While I Was Out...

A lot was written about the law school world when I was at home battling swine flu. Here's a quick round-up:

Above the Law posted a rundown of the University of California law school tuition hikes. UC Berkeley School of Law, UC Davis School of Law, UCLA School of Law and UCI Law instituted in-state tuition increases of 12 to 21.2 percent for the 2010-2011 school year, and they will continue to raise tuition by at least 5 percent through 2012-2013. Out-of-state tuition will increase more steadily over the next three years. The schools say they'll use the money for financial aid and faculty salaries.

The Wall Street Journal's Law Blog got a sneak peek at the Super Lawyers Top Law Schools ranking. The ranking is based on the number of super lawyers from each school--in other words, the number of "quality" lawyers produced. Not surprisingly, Harvard Law School came out on top. The Law Blog points out that because Super Lawyers' methodology is limited to counting the number of graduates, class size isn't taken into consideration, and smaller schools like Yale Law School or Stanford Law School may have been at a disadvantage.

On Tuesday, Super Lawyers released the full list. Check it out: Super Lawyers U.S. Law School Rankings.

The University of Massachusetts president announced that the university has approved the absorption of the Southern New England School of Law, which would create the first public law school in the Massachusetts. From MSN, the next step for the proposal is for it to be reviewed by the UMass Committee on Academic and Student Affairs, its Committee on Administration and Finance and, finally, by the UMass Board of Trustees in December. One step closer!

Finally, the University of Chicago Law School opened a time capsule from 1958. Enclosed were 13 letters from prominent scholars, U.S. Supreme Court justices and the then-publisher of The New York Times. The letters are on display at the law school. The law school is now working on a time capsule to be opened in 2059.