Louisville jumps in latest law school rankings

If you are interested in a deeply flawed and mostly meaningless measuring stick for law schools, check out the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings, which have Louisville pegged at 89 this year, a significant improvement over the prior year. We actually bumped up 11 spots compared to 2012, which I suppose is a good thing, because like it or not many people put a lot of weight on this kind of stuff.
You can read about which schools did well and which ones fell at this link or this one. I've also written about the rankings in the past, so I'm not going to dive into the issue again. Suffice it to say that if you are going to make a major life decision based on a magazine survey you may want to think a little deeper. Especially when the magazine doesn't know how to break a seven-way tie. Then again, the rankings are a reality that is here to stay. Either way, congrats to U of L for scoring a higher number this year. Go Cards!

Top 10 things to do on spring break if you're a (current or future) Louisville law student

The vagaries of my final semester in law school, and my part-time job as a law clerk, have forced me to be MIA from the blog recently. To make up for the absence, I offer you a list of things to do over spring break if you are a law student (or an applicant) at the Brandeis School of Law.

1. Start spring break early at tonight's Med Mal mixer, a joint event for students of U of L's law, dental, and medical schools. You'll get a chance to meet the people you will be suing (or defending) in a few years. There's free food and drink specials. The fun starts at 7:30 and runs until 11 p.m. at Howl at the Moon, at Fourth Street Live!

St. Patrick's Day parade in the Highlands

2. Attend the annual St. Patrick's Day parade in the Highlands neighborhood on Saturday. The parade takes place in the heart of the area's Irish bar district.

3. Hoist a pint at one of the same Irish bars the following weekend, when another series of St. Patrick's events unfolds in the same area. Not to lose out on a chance to earn some green, some of these bars at holding events all week long. My favorite: O'Shea's on Baxter Avenue.

4. Indulge in Kentucky's hoops obsession by catching a few basketball games. Louisville is the nation's hottest television market for college basketball. Louisville plays tonight, and Kentucky plays Friday. March Madness follows for both teams.

5. Volunteer! The deadline for graduating law students to complete their 30-hour public service requirement is March 26. It's a great way to help people, meet people, and learn a little law.

6. Pay off the balance on your Barbri account by March 15 and take a spin on the company's new AMP bar prep software, which apparently leads to higher scores on simulated MBE tests.

7. Take another look at my list of the Top 10 Things to do on Winter Break in Louisville, including museums, bourbon distilleries and more.

8. Take a lawyer out to lunch. If you are still looking for a summer job, or even if you already have one, it's hard to underestimate the importance of making connections with members of the local bar. I try to have lunch with an attorney at least once a week.

9. Apply for a job. Lately, it seems like the clouds are parting a bit when it comes to local law firms looking for associates. The latest edition of Bar Briefs has a few options, and there have been announcements about personal injury and other law firms looking for new hires. Joining groups such as the Louisville Bar Association or the KJA also can be useful.

10. Stretch your legs. Studying law all day can wreak havoc on your fitness. Sign up for one of the races in this spring's Triple Crown of Running, or take a spin through Cherokee Park. I'm setting my signs a bit higher for the last spring break as a law student: spring skiing in Bozeman, Montana. Got a spring break idea of your own? Post it in the comments field below.

U of L Law Stud(ent)s Set High Bar

This week I'm turning the blog over to a few U of L law students whose accomplishments show a ridiculous level of talent and dedication. They also illustrate how, in a competitive job market, standing out means more than just notching solid grades every semester. Any law student, in order to be successful, must pick his or her battles. They folks have chosen wisely. I'm taking the following information straight from school announcements made earlier this week.

