Res Ipsa Blog

Texas Bar Results Posted; Texas Tech Takes Top Spot

On 11.05.09, In Featured, Future Attorneys, Headline, Law School, News, By Benson Varghese

The Texas Bar Exam results for the July 2009 exam were posted today. This year, Texas Tech School of Law had the highest percentage of students who passed the Bar Exam on their first attempt. Over 94% of the Texas Tech law grads who sat for the exam for the first time this July passed the exam. This brings the four-year average to 89.6% for Texas Tech. Overall, the average passage rate for first-time July examinees from Texas schools was 92% for the year, and 90% over the last four years.

This year the average passage rate for the public schools in Texas is 87.4%. (Houston, Texas Tech, Texas, and Texas Southern). The average bar passage rate for private schools was 90.1%.

Click image for full-resolution image.

Examinees who passed the July 2009 Texas Bar Exam

Ten Tips to Obtain the Perfect Letter of Recommendation

On 10.13.09, In Future Attorneys, Headline, Law School, By Benson Varghese

A good letter of recommendation is one that shows the reader that the recommender knows you personally, is familiar with your work, and lists specific reasons why you are a suitable candidate for the position or award for which you are applying. As the requester of a letter of recommendation, your job is to make the letter-writing process as effortless as possible. The following ten tips will help ensure you receive the best possible letter of recommendation:

Be sure to select someone knows you well and is familiar with your work.
Ask the potential recommender if they are willing, and have time, to complete a letter of recommendation for you. Understand that your potential recommender is busy, so be sure to approach the potential recommender as early as possible. (more…)

Professor Brian Shannon Tops Shortlist of Candidates for Dean of Texas Tech School of Law

On 10.02.09, In Featured, News, By Benson Varghese

The Dean Search Committee at Texas Tech School of Law announced this week that it is inviting three candidates to on-campus shannon interviews with the faculty, students, and members of the local bar association. Professor Brian Shannon (Texas Tech School of Law; Contracts, Law & Psychiatry, Property, and Criminal Law) will be the first on-campus interviewee. Professor Shannon has been a favorite among students and alumni alike, who believe that Professor Shannon’s experience as Associate Dean, his connections in the local and regional legal communities, and his academic publications make him the top candidate to lead Texas Tech. Professor Shannon’s outstanding legal scholarship was recognized both in 2002 and 2007 when he won the Texas Bar Foundation’s Outstanding Law Review Article Award for the most influential and best-written legal article published in the state. As one former student put it, “the law school is in need of an academic visionary, a hands-on administrator, and a cheerleader for our students…Professor Shannon is such a candidate…Texas is a huge legal market with a true need for a second top-tier law school. Texas Tech can fill this void and Professor Shannon is the leader to make this happen.”

gershon The second candidate slated for an on-campus interview, Professor Richard Gershon, (Charleston School of Law; Tax, Estate Planning, Property) served for five years as the Dean for Texas Wesleyan School of Law. He went on to become the founding Dean of the Charleston School of Law from 2003 to 2007. Charleston has been provisionally approved by the ABA.

Professor Peter Rofes (Marquette School of Law; Constitutional Law) is the final candidate that is currently scheduled for an on-campus interview. rofes Although Professor Rofes lacks ties to Texas, he has taken on leadership roles at Marquette, having served as the Director of Part-time Legal Education and currently serving as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

The on-campus interview schedule will be as follows:
Professor Brian Shannon October 6-7;
Professor Richard Gershon October 8-9;
Professor Peter Rofes October 13-14.

Letters of recommendation or support can be directed to the following members of the Dean Search Committee:

Search Committee Chair
Dean Fred Hartmeister (Dean of the Graduate School)
PO Box 41030
Lubbock, TX 79409-1030

Vice Chair
Professor Jorge Ramirez
1802 Hartford Avenue,
Lubbock, TX 79409

Members
Provost Bob Smith
PO Box 42019
Lubbock, TX 79409-2019

President, Guy Bailey
150 Administration Building
PO Box 42005
Lubbock, Texas 79409-2005

Chancellor Kent Hance
124 Administration Building
Mailstop 42013 Lubbock, TX 79409

Part II: A Review of PreCYdent.com: A “Google-Styled” Search Engine for Lawyers and Laymen

On 07.03.08, In Tech Tips for Lawyers, By Benson Varghese

In Part I of my review of PreCYdent, I described how PreCYdent outperformed both WestLaw and Lexis in “natural language” searches. In Part II of my review, I’ll cover the limitations of this new service, as well as some user-driven features that are unique to PreCYdent.

