Law Librarian Blog

Are Public Libraries "Permanently F***ed?" Maybe Not

I know the title sounds like a blog post title Jason Wilson would write. But. It. Is. Not. It's from a recent SF Weekly blog post. [JH]

"Application Deadline Extended to July 1. Accepting June LSAT Scores. Application Fee Waived.": Sounds like Stetson Law is desperately seeking applicants (Average debt for Class of 2011 grads ... $133,082)

"Are you currently considering enrolling in a certified program of legal education at an outstanding university located in an outstanding city in an outstanding state?  If  so and things don't work out you might consider the Stetson College of Law in Tampa Bay, FLA, which it would be fair to say is very interested in speaking with you at your earliest convenience.  But even if it's not convenient for you to apply for admission this week or this month or this spring that's OK, because if you don't act now you can apply as late as July 1st for admission to the Fall 2012 class. Classes start just 47 days later, but I'm pretty sure that will give the Admissions Office more than enough time to determine if you are not currently an involuntary resident of a correctional facility meet the school's entrance requirements," writes Paul Campos in Stetson Law School Wants You. (H/T-ing this Third Tier Reality blog post).

Campos adds:

It's worth emphasizing that Stetson is not a "bad" law school, in the sense of being significantly below average.  First, it's more or less in the middle of the USNWR rankings (41st percentile).  More significantly, as a commenter notes, in the context of Florida law schools in particular it's actually one of the better law schools in the state, ranking behind UF, Miami, and FSU, but ahead of a half dozen other ABA schools. In terms of expected return on investment it's also "average" -- which is to say the modal student there can anticipate a fairly catastrophic outcome.  It is, in other words, a typical American law school in 2012.

[JH]

Friday Fun: Congratulations and Good Luck Class of 2012

This one is for you. [JH]

Rapoport Has Been Rethinking Legal Education for "(Most) Schools"

Two-time law school dean (Houston and Nebraska) and currently a UNLV law prof, Nancy Rapoport uploaded Changing the Modal Law School: Rethinking U.S. Legal Education in (Most) Schools, 116 Penn. St. L. Rev. 1119 (2012), to SSRN. Here's the abstract:

This essay argues that discussions of educational reform in U.S. law schools have suffered from a fundamental misconception: that the education provided in all of the American Bar Association-accredited schools is roughly the same. A better description of the educational opportunities provided by ABA-accredited law schools would group the schools into three rough clusters: the “elite” law schools, the modal (most frequently occurring) law schools, and the precarious law schools. Because the elite law schools do not need much “reforming,” the better focus of reform would concentrate on the modal and precarious schools; however, both elite and modal law schools could benefit from some changes to help law students move from understanding the theoretical underpinnings of law to understanding how to translate those underpinnings into practice. “Practice” itself is a complex concept, requiring both an understanding of the law and an understanding of how to relate well to others. Because law students may not understand how to relate well to those with different backgrounds from their own, law schools should do more to explain how one’s perspective is both limiting and mutable. Too many law schools suggest that students can “see” different perspectives by, essentially, merely thinking harder. The essay concludes with some suggestions regarding possible reforms of U.S. legal education, focusing primarily on the modal law schools.

On The Legal Whiteboard, Jeff Lipshaw offers the follow comment:

Interestingly, one theme in Nancy's piece is that students don't get those contextual and non-legal skills from their undergraduate liberal arts education.  Scott Greenfield at Simple Justice either disagrees or doesn't think it matters to a lawyer, judging by an interesting reaction to my post on the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of law practice.

See also Scott Fruehwald's summary and commentary on Rapoport's essay on Legal Skills Prof Blog.

