Dykema added a former AG to its roster in Michigan…

Two former Senatorsare joining forces at Arent Fox…

The number of part time lawyers in large firms is climbing…

And the ABA is considering allowing schools to not require the LSAT for admissions…

• Morning Roundup
• Morning Roundup
• Morning Update
• Morning Roundup
• Morning Update

Donald Polden, dean of Santa Clara University School of Law, said that ABA will most likely adopt the new proposition. “The committee reviewing the standards is leaning toward dropping the rule that law schools require J.D. applicants to take a ‘valid and reliable admission test.”

David Yellen, a member of the review committee and dean of Loyola University Chicago School of Law, explained that one of the principles behind the elimination of LSAT, which ABA committee is highly considering, is to give law schools more independence on their own admission policies. “Is taking a standardized test the only way to determine if someone should be able to go to law school? Schools ought to be able to decide how they want to admit students.” Yellen added that regardless of ABA’s recommendation, he believes that most law schools would still support the administration of LSAT as a requirement in admissions. “I believe that most schools would continue to require the LSAT, in part because it is the most reliable way to measure applicants against each other and make merit-based financial aid decisions.”

The members of the US legal community have varying reactions and predictions over the latest industry news. Some said that those established law schools will continue to require LSAT while some may adopt the new option, especially those newly opened law schools which are in need of students. As of today, ABA committee is still reviewing the new proposal.

• Mainstream Media and Law School
• Law School Problems
• Employment Rate for Law Graduates Dives to 15 Year Low
• April is a Good Month for the Legal Industry with 1,500 New Jobs Added
• ABA’s Loan Relief Proposal for Law Graduates Rejected by Congress

About 12 percent of respondents said they would postpone applying until placement rates improved and 4 percent said they would not apply to law school.

Other notable findings from the survey:

–44 percent of respondents said a reasonable desired base salary upon graduation to be $75,000-$100,000; 29 percent expect $100,000-$145,000; and 11 percent anticipate base salaries over $145,000.

–Location was the most important factor in selecting a law school among 69 percent of applicants. Career placement rates was important to 62 percent; and, perhaps most interestingly, 37 percent of respondents indicated that prestige and ranking was not important.

–Affordability was important to 54 percent of respondents and only 37 percent anticipate having law school debt of over $100,000.

The survey was conducted in conjunction with Law School Podcaster and Pre-Law Magazine. Research was conducted in June and July of this year.

• Morning Roundup
• Morning Roundup
• Law School Admissions Officers Survey Tells Prospective Students How To Prepare
• Most Brit Law Students Still Plan Legal Careers
• ABA Tells Judge not to Overrule Denial of Duncan School of Law

Though job prospects may be shrinking and the amount of students growing, candidates still planning on applying for law school should do the utmost to stand out in the admissions process.  Of law school admissions officers, 64% rank LSAT scores as the most important factor when screening applications.  And, to boot, 73% of those surveyed believe more financial aid is available to those with high LSAT scores.  Only 23% of law admissions officers deem undergraduate grade point averages to be more important than LSAT scores.

Surveyors also mention letters of recommendation possibly ruining a student’s chances at enrollment.  In fact, 15% of those surveyed find negative recommendation letters to be the most influential when throwing out a candidate.  Of those surveyed, 87% say they have received negative letters, suggesting that students need to more carefully consider the judgment of those they would choose to write recommendations.

• Morning Roundup
• Morning Update
• Law School Applicants Remain Bullish Despite Tight Job Market
• Law School Grade Inflation Grows in Popularity
• Pre-Law Students Confident in Job Prospects, Survey Says

In one example, recorded in emails obtained by the paper, University of Illinois Chancellor Richard Herman coerced the law school in accepting an unqualified applicant backed by then-Governor Rod Blagojevich. The governor’s representative promised Herman that in exchange, five law school graduates would get jobs.

In other emails, Law School Dean Heidi Hurd insisted that the law firms hire the graduates regardless of academic performance.

Governor Pat Quinn has called for a state commission to investigate the University of Illinois admissions process, after the Chicago Tribune reported that more than 800 undergraduate applicants in the last five years received special consideration because they were backed by University trustees and legislators.

The University of Illinois College of Law is the law school of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the flagship campus of the public University of Illinois university system. The College is located in Champaign, Illinois. It is ranked 23rd in the nation for 2009 by US News & World Report.