PreCYdent seeks to provide lawyers, law students, and the general public with free and easy access to legal authority. While WestLaw and Lexis are used primarily by paid subscribers, PreCYdent seeks to provide anyone who has access to the internet a single interface to find all the cases and statutes that are available online and are already in the public domain. However, because PreCYdent is a free service, it does not have the financial resources to license materials that are not already available in the public domain. Herein lies the key drawback to PreCYdent: it does not provide comprehensive coverage of the law. Currently, the coverage of cases on PreCYdent is limited to federal Court of Appeals cases going back to 1950, federal district court cases going back ten to fifteen years, and coverage for state courts varies based on what each court makes available online.

What PreCYdent does do, though, is provide excellent search results for the content and areas it covers. By default, the cases are ranked according to “authority” which basically means by number of times the cases were cited. Search results can also be organized in chronological order or based on the hierarchy of the court that wrote the opinion.

While users do not have to register to use PreCYdent, there are a number of unique features that are available only to registered users. For instance, registered users can rate cases on a five-star system, mark cases as relevant, add keyword “tags” to cases, as well as upload opinions, and statutes. There are also discussion pages where registered users can post comments or questions about cases or statutes. Additionally, PreCYdent has a professional networking feature that allows registered users to connect with other attorneys.

The ability to locate key cases on a given subject makes PreCYdent an excellent place to start a search. However, PreCYdent’s limited coverage means it is not a replacement for services like WestLaw and Lexis. With many new features though, PreCYdent.com will definitely be a site worth keeping an eye on.

My thanks to Professor Thomas A. Smith, cofounder of PrecCYdent.com and a professor at the University of San Diego School of Law, for taking the time to answer my questions about PreCYdent.

[ratings id="325"]

Publications Per Professor: Publication Rates at Texas Law Schools

On 07.16.08, In Future Attorneys, Law School, Texas, By Benson Varghese

One factor that is often considered in determining a law school’s ranking is the number of scholarly articles published per year by the school’s faculty. Since larger schools have an advantage in this regard, a more equitable measure of publication rates is a comparison based on the number of papers published per full-time faculty member. This offers a better measure of how often professors are being published. For example, under the traditional measure the University of Texas would come out ahead in terms of the number of papers published, whereas University of Houston professors actually publish papers more frequently on a per capita basis.

Although the publication rate per professor is a useful tool to compare one aspect of a law school’s ranking, the measure is subject to a number of limitations. First, it does not take into account how many times the published articles were cited, a measure that focuses more on the quality of articles written rather than the quantity. Second, the publication rates per professor measure do not reflect how many professors were actually published in a given time frame. Professors who publish a large number of articles increase the overall publication rate for the whole school. For example over the last year, Antonio Gidi of University of Houston published ten articles and Bernard Black at the University of Texas published fourteen articles.

The findings are subject to the limitations of the source data. The data for the number of papers published comes from the Social Science Research Network. While the SSRN has a majority of the scholarly works published, SSRN only publishes those articles made available by the authors for publication through SSRN. SSRN data also reflects the year in which the article was first made available through SSRN, not the year which the paper was first published. For the sake of consistency, the numbers used in the full-time faculty column were based on the numbers most recently published by the ABA through lsac.org.

One final note, while the publication rates are often referred to and are commonly used as one measure in deriving law school rankings, it is important to note that at least one in depth study concluded that there is little correlation between publication or citation rates and effective teaching.

[ratings id="369"]

Ten Tips for Future Law Students: How to Succeed in Law School

On 08.04.08, In Featured, Future Attorneys, Headline, Law School, By Benson Varghese

“You come in here with a skull full of mush and you leave thinking like a lawyer.” Professor Kingsfield, The Paper Chase.

Professor Kingsfield was right; law school changes the way you read, the way you think, and the way you analyze. Not unlike boot camp, this three-year odyssey is meant to break you and then remake you into something better than you were before. There are a number of things that you can do to ensure you come out on top when all the making and breaking is done:

1. Get advice from 2Ls and 3Ls who are successful in the areas you want to be successful in. There are a number of ways to be successful in law school. You can make the highest grades, become an acclaimed advocate, or become an editor for a law review or law journal. An important key to being successful in law school is getting advice from students who are already successful in the areas you want to be successful in. Every law student wants to make good grades, and high grades, more than anything else, are rewarded upon graduation. Find students who are at the top of their class and find what worked for them, how they managed their time, and how they prepared for their finals. Find students who have had the professors you are taking to get an idea of what to expect and what the professor expects of you. If you want to focus on honing your litigation skills, seek out a mentor who has been on a national mock trial or moot court team. If you want to become an editor on law review or a law journal, focus on improving your writing skills, pay attention to detail, and find someone who already is on a journal to learn about what it is like being on a journal and tips on effectively managing your time.

