T14 Law School Raises The Bar For Assistance With Public Interest Loan Repayment
Congratulations to Cornell Law on being a new leader when it comes to LRAPs!
Morning Docket: 10.16.17
* Colin Kaepernick, who remains unsigned six weeks into the season, has filed a grievance against the NFL and its owners alleging collusion under the latest collective bargaining agreement, claiming that he's been deprived of employment in retaliation for "bringing awareness to peculiar institutions still undermining racial equality in the United States." [Bleacher Report] * Harvey Weinstein was planning to file suit against the New York Times for defamation, but Charles Harder, the hot-shot lawyer who brought down Gawker, has left the media mogul's legal team. Harder is the third lawyer to step away from this representation, following moves made by Lisa Bloom and Lanny Davis. [Deadline] * Attorney General Jeff Sessions has rolled back protections for transgender people in the workforce and in education, but the Department of Justice is taking a hard line when it comes to federal hate crimes that have been committed against the very people his policies have thrust into potential danger. [New York Times] * Harvard Law students and alumni want major improvements to be made to the school's public service loan assistance program, saying their alma mater has "fallen behind its peer schools" when it comes to supporting graduates who work in public interest. Will HLS act to preserve its stature, or to help its own? [Harvard Crimson] * Even though women account for more than 40 percent of the school's student body, there aren't enough women's bathrooms at the University of South Dakota School of Law, and students who've been forced to wait in long lines are pretty pissed that the administration has done such a piss-poor job of handling this issue. [Wichita Eagle]
The Next Step In Legal Document Automation
LexisNexis’ ‘multi-doc’ feature for Automated Templates will add new efficiencies to your practice. Here’s how.
Morning Docket: 05.12.16
* In case you missed it, one of the categories on Jeopardy! earlier this week was "Law Firms." One of the questions that stumped a contestant was: “Tops for patent litigation per U.S. News & World Report, Fish & Richardson specializes in IP, short for this.” Come on, you dope, the very easy answer was "What is intellectual property?" [WSJ Law Blog] * After receiving overwhelming support in both the House and Senate, President Obama signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) into law yesterday afternoon. The DTSA is the most significant expansion of federal law in IP since the Lanham Act. Companies will now be able to file federal civil lawsuits for theft of trade secrets. [Law 360 (sub. req.)] * Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the center of the Panama Papers scandal, says that it will be filing suit against the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists for leaking information that the firm alleges to be false. Attorneys at the firm say the ICIJ has forced them to "start aggressive legal action to protect [them]selves." [France24] * "You don't have to work for a 501(c)(3) or anything like that in order to be eligible. You just have to not make that much money." More law schools are trying to entice students to attend by touting their low-income protection plans and loan repayment assistance plans. We hope your law school is willing to help you after graduation. [U.S. News] * Not to harsh your mellow, dude, but according to a recent study by AAA, fatal car accidents have "surged" in states where marijuana has been legalized. For example, in Washington, the number of fatal crashes involving stoned drivers increased from 8% to 17% from 2013 to 2014, the year recreational marijuana was legalized. [Inquisitr]
States Are Looking To Bolster Their LRAPs
A pair of states seek to improve the funding of their state-administered loan repayment programs for public interest lawyers.
Morning Docket: 05.01.15
* 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]
The Single Most Important Piece of Advice for Aspiring Public Interest Lawyers
Before I explain, let’s lay out a few assumptions here to make sure this advice is for you.
The Hidden Threat: How Fake Identities used by Remote Employees Put Your Business at Risk—and How to Defend Against This
Reach out to continue the conversation on how to most effectively detect, prevent, and correct this or other types of fraud, cybercrime, misconduct, and non-compliance.
Law Schools Devise Trick To Game Taxpayers
Washington Post catches on to what many of us have been predicting: law schools are using debt-forgiveness programs to line their own pockets.
Morning Docket: 03.14.13
* Celebrated litigator David Boies thinks the Supreme Court is going to rule in favor of gay marriage in a united front — which is helpful, since in March he’s arguing in favor of gay marriage in the Prop 8 case. [USA Today] * “What we had to do was do more with less.” Archer & Greiner had to lay off 14 attorneys and 27 staffers thanks to the firm’s rapid overexpansion via mergers. This is why we can’t have nice things. [New Jersey Law Journal] * In New York / Concrete jungle where dreams are made of / There’s nothing you can’t do / Now you’re in New York / Law deans will try to inspire you / But rankings will ruin you / Hear it for New York! [New York Law Journal] * If you’d like to save the world by working a public-interest job, you’d better consider Penn Law. Its LRAP now covers all IBR loan payments over 10 years for a total savings of up to $140,000. [National Law Journal] * But then again, if you’re not interested in public-interest work, you can always get a temp job, where you’ll allegedly make as much as “a mid-level associate at a small or medium firm.” [U.S. News & World Report] * Because Lindsay Lohan’s lawyer was called out by a judge for a performance that was almost as piss poor in his client’s in Liz & Dick, he contacted a local firm to step in and assist him. [L.A. Now / Los Angeles Times]
The University of Chicago Law School Unveils Its Enhanced Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP)
Numerous applicants to law school claim that they want to become lawyers in order to serve the public interest — and some of them are telling the truth. Alas, after burdening themselves with six figures of law school debt, they find it difficult to follow through on their public-interest dreams. The path of least resistance, […]