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American Bar Association
NY Times Reporter Sounds off on Legal Education, Accreditation and the ‘Crazy’ Race for Rankings
New York Times reporter David Segal, whose recent series of stories on legal education has touched off a furor in the legal community, says law schools have taken the quest for higher rankings and greater prestige to "an incredibly destructive" place. Segal says the "madness" created by U.S. News and World Report's annual law school rankings have led many schools to employ all kinds of different "shenanigans" to make themselves more appealing to prospective students and to cover up just how bad the job market for law school graduates is. Segal's remarks came in an interview with Bloomberg Law's Lee Pacchia that…
Around the Blawgosphere: Takes on Apple’s iBook Author; Volunteer Job Requiring 5 Years Experience?
Launch's Legal Fallout A big tech story this week was the Apple's launch of iBooks Author, a free tool allowing users to create textbooks, which the company says will "reinvent textbooks" by allowing iPad users to access texts that are interactive and constantly updated and available at a relatively low price. Legal Writing Prof Blog is already mulling what kind of effect electronic textbooks might have on the legal profession. "Some might argue that the transition to electronic text has already effectively occurred with services like Westlaw and Lexis dominating the legal research market and traditional paper libraries, in both firms and…
As Email Disclaimers Proliferate, Some Lawyers Say They Are Unenforceable
Recent law grad James Sinclair adds a satirical disclaimer to his emails—and most people haven’t even noticed it. And that may be the problem, some lawyers tell the Wall Street Journal. Boilerplate language on every email marked “privileged and confidential” could make it difficult to argue that some electronic communications are more protected than others. There are few cases on the subject, and at least one ruling on the issue has been mixed, the story says. James Merklinger, vice president of the Association of Corporate Counsel, sums up the argument for the newspaper. "It gets harder and harder to argue you have a system in place…
Paralegal Who Faked Kidnapping and Law Degree Is Sentenced for Embezzlement
A Pennsylvania paralegal who faked her kidnapping has been sentenced to eight years in prison for stealing more than $1 million, including $640,000 from the law firm where she worked. Bonnie Sweeten was also charged with stealing $280,000 from an elderly relative with dementia, withdrawing $20,000 from a child’s escrow account, and forging documents to obtain a $100,000 loan, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. She made national news in 2009 when she faked her kidnapping and turned up at Disney World with her 9-year-old daughter. She has already spent a year in prison for the fake police report, and is now in federal custody, according to the
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Criminal
