BLOGGING LAW SCHOOL 
Law Preview Law School Prep Course & Aspen...
Monthly Prize Winners Announced
When you set up an AdmissionsDean profile, you are automatically enrolled in our monthly raffle to win a Law Preview law school prep course ($1,295 value) or a complete set of
Despite Dismal Legal Market, Law School Applications...
Despite Dismal Legal Market, Law School Applications Continue to Rise - But Why, Exactly?
The statistics are grim: According to the National Law Journal's 2009 survey of the nation's 250 largest law firms, the number of lawyers at these firms fell 4% last year. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 22,000 legal jobs were cut in 2009. All signs point to an ominous structural change in legal hiring market: An Altman Weil survey of managing partners at more than 200 law firms found that 42% of respondents predicted that reductions in the size of first-year associate classes will be permanent.
So why then are some law schools reporting a 30% increase in their applicant pools? Why did the total number of law school applicants increase by 3% in 2009? "I expected...
Suffolk Law Announces New Dean
Suffolk Law Announces New Dean
Suffolk University School of Law announced today that beginning in September, Camille Nelson will become not only the first woman to named Dean at the 104-year old institution, but she is also the first member of a minority group to hold that post. Professor Nelson received her J.D. from University of Ottawa and an LL.M from Columbia University School of Law. Most recently she served on the faculty of
Law Preview Law School Prep Course & Aspen...
Monthly Prize Winners Announced
When you set up an AdmissionsDean profile, you are automatically enrolled in our monthly raffle to win a Law Preview law school prep course ($1,295 value) or a complete set of
Fordham Law School Dean Defects To Head GULC...
Effective August 16th, Georgetown University Law Center will have a new Dean -- William Treanor. Dean Treanor has been serving as the Dean of Fordham University School of Law in New York City since 2002.
To read all about Dean Treanor's appointment check out the GULC Press Release here.
Duquesne University School of Law Latest...
Law School Grade Inflation: Duquesne Becomes The Latest Law School To Inflate Grades To "Aid" Its Grads
Duquesne University School of Law is the latest law school to adopt a more lenient grading policy to help place its grads. Top 1L grades have always been the ultimate determining factor for law school honors like law review participation and landing that coveted summer associate position at a large multinational law firm. However, with the legal hiring market becoming more and more competitive,
Law School GPA Inflation: The latest in law...
GPA Inflation: The latest in law school rankings finagling or a legitimate way to help students find work in these troubled times?
If anyone has ever questioned how the importance of grades in law school -- especially first-year grades -- they need only look to the latest move by some law schools to make their students and graduates more attractive to prospective employers. The latest response to the dismal legal hiring market, at least 10 law schools are inflating students' GPAs.
Law Preview Law School Prep Course & Aspen...
Monthly Prize Winners Announced
When you set up an AdmissionsDean profile, you are automatically enrolled in our monthly raffle to win a Law Preview law school prep course ($1,295 value) or a complete set of
Law Profs Urge Schools to Take US News Law...
Law Profs Urge Schools to Take US News Rankings with a Grain of SALT
The Society of American Law Teachers is out to prove that they are worth their progressive SALT. In a statement issued on Friday...
SMU - Dedman School of Law Pays Firms To...
How Nice for Them: SMU Pays Firms to Hire Grads, Blogland Controversy Ensues
Due to a growing concern over the lack of job opportunities for its up-and-coming graduates, the SMU Dedman School of Law has adopted a novel approach to helping its students land jobs: paying employers to hire their grads.
Yes, you read that right. SMU is taking the phrase "career services" to a whole new level. The program, known as Test Drive, works like this: an...
bLAWging Law School: a blog post about a...
bLAWging Law School: a blog post about a blog post about a blog!
A new blog started by the Michigan State University College of Law is putting a 21st century twist on traditional recruitment strategies by giving prospective students a glimpse into the lives of 9 MSU students. Bloggers are required to post at least 2 articles a month to the tune of a $250 cash incentive (the author of "The Pinching Pennies Post" will no doubt put it...
Law School Podcaster Discusses Law School...
Law School Rankings . . . What Do The Numbers Mean?
If you are interested in applying to law school and are not already listening to the Law School Podcaster, we definitely recommend that you log on and tune in. Law School Podcaster's most recent...
AdmissionsDean.com Monthly Prize Winners...
Monthly Prize Winners Announced
When you set up an AdmissionsDean profile, you are automatically enrolled in our monthly raffle to win a Law Preview law school prep course ($1,295 value) or a complete set of
What The Student Aid And Fiscal Responsibility...
Never Fear, SAFRA Is Here
Most law students are painfully aware of the staggering cost of a legal education. Student loan debt looms on the post-graduation horizon like an ominous storm cloud, a cloud made ten times more foreboding by today's dismal job market. With individual debt soaring into the six-figure range and payment schedules stretching decades into the future, many recent graduates simply aren't making enough money to keep up with their loan repayments.
