Frank Snyder
I'm a law professor who has taught at law schools in each quartile of the USNews rankings, been a partner at an AmLaw 20 firm, and owned a couple of independent minor league baseball teams.
You can find my current school on a Google search, but I'm not putting it here because I want to emphasize that this blog reflects my personal observations on legal education, the profession of law, and the vast changes (the "Apocalypse") that are looming on the horizon for each. I claim no special expertise in these topics, except for having practiced law for nearly 15 years and taught in law schools nearly as long.
Unlike some other critics, I believe that the law is the greatest of the secular professions It has played a critical role in American life. Law school is not a scam. Law has offered, and continues to offer, incredibly rewarding careers to thousands of new lawyers. My view of the American law school is like that of reforming 15th-century Catholics to abuses in the Church -- a deep love for an institution but a strong concern that it has fallen under some very bad influences.
Unless attributed and linked to specific others, all of the thoughts here are mine, unless I unconsciously stole them, in which case I apologize. None of them should be taken as the opinions of my employer, my publishers, my students, or any other person or institution.
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Category Archives: Signs of the Apocalypse
Do not ask for whom the bellwether tolls . . .
Washington University (St. Louis) has become the first “highly ranked traditional law school” to offer a fully online LL.M. degree program that will qualify students to sit for the bar exam in a dozen U.S. states. The Wash U program is aimed … Continue reading
“If you want to help lawyers serve the poor, don’t charge $45,000 a year for law school.”
That’s the comment from “James” in response to an ABA Journal Weekly story about New York’s new “pro bono” requirement for would-be attorneys. I couldn’t agree more. There are lots of people who could use lawyers if those lawyers could … Continue reading
ABA considers making LSAT voluntary
The American Bar Association is apparently the only accrediting body in the U.S. that requires prospective students to take a standardized exam for admission. That may change, as the Standards Review Committee of the Section on Legal Education and Admission … Continue reading
New York adds “pro bono” requirement for bar admission
New York Court of Appeals Chief Judge Jonathan Lippmann used a Law Day lunch yesterday to announce that the Empire State would now require 50 hours of pro bono legal practice from applicants before they are admitted to the New York … Continue reading
Judges want more money, less criticism from ignorant citizens
That’s the upshot of a new report from DRI The Voice of the Defense Bar, released yesterday as part of the May 1 “Law Day” testifivites. The recession is really hurting American courts, so taxpayers (who presumably aren’t hurting as much as … Continue reading
Shrinking the law school class
The University of California’s Hastings College of Law is cutting back on its 1L class this year. The school (whose in-state tuition is now apparently a staggering $46,575 a year) will This may be motivated by concern for students, or … Continue reading
Fewer people want our product? Charge more!
It’s hard to think of a dumber principle on which to base a business decision, but the good folks at the Law School Admissions Council have figured out how to deal with an ugly 15% drop in demand from their customers … Continue reading
Law firms of the future
Sometimes it’s a real pleasure to read something by a successful lawyer who understands the coming Apocalypse and has practical advice for those who want to thrive. Thus it was great to read Patrick Lamb’s A ‘Valorem Dozen’: The Ingredients for … Continue reading
Opportunity knocked. My doorman threw him out.
Law school faculty don’t generally pay much attention the the ABA Journal, the official organ of the profession whose future members we’re ostensibly training. But two stories in today’s weekly email version are likely to get at least some notice. The bad news: Law … Continue reading