The Shark

more rankings, more problems: us news to blame for high tuition.

[cynthia]

According to a study released by Government Accountability Office, we can all gather 'round and blame US News (and its less popular siblings) for the rapid clip of tuition increases in the last few years.

According to my much-loved Tax Prof, the study (which came out Monday) pinpoints rankings, not accreditation, for your big bills.

From the GAO:

"According to law school officials, the move to a more hands-on, resource-intensive approach to legal education and competition among schools for higher rankings appear to be the main factors driving the cost of law school, while ABA accreditation requirements appear to play a minor role."

Prior to these revelations, the Internet was awash in ABA-blame for the problems modern law schools face. Instead, unsurprisingly, it is not the gargantuan, antiquated bureaucracy that is to blame, but the trend-obsessed and more nimble law school administrations that have subjected their institutions to the whims of PR.

A page from the study says it all: 

Of course, to add to the absurdity, as ATL calls it, this last week has seen news that federal loan levels are remaining stagnant even as tuition prices inflate. Where are you all getting the money to feed the US News monster? It's certainly not coming from your state government, anyway.

sheriff cites fake law, blames cornell law website.

[dennis]

An Arizona sheriff faces criticism after citing a nonexistent law to bolster his claim that he can continue to arrest undocumented immigrants during controversial crime sweeps even without a special agreement with ICE.

The Wall Street Journal has covered the story of Sheriff Joe extensively:

Those who follow immigration policy in this country certainly know about Sheriff Joe.

Joe Arpaio, sheriff of Maricopa County which includes Phoenix, has forged a reputation for being perhaps second only to Lou Dobbs in his zeal for staunching illegal immigration.

In light of a new offensive by Homeland Security, Arpaio’s deputies no longer have the authority the randomly check the immigration status of people. Yet, the sheriff recently announced that his deputies will continue to round up illegal immigrants in the streets.

AzCentral.com reports that Arpaio’s staff alleged that the citation came from Cornell’s website:

The Arpaio document cites a provision of Title 8 of the federal code followed by language that says "state and local law-enforcement officials have the general power to investigate and arrest violators of federal immigration statutes without prior INS knowledge or approval, as long as they are authorized to do so by state law."

The sheriff's claim seems odd until one realizes how extensive Cornell's law website is. 

berkeley law loses one of its own.

[petra]

Berkeley Law has lost a long-time faculty member.

Stephen Barnett, an emeritus professor, died Tuesday after suffering cardiac arrest on Oct. 2. He was 73.

Not one to hold back when he had an opinion, Barnett had kept a keen eye on how the California Supreme Court went about its business and frequently criticized its policies. Chief Justice Ronald George grudgingly acknowledged to me that all of Barnett’s effort wasn’t in vain, and the court wound up adopting some changes based on his critiques. Barnett also targeted the State Bar. Colleagues said he didn’t limit his reach to the public sphere, though. Barnett was known to dig into decisions and policies at the school, too.

“If there is such a thing as a constructive gadfly, that was Steve,” said Berkeley law professor Richard Buxbaum, who had known him since Barnett joined the faculty in 1967.

Though he had retired four or five years ago, Barnett still made regular appearances on campus. Berkeley professor Jesse Choper said Barnett taught a first-year course and showed up to faculty meetings. But he also traveled a good deal for his international work and worked from home. “He had a big study at home,” Choper said. “Unlike most law faculty he tended to spend a lot of time working at home.”

The law school is planning a memorial service at the university.

Petra is a Cal Law reporter

massachusetts is just not that into you, law school.

[cynthia]

Yesterday, Dennis introduced us to the possibility of a public law school in Massachusetts. Today, the state treasurer announces no way. The state can't afford it.

“From an economic point of view, it’s an investment in a profession that we may not need more of,” [Timothy] Cahill, who is running for governor as an independent, said in a telephone interview. “It’s not like training medical technicians or nurses, which we need more of. In this economy, we should make investments in things beneficial to the state, and I don’t see that here,” he added.

No word on whether or not Southern New England School of Law (that had offered itself to UMass for acquisition) feels this was just some recession era politicking — shouldn't the 15th most populous state in the nation have a public school for its residents?

Meanwhile, broke University of California manages to keep one of its own, despite the perilous financial situation it's in; Prof. Stephen Bainbridge will not be leaving UCLA to visit UVA next year.

drexel dean "stoked" on recent bar exam showing.

[cynthia]

When Drexel opened a law school in 2006, the climate of the legal industry was much different than it is today. (How you like them obvious apples?) 

Back then, pressure from other schools and its own student body, who asked in the student newspaper, "what's taken you so long?" pushed Drexel over the edge into joining the ever-growing ranks of institutions looking to parlay undergraduate program success into a creation of a law school.

Of course, with a 2006 inaugural class, Drexel was right in the line of fire when the legal industry collapsed this year. More pressure was on for the school to produce prepared graduates, or, in a word, graduates who could pass the bar exam and put their best foot forward.

And amidst all that pressure, Drexel showed up. Or, its students did. The Legal Intelligencer is reporting that 90% of Drexel law grads passed the Pennsylvania bar exam in July. That pass rate was surpassed by only two other schools in the region: Temple and University of Pennsylvania. A resounding success for a baby school, one might say.

