Law School Debts
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Law Schools, Small Law Firms, Student Loans
The Practice: Opening Mail From A Potential Law Student
Wherein small-firm columnist Brian Tannebaum reaches into his mail bag to answer some questions from readers. -
Bankruptcy, Comment of the Day, Law Schools, Money, Student Loans
Comment of the Week: Loan Debt Redemption
Who won the award for Comment of the Week? - Sponsored
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
ChatGPT ushers in the age of generative AI – even for law firms. -
Job Searches, Law Schools, Reader Polls, Student Loans, Unemployment
ATL Debate: Should This Kid Take A Year Off From Law School?
Should this law student take a year off from school? Your editors debate -- and you can vote in our reader poll.
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Bankruptcy, Federal Judges, Judicial Divas, Law Schools, Money, Student Loans
Bankruptcy Still Can't Save You From Law School Debt, But That Doesn't Mean Judges Have to Like It
A federal judge calls for systemic change in the law school student loan system... -
Bankruptcy, Clerkships, Crime, Drugs, Election 2012, Federal Judges, Guns / Firearms, Job Searches, Law Schools, Layoffs, Money, Morning Docket, Politics, Pro Se Litigants, Romance and Dating, S.D.N.Y., Sam Sparks, State Judges, Student Loans, Texas, Unemployment
Morning Docket: 08.13.12
* In case you’ve been sleeping under a rock, Mitt Romney picked Rep. Paul Ryan as his Vice Presidential running mate. Putting politics aside, this is a great pick, if only because Ryan is so handsome. Seriously, he’s a total stud. [Wall Street Journal]
* “How can I be the one guy with a good degree who is going to be chronically unemployed?” Sadly, many lawyers are still looking for jobs after (multiple) layoffs, but thanks to a lack of positions, employment is just “not in the cards” for them. [New York Times]
* Deadliest clerkship? The Washington, D.C. judge who presided over one of the most violent mass shooting cases in the nation’s capital was reportedly held up at gunpoint last week, with her law clerk in tow. [Fox DC]
* Something is rotten in the state of Denmark Texas. Judge Sam Sparks “know[s] the smell of bad fish,” and now wants to know why the USADA waited so long to bring charges against Lance Armstrong. [Bloomberg]
* After reversing a bankruptcy court’s decision that loan repayment would be an “undue hardship” for a law-school debtor, a judge took the time to rip law schools a new one over escalating tuition. [Oregonian]
* Match.com class-action plaintiffs found no love in court after a federal judge ruled that the dating website hadn’t breached its user agreement. Much like their love lives, their claims aren’t getting any action. [Reuters]
* A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client: 23% of all cases filed in the federal court for the S.D.N.Y. are brought by pro-se litigants, and the vast majority of them seem to have lost their minds. [New York Post]
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American Bar Association / ABA, Law Schools, Rank Stupidity, Student Loans, U.S. News
Law Schools Misreport Debt Figures to the ABA; To No One's Shock, the ABA Does Nothing
Which law schools have reported inaccurate figures for their graduates' average indebtedness? -
Law Schools, Money, Romance and Dating, Student Loans
Is Law School Loan Debt Ruining Your Love Life?
You probably never thought that your student loans would be both financially and romantically ruinous, but as it turns out, young adults aren’t keen on getting into bed with six-figures of debt every night. -
Attorney Misconduct, Bankruptcy, Biglaw, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Murder, New York Times, Perverts, Prisons, SCOTUS, State Judges, Student Loans, Supreme Court
Morning Docket: 07.16.12
* Speaking on the condition of anonymity, one Supreme Court justice thinks that things will be back to normal at One First Street come the start of the next term, despite his colleagues’ loose lips. [National Law Journal]
* Hourly billing rates for associate are on the rise nationwide, while partner and counsel billing rates only saw modest bumps. Is Biglaw back in business, or is this just another “retention strategy”? [New York Law Journal]
* This is a really hard to believe newspaper headline: “Law firm recognizes employees have life outside of work.” Carlton Fields, what kind of gypsy voodoo magic spells are you casting? [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
* Another day, another editorial about the “irretrievably broken” state of legal education in our country. But the ABA admins needn’t worry their oblivious little heads, because people will keep applying. [New York Times]
* And in today’s disturbing law school debtor news, Jason Bohn’s charge was upgraded to first-degree murder after a DA announced via indictment that Bohn allegedly intended to torture his victim. [New York Post]
* “Quite frankly, these are the actions of a dirty old man.” You can look, but never lick: it’s not really a good thing when a judge uses a sentence like this to describe an attorney’s alleged client relations skills. [CBS News]
* For it’s one, two, three strikes you’re out at the old ball fraud game. Lenny Dykstra pleaded guilty to bankruptcy fraud among a potpourri of other felony counts, and he’ll now face up to 20 years in prison. [CNN]
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How to best leverage generative AI as an early adopter with ethical use. -
Bad Ideas, Cars, Law Schools, Money, Rank Stupidity, Student Loans
3L With Law School Debt and Underwater Mortgage Wants A New Car. Stupid Is As Stupid Does.
