Brian Leiter's Law School Reports

Mother's day thoughts

I found interesting this set of reflections by Rick Hills (NYU).

Richard Epstein on Harper's "The Lawyer Bubble"

From the conclusion of what is a quite measured review of a lazy and careless book:  "Mr. Harper's blunderbuss condemnation of most large firms and most law schools is off-target. By and large, they have proved resilient in a competitive legal climate."

Another law school adopts a 2-year accelerated JD program

The first in the New York area.

Law faculty salaries 2012-13

Blog Emperor Caron breaks out the latest SALT data.

Decline in lateral hiring of faculty

The evidence.  Not surprising.

Is law school tuition going up or down?

No one really knows, but given the data from private universities and colleges, the answer is very likely "down."

MEANWHILE an uptick in employment for new lawyers.

The Pro-Business Roberts Court

A new study by Lee Epstein (Southern California) and my colleagues Bill Landes and Dick Posner is discussed in the New York Times.

Controversial Saint Louis University President to Step Down

Story here.  Earlier controversies involving Biondi and the law school are noted here.

Is the job market for new lawyers, even from lower-ranked schools, really that bad?

Some interesting contrarian evidence from Ben Barros (Widener).

Law schools with JD Alumni on the Teaching Market

MOVING TO FRONT FROM SEPTEMBER 13, 2012--AS HIRING SEASON NEARS ITS END, AND PRAWFS COMPILES HIRING DATA, THIS INFO IS TIMELY AGAIN (candidates who accepted offers, please submit your info at the Prawfs site--I knnow the information there is not complete as it presently stands)

UPDATED AND CORRECTED

This is from the first FAR distribution, which is the most important one, and typically includes the most viable candidates (meaning also the candidates the school knew about!).  The school name is followed by the number of graduates on the market this year, the average recent class size, and then two ranks:  how the school ranks over a long period of time in per capita placement in law teaching; and how the school ranks more recently in placement of graduates at leading law schools.

1.  Harvard (57 candidates; average class size circa 550) (#2, #2)

2.  Yale (37 candidates; average class size circa 200) (#1, #1)

3.  NYU (31 candidates; average class size circa 450) (#9, #9)

4.  UC Berkeley (20 candidates; average class size circa 250) (#7, #5)

5.  Columbia (18 candidates; average class size circa 400) (#5, #6)

5.  Georgetown (18 candidates; average class size circa 600) (#14, #14) 

7.  Cornell (14 candidates; average class size circa 200) (#10, outside top 15)

7.  Northwestern (14 candidates; average class size circa 250) (#10, #11)

9.  Duke (13 candidates; average class size circa 250) (#10, #9)

9.  Michigan (13 candidates; average class size circa 350) (#5, #6)

9.  Stanford (13 candidates; average class size circa 200) (#4, #3)

12. Chicago (12 candidates; average class size circa 200) (#3, #4)

13. Texas (11 candidates; average class size circa 425) (#14, outside top 15)

Among the elite law schools, others had smaller number of alumni in the first FAR this year:  for example, there were eight from UCLA, seven from Virginia, four from Southern California, and three each from Penn and Vanderbilt.  Other major law schools with comparable numbers include George Washington (7) and Wisconsin (5).

ADDENDUM:  It is striking how weak the correlation is between the total numbers on the teaching market compared to past success in placement.