Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Legal Ed News
-
Dayton Appoints Law Dean
The University of Dayton has named Christopher Roederer dean of the University of Dayton School of Law. Roederer has served as the school’s interim dean since January 2025. Roederer joined the School of Law as a professor teaching torts, constitutional law, criminal procedure, remedies, statutory interpretation, and international and comparative law in 2018. He also…
-
Law Professors Are Too Old
Chronicle of Higher Education Op-Ed: Professors Are Too Old, by Samuel Moyn (Yale; Author, Gerontocracy in America: How the Old Are Hoarding Power and Wealth―and What to Do About It (2026)): I work at Yale Law School. Its faculty was dramatically transformed by the elimination of retirement coupled with the extension of lifespans. In the…
-
ABA: Law Schools Can Satisfy Accreditation Standard 303(c) By Criticizing DEI
Daniel Thies (Chair, Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar), U.S. Law Schools Have Diverse Takes on DEI (Wall Street Journal Letter to the Editor (Apr. 23, 2026)): I’d like to clarify a few points relevant to your editorial “How the ABA Spreads DEI in Law Schools” (April 17).…
-
2026-27 U.S. News Omnibus Specialty Rankings v. Overall Rankings
Following up on yesterday’s post, 2026-27 U.S. News Omnibus Specialty Rankings: Here are the law schools whose U.S. News Omnibus Specialty Ranking most exceeds their overall U.S. News Ranking: School Specialty Rank Overall Rank Difference 1 American 33 108 +75 2 Santa Clara 77 150 +73 3 Illinois-Chicago 108 167 +59 4 Suffolk 71 128…
-
Cult of Pedagogy: PD is Getting So Much Better!!
Jennifer Gonzalez (Cult of Pedagogy), PD is Getting So Much Better!! (March 4, 2018). With the rapid change to the NextGen Bar Exam (even California seem to be moving that way!), law professors and deans have started thinking hard about how to provide Professional Development (PD) for faculty as we change our teaching and assessment…
-
2026-27 U.S. News Omnibus Specialty Rankings
The new 2026-27 U.S. News Specialty Rankings include the rankings for 13 specialty programs at 195 law schools. Here are the Top 100 law schools, determined by giving equal weight to each of the 13 separate specialty rankings: School 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Avg. 1 Georgetown*…
-
Law Schools That Boycotted The U.S. News Rankings
2023-2024 (Rank) 2024-2025 (Rank) 2025-2026 (Rank) 2026-2027 (Rank) Stanford (1) Stanford (1) Stanford (1) Stanford (1) Yale (1) Yale (1) Yale (1) Yale (2) Virginia (8) Virginia (4) Virginia (4) Virginia (4) Penn (4) Penn (4) Penn (5) Penn (4) Duke (5) Duke (4) Duke (6) Duke (7) Harvard (5) Harvard (4) Harvard (6) Harvard…
-
2026-27 U.S. News Trial Advocacy Rankings
The new 2026-27 U.S. News Trial Advocacy Rankings include the trial advocacy programs at 195 law schools (the faculty survey had a 52% response rate). Here are the Top 50: Rank School 1 Stetson 2 Temple 3 Baylor 4 UCLA 5 Fordham 6 Mercer 6 South Texas 6 UC-Berkeley 9 Denver 9 Samford 9 Syracuse…
-
AU Washington College of Law Appoints Dean
Michael Barry has been named dean of American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL). Barry is the former President and Dean of South Texas College of Law in Houston. He will begin his new role on July 1, 2026.
-
Belmont Announces New Dean
Belmont University announced the appointment of Deborah Farringer as the new dean of Belmont Law, effective August 1, 2026. She currently serves as the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Director of Health Law Studies.
-
Arizona Appoints New Dean
Jason Kreag has been appointed dean of the James E. Rogers College of Law, effective April 13, 2026. Kreag previously served as interim dean. The official announcement can be found here.
