s face.

Epps is actually a little bit famous in UVA circles. More details after the jump.

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Open Thread: Congrats on being done with the MPRE
And speaking of standardized tests…

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MPRE.jpgThis past Saturday, many lawyers-to-be took the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination. Congratulations on being done.

We don’t have a lot to say about the MPRE, but maybe you do. Per the requests of a few Above The Law readers, here is an open thread for rejoicing, frustration, and general comment.

So that this post is not completely devoid of news value, we shall include a little meditation on test preparation materials for standardized tests.

Once the tests that lead to law school admission and esquire-dom are done with, many people celebrate by sending their test prep materials to Craigslist heaven. But those with TestMasters LSAT prep books should exercise caution before doing this. One ATL reader writes:

My friend (who decided not to take the LSAT) posted an online ad on Craigslist to give away her TestMasters books. Below is the email she got in response. DMCA? Copyright infringement for giving away a book? How do you “violate the LSAC”?

I get the idea of protecting their trade secrets and breach of the enrollment agreement but can there be any merit to some of these other allegations? Also, does she really have to return the books? The shipping on these textbooks is substantial and these are still her books for which she paid.

Obviously, it’s not worth the hassle to contest this, but there’s no way TestMasters can get away with these claims. Seems like the LSAC would want to know that TestMasters intimidates their clients with trumped up criminal charges.

Check out the threat-laced e-mail from TestMasters, after the jump.

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And speaking of standardized tests…“

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