Frankly, one has to wonder when rethinking will be replaced with reforming "(most)" of the legal academy. If professorial "talk therapy" doesn't lead to institutional corrective behavior, what's the point? There are plenty of good ideas "out there" that don't require all law schools to accept. Experimenting in baby step fashion, perhaps by some law school requiring additonal courses at the 2L and 3L level, just might be a good laboratory for testing some curricular reform proposals incrementally. I'm thinking well-meaning reform-minded law profs just might to touch base with their College of Education profs for some expert help. [JH]

Microsoft Pushes Bing With Desktop Add-On

Anyone using the Windows operating system knows that Patch Tuesday is the day Microsoft updates Windows and other Microsoft products with the latest security patches.  One of the optional downloads in the latest batch is something called Bing Desktop.  It’s Microsoft’s way of trying to bring attention to its Bing search engine, at least if Windows 7 is installed.  I didn’t load the program, as I’m skeptical of how deep this kind of stuff gets into the inner workings of my machine.  It took me hours to set up Windows when I got my latest machine and I hate things that upset my workflow.  I did look it up to see what it does, just in case. 

For those who are interested, it places a gigantic search box on the Windows desktop which allows one to search Bing, naturally.  It also optionally syncs the desktop with the Bing graphic of the day.  Pay attention to the checkboxes during the install (if one is installing it) as it defaults to wallpaper syncing, setting the homepage to MSN on Internet Explorer, and setting Bing as the default search provider on Internet Explorer. 

Commentary suggests that Microsoft is a bit desperate with this move.  Digital Trends calls it “practically spamware,” while Betanews calls is beautiful an annoying.  The program is available separately from Microsoft, with information and download links here and here.  I agree with much of the commentary that suggests that this is an odd item to get pushed through Windows Update.  On the other hand, it may not have gotten much notice if Microsoft hadn’t pushed it, much like the 15% search market share Bing now owns natively.  Throw Yahoo in, as it uses Bing as its search engine and the numbers are a more respectable 29%.  [MG]

Are Search Engine Results Protected by the First Amendment?

According to UCLA law prof Eugene Volokh the answer is "yes." "Google commissioned me to write this White Paper (“First Amendment Protection for Search Engine Search Results“), so I thought I’d pass it along. I wrote the paper as an advocate, and not as a disinterested academic, but I hope some of our readers might find it interesting nonetheless," wrote Eugene Volokh yesterday.

It certainly sounds like it will make for interesting reading. The paper quickly caught the attention of the media. See, for example, Wired's Threat Level post by Kim Zetter, Jeff John Roberts' paidContent post and Lance Whitney's CNET post for starters. {JH]

Kill or Keep Standing Orders: Performing a Little Old School Due Diligence (And who should hire contract lawyers if predictive coding is so smart?)

Will contract lawyers currently performing document review grunt work be fishing for new jobs soon? See Kenneth Anderson's Is Contract Lawyering Doomed by Algorithm? on The Volokh Conspiracy. For a little background on predictive coding, see Sharon D. Nelson and John W. Simek's Slaw post, What’s Hot in E-Discovery? ("The way most lawyers engage in traditional keyword searches is, as others have suggested, the equivalent of 'Go Fish.'").

Here's a thought. Perhaps some of our legal publishers will follow Bloomberg Law's example of hiring unemployed but experienced attorneys for editorial jobs. Sure beats hiring some kids straight out of law school to KeyCite old copy and then push the "send to manufacturing" button to spit out an "updated" pocket part or a "replaced" annual pamphlet edition. Under current legal labor market conditions, there is plenty of "supply" for cheap legal workforce needs. Hell, it might even improve editorial quality. This work can even be contracted out to stay-at-home editors.

Will, for example, Pangea3's job ads state "And other duties as assigned including but not limited to editing TR Legal publications"? For one recent once but no longer web store banner tag-lined "trusted legal resource from..." print title, we found 20 or so additional cases listed in the table of authorities and four less pages of text in the body of the work. I gave up looking for fresh edited content after comparing some 20 pages from last year's to this year's version. Didn't see any content changes but I did observe that this year's version displayed some quirky type format changes which pushed content around. A couple of pages later, I ended my page-by-page review because that was the only difference I had found. Of course, I probably should have compared the 550-plus additional pages but I got distracted by the kill-keep standing order question. 