UPDATE

Law School Dean Heidi Hurd issued this statement:

Contrary to recent headlines, the [University of Illinois] College of Law did not seek or receive any jobs from anyone in exchange for the admission of students. It did not enter into a “jobs-for-entry scheme” or engage in quid-pro-quo exchanges of admissions favors for employment favors. Indeed, it takes very little to make clear that the employment challenges of students who are not academically successful could never be overcome by anyone’s promises to furnish the College with job opportunities, as the recently published exchanges should have made clear. While my sarcasm was clearly lost on the tin ears of some, my e-mail exchanges in response to queries about this were on their face facetious.

Also, a group of UI law professors has published a nine page letter disputing the charges.

• University of Illinois Law School Scandal – the Bill is Due
• McKool Smith Hires 5 Lawyers in New York City
• Illinois Legislature to Consider Blagojevich Impeachment
• Fitzgerald: Blagojevich’s “conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave”
• Blagojevich Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison

The University of Miami School of Law is asking incoming 1L students invited to start in the Fall to defer their entry into the law school until Fall 2010.

Students who accept the offer will get a $5000 Public Interest Deferral Scholarship for the 2010-11 academic year, if they complete 120 hours of public service by June 2010. This is in addition to any other scholarship money.

Deferred students will also have a greater chance of receiving a $75,000 Miami Scholars Scholarship award; and will be first considered for all 2010 scholarships.

The University of Miami School of Law, founded in 1926, is one of the top 100 law schools in the United States. According to US News & World Report, the school is ranked 71st among all law schools, with its tax law program ranked 6th in the nation. The law school was ranked 26th overall in the annual 2009 Judging the Law Schools rankings.

The UM School of Law is located on the campus of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, just 6 miles southeast of Miami.

• University of Miami Law School Offers Deferrals to Incoming 1Ls
• Harvard Law Reduces Summer Job Requirement
• Law School to Allow Select Students to Apply Without LSATs
• NFB Files Complaints Against 9 Law Schools for Violating Civil Rights of Blind Law School Applicants
• Mintz Levin Defers Start Dates — Again

The Tuscaloosa-based law school says it is “streamlining” the admissions process for the Alabama Honors College students.

To be eligible, the students must be Alabama residents and have an undergraduate GPA of at least 3.75.

Those Honors College students who want to be eligible for a scholarship will still have to provide an LSAT score.

• University of Miami Law to Defer Incoming Students
• Morning Update
• Law School Admissions Officers Survey Tells Prospective Students How To Prepare
• Harvard Law Reduces Summer Job Requirement
• Harvard Dedicates Bathroom to William Falik

According to dean Patrick Monahan, the Canadian law school is “investigating additional verification measures that could be put in place to detect cases of fraud in the admission process.”

The measures come after Osgoode student Quami Frederick was revealed to have used a degree purchased from a diploma mill on the Internet to get accepted into the program in 2006.

More recently, Frederick submitted photocopies of transcripts in which her Osgoode Hall marks were inflated when she successfully applied for an articling job at Toronto’s Wildeboer Dellelce LLP.

Frederick, 28, is now facing an Osgoode Hall disciplinary hearing that she expects will result in her expulsion. The law firm has withdrawn its job offer.

Frederick was one of 290 students admitted to Osgoode in 2006 from a pool of more than 2,500 applicants. Her credentials included a purported BS in Business Administration degree from St. George’s University in Grenada in 2000.

A phone call to Grenada in the West Indies three years ago would have revealed that Frederick was never a student at St. George’s.

Frederick’s name is on a list of bogus-degree buyers compiled by US Homeland Security and Secret Service agents who took down a Washington State diploma mill in 2005.

St. Regis University, which ran for six years under dozens of bogus names, sold more than 10,000 degrees worldwide through the Internet.

Via The Toronto Star. Also here.

• Law School Admissions Officers Survey Tells Prospective Students How To Prepare
• Fraser Milner Casgrain Internship Aids Immigrant Lawyers
• Prosecutor: $380 Million Lost in Dreier Fraud
• Is ‘Fracking’ A Dirty Word? Pavillion, Wyoming Residents Think So
• Wal-Mart in Compliance with Foreign Corrupt Practices Act?