We just wanted to provide our readers a quick update on what we’re currently up to.
LST’s Official Request
After disseminating our white paper, discussing our project with a number of law school administrators over the last couple of months, and engaging some major players, we have finally set our sights on Monday, July 12th as the date of our official request.
In a little over a week, LST will submit our official request to every ABA-approved and provisionally-approved law school. The immediate request will not be for data; instead, we will ask each school to commit to releasing Class of 2010 lists compliant with our standard. Schools will be asked to collect and report the requested data to LST in February 2011, following procedures similar to those used by the ABA, NALP, and U.S. News.
Schools will have 60 days from delivery to respond to our request. At the close of the 60-day window, September 10th, we will survey the responses and report preliminary results on this website. During the time between September and February, we will engage law school administrators to understand the choices they’ve made. We will continually encourage all of you to directly contact schools to rally their participation.
LST Standard
Thanks to concerns raised by some commenters, we have added a new component to the Job List: Salary Source. A forthcoming post will explain this decision in full detail.
Tennessee Judicial Conference
We had a great opportunity to talk about our work at this year’s Tennessee Judicial Conference. After co-founder Patrick Lynch presented our plan to reform the employment reporting standard, he participated in a panel discussion led by Judge Randy Kennedy, along with Justice William Koch of the state Supreme Court, Vanderbilt’s Assistant Dean for Student Affairs, the Dean of Nashville School of Law, and the Dean of the new Belmont University College of Law.
It was a great chance to learn what leaders in the legal community consider some of the most important issues facing lawyers today. At the top of the list was how to mentor and train the increasing number of debt-ridden lawyers entering the market each year. They also discussed how to encourage new lawyers to serve underrepresented communities in Tennessee, which goes to how schools pitch their programs to the 50,000 new law students each year. We look forward to seeing how our solution addresses the problems members of the Bench and Bar identified. As always, please let us know if you know about discussions like these taking place elsewhere around the country.