Big Law Firms Delay New Hiring
American law school graduates are struggling with the highly unsettling job market for the first time in years.
Not long ago large law firms were scrambling to scoop up top law school graduates with summer internships and generous salaries.
Law firms across the nation have delayed start dates for incoming first-year lawyers because of the sharp drop in legal revenue. The delays are ranging anywhere from several months to a year.
However, public-interest legal organizations have prospered because of the delayed hiring. Young graduates are working for these groups instead, helping with the often large caseloads.
This does minimize available positions for those law school graduates who aimed to work in public-interest law.
Also the public-interest legal organizations are typically thinly-staffed and are having trouble training the new lawyers. Karen Buck, executive director of Philadelphia’s Senior Law Center, does not see this as a big problem.
“The reality — just like any other brand-new lawyer, they are the newbies, and it will take some time before we see the benefits,” said Buck.
Most students working in the public-interest groups have had experience with volunteer legal services during law school.
It is safe to assume that all current and future law school graduates are hoping the economy picks back up and the job market expands again.
Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer
Economy Inspires Students to Continue Education
A recent Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions survey showed that 40 percent of the students preparing for the Law School Admissions Test were motivated by the poor economy.
The survey also found that law schools are getting highly competitive in part due to the economy.
Kaplan Senior Communications Manager Russell Schaffer said students were surveyed just after completing the February 2009 LSAT.
“Forty percent said that indeed the current economic crisis had affected or motivated their decision to apply to law school,” Schaffer said.
Schaffer said an increase of students applying for graduate and professionals schools is typical during economic downturns.
“Following September 11, law schools saw a 17 percent increase in applications,” he said.
Schaffer also said students should remember that graduate and professional schools are not simply a goal, but a means to an end.
“When you go into law school, it’s an investment of time and an investment of money,” he said. “You need to realize what you’re going to do.”
Source: The Exponent Online
Fort Worth Representative Opposes UNT Law School
Fort Worth State Representative Charlie Geren said he will oppose legislation to create the University of North Texas College of Law.
Geren said Texas has enough law schools and cannot afford another one.
“I’d be opposed to one in Fort Worth,” Geren said. “I don’t care where it is. At this point it’s a waste of state resources.”
Geren’s opposing view comes after the Texas Senate approved legislation to authorize the University of North Texas to open a law school in Dallas.
Currently the Dallas-Fort Worth region has two law schools, Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law in Dallas and Texas Wesleyan University School of Law in Fort Worth.
Geren said our region should focus more on creating more nursing schools instead of adding to the abundance of law schools in the state.
“We’re short nurses,” Geren said. “We aren’t short lawyers.”
Geren said he will vote against the creation of the new law school.
He also said the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board concluded that there is no need for another law school.
Texas has nine American Bar Association accredited law schools and only two of them are public universities; the University of Houston Law Center in Houston and Texas Tech University School of Law in Lubbock.
The proposed school would open in 2011 with an initial enrollment of 50 to 75 students. It would be housed in an academic center until the $16 million renovation of the Old Dallas Municipal Building is complete.
Source: Fort Worth Star Telegram
University of North Texas Law School One Step Closer
The Texas Senate approved a bill creating the first public law school in the Dallas-Fort Worth region on Wednesday. The measure to establish the UNT System law school was approved 29-1.
Now the bill must pass through the House before plans can begin for the school.
However, the proposed law school needs money. The legislation going before the House requests $40 million for the school.
This is the second time this law school proposal has gone before the House. Just two years ago it was thrown out due to a technicality.
Dallas Democrat Sen. Royce West authored the bill and hopes the school is approved even if it does not receive the necessary funding.
“I think we can still get some money from private sources to do what we need to do.” West said. “However, we haven’t given up on getting some funds from the Legislature.”
Currently, the law school will be housed in the old Dallas Municipal Building. The City of Dallas would donate the building and pay for half of the remodeling costs.
The UNT law school would be the third law school in North Texas, joining the private schools at Southern Methodist University and Texas Wesleyan University. Tuition at those schools is nearly three times that of most public law schools in the state.
