JD Journal » Santa Clara University School of Law

American Bar Association to Kill LSAT?

marvins — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 15:05:10 +0000

The American Bar Association, the biggest voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in the world, is now reviewing the possibility of making the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) an optional requirement rather than mandatory for law school admissions. The National Law Journal reported that the ABA committee is currently looking at the feasibility of the option.

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.

Saturday Morning Attorneys

julie — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 18:10:06 +0000

Last year we reported that Santa Clara University Law School was holding open houses in the virtual world of Second Life. Attorneys will soon be able to get their Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits there as well. Jones Walker , under the guidance of Carol Thomas, has established a presence in the ViO office park located in Second Life. Thomas, who is the firm’s Chief Marketing Officer, has this to say about the new project: ”There is no end to the opportunities that could be explored in this space. We just need to be willing to rethink the usual assumptions, and look at ways to use the tools offered in Second Life to reach new markets, new clients, and reduce the costs of being physically present in the real world.”

The physical appearance of a law firm office has some impact on how much a client trusts and is willing to pay his attorney. One wonders if clients will be willing to pay exorbitant legal fees for meeting with attorneys who look like cartoons.

K&L Gates Brings on Partners

Erik Even — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:39:32 +0000

Charles D. Holland joins K&L Gates from Morrison & Foerster as a partner in the Palo Alto office. He focuses on intellectual property matters. He has extensive experience in patent prosecution, portfolio review and strategic advice, ex-parte and inter-partes reexaminations, interferences, non-infringement and invalidy analyses and opinions, due diligence reviews for companies and investors, pre-litigation and litigation analyses and assistance, and design-around analyses and advice.

His JD is from the Santa Clara University School of Law.

Vincent Pisano joins from Paul Hastings as a partner in New York. He focuses on securities and mergers & acquisitions matters. He has significant experience representing corporations and investment banks in their public and private offerings, US & international transactions, initial public offerings, high yield debt offerings, special product development and leveraged buyout and other acquisition financings.

He is a graduate of the St. John’s University School of Law.

K&L Gates LLP is a US law firm with over 1700 attorneys worldwide, and is ranked as the 10th largest law firm in the world.

Virtual Law Partners Hires Four Attorneys

Erik Even — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:07:57 +0000

Virtual Law Partners, which hired five new partners four weeks ago, has this week brought on four new partners for its commercial lending and intellectual property practices.

David Lawson joins from Troutman Sanders, where he was a partner, to chair Virtual Law’s commercial lending practice. He earned his JD from the University of Southern California Law Center.

Janyce Mitchell joins from Strategic Patent Group, where she was a vice president. She received her JD from the UC Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law, and her MS and C. Phil in Physics from the University of California, San Diego.

Stephen Sullivan also joins from Strategic Patent, where he was president. He will focus on patent prosecution for software companies. His JD is from the Santa Clara University School of Law.

David Roise joins from Ropes & Gray, where he was an associate. He is a former assistant professor of biochemistry and cellular biology at UC San Diego. He specializes in patent law. He earned his Ph.D in biochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his JD from Stanford Law School.

Founded in 2008, Virtual Law Partners is a distributed, web-based law firm that goes beyond the constraints of brick & mortar law firms to provide legal services at rates lower than those of conventional law firms. Powered by a digital infrastructure, VLP eliminates costly physical offices and minimizes environmental impact, while significantly lowering administrative costs and overhead.

Greenberg Traurig Lawyer Founds Autism Lobbying Group

Erik Even — Fri, 08 May 2009 23:08:35 +0000

Gretchen Jacobs has left the Phoenix office of Greenberg Traurig, to set up her own autism lobbying group.

Jacobs has an autistic daughter, and has been widely noted for her advocacy for autism research.

She joined Greenberg Traurig in 2004 as part of the national governmental affairs practice. She got her law degree at the Santa Clara University School of Law in 1995. Her legal training included study at Oxford University in England.

Law School to Hold Open House in Second Life

Erik Even — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:44:35 +0000

Santa Clara University School of Law is holding an open house in the virtual world of Second Life today.

Visitors to Second Life, an Internet-based universe where users create characters and interact in virtual, user-created locations, will travel virtually to Santa Clara Island to see the school.

The event is designed to attract potential students and emphasize the law school’s close ties with the technology industry in the Silicon Valley area of California.

Hosting the two-hour event, that begins at 6 pm PST, time is Jeanette Leach, dean of admissions. She will attend as her own self-created avatar, Penny Canucci. Second Life residents can tour the school and see a video of Dean Donald Polden as himself, not an avatar. Visitors also can ask admissions staff questions and get information about applying to the school.

Second Life was created in 2003, and enables its “residents” to socialize, and to buy and sell virtual property for real cash as avatars.

Second Life. Also this.