Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Legal Ed News
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2026-27 U.S. News Contracts/Commercial Law Rankings
The new 2026-27 U.S. News Contracts/Commercial Law Rankings include the contracts/commercial law programs at 195 law schools (the faculty survey had a 47% response rate). Here are the Top 50: Rank School 1 Chicago 1 Harvard 1 Stanford 4 Columbia 4 NYU 6 Penn 6 Yale 8 Cornell 8 Michigan 8 Virginia 11 Duke 11…
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2026-27 U.S. News Constitutional Law Rankings
The new 2026-27 U.S. News Constitutional Law Rankings include the constitutional law programs at 195 law schools (the faculty survey had a 49% response rate). Here are the Top 50: Rank School 1 Yale 2 Chicago 2 Harvard 2 Stanford 5 Columbia 5 Michigan 5 NYU 8 Georgetown 8 UC-Berkeley 8 Virginia 11 Penn 12…
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2026-27 U.S. News Clinical Training Rankings
The new 2026-27 U.S. News Clinical Training Rankings include the clinical training law programs at 185 law schools (the faculty survey had a 60% response rate). Here are the Top 50: Rank School 1 Georgetown 2 American 2 NYU 4 Baltimore 4 CUNY 4 Suffolk 4 Yale 8 Maryland 8 UC-Berkeley 8 Washington University 11…
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2026-27 U.S. News Business/Corporate Law Rankings
The new 2026-27 U.S. News Business/Corporate Law Rankings include the business/corporate law programs at 195 law schools (the faculty survey had a 47% response rate). Here are the Top 50: Rank School 1 Harvard 2 Columbia 2 NYU 2 Stanford 5 Penn 6 Chicago 7 UC-Berkeley 7 UCLA 9 Virginia 9 Yale 11 Duke 11…
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2026-27 U.S. News Tax Rankings
The new 2026-27 U.S. News Tax Rankings include the tax programs at 194 law schools (the faculty survey had a 52% response rate). Here are the Top 50: Rank School 1 NYU 2 Georgetown 3 Florida 3 Northwestern 5 Virginia 6 Michigan 7 Columbia 8 Boston College 8 Harvard 8 Loyola-L.A. 8 UC-Irvine 12 Chicago…
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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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2026-27 U.S. News Law School Peer Reputation Rankings (And Overall Rankings)
Continuing a TaxProf Blog tradition, here is the full list of the 194 law schools ranked by academic peer reputation, as well as their overall rank, in the new 2026-27 U.S. News Law School Rankings (methodology): Peer Rank Peer Score School Overall Rank 1 4.8 Stanford 1 2 4.7 Harvard 6 2 4.7 Yale 2 4 4.6…
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Ups and Downs of Law School Applications
Over on LinkedIn, Mike Spivey, CEO of Spivey Consulting and a familiar name in the world of law school admissions consulting, wrote last Friday that overall applicants in this cycle are up +10.6% at this point, roughly (as he writes) 90% done with the cycle, compared to being up +33% early in the cycle. He…
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Muller: AI Is Not Yet Disrupting the Robust Job Market for Law School Graduates
Derek Muller (Notre Dame), AI and the Law Firm Summer Associate: A Tale of Two Futures: In May 2025, Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, suggested that artificial intelligence could wipe out half of all entry level white-collar jobs—including in law—in the next 1 to 5 years. Every few months, this claim finds new virality on social media…
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JD Degree Increases Lifetime Earnings By 41%; Amount Correlates to U.S. News Ranking of Law School
Following up on Sloan’s post yesterday: Inside Higher Ed, Graduate School Pays Off for Pharmacists, but Not Psychologists: On average, going to graduate school increases a student’s lifetime earnings by 17 percent. But that return on investment varies significantly depending on what they studied, according to new research published by the Postsecondary Education & Economics Research Center at…
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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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Law Firms Hire Fewer Black Summer Associates Due to Pressure From Conservatives
Bloomberg Law, Black Law Interns In Decline Under Pressure From Conservatives: The share of Black summer associates at US law firms shrank to its lowest level in more than a decade against the backdrop of a conservative push to end race- and gender-based preferences in school admissions and hiring, including a specific effort against legal…
