Law Schools

Columnist Renwei Chung offers his thoughts on the latest job data from the ABA.

Is your law school one of the best in the world? Find out here.

* Floyd Mayweather’s lawyer says that his client will post Suge Knight’s insanely high $10 million bail if he wins his fight against Manny Pacquiao. Suge says he was “really going to pull for him to win, but now [he’s] going to have to pray for him to win.” [Los Angeles Times]

* Northwestern University School of Law is launching a first-of-its-kind loan repayment assistance program to help grads in “modestly salaried private sector jobs” — that is, if you make less than $85,000, the school will pay your loan interest for up to a year. [National Law Journal via CBS]

* If you haven’t heard, the class of 2014 was much more employed than the class of 2013 by a factor of a few percentage points. Apply to law school right now! (No, don’t do that. The class of 2014 was smaller, so it looks like the job stats were better.) [ABA Journal]

* “[T]he jury is out and the only sane thing you can say about Dentons is check back in three years.” Hot on the heels of the announced merger between Dentons and McKenna Long, many lawyers are running for the exits. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

* If you’re interested in going to law school on the east coast, then you may want to take a look at this list of schools, ranked by total employment of the class of 2014. We’d shudder to see what this list would look like if only long-term, full-time jobs were used. [BostInno]

* A lawyer who’s suing former U.S. Representative Aaron Schock on behalf of a campaign donor says he’s been unable to locate the disgraced politician to serve him. What will happen now? We bet you can find out on the next episode of Downton Abbey. [ABC News]

Were these submissions the worst of the worst?

Where can you learn the law and party like a rock star at the same time?

In the face of ongoing protests in Baltimore, one law school is doing the right thing.

Which law school could be flooded with paparazzi and Secret Service agents thanks to this statesman’s presence, and what subject will he be teaching?

A hacker attack has jeopardized connectivity at the law school and people are freaking out.

* In case you haven’t read the transcripts from yesterday’s same-sex marriage arguments at the Supreme Court and you still want to have some talking points at the water cooler at the office, here are six of the more “provocative” questions that the justices asked. [WSJ Law Blog]

* HBO is filming a TV movie called “Confirmation” about Justice Clarence Thomas’s 1991 nomination hearings. Kerry Washington will play Anita Hill and Wendell Pierce will play our silent justice. No one puts a pube on Olivia Pope’s Coke can and gets away with it! [Hollywood Reporter]

* If you’re not interested in the CliffsNotes version of the same-sex marriage arguments at SCOTUS, you should know the justices were split along their usual ideological lines, and Justice Kennedy seemed even more wishy-washy than normal. [New York Times]

* You’re my boy, Blue! Brooklyn Law School will honor 100-year-old Professor Joseph Crea this summer. He’s been teaching at the school for more than five decades, and looks like a well-preserved academic artifact. Congratulations! [Brooklyn Daily Eagle]

* Still high off its top passage rate for the February 2015 Florida bar exam and thanks to an anonymous $1 million gift, Ave Maria Law announced that it will be purchasing its campus… and launching a totally unrelated $3.2 million capital campaign. [News-Press]

* If you’re looking to take a year off before law school, then perhaps you ought to consider becoming a paralegal, a research analyst, or an investment banker. At least one of those jobs will make you reconsider your future. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News]

If you're interested in clerking or in helping someone else land a coveted clerkship, here's some information you should know.

Who are the finalists for this year's Law Revue Video Contest? Check them out -- and cast your vote!

What did Drexel University's investigation into "Beadgate" conclude, and what does Professor Lisa McElroy have to say for herself?

* The job market may be “improving,” but people aren’t going to start applying to law school in droves any time soon. There’s been a 40 percent drop in applicants since 2005, and according to LSAC’s latest data, “the downward spiral is still… spiraling.” [WSJ Law Blog]

* Lines to see what could be one of the most historic arguments before the Supreme Court started forming last Friday, but the rest of the country will have to sit back and wait until June to see if a constitutional right to same-sex marriage will be declared. [Reuters]

* Kris Jenner was just hit with a six-figure lawsuit thanks to model Kendall Jenner’s 19th birthday party, which was allegedly complete with more than 100 guests and a male stripper. Don’t worry, mom, the stripper already spanked your daughter. [Ministry of Gossip / Los Angeles Times]

* The latest edition of the Am Law 100 rankings are out, and it looks like gross revenue, revenue per lawyer, and profits per partner are on the way up at most firms. You’ll never believe which firm is the new No. 1. We’ll have more on this later. [American Lawyer]

* Hey, here’s some info you’ve never heard before now! People who graduated from law school in 2010 are still screwed because they’re drowning in debt and some have never worked as lawyers! Never fear, the New York Times is on it! [DealBook / New York Times]

* “Obviously, the concussion affected my judgment — oops, I shouldn’t say that, given my day job.” At 92 years of age, Judge Robert Sweet of the S.D.N.Y. splits his time between legal pirouettes in the courtroom and skating pirouettes on the ice. [New York Times]

* “It’s time for restraint of the federal government’s over-aggressive weed warriors.” States that have legalized pot are tired of the Feds prosecuting their citizens, and that’s what the Respect State Marijuana Laws Act of 2015 aims to stop from happening. [High Times]

* “[L]awyers are naturally drawn to writing because we spend our days working with words.” If you’re a lawyer thinking about writing a legal thriller in your spare time, you’re not alone. Just ask Scott Turow and our very own David Lat. [National Law Journal]

Some students would rather do almost anything besides practice hypos. Why? Probably because hypos feel pretty terrible at first!