2. How you do on the final is much more important than how you answer a question in class.
The Socratic Method strikes fear in the hearts of 1Ls across the nation every year, and it is easy to be caught up in just reading for class to make sure you can answer the question when the professor calls on you. However, knowing the minutiae of every case is not what is going to get you the best grades, you need to be able to step back and see the big picture, so don’t sweat it if you get an answer wrong in class, but make sure you understand why you missed it, and focus on preparing for the final.

(more…)

Texas Law Students Rank Their Schools

On 08.19.08, In News, Texas, By Benson Varghese

On Monday, Texas Lawyer released the results of surveys it conducted of over 1,100 Texas law students in the Spring 2008 semester. The results were as follows:

Top Marks by Category:

Career Services Office: Southern Methodist University

Students Felt Prepared to Practice on Graduation: Baylor University

Collegiality: University of Houston

Technology: Southern Methodist University

Teaching Quality: Southern Methodist University

Library Services: Texas Wesleyan

Faculty Accessibility: Texas Tech School of Law

Student Diversity: Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law

Click for full-size image

Most Influential Professors:

SMU – Gregory S. Crespi

Texas Wesleyan – Aric K. Short

Texas Tech – Gerry W. Beyer

University of Houston – John Mixon

South Texas – Geoffrey S. Corn

Baylor University – Larry Bates

St. Mary’s – John W. Teeter Jr.

Texas Southern – Fernando Colon-Navarro and April Walker

Overall Rankings:

1. Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law (103 students responding)

2. Texas Wesleyan University School of Law (72 students responding)

3. Texas Tech University School of Law (164 students responding)

4. University of Texas School of Law (246 students responding)

5. University of Houston Law Center (153 students responding)

6. South Texas College of Law (126 students responding)

7. Baylor University School of Law (113 students responding)

8. St. Mary’s University School of Law (76 students responding)

9. Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law (79 students responding)

Check out the complete story and the law school deans’ responses at Texas Lawyer.

Ten Underused Microsoft Word Keyboard Shortcuts

On 09.28.08, In Featured, Headline, Tech Tips for Lawyers, By Benson Varghese

1. Get back to where you were: From law school outlines to legal briefs, law students and lawyers alike often work on very lengthy documents. For the times when you don’t remember where exactly you left off, the Shift+F5 combination will save you quite a bit of time. Hit both keys at the same time (as with all the combinations mentioned in this article) and Word will automatically place your cursor where you last left off.

2. Switch between text case: Highlight a portion of text and use the Shift+F3 combination to switch between text case. Word will toggle through sentence case, upper case, and lower case.

(more…)

Student Debt Webinar: Public Service Loan Forgiveness and Loan Repayment Assistance Programs

On 09.15.09, In Student Loans, By Benson Varghese

Equal Justice Works is presenting a number of webinars on the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. The CCRA, which I first blogged about in 2008, provides loan forgiveness for students who enter government positions, including prosecutors and public defenders, as well as public interest lawyers. The seminars provide important information on qualifying loans, loan consolidation, and managing student debt. Sign up for one of the free webinars here.

February 2009 Texas Bar Results Announced

On 04.30.09, In Headline, News, By Benson Varghese

List of students who passed.

Passage Rates:

BAYLOR 97.06%
UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON 89.19%
TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY 88.57%
ST. MARY’S 87.50%
S.M.U. 83.61%
TEXAS 83.33%
SOUTH TEXAS 80.67%
TEXAS WESLEYAN 77.36%
TEXAS SOUTHERN 40.74%

picture-1 picture-4

.

State Average for February 2009: 81.52%

South Texas College of Law Announces New Dean

On 03.30.09, In Law School, News, Texas, By Benson Varghese

Dean Guter The search for a new law school dean came to a close for one Texas law school as the South Texas College of Law announced last week that Donald J. Guter will be taking the reigns as President and Dean of the South Texas College of Law beginning next semester. The announcement comes shortly after a law.com article reported there were, as of last month, at least 27 law schools across the nation actively searching for deans.

Donald J. Guter served as dean of the Duquesne University School of Law in Pittsburgh between 2005 and 2008. Prior to his service there, he served as Judge Advocate General in the Navy, leading a group of 1,800 lawyers in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. By comparison, in 2007 South Texas College of Law had 1,252 students enrolled. The school, located in Houston, is known for its trial advocacy program. The only other Texas law school currently searching for a dean is Texas Tech. Dean Walter Huffman, who is currently the dean of the law school at Texas Tech, will be retiring at the end of the semester.