"It's particularly important in this job market to get students to pass the bar the first time through because it makes the job search" for places like small firms or government positions, where bar passage is often required, all the easier, Dean Roger Dennis said.

Dennis attributed this success to the school's focus on bar exam passage: the school has an in-house writing specialist to assist studying students, and a director of academic skills who triages with students who are showing signs of struggling and might be "in jeopardy of failing the bar."

what do americans know about their justice system? short answer: not much.

[patrick]

Nine years after the U.S. Supreme Court stopped the counting of ballots in Florida, its decision in Bush v. Gore appears to have had lasting effect on how the public views the justices.

A poll from C-SPAN asked voters whether the ruling affected their view of the Court. A substantial minority, 29%, said that the ruling did. And not surprisingly, those who said so saw the ruling as incorrect, as a sham or as an area the justices should have avoided altogether.

(...or was it (d) "all of the above"?)

Even less surprisingly, only 52% of Americans polled knew that there is no constitutional requirement that the chief justice be a lawyer, 37% knew how many female justices have graced the Court (three), and 39% knew the correct number of African American justices in the Court's history (two).

Seems disappointing for the leaders of the free world, but I wonder - would third year law students fare any better?

Ed. Note: Well, 3Ls, do you?

tom cruise drops in on a harvard law lecture. but where's goose?

[dennis]

Prestige has its perks. A class of Harvard Law students received a surprise visit by Tom Cruise on Monday. The class as taught by Cruise’s personal lawyer, Bertram Fields.

Cruise slipped into the back of the class but eventually began participating, according to the Associated Press:

He joined in with anecdotes and jokes while his lawyer friend taught the excited pupils, and discussed legal issues surrounding being a celebrity.

The actor even stayed behind afterwards to meet with some of the students.

The [student] paper said he shared "advice, stories, high fives, handshakes, hugs, and even at one point an impromptu dance."

Tom even did a jig! Anything for Harvard students! All accounts of the impromptu visit are generally positive, and there are no reports of couch-jumping or rants on postpartum depression. 

george washington shows would-be part-timers the door.

[cynthia]

In an admitted effort to boost its US News ranking, George Washington has turned on its part-time program.

It's at least true that the move is meant to directly and quickly impact George Washington's ranking, according to the independent student newspaper The GW Hatchet.

Senior Associate Dean Greg Maggs told about a dozen law school alumni at "The State of Law School" address that the school's fall from 20th to 28th was caused mainly by an unannounced change in the way U.S. News and World Report tracks part-time law student GPAs.

"U.S. News, for the first time, without giving us any notice, said they wanted to count full-time and part-time students mixed together," Maggs said. "Both our GPA and our LSAT [scores] fell substantially from previous years."

Maggs said taking fewer evening students was a short-term solution to getting back up the U.S. News Ranking.

"We've been able to address that in a very simple way," Maggs said. "We've taken less evening students."

US News introduced the changes as a response to criticisms that schools were "gaming" the rankings by admitting less qualified students into part-time programs, saving the achievers for the full-time programs, where they could help boost rankings.

Dean Maggs, for his part, appears to be confirming US News' suspicions.

our favorite stanford-educated hooker, sentenced to house arrest. time to telecommute?

[dennis]

My tax professor breaks our class time up by sharing current-events pieces that he calls “Tax Stories.”

And he certainly started the week off with a bang – “Let me remind you that illegal income is taxable. There’s a Stanford law graduate named Cristina Warthen who failed to report the income she earned as a high-end call girl.”

That certainly woke us up.

Silicon Valley’s Mercury News reports that Warthen was sentenced last week to home detention after she pleaded guilty to failing to pay taxes on more than $133,000 she earned as a prostitute in 2003.

Warthen gained notoriety when she was busted as a jet-setting call girl who sold her services to pay off her Stanford Law School debts. She got her law degree from Stanford in May 2001, but quickly began to run a steamy Web site with offers to jet off for liaisons with clients in cities around the country, including New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

According to East Bay News, the salary she earned as prostitute was a little better than many Big Law attorneys can command:

The 31-year-old alum allegedly boasted in an Internet posting that she paid off more than $300,000 in student loans by working as an escort. [Warthen's] Web site listed a rate of up to $1,300 for two hours of work.

Cha-ching!

Things only got better for Mrs. Warthen after her high-income year in 2003. The next year she married Ask Jeeves cofounder David Warthen. She also became a model and (according to some websites) posed for magazines including Maxim and Playboy Lingerie. There really is no end to what you can do with a law degree!

Her website (not school safe) suggests that she plans to go on tour, after her home detention of course.

Read more here. Or, check out a link to the complaint over at ATL.

letterman picked up the tab for assistant/mistress's legal education.

[cynthia]

As you all have probably heard by now, Dave Letterman shocked the shit out of his live audience last night by going on air and admitting to extramarital affairs with members of his staff. 

Letterman, who was being extorted by an alleged employee of the illustrious news program '48 Hours,' apparently had sex with his personal assistant Stephanie Birkitt.

One of the perks of Birkitt's employment, according to Gawker, was a paid education at Yeshiva University Law School. I'm gonna take that to mean that there's no law school debt in Birkitt's baggage. The Internet is alive with the "who cares" reactions this morning, but I'm just waiting to see deferred associates weigh in with "WHY HER?!?! WHY NOT ME?!?!?"