Author: Austen Parrish
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LSAC Update on In-Person Testing
Yesterday, LSAC provided an update on the return to in-person testing. While the LSAT will be offered in August, September, October, November, January, February, April, and June (as well as the LSAT-Puerto Rico in February), LSAC will require “in-person testing for the LSAT, starting with the August 2026 test, with only limited exceptions for test…
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Educational Series Focused on Safeguarding Professional Independence
Thanks to Jim Greif for a nice story in AALS Lens on the recently concluded AALS webinar series on professional independence and the legal profession. The six webinars were organized by seven law schools, and the recordings for all six sessions in the series can be found on the AALS website and YouTube Channel. Here is…
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AI and Legal Education
A thoughtful piece by Dean Danielle Conway (Penn State Dickinson Law), Dean Richard Moberly (Univ. of Nebraska College of Law) and AALS Executive Director Kellye Testy in Bloomberg Law. A small excerpt: AI adoption has serious risks, including lack of transparency, the importance of disclosure, and disparate economic impact. But the truth, and the landscape…
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Law School Dean Appointments and Reappointments
A flurry of law school dean appointments and reappointments have occurred over the last month. Some of these announcements have been reported before on this blog, but from April alone this includes: And significant coverage continues over the controversial appointment at the University of Kentucky of Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove over the law faculty’s objections.…
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All Those A.I. Note Takers? They’re Making Lawyers Very Nervous.
A recent piece from the New York Times. Does sharing a meeting with an AI bot/AI note taker void the attorney-client privilege, rendering otherwise privileged conversations discoverable? From the article: “In February, Judge Jed S. Rakoff of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that the transcripts generated with the Claude…
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AALS and LSAC Launch Before the JD II
AALS and LSAC have partnered to launch a new major research study on undergraduates, with findings expected by the end of 2027. From the announcement on AALS Lens: [T]he Association of American Law Schools (AALS) and the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) have launched Before the JD II, a major research initiative designed to illuminate how undergraduates make decisions about law…
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The National Jurist: Best Legal Shows to Watch
A recent article from The National Jurist might be helpful to law faculty and students looking to justify Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV, Prime Video, etc. subscriptions. “Some legal shows offer a close look at real practice, ethics and courtroom strategy. Others lean into drama, humor or high-stakes storytelling. Both can offer insight into the profession.”…
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Decrease in Lateral Hiring at Law Schools
Drawing from data collected by Sarah Lawsky, Brian Leiter notes the following on his blog: This year, the laterals list has about thirty moves, while last year there were more than 100! I assume this is an effect of the Trump war on universities, and the funding uncertainties it created, so that there was less money for hires. Professor…
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Political Pressure and Attacks on Medical Schools
The political interference in medical schools is similar to some of the political attacks on law schools. An article from Insider Higher Ed from yesterday questions whether “bowing to political pressure” will “hurt the future of public health, research and higher education.” “I’m not aware of there ever being such a wholesale attack on medical…
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2026 Top 50 Go-To Law Schools: Big Law
Law.com has their annual listing of the Top 50 “Go-To” Law Schools: Big Law. As described on the website: “Big Law report ranks the top 50 law schools by percentage of 2025 juris doctor graduates who took associate positions at the largest 200 firms as identified in The National Law Journal’s annual survey of the…
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2025 Law School Applicants Skyrocket
A recent piece in Law.com about the surge in law school applications last year (continuing this year). The number of law school applicants in 2025 increased by 18% compared to the previous year to reach 76,500, reflecting the single greatest year-over-year increase in applicants since 2004, as interest in the legal field continues to boom,…
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NextGen Bar Exam – Some Resources
Starting this summer, we’ll see the first group of jurisdiction begin using the NextGen Bar Exam. The first group of jurisdictions–Connecticut, Guam, Idaho, Maryland, Missouri, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Palau, Virgin Islands, and Washington–will begin using the NextGen Bar Exam this July. And then another group of jurisdictions–Arizona, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North…
