Student Loans
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Attorney Misconduct, Basketball, Biglaw, Canada, Death Penalty, Election Law, Federal Judges, In-House Counsel, Law Schools, Legal Ethics, Morning Docket, Sports, Student Loans
Morning Docket: 04.30.14
* For the third year in a row, Skadden has topped the list of the Biglaw firms GCs love to pay, the firms with the best brands. Kirkland & Ellis and Latham & Watkins rounded out the top three. Congratulations! [PRWeb]
* A federal judge struck down Wisconsin’s voter identification law yesterday, noting that it “only tenuously serve[d] the state’s interest in preventing voter fraud.” Ouch. Sorry about that, Scott Walker. [Bloomberg]
* Hot on the heels of the release of the second annual ATL Law School Rankings, we’ve got a list of the law schools where graduates reportedly have the least amount of debt. We’ll have more on this news later today. [The Short List / U.S. News & World Report]
* It was kind of like the night of the living dead in Oklahoma last night, where an execution was botched so badly the defendant attempted to rise up off the table. That must have been horrific. [New York Times]
* Here’s an eligible bachelor alert: After being suspended from practice for six months for filming “upskirt” videos of women in public, this in-house lawyer has been reinstated. [Legal Intelligencer (reg. req.)]
* Poor Justice Lori Douglas. Not only are her kinky S&M pictures floating around somewhere online, but the man who took them — her husband, Jack King — just died. RIP, good sir. [CTV Winnipeg News]
* NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, a former Cravath lawyer, fouled L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling out of the league, but people are questioning whether his punishment was legal. [WSJ Law Blog (sub. req.)]
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Facebook, Jury Duty, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs, Student Loans, United Kingdom / Great Britain
Non-Sequiturs: 04.17.14
* Cheerios is claiming that “Liking” them on Facebook constitutes a waiver of the right to sue. Let’s take this moment to encourage everyone to Like Above the Law on Facebook. [NY Times] * New study determines that the United States is an oligarchy instead of a democracy. You're telling me a government explicitly founded on the principle that only a handful of wealthy men should have a voice grew into an oligarchy? Quelle surprise! * Oh look, John Edwards is back. [Slate] * In the continuing saga of NYU’s allegedly shady spending, there are now reports that former NYU Law Dean and current NYU President John Sexton used school funds to convert two apartments into a duplex for his son. His son was married to an NYU Law employee and as I’ve said before, a school located in housing-scarce Manhattan should be able to do something to house professors, but as they say, “the optics” aren’t good. [Chronicle of Higher Education] * Musings on what it’s like to clerk in the midst of “flyover country” (presumably like my early childhood home of Des Moines). It makes a valiant effort to redeem itself at the end, but this article is exactly why most parts of the country think New Yorkers are elitist dicks. Which, we kind of are, but you don’t want to broadcast that. [Ramblings on Appeal] * The government is profiting handsomely from law students. Is that really a bad thing? [Law & Economics Prof Blog] * A D.C. law professor is now a movie star. [Washington City Paper] * The judge in the New Orleans Affordable Housing case may know the real identity of one of the anonymous commenters in the case. And if one of the anonymous trolls was a federal prosecutor poisoning the well in the case — like everyone suspects — it could aid the defense. [Times-Picayune] * For those of you across the pond, there’s a one-day event for lawyers on the business case for Corporate Social Responsibility. It’s in England because American companies have already passed on the idea of corporate responsibility. [International Law Society] - Sponsored
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Law School Deans, Law Schools, Student Loans
Haters Gonna Hate On Tuition-Cutting Law School
When a tuition cut doesn't make everybody happy, I'm the voice of reason.
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Law School Deans, Law Schools, Money, Student Loans
Which Law School Just Cut Tuition By 15 Percent?
