ABA Begins Action to Curb Law School Reporting Abuses

In the wake of the scandals at Illinois and Villanova, reported here, an article in the online ABA Journal reports that the ABA Legal Education Section has decided to consider rules designed to penalize misrepresentation of admissions data by accredited law schools.

The Section recently announced a change in the questionnaire designed to elicit more accurate information regarding placement and employment data. For a sample of commentary about the misrepresentation of placement and employment data read the post here in Balkinization.

Westlaw on the Ropes?

The Three Geeks and a Law Blog has made a provocative post about the economic viability of Thomson Reuters. Westlaw is, of course, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters. There has been speculation about this before. See an earlier post on this possibility. One potential reason for the possible demise of Thomson is competition from Bloomberg.

More on University of Illinois Law School Ethical Challenges

Readers of this blog may recall an earlier post regarding the misbehavior of the administration at the University of Illinois School of Law. Here's a follow-up post from the ABA Law Journal. And, here's more on story with some insightful commentary from Law Librarian Blog and from Above the Law.

When the USN&WR rankings begin to drive admissions policy you know there's something wrong with the system. The rankings are a useful tool for one school to measure itself against its peers. But it should not become the raison d'etre for any school.

Kindle Loosens Library Policy

Readers of this blog may recall two earlier posts regarding the ability of library patrons to borrow both Kindles and the eBooks that are in the library's collection. The first post addressed issues concerning the restrictive license that Amazon, maker and distributor of the Kindle, puts on eBooks downloaded from their site. The second post dealt with Amazon allowing libraries to check out the electronic reader i.e., the Kindle itself. In both cases it was argued that market forces, rather than legal action, would encourage Amazon to allow use of the Kindle in a traditional library setting.

Now, according to a NY Times article by Julie Bosman - Kindle Connects to Library E-Books - it appears that Amazon is on the way to allowing public library patrons to use their own Kindle or borrow a library Kindle, and to download ebooks that are in the library's collection. The conditions are not overly restrictive and are in line with typical library practice; for example, if a library buys 5 copies of a particular ebook it can only lend 5 copies. Just like lending print books.

There are two major problems that have yet to be resolved:

1. The new Amazon program is limited to 11,000 libraries. Great. But there are 122,000+ libraries in the United States. So, less than one percent of all US libraries will be affected.

2. Some publishers are still reluctant to get with the program. These publishers fear that library usage will cut into their traditional business model (a concern that has been around since the advent of the book iself). Perhaps it is time for publishers to change their business model. One possible business model publishers can adopt is the Netflix model. Unlimited views (think Netflix Instant) for a monthly fee.

PACER Fees Go Up

According to Ericka Wayne and a US Courts press release, the price per page to retrieve a document from PACER has just gone up from 8 cents a page to 10 cents a page effective November 1st. (The price increase is noted in paragraph 5 of the press release. Talk about burying the lead.) This may not seem like a lot until you begin downloading some of records and briefs from a federal district court web site. PACER has slowly morphed into a valid legal research tool. A 25% increase in fees may actually affect download statistics.

Pressure From The Rankings Leads To Cheating By Law School Administrations

Most know by now that some law school administrations have an unhealthy obsession with the US News & World Report Law School Rankings. Paying attention to the rankings is one thing. They do, after all, serve as a way for schools to compare themselves with others and to catch trends. Cheating in the pursuit of higher rankings, however, is beyond the pale. Past cheating scandals include the miserable attempts by at least one school to cook their stats via late admissions of candidates with lower GPAs and LSATs.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to paying attention to the USN&WR rankings, Villanova was caught taking their GPA and LSAT admissions scores last February. Now, it may be Indiana's turn. A lengthy quote from the Law.com article -

The law school world was scandalized in February when Villanova University School of Law announced that its former dean and admissions officials had for years inflated the Law School Admission Test scores and grade-point averages of the school's incoming classes.

On Sept. 11, officials at the University of Illinois announced that they were investigating the veracity of the same statistics reported by its College of Law after getting a tip that the numbers released for its new class were wrong.

