The overall passage rate for the Indiana August 2020 bar exam reached 74%, about 10 percentage points higher than the overall pass rate for the previous four July bar exams. Likewise, 84% of those taking the test for the first time passed while 53% of the repeat takers were successful, the highest rate for repeaters since 54% passed the February 2015 bar.
Bre Robinson’s final year of law school has been different in every way possible. Just a few weeks into a pandemic-stricken semester, the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law Student Bar Association president said classmates are sparse. Robinson isn’t alone in that sentiment. As students nationwide make their way into a new school year, social distancing guidelines and uncertainty are following them.
Indiana’s unprecedented bar exam that was reformatted and delayed until August 2020 because of the coronavirus has turned in a pass rate that tops the previous four years. Almost three-quarters of those who took the remote test passed, according to the list released Tuesday.
Indiana’s law schools have enrolled diverse and academically solid 1L classes for the fall 2020 semester, indicating the COVID-19 pandemic did not adversely impact the recruitment of students by the institutions.
A recent survey of nearly 1,100 young lawyers found that many new attorneys are making major financial, personal and career sacrifices as a result of their student loans. That includes decisions ranging from marriage and children to making big purchases or taking vacations. The survey hits home for many young Indiana lawyers.
The University of Notre Dame on Tuesday canceled in-person undergraduate classes for two weeks after a spike of coronavirus cases that occurred after the semester began Aug. 10.
A new jobs report from National Association for Law Placement says law school graduates in 2019 enjoyed some of the best of times while nodding to fears that the 2020 graduates may experience the worst of times.
Notre Dame Law School’s new Religious Liberty Clinic is designed to train lawyers in all practice areas to grapple with issues of religious freedom. “It’s critical that if we fight for freedom of religion, it’s for freedom of all religious faiths or no faith at all,” Dean G. Marcus Cole said.
Despite the upheaval and uncertainty the pandemic has created for legal education, law school admissions officers are confident the first-year class entering in the fall of 2020 will be the same size, if not bigger, than the class that started in the fall of 2019.
After the COVID-19 outbreak upended the spring semester and forced everyone to shift to online learning, Indiana’s law schools are preparing to welcome students and faculty back into their buildings for a fall semester that will be unlike any other.
Friends and colleagues are celebrating the life and legacy of the late Judge Michael Barnes, who served nearly 20 years on the Indiana Court of Appeals after an earlier 20 years serving as the prosecutor of St. Joseph County. “He was a great friend. … He was a friend to all of us,” one colleague said.
The July bar exam is one example of the Supreme Court’s nimbleness as it moves in a new direction to help recent law school graduates and new lawyers overcome the stress and hardship created by the pandemic. Within the span of roughly two months, the justices moved the May admission ceremony online so those who passed the February bar could begin their legal careers as soon as possible and established the graduate legal intern program to give 2020 graduates the option of getting a limited license.
For students at law schools across the country, the global pandemic forced a breakneck shift from in-person classes and on-campus activities to distance learning as colleges and universities closed buildings and dorms to slow the spread of coronavirus.
As leaders across the country continue to call for social distancing and implement restrictions on large gatherings to slow the spread of COVID-19, some citizens have balked at the idea of interrupting their normal religious activities. But as long as restrictions on churches are non-discriminatory, experts say the restrictions are likely constitutional.
The coronavirus emergency is forcing many changes to legal education in Indiana. Law schools and the judiciary are changing procedures, canceling events and finding alternatives as the prohibitions on large gatherings appear likely to continue for the foreseeable future.
Andrew Royer has been granted a new trial after a special judge determined his 2005 trial was tainted by false evidence and coercive investigative techniques that exploited his mental disability. But the possibility of a retrial remains.
As potential law students are wondering whether they will be able to take the LSAT as scheduled this spring, those preparing to graduate law school are likely to be graded in their final term on a pass/fail basis.
Cases handled by the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office continue to be rescheduled or continued as the Indianapolis courts adjust operations in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The annual U.S. News & World Report rankings of the best law schools in the country brought disappointing results for Indiana as all three law schools still being ranked fell in their positions.
The Indiana legal community is taking precautions and ramping up efforts to stay healthy as the coronavirus spreads. Meanwhile, Faegre Drinker announced Wednesday that it had reopened most of its offices Wednesday, including its Indianapolis location. The firm had closed all 22 of its global offices Tuesday after a person who attend a firm event in Washington, D.C., tested positive for COVID-19.