Will an almost $25K decrease make a difference when it comes to loan payments? It depends. -
Biglaw, Celebrities, Disasters / Emergencies, Guns / Firearms, Law Firm Mergers, Law Professors, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Money, Morning Docket, Movies, Patton Boggs, Student Loans, Violence
Morning Docket: 04.03.14
* Dentons still has the urge to merge with a U.S. firm, and now it’s trying to tempt Patton Boggs away from Squire Sanders with a “serious overture.” Bow chika bow wow. [The Lawyer]
* Despite all the outrage over Albany Law’s faculty buyouts, some have already accepted the package offered. Looks like anything’s possible for the right price. [Albany Business Review]
* Guess which law school is cutting tuition by a whole lot? Some hints: it’s in New York and it’s been selling off real estate. We’ll have more on this later. [Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)]
* Perhaps this could be considered a gift of provisional accreditation: Alberto Gonzales, U.S. Attorney General in President George W. Bush’s administration, is now dean at Belmont Law. [The Tennessean]
* Take a look at this new paper by Professors Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld on race and culture in law school admissions. Actually, it’s fake, but it’s sad that it could, in theory, be very real. [Washington Post]
* Zac Efron is going to star as a Yale Law grad forced by criminals to work in the world’s largest Biglaw firm in a film adaptation of John Grisham’s book, The Associate. OMG, he’s so cute. [Hollywood Reporter]
* Our thoughts go out to the families of those wounded and killed during the Fort Hood shooting. [AP]
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Law Schools, Money, Student Loans
Students Now Over $1 Trillion In Debt
Having "access" to education is not at all the same as having "affordable" education. -
American Bar Association / ABA, Biglaw, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Job Searches, Law Professors, Law School Deans, Law Schools, Money, Morning Docket, Murder, Sentencing Law, Student Loans
Morning Docket: 03.28.14
* Scared of an audit, were we? With the unsealing of the case against Dewey’s former finance director comes greater insight into what was really going on behind the scenes at the failed firm. [DealBook / New York Times]
* The American Bar Association is willing pay up to $15,000 to organizations that match unemployed law grads with jobs to serve the legal needs of the poor. So, how much do the poor law grads get paid? [National Law Journal]
* Tenure may be “under fire,” but law professors are fighting back — and hard — because law school deans seem unwilling to speak up on their behalf. Let’s face facts though, tenure isn’t going anywhere. [Forbes]
* It figures one of the faces of America’s $1 trillion of outstanding student loan debt is a lawyer. Hey, heavily indebted lawyers make great headlines and even better first paragraphs. [Big Story / Associated Press]
* Jordan Graham, the newlywed who pushed her husband of eight days off a cliff, was sentenced to serve 30 years in prison. Protip: an annulment would’ve been a better option than second-degree murder. [CNN]
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Law Schools, Money, Rankings, Student Loans, U.S. News
The Law Schools With The Most Heavily Indebted Graduates
Which law school graduates have the most debt of all? U.S. News has a ranking for that! - Sponsored
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If 2023 introduced legal professionals to generative AI, then 2024 will be when law firms start adapting to utilize it. Things are moving fast, so… -
Law Schools, Money, Quote of the Day, Student Loans
Startling Statistics About Law Student Debt Levels
How much has law student indebtedness increased over the past few years? A lot.... -
Email Scandals, Law Schools, Privacy, Screw-Ups, Student Loans, Technology
Oops! Law School Screw-Up Reveals Personal Data Of Entire Graduating Class
Sorry Loyola, but we don't think "law school transparency" means what you think it means... -
Education / Schools, Federal Government, Law Schools, Money, Public Interest, Student Loans
Changes To Government Loan Forgiveness That Totally Miss The Mark
It's like the government is doing dumb things with student loans on purpose. -
Deaths, Law Schools, Murder, Quote of the Day, Student Loans, Trials
Heavily Indebted Law Grad Convicted Of Murder
Law school debt can lead to very bad things -- like murder convictions. -
Career Center, Career Files, Law Schools, Money, Pre-Law, Student Loans
From The Career Files: Choosing A Law School Based On Scholarships
Ann K. Levine offers advice to pre-law students about getting better law school scholarships.
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Education / Schools, Job Searches, Politics, Student Loans
Who Better To Reform Higher Ed Laws Than Some Law School Graduates?
What proposals are Republicans making to reform higher education, and do they make sense? -
Biglaw, Holidays and Seasons, Law Schools, Money, Romance and Dating, Sex, Student Loans
Does Love Survive Law School?