This past weekend the Law School's American College of Trial Lawyers mock trial teams competed in Grand Rapids, Michigan in Region 7 of the ACTL National Trial Competition.  Two teams represented the Law School - Samantha Constantine and Thomas Stevens, and Paul Chumbley and Josh Porter. After competing in three preliminary rounds, Samantha and Thomas were one of four teams (out of 24) that advanced to the final rounds.  UL was paired against UK.  Both teams were undefeated.   Samantha and Thomas, who represented the plaintiff during the final trial, defeated UK, and were declared co-champions of the Region 7 ACTL National Trial Competition.  Samantha and Thomas will now represent the Law School and Region 7 in the 37th Annual National Trial Competition to be held in Austin, Texas, March 21-24, 2012.  Only two teams advance from each of the 14 regions across the country. The teams and coaches want to thank all UofL law students who served as witnesses during practices.  Both trial teams put in countless hours to prepare for the competition.  Samantha and Thomas will now receive a new civil problem and will have one month to prepare both sides. The ACTL National Trial Team coaches, Kimberly Ballard and Rob Riley, congratulate Samantha and Thomas for advancing from one of the most competitive NTC regions in the country. 

The Student Bar Association is proud to announce that the recipient of the Student of the Month Award for January 2012 is Amanda Warford. Amanda is a published member and the Senior Articles Editor of the University of Louisville Law Review, Volume 50. Throughout her time in law school, she has been a participant in the Street Law Partnership with Central High School, a research assistant for Professor Judith Fischer, and a member of many student organizations. Amanda is a recipient of the Bench & Bar Fund Scholarship, as well as of the Marian Kincaid Warns & Carl Warns, Jr. Scholarship. Last summer, she participated in a panel for the 28th Annual Carl A. Warns, Jr. Labor & Employment Law Institute entitled "Objection! Evidentiary Issues in Employment Litigation." Her legal experience includes working as a legal intern for Thomas M. Jones, an attorney in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, and as a law clerk for Bishop & Associates, P.S.C. She has also worked as a summer associate for Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, LLP. After graduation, Amanda will be clerking for Judge Joseph H. McKinley, Jr. in Owensboro, Kentucky. She will then return to Louisville, where she has accepted a position with Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, LLP. 

New student group for aspiring trial lawyers will host free lunch and magazine giveaway on Monday

Here at U of L Law, we have student groups with all kinds of themes. We have organizations for health law, sports law, international law, and the environment. All of which is great. It is puzzling, however,  that there is no group that seeks to educate students about what it's like to be a trial lawyer, or to represent plaintiffs in the courtroom. This is especially puzzling, at least to me, in light of the huge number of Louisville law students who go on to practice in the areas of personal injury, criminal defense, family law, medical malpractice, etc. Well, puzzle no more. As of Monday, the law school has a new student chapter of the American Association for Justice. I joined the group last fall, and now consider it to be just as indispensable as my student LBA card. I highly encourage everyone to attend Monday's meeting at noon (full disclosure: I'm hugely biased as I am organizing the meeting). Here are the details:

FREE LUNCH in #175

Noon, Monday, Feb. 13

Inaugural meeting: the law school’s new student chapter of the American Association for Justice, a national organization for trial lawyers and plaintiffs’ rights.

Hans Poppe

Q and A: trial lawyer Hans G. Poppe of Louisville

Benefits: learn about the membership benefits of both AAJ and the Kentucky Justice Association

Free copy of Trial magazine: to first 25 students

T-Shirts: free AAJ shirt for anyone who joins today.

Learn: what it takes to practice law in the areas of personal injury, medical malpractice, wrongful death and more.  

Interview: Eddie O'Brien, Comedian, 2L, and Next Year's Editor-in-Chief of the U of L Law Review

There are plenty of things that are unfair about law school, but in my opinion the law review is not one of them. As a member and editor of the school's flagship journal, I've learned invaluable editing, writing, and research skills, and my grades played only a marginal role in getting there. Being willing to work hard was way more important. Same goes for Eddie O'Brien, the new Editor-in-Chief of the University of Louisville Law Review and the focus of today's interview. Eddie is a 2L, a volunteer with the local chapter of Big Brothers, and a clerk at the firm of Weber & Rose. More importantly, he has a reputation for being a hard worker, a guy who gets things done, but also has a sense of humor and gets along with everybody. Eddie's story is a must-read for any law school applicant who thinks high grades are the only key to success. Have an idea for a law-related interview? Send it to me at acdavi07@louisville.edu.

