Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Legal Education
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New Financial Aid Rules Did Not Impact Class Size, Other Impacts Uncertain
The latest from the ABA Journal: The much-anticipated crisis brought on by changes in federal regulations regarding financial aid has not manifested—yet. That’s the conclusion of law deans contacted by the ABA Journal as well as officials at the Law School Admission Council and the AccessLex Institute. . . . . [W]ith many schools now…
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Plans for New Arizona Law School
Last week, news indicated that Grand Canyon University is moving forward with plans to open a new law school in Arizona. From the announcement: GCU is moving forward with plans to establish a College of Law that would integrate the Christian worldview throughout its curriculum while emphasizing Constitutional law, free-market principles and the rule of law.…
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The Bluebook: An Insider’s Perspective
The Blue Book and blue booking is a gift that keeps on giving law professors. M. Burke Craighead (Law Clerk, Hon. Chad Readler, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit), The Bluebook: An Insider’s Perspective, 124 Mich. L. Rev. 1145 (2026) offers perspectives on the latest edition of the Blue Book: “This Review provides an insider’s…
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McGinnis: AI and the Public Purpose of Legal Scholarship
John O. McGinnis (Northwestern Law), “The Scholar’s Telescope: AI and the Public Purpose of Legal Scholarship” The abstract: The controversy over artificial intelligence in legal scholarship exposes a deeper disagreement about what legal scholarship is for. This Essay argues that scholarship’s governing public purpose is to improve warranted public understanding of law and the reasons…
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Inside Duke’s 1-person pre-law advising office
Ella Moore for The Chronicle writes that “Although law school admissions have rapidly changed in recent years, the structure of Duke’s Office of Pre-Law Advising — among the first of its kind in the United States — has not. Since the office’s establishment in 1969, only one person has filled the role of pre-law adviser…
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Can AI Handle BlueBooking? Thank Goodness.
Hate bluebooking? Well, perhaps AI might help. This article “Bye-bye, Bluebook? Automating Legal Drudgery With AI-Augmented Rule Following,” by Matthew Dahl and Eric Martínez look at how AI might handle this unpleasant task: Abstract One of the central promises of legal AI is to automate drudgery—the formal, repetitive tasks of lawyers’ work that consume time…
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National Law Review: The 2026 Top 50 Legal Innovators in Academia
The National Law Review lists the 2026 Top 50 Legal Innovators in Academia. Eight are law school deans.
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Blackman: AI Freezes The Law Professor’s Scholarly Voice
Josh Blackman (South Texas), AI Freezes The Scholarly Voice: I recently attended a workshop about how law professor are using AI. One professor said that he has trained AI on his writing style by reviewing all of his past publications. Thus, any text generated by the AI will be in the same sort of style…
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Professors Quit After Texas A&M-Victoria Required Them to be on Campus Monday-Friday 8-5 in Response to Texas Law Restricting Remote Work For Public University Faculty
Inside Higher Education, Faculty Quit as Texas A&M Victoria Requires Them On Campus 5 Days a Week: The new policy, announced in June, is a response to a Texas law restricting remote work for public university faculty. The Texas AAUP says it has prompted chaos and tears. A number of faculty members at Texas A&M…
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ABA Accreditation Council Extends Test-Optional Admissions Variance by 3 Years
ABA Journal, ABA Legal Ed Council Extends Test-Optional Admissions Variance: Law schools can take three more years to determine whether they want to admit students without taking an admissions test. The council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar voted at its quarterly meeting in Chicago on Friday to extend…
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Inside Higher Ed on the Rapid Growth of Online and Hybrid Legal Education
Inside Higher Ed features a brief interview with Stephen Burnett, a former information technology dean at Seattle University School of Law, on the current state and future trajectory of remote and hybrid course delivery by law schools. (Burnett currently is at AllCampus, which provides services to universities in this area.) Some commentary, a link, and…
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What U.S. News Does Not Include in Its Law School Specialty Rankings
U.S. News & World Report has a number of specialty rankings for law schools. The 2026-27 U.S. News Specialty Rankings: But why not civil rights law, entertainment and sports law, family law, immigration law, labor and employment law, and public interest law? I am sure that there are other important specialty areas missing as well.