Love, law school, and other gross things. -
Football, Gay, Law Professors, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs, Student Loans, Television, White-Collar Crime
Non-Sequiturs: 02.11.14
* Lawyer decides to fight City Hall… with spray-can graffiti. [KING] * A new survey finds that pre-law students want a 2-year law school model. They want to come out of law school with 33 percent less debt? Shocking. [Kaplan Test Prep] * Should law schools fire professors who stop writing post-tenure? I mean who does that? I thought tenured professors work harder than ever. [PrawfsBlawg] * A look at the future of computer forensics via Almost Human. Frankly, when I think of the future of criminal policing I think of a different Karl Urban vehicle. [The Legal Geeks] * With the revelation that standout defensive end Michael Sam is gay, a number of NFL types are trotting out the whole “he’ll be a distraction” excuse. That’s a pretty stupid excuse. [Lawyers, Guns & Money] * Who is the “tipsy coachman”? [The Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post] * It’s a zombie! The living dead! Or maybe just a living woman that banks have declared dead despite all evidence to the contrary. [ATL Redline] * Remember Brandon Hamilton? He used to be the the assistant dean of admissions at Louisville Law before he promised students $2.4 million more in scholarships than the school had to give. Well, he finalized his plea bargain. [The Courier-Journal] -
Alex Kozinski, Books, California, Elizabeth Wurtzel, Job Searches, Lawyer Advertising, Non-Sequiturs, Sonia Sotomayor, Student Loans, Videos, YouTube
Non-Sequiturs: 02.04.14
* Elizabeth Wurtzel: “I am a lawyer. The first rule of law: All the promises will be broken. Attorneys could not be in business if people did not fail to do what they agreed to do all the time — and lawyers are very busy.” [Nerve.com] * Laura Ingraham clerked for SCOTUS, so presumably she knows that Puerto Ricans are American citizens. [Media Matters] * Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, known for zero tolerance of prosecutorial misconduct, has written the foreword to a new book on the subject. [Facebook] * In addition to the one we mentioned yesterday, here’s another petition for the Obama Administration that’s aimed at addressing the student debt crisis. [WhiteHouse.gov] * Thomson Reuters Concourse keeps getting bigger and better. [Thomson Reuters] * Appellate law? In California? What’s not to like? Check out these job openings in the California SG’s office. [California Department of Justice; California Department of Justice] * Want to know the backstory behind the awesome Jamie Casino Super Bowl ad? Keep reading…. Georgia personal injury lawyer Jamie Casino spoke with Mike Sacks of HuffPost Live about the lawyer ad heard around the world. What kind of reactions has Casino been getting to the ad? Is the kid in the video really his son? And does Jamie Casino harbor any Hollywood ambitions? Watch the video to find out. -
Asians, Books, Cass Sunstein, Celebrities, Drinking, Drugs, Elena Kagan, Jed Rubenfeld, Kids, Law Professors, Law Schools, Non-Sequiturs, Racism, SCOTUS, Student Loans, Supreme Court, Tax Law
Non-Sequiturs: 02.03.14
* Woody Allen’s lawyer, Elkan Abramowitz, responds to Dylan Farrow’s account of alleged sexual abuse at the hands of her famous father. [Gawker; Gothamist] * Sound advice from Professor Glenn Reynolds on how not to increase applications to your law school. [Instapundit] * What is a “nitro dump,” and will it provide information about who (or what) killed Philip Seymour Hoffman? [ATL Redline] * “Is Elena Kagan a ‘paranoid libertarian?’ Judging by [Cass] Sunstein’s definition, the answer is yes.” [Reason via Althouse] * A petition of possible interest to debt-laden law school graduates: “Increase the student loan interest deduction from $2,500 to the interest actually paid.” [WhiteHouse.gov] * Vivia Chen wonders: Is Amy Chua, co-author of The Triple Package (affiliate link), being attacked as racist in a way that it itself racist? [Time] * Yikes — journalists around the country have been receiving “a flurry of subpoenas in recent months,” according to Jeff Kosseff of Covington & Burling. [InsideTechMedia] * Congratulations to Orrick’s 15 new partners — an impressively diverse group, from a wide range of practice areas and from offices around the world. [Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe] -
Law Schools, Student Loans
Law School Offers Free Tuition To 50 Applicants
Law schools take baby steps toward reform. -
6th Circuit, Christopher Christie, Non-Sequiturs, Prisons, Student Loans, Technology
Non-Sequiturs: 01.21.14
* GEEZER FIGHT!!! (Still not as good as the all-time classic embedded after the jump) [Lowering the Bar] * Judge Boyce Martin apparently racked up nearly $140,000 in improper expenses. Now he's gone from the Sixth Circuit. At least he finally has some time to travel. [Talking Points Memo] * The University of Wisconsin got smacked with a lawsuit over its decision to get rid of student government because student governments are useless application padding for tools for no reason. I want this to go to trial just to hear everyone “Badger” the witness. [The Chronicle of Higher Education] * Thompson Reuters Concourse is getting serious. They just added Drafting Assistant, Westlaw Doc & Form Builder, and WestlawNext Practitioner Insights to the platform and promise more on the way. At this rate, I’m expecting a big “WestPhone” & “WestPad” unveiling in a few weeks. [Legal Current] * The story of the late Duke law student whose family was hounded by Sallie Mae for repayment may have come to a conclusion. [Think Progress] * “You Don’t Have to be Jewish to Love a Kosher Prison Meal.” [New York Times] * Some law students at the University of Utah Law School have created a humor journal. Here’s the latest issue. I wonder what current events issue law students in Utah are going to write about… [The ScoffLaw] * Ed Kilgore of the Progressive Policy Institute weighed in on how Chris Christie’s BridgeGate stemmed, in part, from his experiences as a prosecutor and cited our article on the subject in the process. [Washington Monthly] As we await the Super Bowl, let’s talk about the 1963 Grey Cup! Here are two Canadian Football legends meeting up 48 years after that nasty championship game. It gets testy.