Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Legal Ed Scholarship
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The NextGen Bar Exam And Contract Drafting
Karen Sneddon (Dean, Mercer) & Susan Chesler (Arizona State; Google Scholar), Raising the Bar: The NextGen Bar Exam and Contract Drafting: Set to debut in July 2026, the NextGen Bar Exam will test a broad range of foundational lawyering skills needed in today’s practice of law, including contract interpretation, drafting, and revising. According to the…
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Learning The Rural Practice of Law
Ashli Tomisich (Wyoming; Google Scholar), Learning the Rural Practice of Law, 24 Wyo. L. Rev. __ (2024): This Article explores how law schools can better educate students about the possibilities and opportunities presented by rural practice and prepare them with the skills to succeed. An aging population and dwindling availability of jobs increases the need…
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Preparing Law Students For Real-World Practice
John Lande (Missouri-Columbia; Google Scholar), Preparing Law Students for Real-World Practice: This article summarizes a program entitled Pracademically Speaking: Incorporating Real-World Legal Practice Into the Curriculum at the annual conference of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution. It describes problems with legal curricula, pressures to improve because of the NextGen bar exam and some states’…
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An Old-Fashioned Bluebook Burning
Paul A. Gowder (Northwestern; Google Scholar), An Old-Fashioned Bluebook Burning, 1 Nw. L.J. des Refusés __ (2024): As the faculty advisor for the newly-minted Journal des Refusés, the duty has fallen to me to identify the most eminently refusal-worthy aspect of the enterprise of legal publishing. I speak, of course, of The Bluebook: bane of…
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GPT-4 Didn’t Ace The Bar Exam After All, MIT Research Suggests
Live Science, GPT-4 Didn't Ace the Bar Exam After All, MIT Research Suggests — It Didn't Even Break the 70th Percentile: Last year, claims that OpenAI's GPT-4 model beat 90% of trainee lawyers on the bar exam generated a flurry of media hype. But these claims were likely overstated, a new study suggests. GPT-4 didn't…
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Legal Education’s Role In Combating Automation Bias And Complacency With Generative AI In The Practice Of Law
Anna Conley (Montana), Legal Education's Role in Combating Automation Bias and Complacency with Generative AI in the Practice of Law, 13 Kuwait Int’l L. Sch. J. __ (2024): Market-driven efficiencies will result in generative AI as an integral part of the practice of law. Despite this reality, however, recent judicial decisions highlight the risks of…
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Students For Fair Admissions: Affirming Affirmative Action And Shapeshifting Towards Cognitive Diversity?
Steven A. Ramirez (Loyola-Chicago; Google Scholar), Students for Fair Admissions: Affirming Affirmative Action and Shapeshifting Towards Cognitive Diversity?, 47 Seattle U. L. Rev. 1281 (2024): The Roberts Court holds a well-earned reputation for overturning Supreme Court precedent regardless of the long-standing nature of the case. The Roberts Court knows how to overrule precedent. In Students…
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Changes To ABA Standards On Library And Information Resources: Unintended Consequences For Legal Scholarship
Nicholas Mignanelli (Yale; Google Scholar), Whither the Monograph: Changes to the ABA Standards on Library and Information Resources and Their Unintended Consequences for Legal Scholarship, 2 Nw. L.J. des Refusés __ (2025): Recent actions by the American Bar Association (ABA) threaten the future of the legal monograph. Resolution 302, passed by the ABA House of Delegates…
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The Lawyerization Of Higher Education
Chronicle of Higher Education Op-Ed: The Lawyerization of Higher Education, by Louis H. Guard (Vice President & General Counsel, Hobart and William Smith Colleges) & Joyce P. Jacobsen (Former President, Hobart and William Smith Colleges; Google Scholar) (Co-Authors, All the Campus Lawyers: Litigation, Regulation, and the New Era of Higher Education (Harvard University Press 2024)):…
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SMU Symposium: Students For Fair Admissions v. UNC
Symposium, Students for Fair Admissions v. UNC, 77 SMU L. Rev. 3-328 (2024): Elan Wilson (J.D. 2024, Louisville), Preface: An Homage, 77 SMU L. Rev. 3 (2024) Cedric M. Powell (Louisville), The Post-Racial Deception of the Roberts Court, 77 SMU L. Rev. 7 (2024) Vinay Harpalani (New Mexico; Google Scholar), Roberts Rules of (Dis)Order: Doctrinal…
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Journal Of Legal Education Publishes New Issue: International Perspectives On Legal Education
The Journal of Legal Education has published Vol. 72, No. 1 & 2 (Fall 2022-Winter 2023): From the Editors Robert Dinerstein (American), Jeremy R. Paul (Northeastern; Google Scholar), Sonia E. Rolland (Northeastern) & Ezra Rosser (American; Google Scholar), From the Editors, 72 J. Legal Educ. 1 (2023) Articles Philip J. McConnaughay (Peking University; Google Scholar), The…
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A Liberal Theory Of Legal Education
Eli Wald (Denver), A Liberal Theory of Legal Education, 75 Ala. L. Rev. 563 (2024): Law schools have a reputation, and are often criticized, for being liberal. Yet, their reputation notwithstanding, law schools are traditional, orthodox institutions, teaching and instilling in students a version of the law devoid of justice and morality. One might be…
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Who Is Being “Assisted”? A Call For Transparency In Hiring Visiting Assistant Professors (VAPs) In Legal Writing
Suzanne E. Rowe (Oregon), Who Is Being "Assisted"? A Call for Transparency in Hiring Visiting Assistant Professors (VAPs) in Legal Writing, 22 Scribes J. Legal Writing 111 (2024): This essay is essential reading for schools considering a visiting assistant professor (VAP) program to supplement its legal writing faculty as well as for academics and attorneys…
