UC Irvine Law Announces Founding Faculty

For my So-Cal applicants, here is exciting news about the promising start for UC Irvine's law school. They will be accepting applications this fall.

New Law Schools to Consider

Brian Leiter pointed out this article on LawJobs about TEN possible new law schools coming up....
The discussion about the demand for these schools (and their graduates) is worth reading.

How important is ABA accreditation?

I often get e-mails and blog comments asking me about issues relating to non-ABA accredited law schools. I don't consider myself an expert on unaccredited schools (and as a law school admission consultant, I only assist with applications to ABA law schools) but here is a link to the ABA's response to the question of the value of accreditation.

P.S. The same article confirms my prior posts (on lawschoolexpert and on IntegratedLearning) on the importance of taking the LSAT only once and only when you are fully prepared.

More about Drexel Law School

Last week I shared the news about Drexel's Provisional ABA Status and today I found an article with great information about Drexel's Law School that I thought would be useful to anyone considering attending.

Drexel Law Receives Provisional ABA Accreditation

Thanks to one of my clients for forwarding this good news about Drexel Law School becoming Provisionally Accredited by the ABA. I am confident that this school will serve as a great option in the Philadelphia area.

Detroit Mercy to Offer Joint Degree in Mexican Law

Here's a very interesting post on blawg about a law school dean going above and beyond to carve a niche for his graduates.

New Law Schools to Consider

A current client sent me an e-mail this morning inquiring about some up-and-coming law schools and I think it's worth sharing with my readers:

As I'm reading up on different law schools, there are some law schools that are expected to get ABA accreditation as soon as they become eligible and they are affiliated with some respectable undergraduate institutions, which I suppose makes it a safe bet that it'll receive accreditation. The two I'm thinking of are UC Irvine (http://www.law.uci.edu/) expected to open in Fall 2009 and Drexel who are already taking applications (http://www.drexel.edu/law/). What is your advice for students thinking about applying to these law schools?

This is a great question. I've already posted about UC Irvine's law school and I expect many of my clients next year to apply here for the chance to attend a public law school in California. My guess is they'll be wanting people right around the 160s right off the bat, especially with the prestige of their Dean. Orange County needs a really good law school - LA is not a convenient commute. I think it'll hurt Chapman the most - people who have to be in Orange County and have exceptional credentials will probably choose Irvine (public tuition and the automatic prestige of a UC school).

Many of my clients are applying to Drexel this year - I agree that its prospects are excellent since it's attached to a solid undergraduate school and in a city where it's very hard to get into law school without a 160 LSAT score (Temple, Villanova, and Penn are its only neighbors).

Here is information about the University of Phoenix (Arizona's first private law school) It's sister school is Florida Coastal Law School. These are for-profit law schools and will probably always be Tier 4, whereas Drexel and Irvine are stars I expect to rise quite quickly.

Arizona Gets its first Private Law School

The ABA has provisionally approved its first private law school in Arizona - The Phoenix School of Law. It appears their 25th-75th percentile LSAT range is in the low 150s. This is a great new option for people in AZ, NV, NM, Utah and nearby states to keep in mind. http://www.phoenixlaw.org/