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“Two incarcerated Minnesotans become first in nation to graduate law school”
I must have somehow missed this but it truly is news. Here is the headline: “Two incarcerated Minnesotans become first in nation to graduate law school.”: “Two Minnesotans have made history by becoming the first people in the country to earn a law school degree from an accredited program while incarcerated. Maureen Onyelobi and Jeffery…
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The Best Law Podcasts
This is what Copilot tells me are the best law podcasts: “Top legal podcasts offer insights into Supreme Court cases, law practice management, criminal defense, and investigative journalism, making them essential for law enthusiasts and professionals alike. Recommended Legal Podcasts 1. More Perfect – Hosted by Julia Longoria, this podcast explores the U.S. Supreme Court, its…
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Book of the Week
Renowned historian, Kim Phillips-Fein is out with a new book exploring the longstanding counter tradition in U.S. history that rejects the premise of the Declaration of Independence and proudly proclaims that all men are NOT created equal. In Country of Lords, from W.W. Norton & Co., Professor Phillips-Fein, Robert Gardiner-Kenneth T Jackson Professor of History…
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Inside Higher Education: 3 Things to Know About the Department of Education’s Accreditation Proposal
Jessica Blake for Inside Higher Education offers three possible outcomes of the proposed changes to accreditation: 1. It Could Open Up the Market to New Accreditors 2. Critics Say the Proposal Amounts to Executive Overreach 3. It Could Overhaul Traditional Peer Review
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Health Law Rankings
PreLaw Magazine is out with its honor roll of schools with thriving health law programs. It’s exciting to see so many schools doing such innovative and valuable work. Of course, I’m particularly proud of Northeastern and the program featured here focused on gambling addiction and our Salus Populi program educating judges about the social determinants…
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From Cradle to Big Law
Financial Times reports briefly on a phenomenon I know we are all seeing. Large law firms are recruiting our students for 2L Summer jobs during 1L Fall before they even have their first set of grades. This is crazy,sure. But it also places an absurd premium on educational pedigree and background over actual performance. Law…
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Who Finds the Facts
Duncan Hosie, Fellow at Stanford Law School,, offers this powerful critique in the Atlantic of the Supreme Court’s decision this week to allow President Trump’s Administration to proceed, for now, with its assault on mail-in voting. Hosie’s broader point, with significance for all of us trying to explain to students how our legal system finds…
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Barry Currier on State or Regional Accreditation of Law Schools
The future of law school accreditation by the American Bar Association is uncertain. Should a Law School’s “Regional Accreditation” Be Enough for Bar Admission? by Barry Currier , who was involved with the law school accreditation process with the ABA for many years, looks at the question of regional law school accreditation: “One of the…
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Kerry Abrams to Step Down as Dean of Duke Law at end of June 2027
Abrams informed Provost Gallimore at the beginning of June 2026 that she’d step down in June of 2027, after which she will resume her work as a teacher and scholar on the Duke Law faculty. During this academic year, the University will conduct a national search for her successor. Abrams became the James B. Duke…
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Access Lex Offers a New Ranking System Focused on Law Schools’ Contributions to Student Success
Access Lex, Catching What Rankings Miss: Evaluating Law Schools by Their Contribution to Student Success (8-13-26) Read the webpage and then click on the two-pager. For now, here is an excerpt from the webpage: Each spring, the release of new law school rankings prompts renewed scrutiny of institutional performance. In April 2026, the U.S. News &…
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Teaching Tidbit of the Week: When You Don’t Know the Answer
Last week, based on a question from a brilliant and very dedicated new colleague, I shared good and bad advice you can give to your students about how to successfully learn in your classes. This week’s topic comes from a different, brilliant, and very dedicated new colleague. This second colleague asked what to do if you…
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Test-Optional Admissions
An announcement from a recent ABA Council meeting as covered in the ABA Journal. Law schools can take three more years to determine whether they want to admit students without taking an admissions test. The council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar voted at its quarterly meeting in Chicago…
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UGPA Changes – Announcement from LSAC
A recent announcement from LSAC provides more time for schools and applicants to adjust to LSAC GPA change. From the announcement: Last month, we announced that, effective July 28, 2026, LSAC would no longer include grades from college-level courses completed while a candidate was in high school, often referred to as dual enrollment classes, in…