A couple of weeks ago, we mentioned the Princeton Review law school rankings. The rankings are based on law student surveys, which may explain why the rankings bear little relationship to reality.

But Paul Caron of Tax Prof Blog has looked at Princeton Review’s underlying data, and he’s come up with some interesting info about how much law students are studying.

Here are the top ten schools in terms of study hours per day:

Villanova law students, you guys are lying. You cannot possibly average 7.5 hours of study a day unless you are (a) skipping class or (b) really dumb.

After the jump, let’s take a look at the schools that report the least amount of study time.

Check it out over at the Jack Higgins Gallery.

Update: Yes, commenters, we know the cartoon is about U of I. Please resist the lawyerly impulse to take everything so literally. Thanks.

Earlier: Dean Mark Sargent — You Can Call Him John
Prior ATL coverage of the University of Illinois College of Law (scroll down)

It appears that Mark A. Sargent’s abrupt resignation as dean of Villanova Law had nothing to do with the Peanut Girl controversy, or his more recent email faux pas.

It’s more likely that it had to do with an Eliot Spitzer problem: patronizing prostitutes. But at least the public-minded dean helped the police crack a local prostitution ring!

Ex-dean helped police, report says [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Earlier: Farewell, Dean Sargent: ‘Peanut Girl’ dean resigns at Villanova.

One of our favorite law school deans is stepping down. Dean Mark A. Sargent — best known for L’Affaire Peanut Girl, and more recently gracing these pages after memorably quipping in a school-wide email that “The internet really is a type of hell!” — is departing as dean of Villanova Law.

One student’s reaction to the news:

We did NOT, contrary to popular belief, celebrate like munchkins [rejoicing in] the Wicked Witch’s death when the “Peanut Girl” transferred — but we are definitely doing so now (unless, of course, Dean Sargent is ill — in which case we wish him the best).

Sadly, Dean Sargent may be ill; he is stepping down for “personal and medical reasons.” We wish him a speedy recovery. We also hope his successor is similarly skilled in the use of the “reply all” function.

Read the announcement, from Villanova President Peter Donohue, after the jump.

Last week, we wrote about Villanova University School of Law running out of work-study funds. Over the weekend, we received several copies of an interesting follow-up email — one that went to every 1L and 2L at Villanova, as well as every dean.

Some background, from a tipster:

This email is sent as-is, with typos and random, misplaced sentence pieces intact (“ing we put on email …” ?). Dean Sargent gives ATL a shout-out and echoes Professor-Blogger Jim Maule’s excitement as well.

And the email:

From: Mark Sargent
Sent: Saturday, April 18, 2009 3:01 PM
To: Wendy Barron; 2010dist; 2011dist
Cc: William James; Doris Brogan; Felicia Hamilton; Lori Bogish; Jennifer Nguyen; Christine Stango
Subject: RE: Work-Study funds for summer 2009

Wendy, we need to be careful with this kind of mass communication, helpful as it is. As I am sure you saw, this ended up on Above the Law. I did not get nearly as excited about it as Maule, and I know other schools will have the same problem, but readers naturally (albeit idiotically) put a bas [sic] spin on it for us.

This is what we get for being transparent and helpful! The internet really is a type of hell!
________________________________
ing we put on email or elsewhere can go viral almost instantly.

Mark A. Sargent
Dean and Professor of Law
Villanova University School of Law

From a second tipster:

I had to forward this. It is the email equivalent of the scene in Billy Madison where Chris Farley gets on the school bus and yells, “NO YELLING ON THE BUS!”

Our observations:

1. Thanks for the shout-out, Dean Sargent! We’re glad to have you as a reader.

2. You’re right — other law schools are having the same problem. For example, there’s no more work-study money at Rutgers - Camden (email after the jump).

3. “[R]eaders naturally (albeit idiotically) put a bas [sic] spin on it for us.” Oh, Dean Sargent, don’t read the comments — they will only cause you grief. We’ve helpfully hidden them, so they don’t display by default; you have to affirmatively seek them out.

Finally, this is not the first time Dean Sargent has had problems with that pesky “reply all” button. Remember the saga of Peanut Girl? Back in the fall of 2007, Dean Sargent complained about having to deal with a student with a very severe peanut allergy — in an email he sent to the deans of all ABA-accredited law schools. In a subsequent apology to the listserv, he described his gaffe as “the oldest mistake in the history of email.”

We reached out to Dean Sargent for comment on his latest email error. Read more, after the jump.

Villanova is more well-known for its basketball team than its law school. But Villanova has a law school — in fact, a tier 1 (or at least top 100) law school.

But sadly, the school is out of summer work-study money. I’ve never heard of that happening to a law school, but here’s the message from the assistant dean for financial aid:

I am sorry to report that we have run out of funds for work-study for this summer and many of you have applications in for these funds but we will not be able to give you an award. If you are a PA resident and applied to a PA employer, you would have already received an award letter so you know that you have these funds. If you are not a PA resident or you are trying to work other than in PA you probably do not have an award letter but that does not mean that funds haven’t been reserved for you - we may be waiting on your contract from your employer before your letter goes out or it may mean that we ran out of funds before your folder was complete. We will let all of you know as soon as possible.

Sorry - I wish the news were better.

Are there other schools that are out of work-study money?

This news is primarily directed at 1Ls, the ones most likely to have applied for some kind of unpaid internship for summer work.

Which begs raises the question: what are 1Ls doing this summer? Are 1Ls working? Are they living in tents and basements across the country? Are they eating ramen and mayonnaise sandwiches?

Or maybe everything is okay?

Send us your 1L stories.

Earlier: Nationwide Pay Freeze Watch: Welcome Brooklyn Law School Faculty

Some etiquette tips for law school deans:

1. If you send one of your students to another law school, for a year-long stint as a visiting student, don’t “apologize” for it — even if that student has a severe peanut allergy, requiring the receiving school to “peanut-proof” itself for the year.

2. If you really must issue an “apology,” do so by phone or in person, not by email.

3. If you really must issue an “apology” by email, send it to the individual dean. Do not send it to a listserv consisting of the deans of ABA-accredited law schools.

Because it might get leaked to ATL:

ATL readers: Please take this opportunity to engage in a spirited debate over whether schools, airlines, and other institutions go too far — or not far enough — in accommodating people with extreme food allergies. Thank you.