Entrepreneur Elon Musk went from being broke to a billionaire. Columnist Renwei Chung looks at what we can learn from Musk about failure.

Hanging out with law school career-services people was a hell of an experience.

* Apparently Daredevil has nailed the dramatic representation of young attorneys. [The Legal Artist]

* Professor Campos thrashes those who deny the law school scam. Um… these analogies may be a tad over the top. [Lawyers, Guns & Money]

* Judge Kozinski movie night!!! [Los Angeles Times]

* Discovery is awesome. Let’s read some highlights from the Deutsche Bank LIBOR transcripts! [Bloomberg Business]

* “5 bad things about being a City lawyer that nobody tells you about.” [Legal Cheek]

* Marriage equality will likely come down to one simple edit. [Slate]

* The latest episode of Thinking Like A Lawyer talks video games and the law. Remember to subscribe here. [Legal Talk Network]

* Oh no you didn’t. Benchslap comes down on firm who tried to squeeze words together and tighten spaces to stay within page limits. [How Appealing]

* “Five Charts That Show You Should Apply to Law School This Year.” Slightly less educational than the 30 Cats That Are More Badass Than You. [Bloomberg Business]

* In fact, law schools are really almost indistinguishable from the show Community. Funny but not quite as funny as 4 years ago? Well, maybe that too. [The Legal Watchdog]

* I’ll just leave this as a prompt for your own short fiction: “Lexington woman being strangled with bra fights off attacker with ceramic chicken”… [WKYT]

* Following on Alex Rich’s post about the “blame game” in eDiscovery, the problem goes well beyond that industry — even if it’s the most recent manifestation. [Law and More]

* Do you know your Earth Day history? Like which lawyer turned Senator founded the occasion? [What About Clients?]

* Law school graduates may not be able to find jobs immediately, but not to worry, because according to this law professor, at least they won’t be homeless — and sadly, for some people, a thought like that may be comforting. [Washington Post]

* Sofia Vergara is locked in a battle with her ex-fiancé over their frozen embryos. Her lawyer says now that she’s engaged to the studly Joe Manganiello, she has “no desire to have children with her ex,” but that certainly isn’t going to stop him from suing her to become a dad. [New York Daily News]

* Dzhokhar Tsarnaev may regret flipping the bird at a security camera in his federal holding cell now that it’s being shown to the jury in the punishment phase of his trial to prove that he’s “unrepentant, uncaring, and untouched” by his crimes. [Boston.com]

* If you’ve been waitlisted at a law school you’re desperate to get into, perhaps you ought to try sending a letter of continued interest. Hey, you never know, bringing attention back to your application might just might work! [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News]

* Black lives matter, but apparently not to the police. The DOJ has opened an investigation into the death of black Baltimore resident Freddie Gray following his arrest. He died from a “severe spinal cord injury,” but the police claim to have no idea how it happened. [CNN]

* Loretta Lynch might actually get confirmed, you guys! Senate Republicans have agreed to a bipartisan deal on human trafficking legislation which should end the Lynch logjam. America in 2015, “human trafficking bad” now requires months of negotiation. [CNN]

* Our old friend Professor Michael Simkovic is back and defending the decision to go to law school based on part-time job numbers because, hey, that’s how the Bureau of Labor measures unemployment so it must be the same for judging employment for struggling J.D.s. Professor Bernie Burk gives a thorough, thoughtful, and respectful retort. [The Faculty Lounge]

* Meanwhile, failing to learn the lesson of America, students seeking law degrees skyrocket in the UK. Thomas Cooley considers Norfolk campus. [Legal Cheek]

* The property law of Downton Abbey. It teaches the most important lesson of property — historically it’s really, really good to be a wealthy white guy. [Vanderbilt Law Review]

* Digging into a less heralded subsidiary argument in the marriage equality cases: the “proceed with caution” rhetoric intended to push the issue to the backburner. [NYU Law Review]

* On that note, same-sex marriage kills babies!!! Well, no, not really. But that is the argument one former Scalia clerk is making for some reason. [Dorf on Law]

* Looks like Europe is going to hit Putin where it hurts… an antitrust courtroom. That’ll learn him! [New York Times]