I'm leaning towards "kill." Our practitioners can do at least as good a job checking latter case history and treatment as some nameless over-worked and under-supervised editorial assistant. Heck, our practitioners will even remember to check for and then will understand federal and state statutory changes. The only matter that awaits a final decision on my part is whether or not to kill each title one at a time or issue a kill order for all of them at the same time.

I'm thinking the latter because customer service reps are pretty busy dealing with Account Receivables requests over the fiasco caused by the acquisition of this title. It is pretty damn bad when well-meaning customer service reps who are trying to do a good job have to deal with "customer experience and education" like we mere customers do. (Note well current subscribers, once you get past the due diligence this Company's AR department wants you to perform for it, the post-acquisition subscription renewal rate has only been jacked up about 25 percent -- just might not be worth it.) Perhaps that company should have outsourced its due diligence? What if it did?

My hunch is you know the identity of the publisher and the poor souls dealing with their own AR department. Did I mention that the admitted incomplete examination mentioned above was for the latest annual pamphlet edition of a secondary legal title published by the folks in the Land of 10,000 Invoiced "New Editions"? Ah well, mailed print sale brochures from "TR Westlaw" for once "updated" loose-leaf print titles that have been pamphlet switcherooed now only indicate that they are "replaced annually." Only those loose-leaf titles that haven't yet experienced a format switcheroo carry the "updated" tag. But remember

"customer feedback ... clearly preferred the pamphlet [format] for updates for certain kinds of products."

 Perhaps "replacements" would have been a better word choice.

What does "new" mean? Perhaps TR's legal department issued a CYA directive to the Company's print ad copywriters. Hell if I know. Is "Replaced Edition" a more accurate tag than "New Edition" on WestMart page displays? To borrow from a Clintonian push-back, it all depends on what "new" means. For me, "new" means keep or kill a standing order. Since I buy many multiple copies of many annually "replaced" titles for our little county law library collection plus office copies for my statutory users, the time will come when it very well just may mean kill them all.

We're not just dealing with "replaced" editions of overpriced court rules anymore. Click on the "customer feedback" link above for some generalities about where this form of "predictive coding" is heading. [JH]

ALA TechSource's Workshop on Gadgets in the Library: First Session Starts Tomorrow

Jason Griffey will be presenting a two-part online workshop called "Gadgets in the Library: A Practical Guide to Personal Electronics for Librarians":

Session 1: Tablets and eReaders
Thursday, May 10, 2:30pm – 4:00pm Eastern

This session will cover the following topics:

• Why do we care?
• Operating Systems vs Devices
• iOS & Android
• Circulation & Policy

Session 2: E-Readers, continued and Future Tech
Thursday, May 24, 2:30pm – 4:00pm Eastern

This session will cover the following topics:

• More on eReaders
• 3D printing and hackerspaces
• Discussion on best practices
• Wrap up

Registration information.

Last week, Griffey posted Experiences Become Expectations on the ALA TechSource blog. One snip:

Our patrons are increasingly coming to expect that our resources will be available and easily used on their devices. Libraries are the democratizers of information. As information is increasingly amorphous digital content, we need to be familiar with the containers that give our digital bits form and substance. Being democratizers of technology, as well, ensures that everyone has the ability to use the latest and greatest in electronics.

NB: The ALA TechSource Editor's note:

This post is adapted from the introduction to Jason Griffey’s new Library Technology Report “Gadgets and Gizmos: Libraries and the Post-PC Era.” Jason revisits the technologies that he highlighted in his 2010 report. And he beats himself up a bit over it. Help him let go of the past; excuse him from predicting the future; and join him in discussing the gadgets your patrons are using today... .

Got webinars? ALA TechSource online workshops are fairly regular occurrences. Many, like "Gadgets in the Library" for example, IMHO are relevant to law libraries. It might be worth considering an ALA membership because AALL webinars on law library matters are few, far between, and not part of any discernible concerted effort to utilize 21st century communication mediums to offer programs on topical education and professional developments on a regular basis.

