Could law firms look beyond lawyers for investment funding?
From one law school admissions comeback to an LSAT alternative—let’s take a look at the top stories for aspiring lawyers.
Law school admissions exam détente
We have an update on an important story concerning the University of Arizona College of Law and their decision to allow applicants to submit scores from the GRE instead of the LSAT. As you may recall, the Law School Admission Council sent Arizona Law a strongly worded letter, widely interpreted as threat to kick the school out of its organization. In response, deans from a majority of law schools across the country leaped to Arizona Law’s defense. Just a few days ago, LSAC made a tactical retreat, saying, “It is unfortunate that our recent inquiry about Arizona Law’s admission policies was misunderstood and characterized as a threat to the school and an obstacle to innovation and experimentation in legal education… We believe our invitation to Arizona Law to provide input was appropriate and necessary, given reports that Arizona Law no longer requires that any of its applicants take the LSAT, which on its face is in violation of our bylaw provision that member schools require that substantially all of their applicants take the LSAT.” More to come. (The Wall Street Journal)
Making a comeback
Here’s another update to a story we’ve reported on in the past. As you may recall, the for-profit Charleston College of Law (for-profits are an anomaly in the accredited law school sector) had been in dire straits. Its finances were in trouble, its administration was in chaos, and students were dispirited. There was even a lot of talk that no more students would be admitted into the program. In other words, it looked like the school’s closing was just a matter of time. Now, it seems possible that the school could admit 200 new students this fall, blowing estimates out of the water. That said, there are undoubtedly challenges that lay ahead. (Charleston Regional Business Journal)
Pace renames
Do you want a building or even a whole law school named after you? One surefire route is to accomplish something remarkable and then give a mega donation to your alma mater or preferred institute of higher learning. Pace Law School, located just north of New York City in White Plains, recently announced that it will rebrand itself as the Elisabeth Haub School of Law. Haub was an environmentalist and philanthropist. The school recently received the largest donation in its history from Haub’s family in Germany, her native land. Here’s the kicker: Unlike other large donations, Pace isn’t revealing how much it was for at the request of the family. (Bloomberg Businessweek)
Donation controversy
The faculty senate of George Mason University is pushing back hard at the school’s administration over a recently accepted donation and its decision to rename the law school after late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Among their concerns is how much influence the conservative donor’s money will have on what the school teachers and on future law school admissions. Virginia Democratic state legislators have also raised opposition to the name change. So, whether the name change actually becomes official is yet to be determined. (The Washington Post)
Law firms seek outside investors
There may be a change in the wind regarding the business model for law firms. As you know, many law firms are multimillion-dollar global conglomerates, which makes it necessary to get investment from the outside to grow. Currently, the only people allowed to invest in law firms are other lawyers. Changing this policy would require approval from the American Bar Association. There seems to be strong opposition to any change, though one dissenter says, “If we continue thoughtless opposition, lawyers are closing our eyes to the undeniable truth: The legal services industry is in huge transition. We are creating lawyers with no jobs burdened with nearly unpayable student loans and we are continuing to crawl toward two extremes: Only the very rich and the extremely poor will find themselves being served by lawyers. I am sure that this is not the legal profession that the majority of us intended to be a part of.” (Reuters)
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