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Justice Scalia Rejects 2-Year Law School, Skills Training
May 24, 2014
Antonin Scalia, Commencement Address at William & Mary Law School,Reflections on the Future of the Legal Academy (May 11, 2014): What I want to discuss with you briefly—and I promise to be brief—is whether (to be blunt about it) you have essentially wasted one of your three years here, and could have done the job in two. It is a current proposal for reformthat law students should be permitted to sit for the bar exam and otherwise be eligible to practice law after only two years of study....
May 24, 2014
Antonin Scalia, Commencement Address at William & Mary Law School,Reflections on the Future of the Legal Academy (May 11, 2014): What I want to discuss with you briefly—and I promise to be brief—is whether (to be blunt about it) you have essentially wasted one of your three years here, and could have done the job in two. It is a current proposal for reformthat law students should be permitted to sit for the bar exam and otherwise be eligible to practice law after only two years of study....
The Wow Factor: YouTube Helps Lawyers Create Infographics
October 5, 2013
Whether persuading a jury, presenting at a beauty contest for a potential client, or teaching law students, attorneys must...
October 5, 2013
Whether persuading a jury, presenting at a beauty contest for a potential client, or teaching law students, attorneys must...
Tech Skills Are The Key To Law Students’ Future Employment, Says ‘13 Legal Rebel Dan Katz
September 4, 2013
Law professor Daniel Martin Katz is betting the pot–his future and those of his students–on a radical model of legal training and job placement. Katz's ReInvent Law Laboratory, which he co-founded and co-directs with fellow Michigan State University College of Law professor Renee Newman Knake, aims to prepare students and practicing lawyers for what the face of law will become as traditional delivery models stagnate and legal technology startups and alternative service providers continue to expand. "The...
September 4, 2013
Law professor Daniel Martin Katz is betting the pot–his future and those of his students–on a radical model of legal training and job placement. Katz's ReInvent Law Laboratory, which he co-founded and co-directs with fellow Michigan State University College of Law professor Renee Newman Knake, aims to prepare students and practicing lawyers for what the face of law will become as traditional delivery models stagnate and legal technology startups and alternative service providers continue to expand. "The...
Meet our 2013 Legal Rebels
September 1, 2013
Excuse us for waving our own flag, but we are exceedingly proud of our fifth-year selections for the ABA Journal’s Legal Rebels. Our annual honors program for the change leaders of the legal profession has again found, thanks to your nominations, 10 outstanding new members. They join the 81 free thinkers selected in the previous four years of Legal Rebels. And though this year’s program was open to anyone in the legal services business, an interesting pattern arose as the final selections...
September 1, 2013
Excuse us for waving our own flag, but we are exceedingly proud of our fifth-year selections for the ABA Journal’s Legal Rebels. Our annual honors program for the change leaders of the legal profession has again found, thanks to your nominations, 10 outstanding new members. They join the 81 free thinkers selected in the previous four years of Legal Rebels. And though this year’s program was open to anyone in the legal services business, an interesting pattern arose as the final selections...
Learning to Pay Attention: A Fundamental Legal Skill
June 27, 2013
One of the biggest problems that law teachers face with the current generation of law students is getting them to pay attention. R. Lisle Baker & Daniel P. Brown have just posted an excellent article on this topic: On Engagement: Learning to Pay Attention. Abstract: In an age of electronic and mental distraction, the ability to pay attention is a fundamental legal skill increasingly important for law students and the lawyers and judges they will become, not only for professional effectiveness,...
June 27, 2013
One of the biggest problems that law teachers face with the current generation of law students is getting them to pay attention. R. Lisle Baker & Daniel P. Brown have just posted an excellent article on this topic: On Engagement: Learning to Pay Attention. Abstract: In an age of electronic and mental distraction, the ability to pay attention is a fundamental legal skill increasingly important for law students and the lawyers and judges they will become, not only for professional effectiveness,...
The Mental Fortitude Necessary to Practice Law
June 22, 2013
From the moment you start practicing law, people are going to tell you that you aren’t very good at your job. Sometimes they will be right. Sometimes they will be trying to intimidate you. Sometimes they will just be jerks. If you aren’t prepared for this (because your law school artificially boosted your GPA, for example), you won’t be very good at being a lawyer. It is crucial for law students — would-be lawyers, that is — to learn to deal with people telling them they aren’t...
June 22, 2013
From the moment you start practicing law, people are going to tell you that you aren’t very good at your job. Sometimes they will be right. Sometimes they will be trying to intimidate you. Sometimes they will just be jerks. If you aren’t prepared for this (because your law school artificially boosted your GPA, for example), you won’t be very good at being a lawyer. It is crucial for law students — would-be lawyers, that is — to learn to deal with people telling them they aren’t...
Information is Cheap, but Meaning is Expensive: Building Analytical Skill Into Legal Research Instruction
April 5, 2013
This article is by Professor Yasmin Sokkar Harker (CUNY) and available at 105 Law Libr. J. 79 (2013). From the synopsis: Law students and new attorneys must have well-developed analytical skills in order to find information that is pertinent to their legal problems and to become competent legal researchers in today’s information-rich environment. Law librarians and legal research instructors can help develop students’ analytical skills by asking them to participate in activities that encourage...
April 5, 2013
This article is by Professor Yasmin Sokkar Harker (CUNY) and available at 105 Law Libr. J. 79 (2013). From the synopsis: Law students and new attorneys must have well-developed analytical skills in order to find information that is pertinent to their legal problems and to become competent legal researchers in today’s information-rich environment. Law librarians and legal research instructors can help develop students’ analytical skills by asking them to participate in activities that encourage...
The Five Most Noteworthy Large Law Firm Recruiting Trends
March 16, 2013
As co-founder and President of JD Match, the first online platform designed to connect law firms with law students, I've seen firsthand some trends in large firm recruiting that would have seemed unusual — even unheard of — just a few years ago. In this issue of BigLaw, I'll offer my perspective. But first, as economists, statisticians, and smart business managers know, "averages lie." In the limited space I have, I'm constrained to speak in terms of averages across the industry. If your...
March 16, 2013
As co-founder and President of JD Match, the first online platform designed to connect law firms with law students, I've seen firsthand some trends in large firm recruiting that would have seemed unusual — even unheard of — just a few years ago. In this issue of BigLaw, I'll offer my perspective. But first, as economists, statisticians, and smart business managers know, "averages lie." In the limited space I have, I'm constrained to speak in terms of averages across the industry. If your...