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Symposium: The New AI—The Legal And Ethical Implications Of ChatGPT And Other Emerging Technologies
Symposium, The New AI: The Legal and Ethical Implications of ChatGPT and Other Emerging Technologies, 93 Fordham L. Rev. 1785-2012 (2024): Deborah W. Denno (Fordham; Google Scholar) & Erica Valencia-Graham (Fordham), Foreword, 93 Fordham L. Rev. 1785 (2024) Abdi Aidid (Toronto), Toward An Ethical Human-Computer Division Of Labor In Law Practice, 93 Fordham L. Rev. 1797…
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Kuehn: The Fallacy Of ‘We Can’t Afford More Clinical Legal Education For Our Students’
Robert R. Kuehn (Washington University; Google Scholar), The Fallacy of 'We Can't Afford More Clinical Legal Education for Our Students', 32 Clin. Legal Educ. Ass’n Newsl. ___ (2024): Previous proposals by the ABA and state bar authorities to require more experiential training for law students have met with objections from some legal educators that mandating…
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Determinants Of Success On The Bar Exam: One Law School’s Experience 2010-2023
Morris Ratner (UC Law SF), Stephen Goggin (San Diego State; Google Scholar), Stefano Moscato (UC Law SF), Margaret Greer (UC Law SF) & Elizabeth McGriff (UC Law SF), Determinants of Success on the Bar Exam: One Law School's Experience 2010-2023, 73 J. Legal Educ. ___ (2024): From 2010-2013, the UC Law SF first-time bar pass…
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Wake Forest Symposium: Leading Change In The Legal Profession
Symposium, Leading Change in the Legal Profession, 58 Wake Forest L. Rev. 806-1015 (2023): Anthony Kronman (Yale), Leading Change in the Legal Profession: An Introduction, 58 Wake Forest L. Rev. 806 (2023) Eleni M. Roumel (U.S. Court of Federal Claims), Pro Humanitate in the Legal Profession, 58 Wake Forest L. Rev. 809 (2023) R. Lisle…
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The Experiences Of Non-Traditional Law Deans And The Law Schools That Hire Them
Timothy Fisher (Dean, Connecticut (2013-2020); Google Scholar), Lessons Learned: The Experiences of Non-Traditional Law Deans and the Law Schools That Hire Them:, 72 J. Legal Educ. ___ (2024): Ten years ago, the United States legal academy confronted a surprising drop in student enrollment and corresponding financial pressures. Over the ensuing years most law schools recovered,…
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Houston Hosts Conference Today On The Future Of Affirmative Action In Legal And Medical Education
The University of Houston Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine and the University of Houston Law Center host a conference on Justice and Health for All: The Future of Affirmative Action in Legal and Medical Education today 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM CST (registration): The Supreme Court’s decision in SFFA v. Harvard generated substantial…
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They Managed A Protest: Prohibitory, Ethical, And Prudential Policing Of Academic Speech
David H. Schraub (Lewis & Clark; Google Scholar), They Managed a Protest: Prohibitory, Ethical, and Prudential Policing of Academic Speech, 50 BYU L. Rev. __ (2025): Universities are often a raucous setting for free speech. Tasked with encouraging deliberation and inquiry into the world’s most pressing and contentious topics, academic spaces regularly see conflicts and…
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How Institutional Speech Erodes Academic Freedom
Aaron J. Saiger (Fordham), How Institutional Speech Erodes Academic Freedom, in The Free Inquiry Papers (American Enterprise Institute Press, 2024): University pronouncements on contentious issues are proclamations of official orthodoxy. Such declarations label adherents as right-thinkers, and place actual and potential dissenters on notice that their opinions are false and wrongheaded. Issuing such statements is…
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Perkins Presents The Exigent AI Mandate For All Law Faculty Today At Florida
Rachelle Holmes Perkins (George Mason; Google Scholar) presents The Exigent AI Mandate for All Law Faculty at Florida today as part of its Marshall M. Criser Distinguished Faculty Workshop: Legal scholars have made important explorations into the opportunities and challenges of generative artificial intelligence within legal education and the practice of law, as well as…
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Affirmative Action And Racial Diversity In U.S. Law Schools, 1980-2021
Richard R. W. Brooks (NYU), Kyle Rozema (Northwestern; Google Scholar) & Sarath Sanga (Yale; Google Scholar), Affirmative Action and Racial Diversity in U.S. Law Schools, 1980-2021: We use novel data on enrollment in every U.S. law school since 1980 to study trends in racial diversity and the impact of state-level affirmative action bans. Minority law…
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Baude: Teaching Constitutional Law In A Crisis Of Judicial Legitimacy
Following up on my previous post, New York Times, The Crisis In Teaching Constitutional Law: Will Baude (Chicago; Google Scholar), Teaching Constitutional Law in a Crisis of Judicial Legitimacy, 98 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. ___ (2024): Recent developments in the Supreme Court have prompted many professors to ask: How can we teach constitutional law in such a…
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Incorporating Real-World Legal Practice Into Law School Curricula
John Lande (Missouri; Google Scholar), Incorporating Real-World Legal Practice Into Law School Curricula: This annotated bibliography was prepared for the program, “Pracademically Speaking: Incorporating Real-World Legal Practice Into the Curriculum,” at the 2024 Annual Conference of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution. It includes relevant entries from the Real Practice Systems Project Annotated Bibliography. This…