University of St. Thomas School of Law To...
University of St. Thomas School of Law To Waive LSAT Requirement For UST Undergrads.
The lack of ethnic and racial diversity in law school -- and the legal profession as a whole -- has been a major issue for the past two decades. Schools have done much to attract students of color in order to promote a fairer legal system. Even private law firms have stepped up their efforts to promote diversity by sponsoring underrepresented minorities to take the
AdmissionsDean.com Monthly Prize Winners...
Monthly Prize Winners -- This Isn't An April Fool's Joke!
Law School Faculty Diversity Getting Better...
Law School Faculty Diversity Getting Better, But Top-Ranked Law Schools Still Have Room For Improvement
Diversity in the legal profession is an important issue and over the past two decades, law schools have made serious strides towards improving minority representation within their faculties. However, it appears there is still room for improvement -- especially at law schools in the top tier of the USNEWS rankings. Ming Zhu, a recent graduate from Harvard Law School and aspiring academic, recently authored a report entitled "An Empirical Study of Race and Law School Hiring,"...
USNEWS Details Changes To Latest Law Rankings...
USNEWS Details Changes To Latest Law School Rankings
The USNEWS Law School Rankings will be available online (April 15) and in print (April 20). In a recent blog post, Bob Morse -- USNEWS's revered (and sometimes hated) Rankings Guru -- stated that in the new edition of the rankings, the magazine changed how it assessed/ranked part-time J.D. programs. Morse explained, "USNEWS's new part-time law rankings are based on a 5.0-scale peer assessment survey, median LSAT scores and median undergraduate grade-point average for fall 2009 entering part-time students...
Yale Law Shows That It Has A Sense Of Humor...
Yale Law Shows That It Has A Sense Of Humor
Ridiculous Rankings Of Law School Home Pages...
Ridiculous Rankings Of Law School Home Pages
OK, if you are among the small minority who doesn't think that law students, lawyers and law schools have an unhealthy obsession with rankings (of any kind), a new study from by Roger Skalbeck, Associate Law Librarian at Georgetown University Law Center, will convince you. Mr. Skalbeck spent the last year analyzing (get this) the Internet home pages of 195 ABA-approved law schools using fourteen different objective elements like whether they list a physical address, news feeds, search boxes or social networking links.
If you're...
AdmissionsDean Users Can Save Some Serious...
Take $250 Off Any Princeton Review LSAT Prep Course
In the interest of full disclosure, AdmissionsDean doesn't make a dime off this promotion . . . we just thought it was such a good deal that we just had to pass it along to our users!
The Princeton Review is offering AdmissionsDean users $250 off an LSAT Classroom or LiveOnline course or Tutoring if you enroll between 3/15 – 5/4. To take advantage of this offer, use the promotional codes below when enrolling online at...
Northwestern Law Dean Defends NALP
Northwestern Law Dean Defends NALP
William Chamberlain, Assistant Dean for Law Career Strategy & Advancement at Northwestern University School of Law, speaks outs in the National Law Journal to defend NALP against recent criticisms arising from proposed changes to the 2L recruiting schedule. It's an interesting read about NALP's purpose and function.
Georgetown Law Professor Says No Laptops...
Georgetown Law Professor Says No Laptops, Surveyed Students (Reluctantly) Agree
Laptop computers - once heralded as a vital academic innovation - are now being banned by law professors across the country due to their high distraction factor. Thanks to the advent of campus-wide wireless Internet access, the cornucopia of online pastimes, such as YouTube, Hulu, blogs, Facebook, email, shopping, and online gaming, is now readily available within the confines of the lecture hall. Such accessible diversions, according to some professors, are creating a major impediment to the learning process.
"This is like putting on every student's desk, when you walk into class, five different magazines, several...
Law School Admisssions Info . . . On The...
Law School Admisssions Info . . . On The Go!
If you are interested in applying to law school and are not already listening to the Law School Podcaster, we definitely recommend that you subscribe and tune in. Law School Podcaster has done a great job of assembling top admissions...
National Law Journal Publishes Its 2009...
National Law Journal Publishes Its "Go-To" Schools & "Firm Favorites" Rankings
For the rankings-obsessed pre-law student, the National Law Journal has just released your latest fix. Using survey data submitted by the 250 top law firms as ranked by the National Law Journal, NLJ has compiled its rankings of the Top 50 "Go-To" schools based on the percentage of 2009 J.D. graduates who landed jobs at NLJ 250 firms by Sept. 30, 2009.
Toping the list is Northwestern University School of Law, which...
13th Installment Of Our 224 Series, Better...
