The Red Velvet Lawyer

Graduate Competence or  Design and Scoring Problems? On Monday, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog reported the onset of a debate about the surprising drop in bar passage rates on a national basis.  It said:  A steep decline in bar exam scores on the most recent test has led to an outbreak of finger-pointing over who’s to blame for the downward swing.  In a sharply worded letter , the dean of Brooklyn Law School on Monday reproached the head of a national bar exam group for suggesting to law school leaders that their graduates who took the July exam were less prepared than students who sat for the test in previous years.  The dean’s letter came in response to an October memo by Erica Moeser, the president of the National Conference of Bar Examiners , addressed to law school deans across the country in which she defended the integrity of the group’s exam and raised concerns about the ability of the would-be lawyers who took it. ...  She continued: “Whi

The August 2013 issue of preLaw: A National Jurist Publication features the Appalachian School of Law in its article entitled: "Small and Personable." The article focuses on 12 law schools -- located in Virginia, West Virginia and eastern Tennessee -- that offer small class sizes and a personal touch. The discussion of ASL notes that its founders decided to place the law school in the heart of central Appalachia so it could serve the region in many ways. It quotes our fabulous Dean, Lucy McGough, saying: We are committed to and take great pride in our "Cheers Effect."  Here at ASL, everybody not only knows your name, but also is invested in your success in law school, in passing the bar, and in ensuring your professional career.  It notes ASL's focus on experiential learning leading to practice-ready skills.  It recognizes our nationally known externship program . It also describes our upper level focus on dispute resolution , our bar exam prep cou