The Aspen Advisor Week in Review for November 23, 2018
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Last week was a short week so the Aspen Advisor is a little slimmer than usual (unlike me after my family’s feast!). With that said, there were still several interesting articles. On Friday, November 16, California released its Bar Exam results. The CA pass rate fell by 8.9% from July 2017 to July 2018. This follows a national trend. The pass rate for the Multistate Bar Examination fell to a 34-year low in 2018 as indicated by The National Conference of Bar Examiners. For students who didn’t pass and had to suffer through the holiday with relatives constantly asking, “What now?” there is a helpful article on how to improve your Bar Exam mindset for the next time. Forbes also had a thought-provoking article on how the legal profession and delivery of legal services is changing which in turn has a positive impact on legal consumers. Read more at, “What Are Law Schools Training Students For?”
Law School Students
Instead of Heading Straight to Law School, More Students are Taking Time Off After College
Penn Law students are taking time off after college graduation at a higher rate than in previous years, following a national trend toward delaying law school to join the workforce temporarily.
Bar Exam
How to Improve Your Bar Exam Mindset
A negative mindset is an actual reason that students have failed the bar exam, so it's time to get positive.
Legal Education
What Are Law Schools Training Students For?
The legal profession and the trillion-dollar global industry are undergoing a transformation. The seminal elements of legal practice—differentiated expertise, experience, skills, and judgment—remain largely unchanged. The delivery of legal services is a different story altogether. New business models, tools, processes, and resources are reconfiguring the industry, providing legal consumers with improved access and elevated customer satisfaction from new delivery sources. Law is entering the age of the consumer and bidding adieu to the guild that enshrined lawyers and the myth of legal exceptionalism. That’s good news for prospective and existing legal consumers.
How a Law School Dean Survived the California Wildfires
The law school is dealing with the aftermath of the fires.
Other Legal News
Black Law Student Association Launches Undergraduate Arm
Members of the Black Law Student Association are recruiting undergraduate students to form a pre-law chapter of the group and engage black students who have an interest in eventually pursuing a profession in the legal field. Members of the pre-law organization, which is in the process of registering with the Center for Student Engagement, said the group will help students navigate the legal field with educational opportunities – like visits to law schools and group discussions with law professors – that are often unavailable to minority students.
The Aspen Advisor Week in Review is a collection of interesting articles from the past week that pertain to Legal Education. Some may be especially relevant to law professors and others to law students. Many stories focus on the pedagogical, technical, and financial innovation occurring in law schools today. We hope that these articles inspire you.
Nicole Pinard is the Executive Director of Market Development for the Legal Education division of Wolters Kluwer Legal and Regulatory Solutions U.S.