For an association that expends so much time, effort and money on its primary vehicle for education and professional development aka the 20th century model of annual meetings, it just might be worthwhile to reform our association's institutionalized focus because, well, it is the 21st century, right? [JH]

ProQuest Launches Udini for the Independent Reseacher

From the press release for Udini:

ProQuest is launching an inventive new research service that provides individuals with access to premium content and cutting edge tools. Instant and on-demand, Udini™ bundles an extraordinary range of information, including peer-reviewed and trade journal articles, dissertations, international newswires, newspapers, magazines and more from thousands of publishers in a comprehensive cloud-based workflow management tool designed for individual users. For knowledge workers without access to research libraries, Udini™ provides unprecedented ease for finding and using the highest quality information for professional projects. For publishers with already-strong academic distribution, Udini™ opens a trusted and compelling new channel to reach an under-served group of users who want and need their content.

...

Udini™ serves growing ranks of independent researchers, from freelancers, to workers in organizations without their own libraries, to unaffiliated authors.  These users can search and then add desired content to the Udini™ cloud-based project organization and management tool, which also welcomes information from personal libraries and the open web, enabling them to capture their projects' whole research file in one always-accessible space.  All content types share an easy-to-read display that allows note taking and highlighting. Purchase plans are flexible -- by the article, by the month or by the project -- and some content is free. There's no cost to use or store projects in Udini™.

For an overview, see Laura Hazard Owen's ProQuest's Udini is a cloud-based research tool for regular people on paidContent. [JH]

Opening: Director of the Law Library, Willamette University College of Law

Willamette University is accepting applications for the position of a full-time Director of the Law Library within the College of Law.

The Law Library shall be administered by a full-time Director who reports to the Dean and whose principal responsibility is the management of the Law Library including budgeting, staff, collections, services and facilities. The Director will work closely with the Dean and faculty members in order to develop and implement comprehensive library services that support scholarly research and the law curriculum. The Director will maintain a continuing and informed relationship with the College of Law faculty, students and administration.

The Dean and Director of the Law Library, in consultation with the Law Faculty, shall determine library policy. Within those parameters the Director is responsible for library leadership, strategic planning, and selection of research resources. This includes development of grant proposals; facilities planning; web page design and content; compliance with ABA and AALS accreditation standards; participation in local, regional and national library consortia; application of emerging technologies in automated library systems and information access; and maintaining the law library as an active and responsible presence in the educational life of the College of Law. As a necessary corollary, the Director participates in College of Law governance as a member of the law faculty.

The Willamette University College of Law is situated in the heart of Salem, Oregon’s capital. The College of Law is located within blocks of the Oregon State Capitol, Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Department of Justice and other state agencies, as well as the Marion County Courthouse and county offices, and the City of Salem municipal court and city agencies. Established in 1883, the College of Law was the second law school in the West and the first law school in the Pacific Northwest. The College of Law helped educate many of the first leaders of the bar. Now, more than 125 years later, the school continues to uphold that proud tradition of excellence.

For more information about the law library: http://www.willamette.edu/wucl/longlib
For more information about the law school: http://www.willamette.edu/wucl
For more information about Willamette University: http://www.willamette.edu

Responsibilities of the Director of Law Library include and are not limited to:

1. Provides for the organization, administration and supervision of the Law Library in compliance with ABA and AALS library standards.
2. Articulates library developments, financial needs and strategic planning in accordance with the Law Library and College of Law mission statements.
3. Drafts and maintains Law Library operations manual.
4. Drafts and maintains a written 5-year library development plan.
5. Provides organizational transparency through online availability of all library policies and annual reports.
6. Maintains records in order to compile statistics as required by the various educational, library and accrediting agencies.
7. Participates in local and regional library consortia.
8. Develops the collection and electronic resources to support College of Law educational objectives.
9. Participates in cooperative campus-wide library service initiatives with the Mark O. Hatfield Library and the Willamette Integrated Technology Services (WITS).
10. Develops library services consistent with evolving faculty and student needs, being innovative in enhancing the services to better fulfill the College of Law’s mission of engaging in superior teaching, scholarship, and public service.
11. Manages staff hiring, training and continuing education.
12. Participates in professional library and legal education activities.
13. Performs other duties including committee assignments and special projects as assigned by the Dean.