Free Online Courses from the Nation’s Leading Professors: AcademicEarth and LectureFox

On 01.28.09, In News, By Benson Varghese

In interviews with Forbes and Charlie Rose last year, Bill Gates spoke of his love for watching recorded lectures. Mr. Gates commented that although he often purchased courses from The Learning Company, there was a great need for free online courses with similar content.

A new website named AcademicEarth aims to provide just that. AcademicEarth has lectures from renowned professors from universities including Harvard, Yale, Berkeley, MIT, Princeton, and Stanford. There are courses from a wide array of subjects ranging from Economics and History, to Physics and Religion. There are even a few courses in the law section including a copyright lecture from MIT and a class on climate change law and policy from Berkeley. The videos are free to watch, and can be viewed without registering.

LectureFox, a site focused primarily on science lectures, does remarkable job of aggregating free lectures and organizing them so they are easy to access.

What other online lecture sites do you use?

Trial Tip: Outline the Answers, Not the Questions

On 01.25.09, In Featured, News, trial techniques, By Benson Varghese

justicea Professor Jim McElhaney, in his latest ABA Journal article, offers a great tip for young litigators: instead of writing out the questions you want to ask a witness, write down the general answers you are looking for. This will keep you from reading your questions, allowing you to frame more natural sounding questions during your examination of the witness. For more great trial tips, read the complete article here.

Cut and Paste Text Without Line Breaks

On 01.18.09, In Featured, News, Tech Tips for Lawyers, By Benson Varghese

Textfixer.com, a website originally designed for web developers who were editing code, offers a text-editing tool that is useful to anyone who regularly cuts and pastes text between documents: a line break remover. Line breaks are the broken lines of text seen when text is pasted between documents that are formatted differently. For lawyers and law students, this is most often seen when cutting text from a dual-column PDF document, such as a statute or case prepared on WestLaw or Lexis, into a word processing document. Unlike most formatting problems, pasting text as “plain text” does not get around the problem of line breaks. Although line breaks can be removed manually or by a “find and replace” command, using textfixer.com seems to be the quickest and easiest way to ensure properly formatted pastes.

word-line-breaks

Additionally,Textfixer.com preserves paragraph breaks while removing only the line breaks from the text. To use the line break remover, simply cut and paste the text from the source to the website, hit the “Remove Line Breaks” button, and then cut and paste the resulting text into the document you are working on.

fixed-text

Headline Image Credit: Immortal412

July 2008 Texas Bar Results Announced

On 11.06.08, In News, Texas, By Benson Varghese

July 2008 Texas Bar Results Announced

List of Students who Passed

Bar Passage Rates for First Time Examinees:

Southern Methodist University 93.97%
University of Houston 93.33%
Baylor 91.58%
University of Texas 90.24%
South Texas 89.57%
St. Mary’s 87.23%
Texas Tech 85.64%
Texas Wesleyan University 77.10%
Texas Southern University 59.71%

(Click chart for full-size image.)

The greatest improvement over the July 2007 passage rates was seen at Southern Methodist University with a 1.53% increase in the school’s bar passage rate, which placed SMU at the top of the July 2008 charts. Texas Wesleyan saw the most precipitous drop with a 14% decline in its passage rate since last year. While seven of the nine Texas law schools had passage rates of over 85%, this year’s top passage rate of 93.97% (at SMU) fell short of the July 2007 top passage rate of 97.85%. (Baylor).

(Click graph for full-size image.)

Res Ipsa Blog

Texas Bar Results Posted; Texas Tech Takes Top Spot

Ten Tips to Obtain the Perfect Letter of Recommendation

Professor Brian Shannon Tops Shortlist of Candidates for Dean of Texas Tech School of Law

Part II: A Review of PreCYdent.com: A “Google-Styled” Search Engine for Lawyers and Laymen

Publications Per Professor: Publication Rates at Texas Law Schools

Ten Tips for Future Law Students: How to Succeed in Law School

Texas Law Students Rank Their Schools

Ten Underused Microsoft Word Keyboard Shortcuts

Student Debt Webinar: Public Service Loan Forgiveness and Loan Repayment Assistance Programs

February 2009 Texas Bar Results Announced

South Texas College of Law Announces New Dean

Free Online Courses from the Nation’s Leading Professors: AcademicEarth and LectureFox

Trial Tip: Outline the Answers, Not the Questions

Cut and Paste Text Without Line Breaks

July 2008 Texas Bar Results Announced

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