Name: Eddie O'Brien 

O'Brien

Age: 23

Hometown: I was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and most of my family still lives in the Baltimore-Washington area. When I was 5, I moved to Kentucky, and then moved to the Houston area when I was 13, where I attended high school and completed my undergraduate studies.

Before law school:: I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from Sam Houston State University. During undergrad, I worked three days a week as a substitute teacher at the high school level.

After law school: Like most law students, I am still struggling with this. I know that I have no interest in civil litigation. Right now my aim is to clerk for a judge for a year or two and then enter an LL.M. program in the D.C. area. As an alternative route, I might like to try my hand at being a prosecutor or litigating on behalf of a governmental agency. I would eventually like to teach and spend my days writing and telling students why they're wrong. 

Why did you choose U of L Law?

I was immediately attracted by the responsiveness and friendliness of the admissions staff. The fact that I had ties in the area and the (relatively) inexpensive cost were major factors in my decision. Almost every day, something reminds me that I made the right choice: I have made great friends, been fortunate to learn from distinguished faculty who really know their stuff, and the atmosphere here is far more relaxed and open than other law schools. 

What's been the toughest thing for you in law school so far?

Law school. It is all-encompassing; you're either all in or you're out. I suppose the most difficult thing has been learning to prioritize, which is code for doing well while still maintaining some semblance of a social life. Also, law school and sleep are in constant competition, and law school inevitably wins. I had been hoping to achieve a bit more balance there as well, but then I was chosen as Editor-in-Chief. So much for that. 

How do you deal with the stress of school?

By remembering that while school matters, it's not the only thing. Particularly in your first year, you're almost conditioned to treat law school as a bubble -- you spend all of your time either in this building or studying at home, and even when you go out with friends, most of those friends are in law school with you and conversations almost always turn to the subject of law school. Getting out of that bubble while still succeeding within it is a big challenge. I used to count "pleasure reading" as a reliable and enjoyable diversion; no longer. The words "pleasure" and "reading" are juxtapositionally grotesque. So, I spent a lot of time going out with friends, staring at the television, arguing about sports and politics, and playing with my insanely cute dog.

I also feel obligated to give a shout out to the 1Ls in my Structured Study Group. Being an Academic Fellow really has been one of the most rewarding experiences in law school; it's fun to see 1Ls today and realize that not too long ago, I was just like them: both ambitious and nervous, determined and reserved. It's always nice to try to impart to them that this isn't as hard as it seems, and that next year they'll marvel in disbelief at just how much unnecessary pressure 1Ls place on themselves. So, in a sense, one of my diversions is encouraging 1Ls to find their own diversions. 

The job market for new lawyers is tough out there. How do you plan to attack it?
By avoiding it for as long as possible. (Kidding). All anyone can do is go out there and find something that they want to do and do everything they can to get a job in that area. I don't mean to make a statement that is so self-evident; it's just that I know from personal experience how indescribably big of a mistake it is to "settle" for a job. Beggars certainly can't be choosers, but there is nothing worse than hanging your lovely and impressive J.D. in an elaborate frame in an office where you will spend 50 hours a week being bored out of your mind. I am not sure how I'm going to attack the job market, but one of the key parts of my plan (whenever it may be devised) will be to avoid boredom. 

Congrats on being named Editor in Chief of the law review for next year. What's the big deal about being on law review anyway? 
Everyone loves the Bluebook, and law review is a great opportunity to get more intimate with the Bluebook. And like everything else, the Bluebook just gets better with age (it is in its nineteenth edition).