13th Installment Of Our 224 Series, Better Know A Dean
Today we posted a brand new interview with Sarah Zearfoss, Assistant Dean and Director of Admissions at The University of Michigan School of Law -- The Fightin' Wolverines!
Dean Zearfoss has been working in UMich's Admissions Office since 2001, so she's definitely...
Harvard Law School Announces New Public Service...
Harvard Law School Announces New Public Service Venture Fund
In November, when HLS announced it's plan to
ABA Takes Notice Of USNEWS's Plan To Publish...
ABA Takes Notice Of USNEWS's Plan To Publish Law Firm Rankings
For more than two decades the ABA has stayed relatively quiet with regard to USNEWS's popular rankings of law schools. However, USNEWS's announcement that it intends to release its rankings of more than 5,000 U.S. law firms in 2010 caused all hell to break loose at a recent ABA meeting which concluded...
Law Firms Resist NALP Recruiting Changes
Law Firms Resist NALP Recruiting Changes
As a followup to our previous post regarding proposed changes to NALP's law student hiring schedule, it seems like many of New York's largest law firms are opposed to the idea. Click here to read the New York Law Journal's story on firms' complaints with the proposed recruiting schedule changes. NALP's ultimate decision with regard to 2L recruiting (to be released in late February) could dramatically impact summer associate job prospects next fall...
Massachusetts Gets Its First Public Law School...
Massachusetts Gets Its First Public Law School
Despite a vigorously contested proposal and some pretty heavy lobbying from at least three law schools in Massachusetts (NESL, Suffolk Law and Western New England), the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education voted yesterday to merge the assets of the non-ABA accredited Southern New England School of Law into the UMass education system -- the school's new name is
AdmissionsDean.com Monthly Prize Winners...
January Prize Winners
When you set up an AdmissionsDean profile, you are automatically enrolled in our monthly raffle to win a
UVA Law Takes A Very Different (Fun) Approach...
UVA Law Takes A Very Different (Fun) Approach To Marketing Its Grads
What does Taco Bell's 89-cent, 5-layer burrito and a newly minted law grad from UVA have in common? Both are being marketed by DraftFCB -- a California based advertising agency. UVA recently retained DraftFCB to help actively promote UVA Law
The 12th Installment of our 224 part series...
12th Installment of our 224 part series, Better Know A Dean.
Today we posted a brand new interview with Michelle Rahman, Associate Dean for Admissions at University of Richmond School of Law -- The Fightin' Richmond Laws!
NALP Proposes Major Changes To Law Student...
NALP Proposes Major Changes To Law Student Hiring Process
The National Association For Law Placement (NALP) -- an organization whose members include law schools and legal employers -- has recently released a proposal that it describes as the...
BigLaw Dreams Deferred, Hope Realized
BigLaw Dreams Deferred, Hope Realized
Would-be BigLaw associates who have been diverted to public service work are finding real meaning in helping the less fortunate. What at the outset seemed like a roadblock to a lucrative legal career became an education in the everyday legal struggles of the poor for one recent graduate, Chris Reid. Like many soon-to-be first-year associates in New York City, Reid faced an unexpected decision upon graduation. Due to the Great Recession, the private law firm that extended him an offer to work in their patent litigation group after graduation did...
At $999, The Most Expensive iPhone App May...
At $999, The Most Expensive iPhone App May Actually Be A Bargain
On Friday, BarMax LLC released BarMax, the first complete bar exam prep application for the iPhone/iPod Touch platform. Promoting it as a way to "[t]ake 50 pounds of books and condense them into the palm of your hand," BarMax purports to "squeeze thousands of pages...
Minority Applicants Just Another Casualty...
Minority Applicants Just Another Casualty Of USNEWS Rankings
For years, those concerned with the lack of racial and ethnic diversity in the legal profession have thought that the problem was simply that fewer minorities are applying to law school. However, according to a new joint study by Society of American Law Teachers and the Lawyering in the Digital Age Clinic at the Columbia University School of Law, applications among minority groups have remained relatively constant and may have increased...
The 11th Installment of our 224 part series...
The 11th Installment of our 224 part series, Better Know A Dean.
Today we posted a brand new interview with Josh Rubenstein, Assistant Dean for Admissions at Harvard Law School -- the Fightin' Harvard Laws! Even if you're not planning to apply to Harvard this admissions cycle, you'll definitely want to check out this interview to see what Dean Rubenstein has to say about:
- Transferring to HLS after the 1L year: "...
AdmissionsDean.com Monthly Prize Winners...
December Prize Winners
When you set up an AdmissionsDean profile, you are automatically enrolled in our monthly raffle to win a Law Preview law school prep course ($1,295 value) or a complete set of
How To Track Other Applicants
How To Track Other Applicants
Tracking other applicants who use AdmissionsDean is one of the site's core features. AdmissionsDean allows you to find another user who might share similar characteristics with you (e.g., same LSAT/GPA, minority status, etc.) or, even more basic, people who are applying to the same law school(s). Regardless of why you may find another applicant interesting, you can "track" them and watch where they get accepted, rejected...