Salary and Benefits:

• Salary is competitive and commensurate with qualifications and experience and includes the University’s comprehensive benefits package.
• The position is a 12-month law faculty appointment.

To Apply: To apply or view the full position description and required qualifications, please visit our website at  https://jobs.willamette.edu/ (Job description Director of the Law Library). Please note that you will need to create an account in order to apply if this is your first time applying online with WU.  If you need assistance applying for this position please contact Linda Flamenco in Human Resources, lflamenc(at)willamette.edu.

The following materials will need to be uploaded as part of your online application:

• Letter of application
• Curriculum Vitae
• Unofficial Transcripts
• Please complete the reference section by providing contact information for three references.

Application Deadline: Review of applications will begin June 1, 2012, and continue until the position is filled. Desired start date is August 2012.

Believing that diversity contributes to academic excellence and to rich and rewarding communities, Willamette University is committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse faculty, staff and student body. We seek candidates, particularly those from historically under-represented groups, whose work furthers diversity and who bring to campus varied experiences, perspectives and backgrounds.

Washington University To Offer Fully Online LLM Program to Foreign Lawyers

Washington University in St. Louis is offering a Master of Laws in U.S. Law for Foreign Lawyers (LL.M.) as a completely online experience.  The program is aimed at foreign lawyers who are interested in the degree but are not necessarily interested in coming to the United States to take classes.  These prospective students will still have to meet admission requirements to the program no matter where or how it is taught.  Washington University law faculty will teach the classes, limited to 15 students, using technology provided by 2tor, Inc., a company that specializes in distance learning services.

The article from Inside Higher Ed offers some interesting points on the program.  The program does not lead to a J.D. or an opportunity to take the bar exam.  It describes the American Bar Association to have “acquiesced” to the program.  I’m not sure what that means, other than the ABA isn’t going to stop Washington University from going forward.  One of the concerns that Washington University faculty had before approving the program was whether they could deliver a quality experience online.  They must be satisfied enough that the school will offer an LL.M. through the program.

I have no doubt that the current level of technology is up to the task.  If that’s the case, what then does this mean for traditional legal education?  Inside Higher Ed quotes WUSL Dean Kent Syverud as saying:

“I think if we can deliver legal instruction online to people at a level of quality that mimics what we’re able to do in the classroom … [then] it’s going to be a change agent over the coming years, even if people don’t want it to be,” he says. “And the best schools are going to face that, and are going to make what they do better in all their degree programs and instruction, and everybody else is going to be left behind.”

I have to believe that the program’s success would lead to pressure to teach some general law classes via the web.  That’s where the ABA might resist, not that the organization would dislike the idea.  Rather because it has a hard time adjusting to change in its oversight of law schools.  I wrote last Friday, for example, that the ABA can’t make up its mind on whether to require law schools to use the LSAT or not as an entrance exam.  The Association seems to grudgingly respond to market conditions despite pressure from newspapers, advocacy groups, disgruntled law graduates, and members of Congress, no less.  I can only imagine what would happen, or more realistically, how long it would take for the ABA to bless full-fledged basic legal instruction via the web.  It might take years upon years before the Association discovers what other degree programs have, that distance learning works, depending on how it’s implemented.  Oh, there goes that danged external change again.

One of the things that the WUSL program does in this age of declining enrollments is to reach out to potential students who otherwise would not consider attending classes due to logistics.  I think this is a novel approach to market a program.  The big schools would never have to worry about attracting students as their name and reputation sustains them.  Other schools, however, may find distance learning a cost-effective alternative to reach qualified students.  The WUSL program may be a proving ground if the faculty delivers the quality they seem to think they can.  I wish them success, especially if it has the potential to positively disrupt the status quo in domestic legal education.  [MG]

Berring on BLaw: The transfer of research skills acquired in law school based on WEXIS next gen current gen's platforms to the BLaw platform at law firms will be easy.