To paraphrase one of my predecessors, law review is what you make it. It provides an opportunity for students to learn the ins and outs of legal research (beyond what any first-year course can teach you) and writing, but perhaps most importantly, it gives students an opportunity to distinguish themselves. If you make it onto law review, you've demonstrated that you're part of the so-called "law school elite" (I prefer something less pompous, like law school gods). Law review also provides you with the opportunity to get your work published (yet another opportunity to distinguish yourself), and, of course, to attain an Editorial Board position. All of these are things that employers want to see. Finally, law review offers students the opportunity to earn up to seven hours of academic credit (which is a big chunk of the 90 hours you need to graduate).

The trade-off? It's a lot of work. But we don't talk about that. 

Why did you apply for the top job?

I like to be where the action is (in this context, anyway). The University of Louisville Law Review is fifty years old, so there is a great deal of history and a whole lot of tradition to preserve, but the future is just as important. I hope to build on the efforts of previous boards to improve the reputation and quality of the publication, and we have put together a great team for next year that I think will make considerable progress in that effort. I am very grateful for the confidence that my colleagues have placed in me; my job is to make sure that I don't screw things up, and hopefully even make things better. 

What advice would you offer to someone who is thinking about going to law school?
Think it through. Law school is a major commitment, not just for the three or four years you're in it, but for the rest of your life. I'm not talking only about those terrible student loan bills. Move beyond the threshold question of "do I want to go to law school?" and ask yourself what you plan on doing after law school. As someone who is more than half way through, I would certainly have attempted to develop a more realistic (and informed) game plan for myself. Bottom line: think it through. 

What I'm learning about in law school: reptiles, health care, and how to avoid a long stay in prison

The Pinto -- like U.S. healthcare?

In my second year of law school, I wrote a blog post about the things I was learning in Con Law, Evidence, Professional Responsibility and other classes. This semester is turning out to be completely different from any other so far. Four of my five courses are taught by adjunct faculty, and none of them are part of the core curriculum. But even so -- or maybe because of this -- I'm learning a lot about the law and life in general. Here are a few tidbits.

• Advanced Trial Practice: in a class of just seven people, it's hard to hide. But who would want to hide when your teachers are two grizzled trial lawyers who teach law by swapping war stories, and organizing role playing activities in class. This is probably my favorite course of the semester so far. One of the techniques we're learning is David Ball's "reptile" method of trying cases, in which you convince the jury to make decisions that protecting themselves and the community, and avoid danger. 
• Medical Malpractice: doctors, social workers, nurses and other medical providers have a duty to warn certain people who are not their patients if they diagnose someone with a condition that could be dangerous to others. We're also reading about the finer points of informed consent, physician liability, and the laws that govern hospital emergency rooms.
• Health Law Seminar: this is a two-credit class that focuses on the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. We're learning about how health insurance works (or doesn't) and how our country has somehow managed to have a healthcare system that costs as much as a Cadillac and runs like a Ford Pinto.
• Negotiation: arguing with an insurance adjuster about a car wreck case is way more than starting high and settling somewhere in the middle. Our main textbook, Getting to Yes, shows how to negotiate like a pro, focusing on interests instead of positions, and inventing creative options for mutual gain. It might sound like hocum, but it works. 
• Public Defender: I wish I could say more about the criminal cases I'm working on this semester for the public defender, but, well, I can't. They involve real people facing looooong prison sentences for serious crimes, and the students in our externship program get to do actual work on their cases, including appearances in court, and in some cases arguing motions before judges. 

Although my last semester of school is chock full of great experience, perhaps the biggest lesson I'm learning is patience. At this point, many 3Ls, myself included, are ready to kick off the training wheels and dive into real practice. But we can't. Yet. It's sort of like the time you bought your first house (or car), and you're waiting for closing day. It's going to happen, but the waiting is torture. 

