Experts say wariness of medical-malpractice claims and a discomfort that arises from occupations with different bodies of training has historically led physicians and attorneys to operate on separate playing fields. "There's been a mutual suspicion of the other profession," said Dr. Stephen Kramer (pictured), professor of psychiatry and behavioral medicine at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem. "They're both highly traditional and learned professions, and you'd think they'd have a lot in common, but the mindset is very different.

Tagged with: Hospitals Law Schools lawyers Wake Forest University School of Law

By MARC GUSTAFSON, Special to Lawyers Weekly For most of us, the last few years of legal practice have been a little shakier than we would have hoped for. We’ve all seen the figures, but they are worth repeating. According ...

Tagged with: Client Relations law firms Law Schools layoffs Practice Management Recession

Law schools need to be more transparent about the costs and employment data they give to applicants, and it's time to make that happen. So says American Bar Association President Steve Zack (pictured), who recently told a group of educators that the ABA is considering whether to increase the types of information that schools are required to disclose to consumers.

Tagged with: American Bar Association Career Education employment Law Schools

LL.M. = Lawyers Losing Money. That's a running joke in the online legal world these days, where bloggers and practitioners puzzle over whether a master of laws degree yields valuable returns for recipients or simply plunges them into another year's worth of law school debt. It's not an easy question to answer. On one hand, the demand is certainly there. The number of LL.M.s granted by American Bar Association-approved schools grew by 65 percent between 1999 and 2009, according to a September article in the National Law Journal. North Carolina schools are trending upwards, too.

Tagged with: Career Education Law Schools

As a record number of North Carolina's law students buckle down with their casebooks this fall, members of the bar are questioning whether the state's seven law schools are churning out more graduates than the market can bear, as well as raising questions about how prepared the new graduates are to begin practicing. These and other questions arose at a summit the N.C. Bar Association held earlier this month. It featured what was likely the first-ever conference of the bar and representatives from all of the state's law schools.

Tagged with: Attorneys Business of Law Law Schools N.C. State Bar NCBA

The effects of a troubled economy, including foreclosures, joblessness and residential evictions, heighten demand for legal assistance but also render more clients unable to pay for those services. Nonprofit legal organizations, like Legal Aid of North Carolina, and attorneys offering pro bono services struggle to provide assistance to all those in need. This increased demand for pro bono legal services renders a longstanding opportunity for law students particularly valuable.

Tagged with: Law Schools Pro Bono

By ED POLL, Special to Lawyers Weekly [email protected]   In a recent column we wrote about a Texas lawyer who successfully sued his new firm, alleging that he was “lured” away as a lateral hire from his previous firm only ...

Tagged with: Coach's Corner Employment Law Labor & Employment Law Schools Practice Management Recession

Guns, drugs, high-speed chases, pit bulls and stakeouts. Sounds like all of the ingredients of an action movie, but it actually describes the early days of Charlotte attorney Mark Simpson's career. And he didn't practice criminal law - at least not in the traditional sense. Simpson is one of many "second-career" lawyers - those who started off working in one job only to switch to law mid-stroke.

Tagged with: Career Law Schools

The Charlotte School of Law markedly increased its passing rate on the bar exam from the numbers its first graduating class posted last year - 82.2 percent this year over 67.3 percent in 2009. The top spot among in-state law schools went to UNC, with 90.3 percent of its graduates passing. Elon University's second graduating class did worse than last year, with 79.5 percent passing, although 100 percent of its repeat-takers passed. N.C. Central University finished last with 66.2 of its graduates passing. Both Duke University and Campbell University had passing rates close to Charlotte's at about 83 percent. Of Wake Forest University's graduates, 81.8 percent passed. In all, 73 percent passed.

Tagged with: Bar Exam Law Schools N.C. Board of Law Examiners

The N.C. Board of Law Examiners has released its statistical breakdown of how graduates of the state’s seven law schools fared on the July 2010 exam. The University of North Carolina (my alma mater) came out on top with more ...

Tagged with: Bar Exam Charlotte School of Law Law Schools University of North Carolina