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Diversifying Law School Faculties
Brian T. Fitzpatrick (Vanderbilt), Diversifying the Academy: I have been a member of the law faculty at Vanderbilt University for nearly twenty years. Even though my faculty has grown over that time, there are fewer conservatives now than when I joined. We are down to four—a mere ten percent or so of the tenure-track faculty—and…
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Financing Law School as Feds Pull Back
Law Schools everywhere will be thinking hard about how students will pay the bills once the $50,000 federal cap kicks in this fall. Now the University of Kansas and Washington University have decided to launch their own loan programs with fixed interest rates to spare students some of the less advantageous features of private loans.…
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AALS Legal Education News Digest – Week Ending 3/20
In case you missed it on AALS LENS, here’s a round-up of legal education news from the previous week. AALS Legal Education News Digest – Week Ending March 20, 2026AALS Legal Education Blogs Digest – Week Ending March 20, 2026 Sign up to receive these digests by email. While many of the stories are also being…
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California Could be First State to Require Law Schools to Teach AI
Reuters, California Could be First State to Make Law Schools Teach AI: California-accredited law schools could soon be required to train students on artificial intelligence technology and how to use AI tools responsibly. The State Bar of California’s Committee of Bar Examiners on Friday discussed adding “the competent use, capabilities, and limitations of technology and…
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Updated ABA Bar Data: 1-Year Pass Rate Increased 1 Percentage Point; 6 Law Schools Failed 2-Year 75% Pass Rate Accreditation Threshold
Update: The University of Baltimore School of Law let me know after last week’s post that they had submitted incorrect ultimate bar passage data to the ABA showing them falling short of the 75% accreditation threshold. Baltimore has sent me corrected data showing them meeting the 75% threshold. The ABA uploaded the corrected data on…
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Legalweek New York: AI and the Billable Hour
Last week’s tech-forward Legalweek New York conference was replete with AI-focused panels. (Mindy Kaling gave the keynote; there was—fortunately—no indication that her talk centered on AI.) One hot topic: what AI means for the billable hour, both in terms the time-efficiency of lawyers and the extraordinary costs of deploying AI-driven services. The economics of legal…
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Jacob Rooksby Announced as Richmond Law Dean
This just in, from the University of Richmond: Jacob Rooksby, who currently serves as dean of Gonzaga University School of Law, will become the new dean of the University of Richmond School of Law, effective July 1. “Dean Rooksby brings a strong record of leadership and innovation and a depth of experience as an administrator,…
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Two Law Schools Receive ABA Council Approval
From the ABA Journal: Two law schools each received the blessing of the council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar last month. The High Point University Kenneth F. Kahn School of Law—the new North Carolina school—welcomed its first JD class in August 2024, was granted provisional approval by the council Feb.…
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AALS Legal Education News Digest – Week Ending 3/13
In case you missed it on AALS LENS, here’s a round-up of legal education news from the previous week. AALS Legal Education News Digest – Week Ending March 13, 2026AALS Legal Education Blogs Digest – Week Ending March 13, 2026 Sign up to receive these digests by email. While many of the stories are…
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FIU Announces Law Dean Finalists
The finalists are: David Brennen (Kentucky), Drew Dawson (Miami), and Sean O’Connor (Brooklyn). Full information about the search can be found here.
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New ABA Bar Data: 1-Year Pass Rate Increased 1 Percentage Point; 7 Law Schools Failed 2-Year 75% Pass Rate Accreditation Threshold
Update: The University of Baltimore School of Law emailed to let me know they had submitted incorrect ultimate bar passage data to the ABA showing them falling short of the 75% accreditation and send me corrected data showing them meeting the 75% threshold. The ABA uploaded the corrected data on March 22 and I have…