Louisville attorney flies blind, wins jury trial

The trial bar is buzzing in Louisville this afternoon following a story that I'm going to share as an inspirational tale for law students. A local attorney, Randy Ratliff, took a case at the last minute this week after the plaintiff fired his Florida-based lawyers. Law students may remember that Mr. Ratliff spoke at the law school when he was director of the Kentucky Lawyer Assistance Program, a position he held from January 2008 to 2011. Full disclosure: he is Of Counsel in the law office where I will be an associate after graduation.
In the case in question, the general expectation was that the judge would grant a continuance so Mr. Ratliff could get to know the facts, prepare a plan, etc. After all, preparation is the key to a successful trial, right? Well, the judge decided the case would go to trial the same day Mr. Ratliff made his initial appearance. And according to the Kentucky Trial Court Review, which also maintains this Facebook page, the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff this afternoon in the amount of $131,000. The last settlement offer had been for $30,000. Not a bad week of work. Congratulations to Mr. Ratliff and his client.

Job report: why OCI is so hard at Louisville Law, and why you shouldn't worry about it

This weekend brings the annual mock interview program for 1Ls here at Louisville Law. This relatively recent tradition is an excellent opportunity to get your feet wet in the summer clerkship game, and it will be closely followed by the infamous On Campus Interview season, or OCI. I wrote about OCI last year in this post, and in my opinion most of those comments still hold up.

OCI is a big deal at some law schools, but here at Louisville the number of available jobs is quite small, and the chances of getting one are brutally long. Many will enter, few will win. In fact, in my graduating class, I am aware of only a small number of students (maybe ten) who have landed full-time permanent jobs at large law firms through OCI. The fact is, large law firms have been shrinking in recent years, and there aren't that many in Louisville to begin with. This is not to say, of course, that these jobs don't  have merit, or that it is not worth pursuing a Big Law job, especially if your first-semester GPA was, say, 3.3 or better. The paucity of OCI positions also doesn't mean you won't find a job at all. There are scores of area jobs available through smaller firms, non-profit groups and fellowship programs, and the nice thing about some of these positions is that you are in control of the process because you choose where you put your networking energy, i.e., plaintiff work, family law, public service, etc.

Even if you don't participate in OCI, it's a good idea to start thinking about the summer if you are a 1L. You might call a few lawyers (even ones you don't know!) and ask for a job shadow, like this one or this one that I did during my first-year winter break. You might also think about knocking out some of those volunteer hours for graduation, which will put you in contact with practicing attorneys. You also should visit the fine folks in Career Services, study these job interview etiquette tips, and think about professors who could serve as references (tip: if you contact a professor for a reference, make sure to clearly identify yourself, send a copy of your resume, and give them plenty of time to respond; requesting a reference in person usually works best; do NOT ask them to fill out forms for you). The bottom line, as my tax professor might say, is that there are many options, and OCI is just one of them. The job market overall is tight, but there are lots of available options, and many of them are just a few miles from the law school. You also must learn to have nerves of steel when it comes to job interviews. My overall record with OCI in my first two years of law school was 1-16, as in sixteen interviews, and fifteen rejections. But that one offer resulted in a great clerkship, which eventually turned into a full-time job offer that I happily accepted. The end justifies the means. If you have a job question or comment, post it in the comments field below, or email me at acdavi07@louisville.edu.

High GPA = passing score on bar exam (maybe)

Just walked out of an hour-long primer on the Kentucky bar exam, which most 3L students will take in July at this local hotel. Among the tidbits offered to aspiring exam takers were these stats on the correlation between law school grade-point average and success on the Big Bad Bar:

• For students with at least a 3.0 GPA at U of L Law (usually the top one-third of the class), 100 percent passed the exam last July on their first attempt. The same students in previous years have passed the exam at a roughly 98 percent clip. 
• Students with a 2.6 GPA or lower had a 74 percent pass rate on the same exam. 
• Overall, the school had a roughly 90 percent pass rate last year, compared to an 86 percent statewide pass rate. The 90 percent rate was down a bit from the previous year, but in line with the last five years overall. 

There are, of course, exceptions to the above rules. Bonnie Kittinger, general counsel and director of the Kentucky Office of Bar Admissions, told us it is not uncommon for otherwise high-achieving students to study lightly for the test and then assume they can hang loose for the rest of the summer. Some still pass. Others do not. We also discussed dozens of other details, including the grading process, filing deadlines, even the definition of a law school application. Perhaps the best advice came from Eric Ison, one of the state's seven bar examiners, who asked us to take the bar seriously, but also to remember to breathe. "Don't be consumed by the bar," he said. I will try to keep this in mind over the next seven months. I imagine it will be easier said than done.