Commit 'Random Acts Of Kindness'
Certainly not the type of blog post you might expect on a website geared towards future lawyers. Random acts of kindness? Is that a typo? Are you kidding me?
Well that's how the memory of Eric Pinsky, a 23-year old 1L at Duke Law when he was killed in a car accident 1997, lives on. In an effort to turn their tragic loss into something positive, for the past 13 years Eric's family has asked friends and strangers to commit "random acts of kindness" on the anniversary of his death (January 8th), and then share their experiences on Eric's webpage:
The 10th installment of our 224 part series...
The 10th Installment of our 224 part series, Better Know A Dean.
Today we posted a brand new interview with Asha Rangappa, Associate Dean of Admissions at Yale Law School -- the Fightin' Yalies. Even if you're not planning to apply to the country's #1 law school, you'll definitiely want to check out this interview to see what you're missing out on and what Dean Rangappa has to say about:
-
Proper Etiquette At LSAC Forums - "We’re not really taking names of people who approach us at our table and then making secret files on...
Report Documents How USNEWS Affects Law School...
Report Documents How USNEWS Affects Law School Spending & Behavior
A new report concludes (unsurprisingly) that USNEWS's law school rankings are having negative effects on some law schools' behavior. It's long been known that law school administrators -- particularly admissions deans who are often held accountable for negative changes to a school's rank -- constantly feel the pressure to improve their standing (and reputation) in the the publisher's annual law school rankings. This pressure has caused some law schools...
HLS Public Service Initiative Program Becomes...
HLS Public Service Initiative Program Becomes Too Big, and Fails
In an move that's been rumored for months, Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow announced the school's decision to phase out its Public Service Initiative (PSI) program. Introduced in the spring of 2008, and hailed as a "first of it's kind" program that "further strengthened HLS's commitment to public service," the PSI waives third-year tuition for socially conscious law students who agree to work in public service...
AdmissionsDean.com Monthly Prize Winners...
When you set up an AdmissionsDean profile, you are automatically enrolled in our monthly raffle to win a Law Preview law school prep course ($1,295 value) or a complete set of
The 9th installment of our 224 part series...
The 9th Installment of our 224 part series, Better Know A Dean
It is with full credit and deep admiration for the brilliant Stephen Colbert that we continue our Better Know A Dean series. In our ninth installment, we sat down with Anne Richard, the Associate Dean for Admissions & Financial Aid at GW Law -- The Fightin' GW Law's!
After a...
Super Lawyers's Not-So-Super Law School Rankings...
Super Lawyers's Not-So-Super Law School Rankings
Last week, Super Lawyers released its “2010 Super Lawyers U.S. Law School Rankings,” its first-ever ranking of law schools. The premise of its law school rankings is simple: rank law schools based on the number graduates each produced that received a “Super Lawyer” designation in 2009.
Could Google Scholar Signal The Beginning...
Could Google Scholar Signal The Beginning of The End For Westlaw & Lexis?
Passing through Boston's Logan Airport last Thursday, I flipped open my laptop and there it was, an early holiday gift from Google -- free Wifi access! Google's largess never ceases to amaze me. When I need to check my email, Gmail's got me covered (for free). When I need directions to a restaurant, Google Maps gets me there (for free). If I...
The 7th Installment of Our 224 Part Series...
The 7th Installment of Our 224 Part Series, Better Know A Dean.
It is with full credit and deep admiration that we honor the brilliant Stephen Colbert by continuing our Better Know A Dean Series. In our seventh installment, we sat down with Renee Post, the Associate Dean for Admissions & Financial Aid at Penn Law -- The Fightin' Penn Law's!
After stints as a consultant for a national admissions consulting firm...
3 Ways That Students Seeking Public Interest...
3 Ways That Students Seeking Public Interest Careers Can Fund Their Dreams And Still Eat Real Meals
Law school is expensive. Tuition has increased across the board during the past 15 years – at some law schools by a whopping 300%! – according to an October 2009 Government Accountability Office (GAO) study. The average student at a private law school graduates with roughly $91,000 in debt. The average student at a public school fares little better...
Introducing AdmissionsDean
AdmissionsDean - The Best Place To Learn About Law School
AdmissionDean is a totally free social networking site that provides law school applicants and students with a place research, meet, and discuss everything related to law school. Prospective law students are welcome to use the AdmissionsDean site to research law schools, browse our “Top 10” lists, read our interviews with law school admissions deans and professors, as well as discussion board posts. The real power of AdmissionsDean is unleashed, however, when users register (anonymously) and input some basic information about themselves...
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