Report: Student debt rises again for 2014 graduates with bachelor’s degrees
INSIDE HIGHER ED – Students who took out student loans and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2014 had an average debt load of $28,950, up 2 percent from the year before and 56 percent more than their peers from 10 years earlier, the Institute for College Access and Success says in a report.
Read More about Report: Student debt rises again for 2014 graduates with bachelor’s degreesNew study finds lower admissions standards at some law schools
THE NEW YORK TIMES – About a third of the 204 accredited law schools had entering classes last year with at least 25 percent of the class consisting of “at risk” students, or those with law school admissions test scores of below 150, according to a new study by Law School Transparency, a nonprofit advocacy…
Read More about New study finds lower admissions standards at some law schoolsSurvey of law firm leaders: Computer intelligence may reduce need for first-year associates
ABA JOURNAL – An increasing number of law firm leaders believe first-year associates and paralegals could be replaced by a “Watson”-type computer with artificial intelligence in the next five to 10 years. Watson is an IBM product described as a “cognitive computing” system.
Read More about Survey of law firm leaders: Computer intelligence may reduce need for first-year associatesOntario law schools face decline in applications in contrast to predicted rise for U.S. law schools
THE VARSITY – Although U of T produces more applicants to American law schools than any other university in Canada, thousands of students will be applying to law schools in Ontario where the number of applicants tells a different story than in the US.
Read More about Ontario law schools face decline in applications in contrast to predicted rise for U.S. law schoolsStudy: Women have not made ‘appreciable progress’ in partnership ranks since 2006
BLOOMBERG BNA – Women have not made “appreciable progress” since 2006 in either attaining equity partnership or increasing their pay to be on par with their male colleagues once they grasp the brass ring, according to a study by the National Association of Women Lawyers.
Read More about Study: Women have not made ‘appreciable progress’ in partnership ranks since 2006Video: A day in the life of a Big Law partner
BLOOMBERG BNA – “Christina Martini, Chair of DLA Piper’s Chicago Intellectual Property Practice Group, offers us this peek into a recent day she spent in New York City, meeting with lawyers in the New York office, taking calls, and seeing a client.”
Read More about Video: A day in the life of a Big Law partnerBig Law Business summit discusses challenges in legal industry surrounding diversity and inclusion
BLOOMBERG BNA – Big Law Business convened a summit in midtown Manhattan to generate discussion around a topic that continues to challenge the legal industry: Diversity and Inclusion.
Read More about Big Law Business summit discusses challenges in legal industry surrounding diversity and inclusionNew York bar exam pass rate falls to 35-year low
ABOVE THE LAW – The passage rate for graduates of ABA-accredited schools who took the test for the first time was 79%, the lowest figure since at least 2004. That’s four percentage points below the July 2014 rate, and it’s more than an 11 percentage-point drop-off from 2008 when 90.5% of candidates in that grouping…
Read More about New York bar exam pass rate falls to 35-year lowTampa Bay leads nation in number of television ads for lawyers
TAMPA BAY TIMES – A spot count of ads run in major metros for the first eight months of this year placed Tampa Bay first with 164,781, followed closely by Orlando with 142,607, together making Central Florida ground zero for saturation TV advertising in 2015 by trial lawyers.
Read More about Tampa Bay leads nation in number of television ads for lawyersFirms lose out in money and talent by only recruiting at ‘prestigious’ campuses
HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW – “Even before applications are received, employers allocate jobs based on alma mater, skewing opportunities toward (and against) students from particular campuses.”
Read More about Firms lose out in money and talent by only recruiting at ‘prestigious’ campuses