Law school class photo day: time for a moustache?

Today is class photo day for graduating law students here at U of L.  It's an occasion that doesn't mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, but then again maybe it does. Large framed class photos line the hallways of the law school on its first and second floors, stretching back to the late 1800s. Gazing at the bygone fashions of eager young attorneys is a fascinating way to waste 15 minutes of your life when you really ought to be studying. The class portraits also become a source of attention when a lawyer does something particularly embarrassing, or especially impressive.

The magnificent (and short lived) moustache

For me, photos have always been yet another opportunity to do something eccentric. For example, I have a photo of myself in high school with my eyebrows shaved off. In another, taken in my mid-20s, I'm hanging upside down inside a ski gondola. Which is why, last week, I figured it would be a great idea to take my law school photo with a giant moustache. At home, our family is obsessed with the moustache. The kids wear fake ones, my wife decorates moustache mirrors, and we take notice of moustaches in public. I even went so far as growing a 'stache (see photo, above right) in honor of this under-appreciated form of facial hair. But after careful consideration, I've decided to sport a clean shave, a starched dress shirt and tie, and a dark suit coat for the class photo.
My decision reflects two things that I've learned in law school. First, I've learned to seek advice from those around me before making rash decisions. I am at least two or three times as likely to consult other people for advice today compared to before law school. In this case, everyone I talked to about the moustache class photo told me it was a terrible idea. Second, I've found a new level of appreciation for the art of discretion. It's taken almost three years to drill this concept into my head, but I now hold my tongue way more frequently than at any other time in my life. I still enjoy a good joke, and don't shy away from controversy, but I am keenly aware that reputation is everything in this industry, and if you're going to clown around, you'd better think about the implications carefully. So long moustache.

Welcome to 2012: Resolutions of an almost-finished law student at the University of Louisville

The law school is dead quiet today, and I'm getting tons of work done. Here are a few snippets, resolutions, and random thoughts to start off the new year.

1. Since I now have a job lined up as a lawyer after graduation, I solemnly swear that I will not join the class-action mess involving more than a dozen law schools that allegedly fudge their employment statistics. I'm also grateful that Louisville is not a defendant, and hope it stays that way.

My bar exam application (just kidding)

2. Almost finished with my 25-page Kentucky bar exam application. Got my traffic history, my criminal record, my five character references, and even figured out the day I was married. Most intriguing question on the application so far: "have you ever been known by another name other than a nickname?

3. Really looking forward to my last semester of law school. Part of this is because, well, it's the last one, but it's also shaping up to be filled with great hands-on experiences. I'm working 12 hours a week at the Louisville Public Defender's office, taking a seminar on Obamacare, and doing my second trial practice class - where you practice mock cases and present opening and closing arguments, etc. I'm also looking forward to Negotiation, which will hopefully improve my skill at sending the kids to bed on time, and Criminal Law - Judicial Procedure, which I will hopefully never need for myself.

4. Entering law students at U of L are now looking at a schedule with fewer classroom commitments in their first semester under a new plan approved by the school. Looks like they're ditching Property for the fall, and starting Civ Pro a bit later. Details:

Fall Semester:

Basic Legal Skills

Legal Research

Torts I

Contracts I

Criminal Law

Civil Procedure (starting approximately September 24th)

Spring Semester:

Basic Legal Skills

Torts II

Contracts II

Property

Civil Procedure II

5. Getting back to resolutions, I am going to start 2012 with a cheesy pledge to be a nicer guy (Alex, you catch more flies with honey, an associate at work recently told me), to help someone else at least once a day, to not dwell on past mistakes (including that wretched Negotiable Instruments exam), and to stop eating four times as much food as I should at every meal. Good luck to everyone this semester. If you are applying to U of L Law this year and have questions or concerns about anything, email me at acdavi07@louisville.edu and you'll allow me to knock out one of my daily resolutions!

