Incoming classes strong at Indiana law schools
As classes begin for the 2018-2019 academic year, all Indiana law schools are marking historical milestones.
As classes begin for the 2018-2019 academic year, all Indiana law schools are marking historical milestones.
Even while the total number of entry-level law firm jobs is still below the pre-recession peak, the employment stats for the 2018 law school graduates improved, primarily because the smaller size of last year’s class meant fewer new lawyers were looking for work.
Longtime Marion Superior Judge David Dreyer will step down after 23 years on the bench when his term expires at the end of 2020, he announced Tuesday. Dreyer, 63, a 23-year judge who has presided in civil and criminal cases on the state trial court bench in Indianapolis, said in a news release that he intends to seek senior judge status and continue hearing cases.
A mentally disabled man serving a 55-year prison sentence for an Elkhart murder 17 years ago that he maintains he did not commit is reviving his efforts for post-conviction relief, presenting new evidence in a petition he claims exonerates him.
During my initial campus visits to Indiana law schools, I encountered several students who manifested the stressors of their academic environment in a number of ways. Some had turned to alcohol and other drugs, sometimes resulting in serious consequences such as DUI arrests and academic probation. Others demonstrated noticeable signs and symptoms of mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression.
The folks who “keep the trains running on time” at the Notre Dame Law School have a special affinity for Dean Nell Jessup Newton. The staff hosted an informal afternoon reception on the last Wednesday in May to recognize and thank her for her leadership as she prepares to step down as dean at the end of June.
John Copeland Nagle, Notre Dame Law School’s John N. Matthews Professor of Law, died Saturday following a brief illness. He was 58.
Law schools must now have 75 percent of their graduates pass the bar exam within two years of completing their J.D. degrees after a twice-defeated accreditation standard was approved Friday by the American Bar Association. Opponents worry the change will hurt efforts to diversify the legal profession.
More than 80 percent of the 2018 graduates from Indiana University Maurer School of Law and Notre Dame Law School were employed in a full-time, long-term bar passage required or J.D. advantage jobs roughly 10 months after finishing their studies, according to statistics from the American Bar Association.
Four graduating Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law students have been accepted into the nation’s legal branch of the military – an unprecedented number for the Indianapolis law school. The Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps consists of highly selective law programs in every branch of the United States armed forces, including the U.S. Army, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Marine Corps.
As commencement nears for Hoosier students across the state, four speakers are preparing to address the law school classes of 2019.
Judge Robert L. Miller Sr., who established a distinguished career in the law and then devoted his skills and passion to advocating and championing military veterans, died peacefully at his South Bend home April 27. He was 98.
Courtship season is in full bloom, but forget loving and cherishing — these “marriages” are about test scores, rankings and scholarships. Law schools are proposing their best offers while applicants are trying to decide if the match is meant to be or if they may be able to do better.
The 2016 graduates from two Indiana law schools have exceeded the national two-year bar passage rate of 88.57 percent, according to recently released data from the American Bar Association.
The U.S. News & World Report’s 2020 list of the best law schools brought mixed results for Indiana with two institutions slipping in the rankings and all three having well over 60 percent of students graduate with average debt of more than $90,000.
Notre Dame Law School professor emeritus Thomas Shaffer, who served as dean from 1971 to 1975 and was one of the country’s most prolific legal authors, died Feb. 26 after a long illness. He was 84.
Any other law school probably would not have sparked G. Marcus Cole’s interest. “I’ve always had a lifelong love for (the University of) Notre Dame and what it stands for,” said Cole, who recently was named the incoming dean. “It was someplace I always wanted to be.”
Students and faculty from Notre Dame Law School and local immigration advocates volunteered over the holidays with the Dilley Pro Bono Project in Texas, which helps women and their children seeking asylum in the United States.
Stanford University law professor G. Marcus Cole has been tapped to become the next dean of the University of Notre Dame Law School. He will succeed Nell Jessup Newton, who is stepping down July 1 after leading the law school for 10 years.
Katrina Carter and Quentin Lintner are continuing to fight for their piece of the American dream even after the Indiana Court of Appeals closed the door on their attempt to get restitution from the company that put them in an uninhabitable home under a rent-to-own contract. They are not alone in litigation arising from such arrangements.