Campus Features

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Senators Urge VA Use of Law Clinics To Cut Claims Backlog

Posted on: by James Langford

A veterans spending package that the U.S. Senate will consider after its return from a weeklong Memorial Day recess includes $159 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs to improve its health-care services as well as a suggestion: Take advantage of help from law school clinics to curb a backlog of disability claims.

The proposal is backed  by two Virginia senators who cite the Puller Veterans Benefits Clinic at the state’s William & Mary Law School as an example. It comes amid a firestorm of criticism over lengthy wait times at Veterans Affairs hospitals and a backlog that comprises more than 51 percent of outstanding disability claims from military service personnel.

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Law Student Limelight: Northeastern’s Adam Cernea Clark

Posted on: by Margot Slade

northeastern cerneaclarkStudent Name:
 Adam Cernea Clark

Law School:
 Northeastern University School of Law

Status: 3L

Focus:  International Development, Environmental Law

Undergraduate Degree/Institution: BA English (2005), Kenyon College

Graduate Degree/Institution: Masters, Environmental Law & Policy, Vermont Law School (joint program)

Home city/town, state or country: Houston, Texas

On a Northeastern law school co-op program in Bucharest, Romania last August, Adam Cernea Clark arrived just as thousands of protesters took to the street. The government was about to approve a private sector gold mining project that many Romanians feared would release cyanide into the environment. Cernea Clark, who studies environmental law and international development as part of Northeastern’s dual-degree program with Vermont Law School, said he felt compelled to get involved. Continue reading →

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Campus Roundup: LSAT Provider Settles Disability Case With U.S.

Posted on: by James Langford

If you ever considered becoming a lawyer, you’re acquainted with the LSAT, the entrance exam used by most U.S. law schools in deciding which applicants they accept. LSAT HANDBOOK

You may be less familiar with the Law School Admission Council, the Newtown, Pa.-based group that administers more than 150,000 of the tests a year at a charge of $170 each.

The organization is waiting for a federal judge’s approval of its tentative $7.73 million settlement with the U.S. government this month in a case accusing the test-giver of discriminating against students with disabilities. Continue reading →

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DOMA’s Kaplan to Columbia Law: Fight Cynicism With ‘Right’ Cases

Posted on: by James Langford

George Zhang enrolled at Columbia Law School thinking he could help solve some of society’s most difficult problems. Three years later, he realizes just how ambitious that was.

“I know how difficult it is to write a paper that gets cited, or read for that matter, by anyone, much less to influence the broader debate,” Zhang, the 2013-14 president of the Student Senate, told his almost 800 fellow graduates in a commencement ceremony at the school’s Morningside Heights campus. But that difficulty shouldn’t stop them from trying, he said. Continue reading →

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Dean Limelight: Mark Brandon, University of Alabama School of Law

Posted on: by James Langford

Legal education wasn’t Mark Brandon’s first career choice.  After obtaining his juris doctorate from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1978, he planned to work as a lawyer.

But five years later, in private practice in Birmingham, he taught a class at his alma mater as an adjunct. The experience kindled an interest in academia, which took Brandon to the University of Michigan, where he earned a master’s degree in political science, then to Princeton University for a doctorate in politics. Continue reading →

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Law School: Reducing the Risks Starts With You

Posted on: by James Langford

This is not another story about how the shrinking job market for attorneys makes enrolling in law school a bad idea.

The market for lawyers is growing, and the federal government predicts it will continue to do so – at about the same speed as the overall labor market.

The problem isn’t demand, but an oversupply. In the past 10 years, growth in attorney positions has been far outstripped by the number of graduates earning law degrees. A significant portion of those gains is outside large law firms, which means they don’t come with the high salaries some graduates count on to pay for their educations. Continue reading →

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