Fortune strikes: I have my first job as a lawyer

Over the last two and a half years, I've used this blog to write about some of the more difficult aspects of law school. For example, I've written about the difficulty of first-year exams, the dreariness of the 2L funk, and the lousy job market for 3Ls. I could add to the negative streak by discussing the disappointment I felt upon seeing my fall semester grades, which fell below my expectations. But that's not going to happen. Not today. In fact, I'm going to break the traditional law student code of being self-effacing and modest among one's colleagues. The reason: I have a job. That's right, I'm going to be paid to be a lawyer when I graduate next year. I'm going to be a practicing attorney, with an office, business cards, actual clients, and terrifying and stressful court appearances. I couldn't be happier.
I'll be a rookie associate with Jones Ward PLC, the firm where I've been a law clerk for the last year. Even better, I believe deeply in the firm's mission. We sue big companies that hurt people, in mass tort cases that involve everything from defective medical devices and prescription drugs to the BP Oil Spill and the Toyota crash cases. We also represent people injured in everyday car crashes, slip and falls and other injuries. I'll be thrown into the fire in July right after the bar exam, and I'm so excited I want to scream about it from the rooftops, or at least in a blog post. The point, however, is this: law school can be an incredibly humbling and difficult experience, but the end result, at least for me, has been the best career decision of my life. To be sure, there have been struggles, and the journey is far from over. But with perseverance, lots of networking, and a small amount of good fortune, it seems to be paying off. I'm hoping to write more in the coming months about the employment prospects of our graduating class, which seems to be a topic of, well, great interest. If you have your own story to share (positive or otherwise), feel free to message me at acdavi07@louisville.edu. Have a great holiday.

Click, Click, Submit: How to Become a Legal Scholar in Less Than Ten Minutes

As I get closer to graduation in May, it's becoming more and more obvious that ....


     A. Even after two clerkships, an externship, and a volunteer job at a legal clinic, I still have very little experience in the law.


     B. The importance of networking with lawyers and other members of the legal community cannot be underestimated.


     C. With just five months to go before graduation, I need to find ways to leverage my forthcoming J.D. and make it look as impressive as possible.


     D. All of the Above.


The answer, of course, is D. And if law school has taught me anything over the last three years (in addition to answering all questions with "it depends") it is to find creative solutions to problems, which brings me to my Discovery of the Day: how to become an instant legal scholar using SSRN, the Social Science Research Network. Most students go to law school to become lawyers, not scholars. Why not be both? You can create an account using SSRN and use it to publish that obscure 25-page tome that you cranked out for your writing requirement. Assuming you've already written the thing, the publishing process only takes about ten minutes (your submission has to meet certain requirements, which you can read about here).


I credit Dean Jim Chen with the SSRN idea. This morning, I posted an abstract for a law review note I finished a few weeks ago. One of the cool things about SSRN is that you can share writing that has not yet been published in hard copy. Chen, for example, just posted an early version of a forthcoming article titled "A Degree of Practical Wisdom: The Ratio of Educational Debt to Income as a Basic Measurement of Law School Graduates’ Economic Viability." You can read the abstract by clicking here, or check out the full version by clicking on the "download" link at the top of the page. As soon as my exams are over, I'm planning to post the 42-page monster of a law review note that I wrote last year about medical marijuana and the military. The Veterans Health Administration, a key source for the note, still has not responded to my year-old FOIA request, and last year's journal editors ultimately rejected the note for publication (less than half of all notes are actually accepted). Now, however, it's going to see the light of day, and I'll be a published (sort of) legal scholar two times over. 


In the coming months, I'm going to write more about networking and job hunting. Got your own nifty idea? Post it in the comments field below, or email me at acdavi07@louisville.edu. 