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Jumping at the Chance to Work in Clinics
A nice article on the ABA Law Student Division’s webpage on why students should “jump at the chance” to work in law school clinics and “some key reasons to consider participating in a clinic or experiential program at your law school.” “Picture this: you’re a law student, but you’re also a member of a legal…
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Summer Global Legal Education
Terrific discussion from the ABA Section on International Law on “Models of Summer Global Legal Education Programs.” You can find the video and panel discussion on the ABA website. In the video, “law school education leaders join to discuss models of summer international law education experiences around the globe.” Led by Carole Silver (Northwestern Univ.…
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AALS Webinar – Part 5 (Professional Independence and the Legal Profession)
Looking forward to today’s Webinar hosted by Indiana University Bloomington’s Maurer School of Law and the Stewart Center on the Global Legal Profession – “At a Crossroads: U.S. Anti-Corruption Policy and the Changing Landscape of International Enforcement.” The webinar begins at 6pm ET (3pm PST). It’s not too late to register and join. Videos of…
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Best Law Schools for Practical Training (2026)
National Jurist has updated their annual Best Schools for Practical Training Honor Roll. You can find the 2025 list from a post earlier this year. The new list, which was released April 9th, explains the methodology: To determine our Best Schools for Practical Training Honor Roll, we looked at the number of students each school…
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Rankings: Graduate Employment in Bar Required (FT, LT) Jobs
While attention has been devoted to USNWR’s annual rankings, Internet Legal Research Group has released its 2026 Law School rankings that allow you to sort and rank law schools using ABA data. You can also “build your own rankings.” Here, for example, are the top 30 schools listed by “percentage of graduates in long-term, full-time…
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Salkin & Rosenblum: “The Challenge to ABA Accreditation…”
A new article from Patricia Salkin and Gabrielle Rosenblum: “The Challenge to ABA Accreditation of Legal Education and Its Impact on Licensing of Lawyers.” While it was published in the New York State Bar Journal (Spring 2026) (pp. 16-20), you can find a copy on SSRN. From the article: A long-standing system of accreditation for…
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Amicus Briefs Supporting Targeted Law Firms
Significant coverage last week of the many amicus briefs filed in support of law firms that successfully challenged the constitutionality of executive orders targeting law firms for their representations of clients and causes disfavored by the current federal administration (i.e., Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, Susman Godfrey, and WilmerHale). For examples, see Abigail Adcox, Few…
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“Worldwide Tally” of Legal Decisions Involving AI Hallucinations
Damien Charlotin, from Science Po Law School and HEC Paris, has “a database [that] tracks legal decisions in cases where generative AI produced hallucinated content – typically fake citations, but also other types of AI-generated arguments.” You can find the database at this link. The database was recently highlighted in a story by NPR. Last year…
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2026 QS World University Rankings: Law and Legal Studies
QS World University rankings have released their 2026 rankings of universities for law and legal studies. Below are the top ten in the world. On the next page are the top 25 in the United States. Ranking University 1 Harvard University 2 University of Oxford 3 University of Cambridge 4 Yale University 5 Stanford University…
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New Law Student Loan Programs
From Inside Higher Ed – more on how law schools are responding to the new student loan legislation that goes into effect on July 1. Two law schools are launching new loan programs to help close funding gaps created by new limits to federal graduate student loans. The University of Kansas and Washington University in St. Louis both plan…
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Innovative Teaching – Magic: The Gathering
From a recent piece in the ABA Journal describing a new court at the University of Iowa College of Law that will be based on a card game. In the popular fantasy card game Magic: The Gathering, players act as wizards who cast spells that summon creatures to defeat their opponents in strategic combat while…
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Cross-Admit Rankings
I previously noted some of the many rankings that exist for law schools (Law School Rankings Season, Feb. 25, 2026). Another one that recently was shared with me are rankings based on cross-admit decisions. Law School Data (LSD.com) has rankings that are described as “built from 136,000+ real cross-admit decisions across 135 schools.” The data…