Author: Jeremy Paul
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New Landscape for Student Loans
Long before the federal government took over student loans, the nonprofit organization now known as AccessLex Institute®, has been active in helping students finance their legal education. One tool AccessLex provides free of charge is a Student Loan Calculator, which helps students evaluate borrowing options and potential repayment plans. Now that calculator has been updated
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Training Judges about the Social Determinants of Health
Many of us no doubt recall the highly influential training of judges on law and economics sponsored by the Olin Foundation, described here. My colleague at Northeastern, Wendy Parmet, wisely spotted the need for a similar program acquainting judges with key issues in public health. Better still, she has founded such a program, dubbed Salus
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Did Trump Official Go Too Far?
First Amendment Watch reports how the Office of Disciplinary Counsel of the D.C. Bar has accused Ed Martin, the former interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, of potential misconduct based on a letter he sent to Georgetown Law Dean William Treanor threatening not to hire any Georgetown students unless Georgetown ceased all DEI
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No Holds Barred for DOJ Attorneys
Deborah Pearlstein, Director of Princeton’s Law and Public Affairs Program and a visiting Professor of Law at the University, offers in the NYTimes an important critique of the Trump Administration’s efforts to exempt DOJ attorneys from disciplinary investigations or punishment conducted by state bars. She portrays this as a dangerous power grab from Washington. She
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Book of the Week
Our success as law teachers depends heavily on the level of preparation our students have achieved before arriving in our classrooms. So it’s worth our while to learn from acknowledged national leaders in public education about what’s happening in schools across the country. Randi Weingarten, longtime head of the American Federation of Teachers, offers us
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Bar Passage Rates Still Climbing
ABA Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar announced this week further increases in bar passage rates both for first time takers (84.1% in 2025 vs. 83.02% in 2024) and for the ultimate bar passage rate (passage within 2 years). Class of 2023 hit 92.15% compared to 90.52% for the Class of 2022.
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Good News in New Mexico
Three cheers for Eric and Dana Marie Knapp who have generously contributed $4.5 million to the University of New Mexico Law School to support student scholarships. KQRE news has the story. Those in the Land of Enchantment should know that there’s be an event to celebrate the gift on May 7 at 5:00 p.m. Hat
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Book of the Week
The mysteries of law firm operations and the keys to success are for most law students (and many professors) a big black box. So it’s nice to see that some who have scaled the heights of what we now call Big Law have proved willing to share lessons with the rest of us in this
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The Personal is still Political
Stephanie Thompson, Instructional Professor of Law at Texas A&M Law School, treats us to aninteresting analysis of the phenomenon now referred to as microfeminism, a term she tells us has garnered one billion views on Tik Tok. The idea is that women can be lifted up through small actions that redirect or alter personal interactions.
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Beyond the Best and Brightest
Expanding on a story in Above the Law, Judd Legum reports how Liberty Law School is openly recruiting interns for the Department of Labor with postings that suggest alignment with President Trump and hard work are all that’s necessary. Strong GPA’s not required. [Posting below.] There may be more to the story but if it’s
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Book of the Week
Offering something slightly out of the ordinary this week, a children’s book, Just Shine: How to be a Better You. It’s an uplifting story written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor that was inspired by her mother’s gift for making others around her glow more brightly. I had the privilege this week of hearing the Justice describe
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Alternative Paths to Licensure Engender Revisions to ABA Standards
Wisconsin’s diploma privilege and New Hampshire’s Daniel Webster Scholars program are inspiring additional states to consider paths to bar admission other than the bar exam. In light of this development, the ABA’s requirement concerning 75% pass rate on the bar exam no longer fully reflects the extent to which law schools are succeeding at preparing
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ABA EDGES TOWARD AXING DIVERSITY REQUIREMENT
Having already suspended its accreditation rule requiring law schools to demonstrate a commitment to diversity in admissions, student recruitment and programming, the ABA Council took the next step in potentially eliminating the rule altogether when the Council voted, pending a notice and comment period, to suspend the rule through August 2027.. Final decision is expected
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Book of the Week
Today’s lengthy debates among the Supreme Court Justices about the parameters and wisdom of the major questions doctrine has me eager to tackle this forthcoming monograph, Last Branch Standing, from longtime court watcher Sarah Isgur. She promises to teach us lessons about the relationships among the justices and offer insights about court processes and deliberations.
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Ilya Somin Prevails in Tariffs Case
Congrats to Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at George Mason who led the charge in litigation leading to today’s Supreme Court decision by Chief Justice Roberts invalidating President Trump’s efforts to use the International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose broad tariffs worldwide. Prof. Somin’s account on the Volokh Conspiracy is here. The Court’s
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Tim Wu on Ezra Klein
Don’t miss Timothy Wu, Julius Silver Professor of Law, Science and Technology as a featured guest on the Feb. 26 episode of the Ezra Klein podcast to discuss his new book The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity. Ezra Klein and Professor Wu are joined by Cory
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New ABA Rule on Representing Clients with Decision-Making Limitations
On Feb. 9, ABA Adopted New Ethics Rules aimed at modernizing how attorneys are expected to represent clients with decision making limitations. Syracuse Distinguished Professor of Law, Nina Kohn, who played a key leadership role in achieving needed reforms, writes about some of the changes in Forbes and outlines, with Charlie Sabatino, the improved approach
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Accelerated JD/MBA Redux
Contrary to one of my earlier posts, I have learned that Southwestern Law School and the Drucker School of Management have been operating an accelerated JD/MBA program in Los Angeles since 2010. The National Jurist covered the announcement here. This information suggests the the brand new, similar program, at USC is the second such program
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Book of the Week
John Fabian Witt, Allen H. Duffy Class of 1960 Professor of Law and Professor of History at Yale brings us The Radical Fund: How a Band of Visionaries and a Million Dollars Upended America, which tells the tale of how a young heir, Charles Garland, used his fortune to found the American Fund for Public
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Law for Influencers
A few years back I was taking a friend’s son, age 17, on a tour of Northeastern. I asked him what he was looking for in a college. He told me he wanted a place that would help him build his brand. I guess he was ahead of his time. “Influencing” now seems to be
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Penny Andrews Honored
The AALS Section on Women in Legal Education is hosting its annual conference at Boston University, today, Feb. 13. The full program is here. Last night’s opening dinner and panels celebrated and honored the work of Penny Andrews, John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law and Director of the Racial Justice Project at New York
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Fast Track JD/MBA at USC
USC announces first accelerated JD/MBA program on the West Coast. Students can earn both degrees in only three years, and applications are now being accepted for Fall 2026. See press release here. Speed to graduation seems to be taking hold elsewhere as well as the Mass Board of Higher Ed voted this past Tuesday to
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Forum on ABA Accreditation
Next Tuesday, Feb. 10, at 2:00 p.m. EST The Federalist Society will host a virtual forum on states’ moving away from ABA Accreditation. You can find details and register here. Featured speakers are Prof. Derek T. Muller, Professor of Law, Notre Dame Law School Prof. Daniel B. Rodriguez, Harold Washington Professor of Law, Northwestern University Pritzker
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Book of the Week
Jamila Michener, Assoc. Prof. of Govt. and Public Policy at Cornell and Mallory E. SoRelle , Tony and Teddie Brown Prof. of Public Policy at Duke have penned Uncivil Democracy (Princeton Univ. Press). Despite our country’s significant investment in civil litigation as a way to pursue justice, the authors argue, the court system is more
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Faculty under Surveillance
NYTimes reports faculty across the country becoming increasingly concerned about university and government surveillance of classroom comments and syllabi in an effort to enforce political agendas from above. The full report is here