Legal career

  • Group Urges Judiciary To Halt Conservative Judges’ Clerk Boycotts

    A government watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), on Wednesday urged the judiciary to rein in the recurring practice of conservative judges boycotting the hiring of law clerks from specific schools over protests and disruptions on their campuses. CREW, in a letter, urged the U.S. Judicial Conference to address the matter…

  • Ex-Law Firm Partner Fights Conviction Over $400 Million Crypto Scam

    A former partner at U.S. law firm Locke Lord, Mark Scott, argued that prosecutors failed to prove he knowingly participated in a $400 million fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme. On Wednesday, Scott urged the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse or vacate his November 2019 conviction, asserting that the government’s case relied heavily on a…

  • Illinois Adopts Revamped Bar Exam, Marking Gain For New Lawyer Licensing Test

    On Wednesday, Illinois announced its decision to switch to the NextGen Bar Exam in 2028, becoming the largest jurisdiction to adopt the revised national attorney licensing exam. Illinois now joins 18 other states or territories in committing to the NextGen bar exam, marking the first significant overhaul of the test in 25 years. The National…

  • The LSAT Is About To Get Rid Of Logic Games. Who Will Miss Them? None Of The Above

    If student A is taking the Law School Admission Test next month, and A is sitting behind B but not in the same row as C, who among them is answering the exam’s dreaded “logic game” questions for the last time? Answer: D, all of the above. The LSAT’s next round of testing from June…

  • Federal Judge Blasts Supreme Court Justice Alito For ‘Improper’ Flag Flying

    On Friday, a federal judge criticized conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito for allowing provocative flags, including an upside-down American flag, to fly outside his homes. Senior U.S. District Judge Michael Ponsor of Massachusetts, in a rare move by a sitting lower-court judge, publicly condemned the Supreme Court justice’s approach to ethics in an…

  • Biden Nominates Appellate Judge’s Daughter To Join Same Court

    President Joe Biden announced four new judicial nominees on Thursday. One nominee, Julia Lipez, currently a Maine state court judge, is the daughter of Senior U.S. Circuit Judge Kermit Lipez. She has been nominated to the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where her father serves. Kermit Lipez plans to retire if the Senate…

  • Law School Applicants’ Socioeconomic Hurdles Measured By New Metric

    Law schools may soon have more information about the educational and economic challenges applicants face on their path to a law degree. The Law School Admission Council (LSAC) is developing a new “environmental context” metric for colleges and universities. This metric considers factors such as institutional student spending, graduation rates, and the percentage of undergraduates…

  • California Shelves Plan To Create Own Bar Exam

    On Thursday, the State Bar of California halted a plan to develop its own online bar exam, which could save the financially struggling organization up to $4 million annually. The State Bar’s Board of Trustees withdrew a proposal from its meeting agenda that would have hired Kaplan North American to develop multiple-choice questions similar to…

  • Cornell Law School Sets More Generous Standard For Public Interest Loan Help

    In June, Cornell Law School will initiate full federal loan repayments for its graduates in public interest jobs earning up to $120,000 annually—a $40,000 increase from the current $80,000 salary cap. This change, announced this month, establishes a new standard among U.S. law school loan repayment assistance programs, widely known as LRAPs, for graduates who…

  • Biggest Law School Scholarships Disproportionately Go To White Students, ABA Finds

    New data from the American Bar Association reveals disparities in scholarship distribution among law students based on race. According to the data, white law students, who constitute approximately 61% of the national pool of full-time law students, were awarded 70% of full-tuition scholarships offered by law schools this year. In contrast, students of color, representing…