Wife of a 3L tries to stop her husband from being a total idiot... -
Biglaw, Job Searches, Law Schools, Midsize Firms / Regional Firms, Money, Small Law Firms, Student Loans
Law School Success Stories: High Risk, High Reward
When it comes to law school, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Sometimes you need to take a risk in order to reap the rewards. -
Biglaw, In-House Counsel, Job Searches, Law Schools, Money, Student Loans, Unemployment
Who Is the Great Satan of the Legal Profession?
Who is to blame for all of the problems in the legal profession? The answer might surprise you. -
Glenn Reynolds, Law Professors, Law Schools, Quote of the Day, Student Loans, Videos, YouTube
Quote of the Day: The Broken Economics of Legal Education
How can we fix the broken model of law school economics? Professor Brian Tamanaha has some ideas. -
Biglaw, Cheapness, Job Searches, Law Schools, Midsize Firms / Regional Firms, Military / Military Law, Money, Small Law Firms, Student Loans, UVA Law, William and Mary School of Law
Law School Success Stories: The Virtue of Thrift
If you can go to law school without incurring too much debt, it might be a good idea.
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Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
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The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
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Quote of the Day, Student Loans
Quote of the Day: The House That Debt Built (And Then Destroyed)
Law school debt is kind of like buying a house with a mortgage, burning the house down, and then continuing to pay the mortgage… -
5th Circuit, 9/11, Abortion, Biglaw, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Food, Law Schools, Morning Docket, Prostitution, SCOTUS, Sex, Sex Scandals, Student Loans, Supreme Court, Texas
Morning Docket: 05.07.12
* While Dewey’s former culture gets roasted on a spit, and the seemingly unending drama gets turned into a montage of living lawyer jokes, we’re still waiting for the final punchline. [New York Times; Wall Street Journal]
* Don Verrilli tried so hard, and got so far (depending on who you ask), but in the end, it doesn’t even matter. When Linkin Park lyrics apply to your oral argument skills, you know you’re kind of screwed. [New York Times]
* The 9/11 arraignments went off without a hitch this weekend. And by that, we mean that it was a 13 hour hearing filled multiple interruptions, and grandstanding about “appropriate” courtroom fashion. [Fox News]
* In a “re-re-reversal,” Judge Jerry Smith, on a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit, reinstated Planned Parenthood’s injunction against Texas, without even so much as a homework assignment. [Dallas Observer]
* The It Gets Worse Project: if you thought that the Law School Transparency debt figures were scary before, then take a look at them now. Six figures of debt just got a lot harder to swallow. [National Law Journal]
* Scalia gets busted on a case of hot-dog hooking. No, not that Scalia. A woman from Long Island has been accused, for the second time, of selling swallowing foot-longs in the back of her food truck. [New York Post]
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Barack Obama, Quote of the Day, Student Loans
Quote of the Day: And This Makes Us Feel Better How?
President Obama finished paying off his student loans less than a decade ago. That fact isn't exactly comforting… -
Law Schools, Money, Student Loans, Unemployment
Dear Abby: My Kid's Law School Loans Are Ruining My Life
We’ve discussed the dangers of incurring student loan debt time and time again throughout these pages, but it seems that people still don’t get it. They’ve chosen to go to Dear Abby for the answers…. -
American Bar Association / ABA, Cars, Disasters / Emergencies, Immigration, Law Schools, Morning Docket, New Jersey, New York Times, Police, SCOTUS, Student Loans, Supreme Court, Wal-Mart
Morning Docket: 04.25.12
* Arizona’s immigration law is heading to the Supreme Court today. Meanwhile, former Senator Dennis DeConcini lobbed the worst insult ever against his state. How embarrassing for you, Arizona. [New York Times]
* Will Wal-Mart regret not disclosing its bribery investigation sooner? Not when the delay saved millions in criminal fines. What Wal-Mart will regret is being forced into disclosure by the NYT narcs. [Corporate Counsel]
* Delete all the oil from ocean, and then maybe we’ll care about this. A former BP employee was charged with obstruction of justice for deleting texts having to do with the Deepwater Horizon disaster. [Bloomberg]
* The Tennessee Board of Law Examiners has granted Duncan Law an extension on its bid for ABA accreditation. Woohoo, five more years of allowing students to “negligently enroll.” [Knoxville News Sentinel]
* “Once you cross the six-figure mark, you think, what’s a few thousand dollars more?” You’re doing it wrong: you’re supposed to be bragging about a six-figure salary, not a six-figure debt obligation. [Baltimore Sun]
* New Jersey residents don’t always have the great pleasure of nearly being killed by two high-speed Lamborghinis, but when they do, they prefer that police officers be suspended and sue over it. [ABC News]
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Bloomberg, Law Schools, Money, Student Loans, Videos, YouTube
Law School Debt: By the Numbers
What does $153,000 in student debt look like? -
Job Searches, Law Schools, Money, Student Loans
From J.D. to Food Stamps: The Personal Cost of Going to Law School
A recent grad qualifies for food stamps, and the other costs of going to law school...