This Week in Legal Education News

Over the last decade, AALS has kept law school leadership, faculty, and staff informed with its weekly Legal Education News Digest and Blogs Digest. Sign up to receive these digests by email.

To keep law school faculty and staff up to date with the latest legal education news, we collect articles on new programs, collaborations with other schools, faculty accomplishments, awards, clinical activities, and special events. You can share news and updates with the editors of the weekly digest here. With the launch of our online platform LENS, we will be sharing a weekly roundup of legal education news, highlighting the most important stories.

AALS Legal Education News Digest– Week Ending March 21, 2025
AALS Legal Education Blogs Digest– Week Ending March 21, 2025

Here are a few articles of note from the past week:

• The National Convening on the Future of Legal Education and Admissions, organized by the Conference of Chief Justices and Conference of State Court Administrators Committee on Legal Education and Admissions Reform (CLEAR), was held last week. Multiple organizations including the Association of American Law Schools participated in the gathering focused on access to justice and preparing students for modern legal careers. (National Center for State Courts) 
• Law schools are seeing a more than 20 percent increase in applicants over 2024. According to the article, possible reasons for the sudden increase include the current political environment and uncertainty in the US economy and job market. The increase has caused one of the most competitive years in law school history. (Newsweek) 
• Current law students and recent graduates have received communications that federal job offers have been rescinded amid a reduction in force. In recent years, approximately 1,000 law graduates joined the federal government post-graduation. The loss of these positions will have an impact on the overall employment outcomes for law graduates. (CNBC)
• The California State Bar continues their work to remedy the troubled rollout of its new bar exam. They have announced that they will increase oversight for future exams and are considering provisional licensure for February examinees. (ABA Journal) (Reuters)

Dean Moves and Hires

• Constance A. Anastopoulo was named interim president of Charleston Law. (Charleston School of Law)
• Neel Sukhatme was named dean of University of Michigan Law.  (Michigan Law)
• Jennifer Reynolds was named dean of University of Oregon Law. (University of Oregon)

Law School Programs and Clinics

• Drake Law co-hosts LGBTQ+ Free Legal Clinic. (Dentons)
• Florida State University Law launches new Bankruptcy Law Clinic. (Florida State University News)
• Notre Dame Law Religious Liberty Clinic to argue before the US Supreme Court. (The Observer)
• Pepperdine Law Disaster Relief Clinic works to support victims of recent Los Angeles wildfires. (Pepperdine University)

Higher Education

• Georgetown Law dean William Treanor cites the school’s Jesuit mission in defense of recent attacks on DEI programs. (Inside Higher Ed) 
• The US Education Department workforce was cut in half by a recent round of layoffs. Despite arguments that the layoffs are aimed at eliminating “bureaucratic bloat,” former department officials worry that these cuts could lead to decreased efficiency and accountability in education. (USA Today)