-
DEI in Law Schools: ABA, Deans, and Faculty
Wall Street Journal Editorial, How the ABA Spreads DEI in Law Schools: Diversity, equity and inclusion programs are supposed to be on their way out of higher education, but the American Bar Association doesn’t want to admit it. The lawyers’ guild is still mandating DEI standards that law schools must meet to be accredited. That’s…
-
2026-27 U.S. News Legal Writing Rankings
The new 2026-27 U.S. News Legal Writing Rankings include the legal writing programs at 109 law schools (the faculty survey had a 63% response rate). Here are the Top 50: Rank School 1 Arizona State 1 Oregon 1 Stetson 1 UNLV 5 Suffolk 6 UC-Irvine 7 Wake Forest 8 Rutgers 8 Seattle 8 University of…
-
90% Through the Fall 2026 Law School Admissions Season: Applicants Are Up 10% From Last Year (32% From 2024)
We are now 90% of the way through Fall 2026 law school admissions season. The number of law school applicants reported by LSAC is up 10.3% compared to last year at this time. 170 of the 197 law schools are experiencing an increase in applications. Applications are up +20% or more at 85 law schools. Applicants are…
-
2026-27 U.S. News International Law Rankings
The new 2026-27 U.S. News International Law Rankings include the international law programs at 195 law schools (the faculty survey had a 48% response rate). Here are the Top 50: Rank School 1 NYU 2 Georgetown 2 Harvard 4 American 4 Columbia 4 UC-Berkeley 4 Yale 8 Michigan 8 Virginia 10 UCLA 11 Case Western…
-
2026-27 U.S. News Intellectual Property Law Rankings
The new 2026-27 U.S. News Intellectual Property Law Rankings include the intellectual property law programs at 194 law schools (the faculty survey had a 49% response rate). Here are the Top 50: Rank School 1 Stanford 1 UC-Berkeley 3 NYU 4 Santa Clara 5 George Washington 6 American 7 Columbia 7 Chicago-Kent 7 Houston 7…
-
Judges Jump the Gun Again
The Harvard Crimson reports that a group of conservative federal judges are once again wreaking havoc with the idea that clerkship hiring should be delayed until a fixed deadline. Judges for decades have attempted, abandoned and attempted again to set a date to level the playing field and bring order to the process for overworked…
-
Who picks a Dean
This guest essay from the Louisville Courier Journal tells a story about what happened in March at the University of Kentucky Law School when, according to the author, the University leadership named a federal judge, Greg Van Tatenhoveas, dean over the express objection of a substantial majority of the law faculty. Of course, if accurately…
-
2026-27 U.S. News Health Care Law Rankings
The new 2026-27 U.S. News Health Care Law Rankings include the health care law programs at 191 law schools (the faculty survey had a 50% response rate). Here are the Top 50: Rank School 1 St. Louis 2 Boston University 2 Georgia State 4 Harvard 4 Loyola-Chicago 6 Georgetown 6 Maryland 8 Stanford 9 Houston…
-
2026-27 U.S. News Environmental Law Rankings
The new 2026-27 U.S. News Environmental Law Rankings include the environmental law programs at 189 law schools (the faculty survey had a 52% response rate). Here are the Top 50: Rank School 1 Pace 2 Lewis & Clark 2 UC-Berkeley 4 UCLA 5 Harvard 5 Vermont 7 Colorado 8 Columbia 8 NYU 8 Oregon 8…
-
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…
-
2026-27 U.S. News Dispute Resolution Rankings
The new 2026-27 U.S. News Dispute Resolution Rankings include the dispute resolution programs at 149 law schools (the faculty survey had a 53% response rate). Here are the Top 50: Rank School 1 Ohio State 2 Harvard 3 Pepperdine 4 Cardozo 5 Missouri-Columbia 5 Texas A&M 7 Mitchell | Hamline 8 Maryland 8 Northwestern 8…
-
2026-27 U.S. News Criminal Law Rankings
The new 2026-27 U.S. News Criminal Law Rankings include the criminal law programs at 195 law schools (the faculty survey had a 53% response rate). Here are the Top 50: Rank School 1 NYU 1 Stanford 3 Harvard 3 UC-Berkeley 5 Michigan 5 Virginia 7 Penn 7 Vanderbilt 9 Chicago 9 Columbia 9 Duke 9…
-
NCCU Names New Law Dean
Joseph Karl Grant, who is currently serving as interim dean at Capital University School of Law in Columbus, Ohio, will assume the role on July 1. Grant has been at Capital since 2008 and previously served as the associate dean for Administration and Finance prior to becoming interim dean at Capital.
-
The T11 Has Replaced the T14 in the U.S. News Law School Rankings
Stuart Benjamin (Duke), The US News T14 Is Dead, and Has Been Replaced by the T11 (or, if You Prefer, the T10 with 11 Members): To state the obvious, many people put a lot of weight (far too much weight, in my view) on the US News law school rankings. Good evidence of this is…