If a high jumper lowers the bar to clear it, is that really an improvement? Call it the way you see it, but not everybody sees a lower bar as upward movement. On the other hand, Nevada lowered its cut score and the bar pass rate jumped almost 20 percent. “This shows significant improvement,” said Dan Hamilton, dean of the state’s only law school. California, with one of the highest cut scores, doesn’t necessarily see it that way....
It turns out that as well regarded as Case Western’s undergraduate university programs and medical programs are, people apparently are not exactly falling over themselves to prop up the reputation of Case Western Reserve School of Law. In fact, according to some, the law school has to rely on the rest of the institution to the tune of 35 percent for the law school’s operating budget. Case Western has not been insulated from the application woes that have plagued the law school industry these past few years....
Spring is a time for change and renewal, and the California Supreme Court will be experiencing both this year. One change you should be sure to note is the increase in filing fees for certain documents. Effective August 30, 2011, the filing fee will be $325 for the following documents, if they are the first document filed in the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court by a party other than the appellant or petitioner in a civil case:...
After 48 prank 911 calls, investigators finally caught on that Caryn Sodaro was probably crying wolf. Sodaro, a volunteer firefighter in Weld County Colorado, was arrested for making 48 phony 911 phone calls to county police dispatchers, according to the The Greeley Tribune. She was arrested following a four month investigation. Other times Sodaro reported that her mother had a heart attack and wasn’t breathing. She was arrested on suspicion of attempting to influence a public servant, false reporting and resisting arrest....
To get into a good law school, you not only need a high score on the LSAT and a decent undergrad GPA, you need some recommendations. At least two letters of recommendation, to be specific, one of which should probably be from a former professor. But as you run around begging others to sing your praises, then upload those praises to LSAC, you might wonder, is any of this worth it, when schools are much more likely to make their decision based on your hard numbers?...
In a perfect world, the teen in West Palm Beach who played doctor professionally and was recently criminally charged would be represented by the man accused of moonlighting as a lawyer in the local courts. But ours is not a perfect world, as evidenced by the fact that Paul Donahue posed as a lawyer in Florida after being arrested for impersonating an investigator in North Dakota. The claims about Donahue are made in a civil complaint filed against him in Palm Beach County Court last month....
By now, you’ve probably heard of the exceptionally honest college football players who rolled into a closed store and took off with several items, but dutifully left cash for the goods – with tax included. For once, you can say “kids these days” with a smile! It’s a super sweet story about “young ruffians” who aren’t actually ruffians at all. And yet, several media reports have coined the Honest Abes as “honest burglars” – which is legally inaccurate....
Who knew that a pair of stolen hookah pipes would lead police to a teen’s alleged pot growing operation? Police in Lincoln, Nebraska, stumbled upon the cannabis plants when they responded to a call about two hookah pipes that were stolen in an alleged armed robbery. The cost of the stolen hookahs: barely $35. But the look on the teens’ faces when police noticed a not-too-well-hidden indoor marijuana grow in their house?...
In a suit by a contractor against a defaulting subcontractor and two sureties on the subcontractor’s performance bond, summary judgment for sureties is affirmed where, under the agreement, even after declaring a default, plaintiff could have proceeded to remedy the default on its own only after it gave “reasonable notice” to defendants-sureties that it intended to do so, but it gave no such notice. Read Hunt Const. Grp., Inc. v. Nat’l....
Plenty of attorneys will slump in to work today, bleary-eyed, bloodshot, and with a slight ringing in their head. Sure, it’s the day after the Super Bowl, so that explains a bit of it. But for many lawyers, that’s just the regular start to their day. Lawyers are drunks. And there’s empirical proof of it, thanks to a forthcoming study on attorney substance abuse. A new study conducted by the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation (of Betty Ford Clinic fame) and the ABA proves what we’ve always known: lawyers drink a lot....
Juvenile court’s order finding a minor in violation of probation in connection with a sustained petition under Welfare and Institutions Code section 602 is affirmed as modified where: 1) the appeal is not moot regardless of the expiration of the minor’s camp commitment because his maximum period of physical confinement has not expired; and 2) the minor is entitled to credit for all actual time spent in custody in connection with either petition because his maximum period of physical confinement for the two section 602 petitions was aggregated....
In the spirit of Halloween in the crime fighting world, an artistic jack-o’-lantern has led police to an alleged graffiti tagger. According to police in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, a man’s decorations on a pumpkin were eerily similar to graffiti found on several properties in town, The Associated Press reports. Bo Wenger, 22, allegedly admitted to tagging the buildings and was arrested Wednesday. He now faces a charge of felony criminal mischief....
For years, people have overestimated lawyer salaries, lumping us in with the wealthy–the group of people that sleep on silk sheets and own two homes and a downtown apartment. Well, no longer. It’s time for lawyers everywhere to fight against this wholesale categorization–to let people know that most of us are not rich. And we have a lot of debt. And kind of crappy job prospects. As you may know, there is a lot of concern about the growing income disparity in America....
On Monday, Police in Cape Coral, Florida arrested Owen Lemire Kato, a man who shall henceforth be known as the McDonald’s Pimple Popper. The 23-year-old was allegedly standing near a McDonald’s entrance for at least 10 minutes while popping pimples on his back in a bid to gross out customers. No one is exactly sure what incited such a dermatological display. Or what anatomical deformity allows one to complete such a gruesome task....
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a Supreme Court nominee. This morning, President Obama put forth Merrick Garland, Chief Judge of the D.C. Circuit, as a potential replacement for the seat vacated more than a month ago, when Justice Antonin Scalia passed away. Garland is a moderate liberal, respected as a “brilliant” jurist by attorneys, judges, and politicians of all stripes. And in his nineteen years on the D.C. Circuit, he’s had plenty of time to build that reputation....
Petition for review by veterans organizations, involving a procedure promulgated by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs with respect to the determination of certain claims, is granted and the procedure of Fast Letters 07-19 and 08-24 is set aside where the procedure does not comply with the extant Regulations as certain regional office decisions are redetermined by the Compensation and Pension Service without the knowledge and participation of the claimant, and was not implemented in compliance with the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act....
The legal industry is not what it once was. Once upon a time, if you got hired by BigLaw, paid your dues and put your time in, you would likely make partner. Now, getting an associate position is hard enough, and making partner that much more. So what’s an associate to do? According to the American Bar Association Law Practice Magazine, the “up or out” policy – where associates either make it up to partner, or leave the firm, is no longer the leading model....
Drs. James Sherley and Theresa Deisher, the researchers who lost a challenge to government funding of embryonic stem cell research earlier this year, filed a notice of appeal this week with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The controversy at the center of the case started with President Barack Obama’s 2009 Executive Order 13505: Removing Barriers to Responsible Scientific Research Involving Human Stem Cells, stating that the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), may support and conduct responsible, scientifically worthy human stem cell research, including human embryonic stem cell research, to the extent permitted by law....
If you already hate law school, or might just be looking to enhance your hire-ability, potentially even outside of practicing law, you may be considering a dual JD/MBA program. However, like any choice you make in law school, there are going to be positive things to consider, and negative aspects to bear in mind. Below, you’ll find a brief list of three pros and three cons to help you decide whether you want to pursue that JD/MBA....
Jeff Sessions has resigned as attorney general, ending a term that has been chained to the Mueller investigation. If President Trump has his way, that investigation may soon be over as well. Shortly after tweeting a poll that shows the unpopularity of the investigation, Trump announced that Sessions was on the way out. Sessions, in his own statement, said the president showed him the door. It’s actually been open for some time....