Just a quick snip from Bob Berring's recent post on Slaw:

Bloomberg is going for the law firms, not the law students. Its search engine is snazzy. Now that WESTLAW and LEXIS have created interfaces that resemble Google, everyone might meet on the same ground in appealing to the new law student who begins to research. Skills imparted by the LEXIS and WESTLAW reps will transfer easily. The reality of the bottom line in law firms may mean that students will be asked to port the skills learned on the other systems to the newly christened BLAW.

Bloomberg is big enough, with smart enough management, to pull this off. If they do, it may spell the end for one of the old systems. Large law firms may stick with one of the old standbys and add in Bloomberg, or maybe, after enough credibility has been built up, maybe just Bloomberg.

For much more, see Bloomberg Law: The Wheel Turns.

The New Normal of the Very Similar User Experience. While there are some very substantial differences in the mystical ways WEXIS' new SEs work, once Classic Westlaw and Classic Lexis are killed, students will only be exposed to the coming status quo of WEXIS platforms that produce very similar user experiences. Berring may have a point that one unintended consequence is that WEXIS research skills training in law school (and elsewhere) will be readily transferable to BLaw in the real world.

Oops. Well, search engines do not sell online legal search services. Content does. Are we about to see some content-driven competiton in online legal search? If so, high quality editorial content will trump low quality editorial content if priced right.

I don't know if BLaw intends to put boots on the grounds of the law school campus for student training indoctrination purposes. Perhaps, the Company will let WEXIS school reps do that for them. [JH]

Rutgers-Camden Merger With Rowan University In Doubt

A funny thing happened on the way to the Rutgers-Camden University merger with Rowan University.  The Rutgers Board of Trustees voted to reject the merger.  Previous LLB coverage of the proposed merger is here.  The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that approval by the Board was a necessary action to making it happen.  The Board did state in its resolution that it was open to alternatives that included some type of relationship with Rowan.

The New Jersey Star-Ledger has more details on the decision.  The paper mentions the politics of the merger, from opposition by Senator Frank Lautenberg, to Governor Christie cutting a deal with George Norcross, a Democratic political boss who pushed the merger.  The real reason for the rejection seems to be that the merger struck fear in the heart of prospective Rutgers-Camden applicants.  The law school, for example, had persuaded only 25 students so far to attend classes in the coming fall.  The entering class is normally 225 full and part-time day and 45 part-time night seats.  Law school applicants are declining, but the school might as well pack it in with those kinds of numbers.  One of the ongoing themes in the prospective merger is the history and reputation associated with the Rutgers name.  That would have disappeared with the merger.  Time for the Governor to come up with Plan B, which hopefully includes the option to leave things the way they are.  [MG]

On Bomb throwers, Revolutionaries, Sycophants and Wimps

Almost two years ago I resigned from CRIV (AALL's Committee on Vendor Relations) and allowed my letter of resignation to be published in full in The Law Librarian Blog. My letter and the post by Joe Hodnicki can be found at Two CRIV Member Resignations Prompt One Question. In the May 2012 edition of Spectrum in the CRIV Sheet Editor's Corner column Todd Melnick and Liz Reppe (please note I spelled their names correctly) discuss that letter of resignation and their view of the current status of CRIV.

I noted in my letter that the purpose was to make constructive suggestions and give my thoughts on what was wrong with CRIV. Among the things pointed out was that between July 2009 and April 2010 CRIV only met once and had one phone conference. I also pointed out that between July 2009 and March 2010 the CRIV Committee had as a whole no communication with the then AALL Vendor liaison. So when Mr. Melnick and Ms. Reppe inform us that they have regular monthly calls for the Committee and that Margie Maes, the current AALL vendor liaison regularly participates in these calls I have to say that i am delighted that my comments on why I was resigning were taken seriously and acted upon.

However, several things about the column are shall we say very thought provoking and some downright disturbing. First, I wonder why this column was published now? i resigned over two years ago and certainly have not written anything recent about CRIV. Could it be related to the Consumer Advocacy Caucus that was recently formed? i will state that I had absolutely nothing to do with the formation of the Consumer Advocacy Caucus. In fact I turned down a request to participate in its formation. I have not participated in any way with the Consumer Advocacy Caucus and am not even sure if I am a member.