It remains to be seen whether Illinois did, in fact, report bogus numbers this year or in the past, or whether it was done on purpose. But the fact that a second law school had fallen under suspicion within a year raised questions. How widespread is the inflation of the academic credentials? What is being done to ensure law schools are honest?

What indeed? You can and should read the whole story here.

Searching for a Comment/Note Topic? Try US Law Week

If you are faced with the age old problem of finding a topic for a journal comment or note you might consider using the Circuit Split feature in BNA's US Law Week. This week's Circuit Splits section notes nine new circuit splits encompassing antitrust to the Establishment Clause. That could translate into nine different comments/notes.

Not interested in writing something for a journal? This could still be fertile ground for any upper class writing project.

Regardless, BNA US Law Week is a great way to stay in touch with what is happening in the law across the nation.

Rutgers students can sign up to get email alerts by going to the Rutgers BNA page here. Just scroll down, click on the US Law Week link. You can sign up for email alerts by using the link on the right side of the page. It's the last link in the right hand column - could they make it any more difficult to find? Make sure you sign up for email alerts while you are on campus. It just works better that way.

Delayed Birth Certificate in New Jersey - Bureaucratic Overkill?

Here's a heartwarming story about how Chief Judge Alex Kosinski of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals helped an attorney who was looking for a judge to witness the signing of an affidavit in aid of filing a Certificate of Delayed Birth for a child born in New Jersey. The story is reported in Above the Law and on the ABA Journal site.

The form requires that if the affidavit in support of the Certificate is being signed in a state other than New Jersey it must be signed before a judge. The New Jersey statute that imposes this requirement, of course, is NJSA 26:8-32 (b)(2). According to the ABA Journal and Above the Law, this requirment was deemed either "perplexing" or "unusual."

Justifiable or bureaucratic overkill? You be the judge. So to speak.

More Bad News on the Attorney Job Front

Gawker reports more bad news for attorneys looking for jobs. According to Gawker blogger Neil Hamilton -

Life as an American attorney these days is little more than a steady progression of more and more degrading news stories about the ever-declining status of your job, and, by extension, the rapid downward spiral of your worth as a human being.

Well. Things aren't that bad. But at least one recent trend is disturbing. Hamilton quotes a Wall Street Journal article on an uptick in "legal temp" jobs. Young attorneys are doing document review during the graveyard shift in highly regimented surroundings. This is not the job most law students think they will have when they graduate.

We are all used to contract attorney jobs. The WSJ description of these new "legal temp" jobs takes that idea to a whole new low.

Need for Regulation of Law Schools Intensifies

Today's NY Times article by David Segal's article - How Law Students Lose the Grant Game as Law Schools Win - once again points to the need for additional regulation of law schools. The article details the process by which law schools woo students with high GPAs and LSAT scores with promises of grants only to have those grants dry up when the students find they can't make the grade.

Here's how it works. Highly qualified students are awarded what amount to fully paid tuition scholarships. The only catch is that they have to continue to maintain a high GPA in law school in order to continue receiving the grant. What the schools don't disclose is that it is extremely difficult for a student to make the grade. A large percentage then lose the scholarship. How is this a problem?

First, transferring from one law school to another is truly difficult. Once you're in a school, you're usually in for the full three years. If you got hooked with free tuition for a year you might suddenly find that you are enrolled at a school with tuition so high you can't afford to finish the last two years or finishing becomes an even greater financial burden.

Second, the motivation of the school in failing to make the disclosure is highly suspect. By admitting students with higher GPAs and LSAT scores, that school's US News and World Report ranking can go up. Students may find themselves to be pawns in a huge game of rankings chess.

In fairness, it should be noted that students could be better consumers. A little investigation would show how grades are awarded.

And, a quick reality check would indicate that the likelihood of maintaining the same kinds of grades as a law student as an undergrad is unsustainable. Students forget that everyone applying to law school has high grades. Good performance as an undergrad is no guarantee of good performance as a law student.

Still, this is an easy issue to resolve. Law schools should be required to disclose to the uninitiated that classes are graded on a curve and that many students lose their grants after the first year. Readers of this blog may recall earlier posts about post law school employment here, here, and here. Law schools appear to be incapable of self regulation in their pursuit of higher rankings. It is time for the ABA to take a closer look at this entire area.