ABA Legal Education Section Reports Preliminary Data on Non-J.D. Enrollment Growth, 2000-2012

In preliminary data published by the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, enrollment in non-J.D. programs was shown to have "increased markedly since 2000." While first-year enrollment in J.D. programs fell by 8% between 2005 and 2012, enrollment in non-J.D. degree programs, such as an LL.M., increased by 39% for the same period.


Such an increase in enrollments hopefully will result in additional support and opportunities for the students in non-J.D. degree programs. However, the following comment from the ABA's interim consultant on legal education would seem to support the perception that LL.M. programs are largely cash cows for ABA-approved law schools.

 “And as the demand for J.D. degrees slackens, schools are exploring other ways to broaden their revenue base.”  

See the full article here.

“District judges are not archaeologists.”

A federal judge tossed a job bias suit because the attorney did not comply with deadlines, pay attention to details, or cite completely or correctly. This would be a great article to impress upon students the importance of these aspects of civil procedure and legal writing.

ABA Journal: Missing Citations and Missed Deadlines Irk Federal Judge, Who Tosses Bias Suit

H/T Susan Wawrose

Impact of the Increase in the Passing Score on the New York Bar Exam

In 2005, the New York Board of Law Examiners increased the NY Bar's passing score from 660 to 665. The National Conference of Bar Examiners prepared a report on the impact of the 2005 NY Bar Exam's passing score increase. A press release on the report (2007) can be found here, and the full report (2006), which includes data on foreign-educated candidates, can be found here.

The NY BOLE intended to increase the passing score from 660 to 675 over three years; however, it seems the second and third increases were put on hold, pending the 2006 report. Does anyone know if there remains any plan to implement these increases?

Chief Justice John Roberts on the topic of legal writing

More interviews on legal writing and advocacy here: The Bryan A Garner Interviews.

I like to start the semester showing one or two of these videos to my LLM students. I think it impresses upon them the importance of legal writing in the US legal system, and it situates legal writing within the overall construct of legal practice.

New Blog - First Post

Welcome to Teaching International Law Students, a new blog about teaching legal writing (among other things) to international JD and LLM students. This site will be updated with resources as I come across them. I hope you will find something useful here.