Mark Gordon remembers Mario Cuomo not just as a three-term governor of New York and a former employer, but as the man who convinced him to change careers.

Not by talking Gordon into it, at least not in the sense that phrase usually implies. Rather, the governor routinely used the argumentation skills honed in law school to talk through public-policy issues with Gordon and other aides. The debates, which Cuomo invariably won, helped him evaluate different sides of public policy-issues and determine his own position.

Although Gordon had just completed a master’s degree in international affairs at Columbia University in 1982, watching Cuomo, he said, convinced him to enroll in law school. It was a decision that led, ultimately, to his selection in January as president and dean of the William Mitchell College of Law. Continue reading →

The first-year students hadn’t completed their first month at Columbia Law when Gillian Lester, a California transplant and the school’s incoming dean, gave them a challenge and a promise.

“If we succeed here together, you will not only be trained to be the best lawyers in the nation,” she told the students at a September dinner. “You will be the leaders of the next generation.” Continue reading →

Steep declines in U.S. law school enrollment showed signs of slowing this year amid improving U.S. economic growth and increasing retirement by baby-boomers.

Altogether, 37,924 students began working toward juris doctorate degrees at the 204 institutions accredited by the American Bar Association’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, the government-designated regulator for law schools. That marked a 4.4 percent drop from the previous year — the smallest since numbers began falling — and a 28 percent slide since the historic high of 52,488 in 2010, according to an ABA statement and archived data.

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A record drop in scores on the standardized bar exam used in almost every state — forcing thousands of prospective lawyers to retake the test — is drawing scrutiny from law school deans nationwide.

Among their questions are whether the biggest slide in almost 40 years indicates technical flaws in the test or the scoring as well as whether the exam is keeping pace with a rapidly changing curriculum.
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Concordia University School of Law

Concordia University School of Law’s request for provisional accreditation, which would allow degree-holders to take the bar exam anywhere in the U.S., will be considered at an American Bar Association meeting almost a month after scheduled commencement ceremonies for the school’s first graduating class.

What the timing means is not yet clear. Concordia had been vying for accreditation before the end of the academic year so graduates would be eligible to take the bar as soon as possible and spokeswoman Madeline Turnock said the university may be able to adjust its calendar so that degrees are conferred after a decision by the Council and the Accreditation Committee of the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, the government-designated national accrediting agency for law schools. Continue reading →

Tradition called for naming the virus that Dr. Peter Piot identified in 1976 after the Zairian village where it first appeared, but the Belgian doctor feared that would stigmatize both the small community and its inhabitants.

Instead, he named the virus – which causes hemorrhaging and fever – after a river: Ebola. His concern proved prescient. Four decades later, the largest outbreak of Ebola to date has stigmatized entire African countries, with some U.S. politicians advocating travel bans and seeking to quarantine American aid workers who have treated the virus’s victims. Continue reading →

STORIES: Yellow Ribbon Benefits for GI’s; Ex-Marine Advises Lawyers on Counseling Vets; Many Basic Needs for U.S. Veterans Still Unmet, GGU Law Conference Shows

The former general counsel of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, retired Col. Will Gunn, posed two questions to students, academics and others at the Golden Gate University School of Law‘s Second Annual Veterans Law Conference: “Is there anything interesting and meaningful left to do in veteran’s law and policy? Haven’t we solved these issues?”

To many of the veterans in the audience, as well as students who counsel them through Golden Gate’s Veteran’s Legal Advocacy Clinic,  the answer to the second question is clearly no. And yes, answering the first question, there is much meaningful work to be done to help the nation’s 19.6 million veterans, many of whom suffer emotional or physical trauma, have experienced joblessness or homelessness and struggle to rejoin civilian communities. Continue reading →

STORIES: Yellow Ribbon Benefits for GI’s; Ex-Marine Advises Lawyers on Counseling Vets; Golden Gate Hosts Veterans Conference

The difference between affording law school and not for U.S. military veterans may be the breadth of “Yellow Ribbon.” That’s the GI Education Enhancement Program designed to pick up on tuition and fees where the post- 9/11 GI Bill leaves off.

“It’s a great program as long as you understand its limitations,” said Susan Hattan, a member of the governmental relations staff at the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Washington, D.C. “For example, not every U.S. school participates in Yellow Ribbon. Those that do may limit the number of students they’ll assist. They may limit their contribution, too. And for all participating institutions, Yellow Ribbon assistance is on a first-come, first-served basis regardless of financial need.” Continue reading →