I also don't look upon myself as a "bomb thrower" or "revolutionary." I am certainly not seeking to overthrow AALL. in fact in my letter of resignation I stated "I do think change is needed but I also recognize we are volunteers doing our best for the organization representing our profession and I do applaud those efforts heartily." I am at present serving on another AALL Committee though I will admit that between my day job and my work as chapter president it leaves little time for the kind of participation I think the Committee deserves. And I have an even more appreciation for the AALL staff and in particular the AALL, Executive Director, Kate Hagan, who have all been of enormous assistance to me and my chapter. I regularly participate in the AALL Conference and have coordinated three programs (this year will be my fourth). So I have to admit to being perplexed by being labeled by such strong words merely for resigning from a committee and speaking out about it.

I don't think of those who serve on AALL Boards or committees as pushovers, wimps or sycophants. I have in fact written at least one blog post about the importance of volunteering for an AALL Committee.

But I will say this. Over the last few years my concern for librarianship as a profession has increased. i don't know that being incrementalists or meliorists or looking at librarianship as an accretive art is going to serve as well in the future. And by the way, i admit I did have to look up some of these words to make sure I truly knew what they meant. While I appreciate CRIV members wanting to show that there had been improvements I think it could have been done in a different way. I was left perplexed, disturbed and yes, i admit with a fit of giggles at the vocabulary and tenor of the piece. I should also note the first I heard of this piece was an email yesterday to apologize for the misspelling of my name. (CB)

Requiring Skills for Admission to the California Bar: Two high profile law deans not happy about that prospect

In State bar wants to call the tune: California weighs law schools skills mandate, NJL's Karen Sloan reported that the State Bar of California plans to examine whether some level of skill training will be required before being admitted to practice in California. Options include an "internship or mentorship program; a set number of skills-training hours; or a year-long course for 3Ls that covers real-world lawyering skills," according to Sloan. New York state has already taken the matter of attempting to admit "practice ready" attorneys. "The New York Courts are about to do something that will affect how law schools prepare their students for practice," wrote LLB's Mark Giangrande in NY Court of Appeals To Require 50 Hours of Pro Bono Service For Bar Takers.

In California, two high profile deans, Stanford Law's Larry Kramer and UC-Irvine's Erwin Chemerinsky, aren't happy if any such skill requirement requires changes to their curriculum. Quoting from Sloan's article:

My personal judgment is that we don't need this right now," said Stanford Law School Dean Larry Kramer, noting that many law schools have been moving to add clinics and other skills-based courses. "I think they're being a little too quick without recognizing what's already going on."

...

"I have very mixed feelings," [Chemerinsky] said. "On the one hand, I stringently support skills training in law school. On the other hand, I don't like the idea of the state bar saying, 'This is what you should be teaching.'…Law schools should decide what they teach. Not the bar."

Law schools do decide what to teach, "not the Bar". Imagine the chorus of pushing-back California law school deans singing "this will raise tuition because we will have to hire more legal skills profs since most of our regular faculty members don't know a thing above teaching students how to practice law" if revised State Bar requirements were to produce anything remotely resembling a full 3L year long skills course to prepare students to practice law in California.

"This is not a new issue," said State Bar of California Executive Director Joseph Dunn. "The debate about practical skills training has been long-standing within legal academia. But because of their paralysis, in the last few years the debate has started to seep into the regulatory bodies at the state level that govern the admission to the practice of law."

The state bar lacks authority to mandate law school curricula, Dunn noted, but schools in California would have little choice but to adjust should the bar go in that direction. Dunn predicted that law schools will push back, as they have in previous years when bar regulators have taken up the training issue.

(Emphasis added.)

Call me cynical but would Moot Court, Clinics, and Legal Research & Writing be pushed to the 3L curriculum by some California law schools? (NB: I'm not implying that Stanford or UC-Irving would; UC-Irving, for example, has been addressing this matter since it opened its doors.) Hell, the case can be made that those courses should be required in the third year in the first place. At least then law school students could apply their 1L and 2L understanding of legal doctrines to something remotely similar to real world lawyering.