One year ago: Rambling in Con Law, Prepping for Finals, and Winter Break Diversions

A year ago this month, I was spending my days doing many of the same things I'm doing this year: preparing outlines, writing study questions, and visiting with professors to answer a few final questions before exams. But that's not all. I also was posting a video of myself being subjected to the Socratic method in one of my classes, and posting a list of the Top 10 Things to Do in Louisville on Winter Break. I also wrote one of the most popular posts of the last three years on this blog: a 25-question quiz about Constitutional Law.
Two years ago, I was writing about the stress of final exams as a 1L, and bragging about how my then 7-year-old son might be a Torts genius.
Next year, who knows what I will be doing in the legal world. Hopefully, I'll be practicing law after passing the bar. A necessary (but unfortunately not sufficient) condition to doing both is finishing the current semester, which means I need to get crack-a-lackin' on three final exams on my horizon in the next two weeks. Consequently, blogging may be light. As one of my favorite professors often tells me when I miss class, "We will try to stumble through without you."

Proposed tuition hike creates stir at U of L Law

The SBA's tuition poster

If you're thinking about going to law school, you probably already know about the dire employment situation for graduates, and the massive amount of debt you are going to rack up over the next three years. You also may know that here at Louisville, we rest our reputation on being a "value school" where you can get a solid J.D. without a six-figure tab. That doesn't mean students here are happy with the price they're paying for tuition, especially when it comes to the out-of-state rate. Over the last few days, there's been growing concern over plans to jack up tuition again -- by another six percent, plus a proposed fee of $206.

Our law school is typically not prone to controversy. In my time here, there have been no major protests like this one, and certainly no scandals like this one or this one. But there's good reason to be concerned about skyrocketing tuition, and I am glad the S.B.A. (Student Bar Association) is raising its eyebrows. In a recent letter to Dean Jim Chen and members of the administration, the group decried the proposed increases, and a related reduction in the law library's budget. The letter noted that students will be paying roughly $1,200 more next year with the latest increase, and that tuition across the university will have increased 83 percent since 2004. For even more startling figures, see the poster (image, above right) that the SBA is circulating to drum up awareness about the issue. The fine print is hard to read, but the smallest number represents tuition in 1992-93. The bottom two numbers show proposed rates next year for in-state and out-of-state students, respectively.
I'm no expert on this issue, but I do have a couple of (barely educated) opinions. For starters, the tuition problem is not isolated to Louisville, and in many ways it's a smaller issue here that it is in other places. For a glimpse of a truly horrifying law school tuition debacle, check out this excellent article about a private law school in New York City where the tuition is nearly $50,000 a year -- about the same as the typical starting salary for graduates. At Louisville, therefore, I don't think we need to use a sledgehammer to swat a fly. Still, a hike of more than 6 percent in an awful economy just doesn't make sense to me when one of our claims to fame is value. If the school absolutely must extract more money for its budget, here are the two areas where I would focus:

1. Tuition for in-state students. If students are going to bear the burden, let's keep costs down for out-of-staters. Protectionist tuition policies for Kentucky residents like myself are fine, but I don't mind shouldering a little more of the burden. Plus, by keeping tuition increases at a minimum for out-of-staters, we'll attract more quality out-of-state applicants, which in turn will preserve our precious spot in the Holy Grail.
2. Faculty scholarship. I may not make many friends on this one, but it's hard for me to understand why law school professors in general, and ones at U of L in particular, are expected to spend close to half of their time on scholarship. Sure, writing the occasional law review article is fine, and attending symposia is OK too. But seriously, close to half of their time? Clients at the law firm where I work often blanch at a one-third contingent fee. Reducing the scholarship quota to one quarter, or even one-third, would allow professors to teach more classes, which would either reduce class sizes, or allow us to offer more quality courses, or both. Of course, we also could save tons of money by employing fewer professors and keeping class sizes the same, but the Holy Grail is not going to let that happen.

These two ideas are a starting point in the conversation. I'm sure others have additional, and probably better, opinions. Got a thought of your own? Post it in the comments field below. Also, check out the survey on law school tuition at the upper right of this screen.