Reports on the founding of Ave Maria School of Law (Michigan), opening in 2000, which plans to integrate Catholic teachings into every course. Focus is on the school's founder, Thomas S. Monaghan, and the school's first dean, Bernard Dobranski, who suggest that the new school can avoid difficulties with tenured liberal professors and attract top…

Discusses two law schools that are offering Saturday-Sunday programs, with other schools interested in doing so; accreditors are raising objections, however. (EV)

Describes how the competition for top students for business and law schools has become so fierce that recruiters are perfecting the "hard sell." (EV)

Reports a high demand at law schools for courses on Internet issues, Cyberlaw, but notes that some critics question whether the topic warrants its own specialty. Suggests the appeal is based on intellectual excitement about the burgeoning field, the high technology comfort level of students who grew up with the Internet, and the promise of…

In recent years, 21 law firms have each donated $1 million or more to law schools for new buildings, programs, and professors. Before 1984, million-dollar donations from law firms were unheard of. While legal educators are delighted, some vocal critics warn that law firms may want to influence curricula, and that donations could undermine the…

For the first time, the American Bar Association has published a law school guide that includes statistics on the percentage of students passing the bar examination on the first try. For schools with low passage rates, the figures are embarrassing; for those with high rates, the guide is a publicity windfall. (MSE)

Spurred by public dissatisfaction with the legal profession and expansion of the bar exam's ethics section, law schools are trying to invigorate the field of legal ethics, giving students more exposure to moral and ethical conflicts they are likely to face as professionals. Some legal experts say law schools should do more to integrate ethical…

Former candidate for U.S. Assistant Attorney General Lani Guinier is attempting to make law school and the legal profession more welcoming to women, in part by rejecting use of the Socratic method in classroom discussion, which she feels is intimidating, combative, and discriminates against women. Others say the Socratic approach encourages men…

Applications to law schools have slipped steadily since 1990-91, and current applicants have a 70% chance of admission. Faculty are seeing more students with mediocre skills in writing and analysis. Institutions are providing more academic support, and some are cutting enrollments. However, law schools often are a prime income source for their…

Decline in interest and employment in public-interest law may be due to cuts in legal services funding, heightened recruiting by private firms, mounting law student debt burdens, growing salary disparities in public-interest and corporate law, inadequate curricular attention to public-interest issues, and private law firm prestige. (MSE)