Author: Kevin R Johnson
-
PreLaw Weekly (National Jurist): Top law schools for international law
Here the PreLaw Weekly top 10 law schools for international law. School Name Honor Roll Albany Law School B+ Berkeley Law A+ Boston University A- Brigham Young University A Cardozo School of Law A+ Case Western Reserve U. A+ DePaul University A Florida International University B+ Fordham University A+ George Washington University A-
-
Dan Rodriguez: ABA accreditation reform: Who are the real stakeholders?
The future of American Bar Association accreditation of law schools is uncertain. Dan Rodriguez in this piece on his Substack looks at the stakeholders in accreditation reform in the wake of the Council of the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar ’s recent rescission of its diversity standard in the face…
-
A Law School Class on the Crimes of Jeffrey Epstein?
Although he is long gone, Jeffrey Epstein’s conduct has gripped the nation for many months. What about a law school course focusing on the legal issues surrounding his criminal activities? There certainly are enough legal issues to cover in a course. Epstein’s accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted on federal sex trafficking charges and is currently…
-
Top 25 Law Schools by Tuition
Public Legal has a list of law schools by tuition. Here are the top 25 (tuition and room and board): 1 Columbia University NY $85,368 $31,554 2 Cornell University NY $84,722 $32,952 3 U. of Southern California CA $84,034 $32,298 4 New York University NY $83,952 $36,094 5 Georgetown University DC $83,576 $33,905 6 U.…
-
Should Law Schools Ban IPhones etc. from Classrooms?
Earlier this is month, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed a bill (House Bill 4141) into law to ban cell phones in K-12 classrooms. In the 2026-27 school year, the bill will ban students from using any “wireless communications device” on school grounds during instructional time. School boards have discretion to implement additional restrictions. A few years…
-
Princeton Review: Best Law School Professors
The Princeton Review’s 2025 Best Law School rankings for appear below. The best professor rankings are based on law student ratings of their professors’ teaching abilities and their accessibility outside the classroom. 1 University of Virginia – School of Law, 923 Full-Time Enrollment 2 Duke University – School of Law, 682 Full-Time Enrollment 3 Vanderbilt University –…
-
As immigration operations continue, legal education is a form of self-defense
I have blogged before about the possible impacts on law schools and universities of the controversy over the Trump administration’s fervent dedication to immigration enforcement. This article (and here) triggered more general thoughts about education about the law in our current immigration climate. It begins: “As ICE continues crackdown in Minnesota, legal education is a…
-
Derek Mueller: The law school JD transfer market is drying up–why?
As a former dean who worried about the downward trend in J.D. transfer applications, I read Derek Mueller’s analysis (“The law school JD transfer market is drying up–why?”) with great interest. His brief explanation of the factors explaining the dip over several years: The rankings calculus has changed. Stronger demand among applicants. Lower demand among…
-
Juris Education’s Top 10 Law Schools for Family Law
Harvard Law School #1 Columbia Law School #2 DePaul University College of Law #3 Indiana University Maurer School of Law #4 NYU School of Law #5 University of Michigan Law School #6 Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University #7 Drake University Law School #8 Emory University School of Law #9 University of…
-
Jay Adkisson: AI Can Replace Law Schools And Should
In this commentary in Forbes, Jay Adkisson reviews the various problems in legal education and concludes that “there is every reason to move legal education to AI learning and no compelling reasons not to do it.” (bold added). Powerful stuff indeed! What is the future of law professors?
-
Happy Valentine’s Day! Students Finding Valentines in Law School
Happy Valentine’s Day! Last year, University of California, San Francisco College of the Law ran a news story (“Valentine’s Day 2024: UC Law SF Celebrates Couples Who Found Love at Law School“) profiling four couples who found love in law school. As the story goes, “[t]here’s more to law school than learning doctrine and case…
-
Are Adequate Steps Being taken to Limit Cheating on the LSAT?
