University of Washington School of Law

The law school in question is located in a COVID-19 outbreak hotspot.

Updated with the law professor's reaction to getting the Kardashian seal of approval.

Congratulations to a great scholar and teacher!

* Who says we have a divided Supreme Court? When it comes to mercilessly mocking bad advocates.[Slate]

* The ongoing Led Zeppelin infringement suit takes a comical turn when someone uncovers a melody that sounds, well, at least as similar as the one Spirit bases its claim upon, in a Sonata from the 1600s. [Digital Music News]

* “Was Kanye’s Tweet Legally Binding?” Society should punch itself that this is a valid question. [Corporate Counsel]

* Compliance lawyers are increasingly concerned over their personal liability. Hey, this was all fun and games until someone said there might be consequences to this job! [Law360]

* Judge Rosemary Collyer is taking senior status, creating a vacancy that I’m sure the Senate will act quickly and responsibly to fill. [National Law Journal]

* An ICE lawyer gets 30 days in the slammer for forging a document to keep an otherwise legal Mexican immigrant out of the country. Maybe Donald Trump can pay his legal bills, too. [ABC News]

* Oh great! Creating a new law school. [The News Tribune]

For her efforts this law student won a shiny new saddle and an LLM.

Faced with high-profile criticism, law school deans pull out the scare tactics in defense of the lucrative status quo.

* Zimbabwe officials won’t charge Dr. Walter Palmer in the slaying of Cecil the lion since he had proper paperwork, but he likely won’t be allowed to hunt if he ever returns. This will not stand. It’s now time for the American vigilante animal-lover justice team to assemble. [Reuters]

* Per the results of two new surveys, Biglaw firms can stop worrying about their work drying up thanks to in-house law departments keeping matters in-house. Outside spending on legal counsel is flat as opposed to in the negative, and that’s apparently something to celebrate. [WSJ Law Blog]

* This school puts the “duh” in Flori-duh: As we mentioned previously, Ave Maria School of Law was the caboose on the trainwreck that was the July 2015 administration of the Florida bar exam, and now people can’t stop staring at the wreckage. [Naples Daily News]

* The Cannabis Law and Policy Project, a new group at the University of Washington School of Law, will spend the next year researching existing and emerging markets for marijuana. We can’t wait for them to puff, puff, pass on their knowledge. [UW Today]

* If you’re planning to take the LSAT with testing accommodations, there are a few things that you need to know. Find out what types of accommodations are available, and be sure to file your — OMG, SQUIRREL! [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News & World Report]

Student debt can make people do some crazy things. Can it also make people do some criminal things?

* Sorry, Chicago Law, but it looks like you’re going to lose your dean. Michael Schill, the school’s departing dean, will leave to assume the presidency at the University of Oregon. It’s an upgrade for UO, and a potential downgrade for UChiLaw. Yikes… [Willamette Week]

* FYI, D.C. Circuit litigants, you really need to “avoid using acronyms that are not widely known.” This is your second warning, your colleagues have already been benchslapped for this behavior, and the clerk’s office literally can’t even anymore. [National Law Journal]

* After six months spent completing a domestic violence program, the battery charge against Judge Mark Fuller has been dropped and expunged from his record. Whether he’ll be allowed to keep his job on the federal bench is another story entirely. [Reuters]

* Your law school application is a great place to explain why your undergraduate GPA is so damn low, because at this point in the process, the law school of your choice may be happy that you actually have a pulse. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News & World Report]

* Theo Shaw, a member of the “Jena Six” who had to spend 7 months in jail because he couldn’t afford bail for his alleged participation in a gang-beating, is going to law school on a full ride. He’s “profoundly grateful” to Washington Law. Congrats! [Business Insider]

Even with "free" law school, some bills still need to get paid.

"Oooooo I'm bad!" Which law school did this controversial Snapchat come from?

When it comes to LRAP, carefully consider what each individual school offers to help you survive on a public interest salary.

Ed. note: Happy Thanksgiving! We will resume our normal publication schedule on Monday, December 2. We hope you have a wonderful holiday, and we thank you for your readership. * O.J. Simpson is going to be staying in prison longer. The search for the real killers suffers another setback. [Fox News] * Sriracha-gate continues. A federal judge has ordered a partial shutdown of the plant. [Slate] * Lawyers are destroying American society. Because the Romans also had a glut of law school grads when the Republic fell. Or something. [Bloomberg BusinessWeek] * A federal government lawyer who mastered the stock market and lived a frugal life has given some $56 million to the University of Washington School of Law. Go ahead and hold your breath for that Washington tuition decrease. [Seattle Times] * UNC professors are questioning the motives of a public records request targeting the new director of the law school poverty center. Which isn’t naked intimidation at all. [Chronicle of Higher Education] * A couple weeks ago Professors Alan Dershowitz and Sanford Levinson debated Professor Eugene Volokh and David Kopel. The former argued that the Second Amendment has outlived its usefulness. Based on minds changed, they won. The debate video is embedded past the jump… [Intelligence2 Debates]

* Congress could throttle tech innovation with two words. Thankfully, I don’t think Congress knows any two words beyond “defund Obamacare.” [Slate] * The University of Washington was slapped with a $720,000 fine for withholding documents from a professor suing the school for gender discrimination. Every time something bad happens to the University of Washington, an angel gets its wings. Go Ducks! [Chronicle of Higher Education] * The ABA has issued its draft report on the future of legal education. Highlights include recommending a 50% tuition cut. Ha! Just kidding. [Associate's Mind] * Congress is targeting the people who are really making off like bandits: poor people on food stamps. But there’s another link in the federal agriculture spending chain that might make more sense to target if you really wanted to save the government money. Silly me, budgetary discipline has nothing to do with budget cuts. [Volokh Conspiracy] * Here are 15 things wrong with the criminal justice system. Only 15? [Boston Review] * Lessons on the defense of others from Back to the Future. I’m still waiting for a legal analysis of buying plutonium from Libyans. Is that legal? I’m kind of fuzzy on that one. [The Legal Geeks]

An aquatic look at which law firms' alumni have the top spots at the largest U.S. law firms.

Sometimes the line between helpful and annoying is hard to see.

Do you have something to say about your law school's U.S. News ranking? This is the place to do it!

National Jurist came out with a very interesting ranking of law schools. The publication looked at schools that helped people pass the bar despite their low LSAT scores. While poor performance on the LSAT doesn't necessarily mean the student is dumb, it almost certainly means the students is bad at taking standardized tests. If schools have students who go from being bad at taking a relatively easy standardized test (the LSAT) to passing one of the hardest and most stressful standardized tests out there (the bar exam), it sounds a lot like they are educating people. But, should the law school get the credit for the success?

There’s a very interesting debate coming out of Washington State: Should universities do more to provide child care for students with children? On Monday, parents across the University of Washington system brought their kids to class to protest the lack of child care options in the area. It’s an important question. According to the Seattle […]

Raise your hand if one of your reasons for going to law school was that somebody told you a law degree was “versatile” and that you can do a whole bunch of things with a J.D. Keep your hand up if time and the recession have proven that “versatility” thing to be a complete load […]