While an overwhelming majority of attorneys surveyed by the American Bar Association support pro bono work as a part of the legal profession, less than half indicated they were going to provide such help in 2017.
The Class of 2017 graduating from Indiana law schools followed the national trend of being smaller than the previous class and posting better jobs numbers, but the Hoosier graduates moved in the opposite direction by posting a slight increase in unemployment, according new data released from the American Bar Association.
A longstanding requirement of law school admission – taking the LSAT – could be eliminated under a proposal being considered by the American Bar Association.
American Bar Association members are on Capitol Hill Wednesday and Thursday to advocate that lawmakers fund legal aid services and continue the student loan forgiveness program.
To my friends who run law firms and businesses that employ young lawyers … invest in them! You are penny-wise and pound-foolish if you are not supporting young lawyer membership in bar associations.
Calling it a “comprehensive report,” the American Bar Association released a series of spreadsheets March 22 which presented the ultimate two-year bar passage rate for 2015 graduates as well as the bar passage rates for first-time takers in 2016 and 2017 from each accredited law school.
Under the current Standard 306, law schools may not grant more than 15 credit hours from online courses toward a J.D. degree, and may not enroll any first-year students in distance education. The proposed new rule would permit law schools to offer up to one-third of the credits for a J.D. degree online, and first-year students would be able to take up to 10 credits online.
Calling it a “comprehensive report,” the American Bar Association released a series of spreadsheets Thursday which presented the ultimate two-year bar passage rate for 2015 graduates as well as the bar passage rates for first-time takers in 2016 and 2017 from each accredited law school.
The notice of dean Andrea Lyon’s impending resignation is the first announcement from Valparaiso Law School since the 138-year-old institution disclosed last year that it is struggling financially and looking for an alternative to continue operating.
The staff are celebrating the organization’s growth into an eight-person operation serving nearly 800 people in the Indianapolis area annually, with their sights set on continued expansion.
Valparaiso Law School dean Andrea Lyon is resigning effective June 1, 2018, but will be remaining on the faculty as a research professor at the institution that last year acknowledged its future operations are uncertain.
With the near-constant turnover in popular technologies and ever-changing security practices, privacy law is one of the hottest and most fluid practice areas in today’s legal market. Attorneys who can keep up with the shifting nature of privacy law will soon be able to market themselves as experts in their field, now that the American Bar Association has approved a privacy law specialist designation.
The lack of racial and ethnic diversity continues to frustrate law schools and the entire legal profession. Within Indiana, the students at the four law schools remain primarily white and male, according to the American Bar Association’s 2017 Standard 509 reports.
Three of Indiana’s four law schools have shrunk in recent years but the gender and racial profiles have remained fairly steady since 2015, according to the recently released in the Fall 2017 Standard 509 Reports from the American Bar Association.
Although nationally the number of 1L students starting law school in the 2017 fall semester increased, the 2017 first-year class enrolled Indiana’s four law schools declined by nearly 100 students compared to the class that began in 2016.
With the closing of Indiana Tech School of Law and an uncertain future for Valparaiso University School of Law, experts say there are no easy answers for the pressures facing legal education.
Women, particularly those in their 40s and 50s, leave the legal profession at a much higher rate than their male counterparts. ABA President Hilarie Bass has launched an initiative to explore the reasons and improve prospects for long-term careers for women in the law.
With a 138-year history, Valparaiso Law School is not the only legal education institution getting crushed by declining enrollment and falling revenue, but it is likely the oldest to publicly announce its future is uncertain.
Valparaiso University president Mark Heckler emphasized the law school is not closing after it announced Thursday it would suspend admission of students in 2018. However, the American Bar Association still may want a teach-out plan as is required of law schools that are ceasing operations.
Valparaiso Law School is denying a newspaper report that it is planning to cease enrolling students and close. However, “severe financial challenges” are forcing the northwestern Indiana law school to suspend admission of students for the fall of 2018.