The case can also be made that California law school grads would have a competitive advantage over out-of-state grads for landing in-state employment -- at least until other states require comparable skills training. The paralysis Dunn refers to certainly is not isolated to California law schools. Wait 'n see. The California Bar's Task Force on Admissions Regulation Reform is scheduled to issue its recommendations in December 2013. [JH]

Browsing On A Sunday: The Princeton Review in Trouble, the DPLA, and Surveillance Backdoors

The Princeton Review, creator of an alternative law school rankings list, guides to law schools, and test prep materials, is being sued by the feds under the False Claims Act.  The Review allegedly received reimbursements for services that never happened.  The complaint alleges the Review charged the Department of Education for thousands of hours of tutoring underprivileged students in New York City between 2002 and 2010 that never happened.  Employees falsified records that included a claim for teaching 74 students on New Year’s Day.  It sounds pretty ugly for such a prominent company.  More information is available at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

Ars Technica is reporting on last week’s conference to help create the Digital Public Library of America.  It’s an interesting idea, to put all of America’s library holdings online.  I don’t think anyone has any illusions about how hard this can be.  Manpower and organizational issues aside, I can’t imagine the copyright issues that confronted Google in its scanning project would be any different for the DPLA.  The people who own content may be just as obstructionist when it comes to the DPLA.  More on the ideas that were discussed at the conference is here.

Declan McCullagh reports from CNET that the FBI is seeking legislation (as of now not introduced) that would place mandatory surveillance back doors on social networks, VoIP, and web e-mail services.  The Bureau is lobbying technology companies not to oppose the law when it eventually gets introduced.  The proposed law would amend the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) to extend coverage to companies beyond telecommunications providers.  The Bureau sees this as a way to keep up with communications technology.  McCullagh says that the FBI is seeking consensus in the government before it goes forward.  The White House is not inclined to move on this, though there are members of the administration, such as Joe Biden, who have promoted similar legislation in the past.  I can’t imagine any of the agencies charged with managing security would have any conceptual problems with the proposal.  Levels of privacy only impede them.  I expect movement on this after the election.  Why should advertising companies have all the fun?

CRS has a number of reports on online privacy, including Privacy Protections for Personal Information Online (R41756, April 6, 2011), Privacy:  An Overview of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (98-326, December 3, 2009), Privacy:  An Abridged Overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (R41734, March 30, 2011), and a more complete version, Privacy:  An Overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (R41733, March 30, 2011).  There is also Digital Surveillance:  The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (RL30677, Updated June 8, 2007).  [MG]

Round-Up of Law Practitioner Blogs

Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog
http://www.torontoinjurylawyerblog.com/
http://www.torontoinjurylawyerblog.com/ index.xml
Discusses personal injury cases, news, and related matters in Toronto, Ontario. Published by Goldfinger Personal Injury Law

Orange County Criminal Lawyers Blog
http://www.orangecountycriminallawyersblog.com/
http://www.orangecountycriminallawyersblog.com/index.xml
Examines criminal law cases, news, and related topics in California. Published by the Law Offices of Vincent J. LaBarbera, Jr.

Miami Criminal Defense Lawyers Blog
http://www.miami-criminal-defense-lawyers.com/
http://www.miami-criminal-defense-lawyers.com/index.xml
Discusses criminal cases, news, and related matters in Florida. Published by Silber Criminal Law Firm

Miami Criminal Defense Lawyers Blog
http://www.miami-criminal-defense-lawyers.com/
http://www.miami-criminal-defense-lawyers.com/index.xml
Discusses criminal cases, news, and related matters in Florida. Published by Silber Criminal Law Firm

Plano Injury Lawyer Blog
http://www.planoinjurylawyerblog.com/
http://www.planoinjurylawyerblog.com/index.xml
Examines personal injury and accident cases, news, and opinions in Texas. Published by Barbieri Law Firm, P.C.