The TaxProf Blog has posted about recent reports of Law School Admissions Test cheating. Remote testing has been put to an end (and here). Reuters has reported that “[a] Chinese student now studying at a Texas law school told Reuters in August that he warned the council about proliferating offers on Chinese language social media…
-
Most cited books on American constitutional law since WWII (according to Google Scholar)
I like lists and some rankings. This list from Leiter Reports: Law Philosophy Blog (“Most cited books on American constitutional law since WWII (according to Google Scholar)”) got my attention. The top 10: I would have guessed the top 2. And the next 8 do not surprise me. It is striking that there are no…
-
Best law schools for practical training
Everyone seems curious about law school rankings. Last March, National Jurist ranked the “Best law schools for practical training.” These were the top 10: 1 Northeastern University A+ 11 54.8 Yes Yes 287.9 95 0.53 4 2 Baylor University A+ 12 24.3 Yes 19.6 27 4.75 68 3 University of St. Thomas – Mn. A+…
-
Trump administration drops appeal to court finding that anti-DEI funding threats violate the First Amendment
As we all know, the Trump administration has taken actions against universities, corporations, and law firms because of their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and programs. It therefore is somewhat surprising to me that a recent court development received relatively little press attention. As the Associated Press reported, the Trump administration dropped its appeal…
-
Has Legal Education Lost Its Way?
Kevin Frazier in short piece in Reason offers food for thought about reform of legal education, a hot topic in light all of what is going on in the world (including AI, political and economic turbulence), universities and law schools, and the legal profession. Frazier’s thesis: “Legal education has lost its way. Its primary purpose…
-
Top Entertainment Law Schools
The National Jurist’s preLaw magazine has released its ranking of the best law schools for entertainment law. These are the law schools that earned A+, A, and A- grades for their entertainment law programs:
-
ChatGPT: Controversies in Legal Education
I am slow to all things technical. But, unsure about what I might blog about, I did a ChatGPT query to give me an idea for blog posts. Here is what I got: “Here’s a concise overview of the main controversies surrounding legal education, especially in the U.S. (many apply elsewhere too): 1. Cost vs.…
-
From the Bookshelves: The War on Tenure by Deepa Das Acevedo (2025)
The tenure of university faculty has come under attack in recent years. As the attacks continue, this Cambridge University Press book by Deepa Das Acevedo should be of interest to tenured and tenure track faculty members and university leaders in the United States — if not the world. The book has received positive reviews. Here…
-
Self-Care for Law Professors –“Care Corner” (A Series): REST!
One of my fellow bloggers on the ImmigrationProf blog, Kit Johnson, has started a regular feature called “Care Center” for self-care for immigration law professors. It is hard to think of many more stressful areas of law today than immigration law. I get stressed out from just keeping up with current developments. See, e.g., here.…
-
From the Bookshelves: The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly (2025)
I love legal thrillers. If you do too and need a distraction, check out The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly (2025). Very enjoyable! Here is the publisher’s description: “From #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly, the Lincoln Lawyer is back with a case against an AI company whose product may have been responsible for the murder…
-
Podcast: Campus Speech and Academic Freedom, A Guide for Difficult Times
Check out the University of California National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement podcast Campus Speech and Academic Freedom, A Guide for Difficult Times. In the new season of the SpeechMatters podcast, host Michelle Deutchman speaks with Center Co-chairs Howard Gillman, Chancellor of UC Irvine, and Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of Berkeley Law, about their…
-
From the Bookshelves: – The Diversity Principle: The Story of a Transformative Idea by David B. Oppenheimer (Yale University Press, 2025)
With the Supreme Court’s prohibition of race-conscious affirmative action and the Trump administration’s efforts to end diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, universities and law schools have been rethinking academic, student, and related programs. As we think through the issues, we have a new resource, law professor David Oppenheimer (UC Berkeley)’s very timely book, The Diversity…
-
Immigration Law, Law Schools, and the “Trump Bump”
I cannot resist posting on the TaxProf Blog on the topic of immigration law, law schools, and the “Trump bump.” The Trump administration kept immigration in the daily news in 2025. As an aside, I just completed teaching an Immigration and the Supreme Court one week course at the University of Cincinnati College of Law…
-
Ready for the US News Rankings?!?
Above the Law and others (here and here) have been priming the pump for controversy over the upcoming U.S. News law school rankings. Professor Derek Muller has released his updated projections for the 2026-2027 U.S. News law school rankings, which also has stirred the rankings pot. Our own Paul Caron had his own projections last May…