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The American Bar Association released a trove of 2023 bar exam data detailing national results for the 197 individual U.S. law schools it accredits, Karen Sloan reports.
The University of Michigan Law School scored the highest first-time bar pass rate last year, with 97.27% of its latest juris doctors crushing the attorney licensing exam on their first try. The University of Chicago Law School was close behind with a pass rate of 97.1%, while Vanderbilt University Law School rounded out the top three at 96.97%.
The nationwide pass rate for first-time test takers ticked up to 79.18% in 2023 from 78% the previous year. But the “ultimate bar pass rate,” which reflects the percentage of law graduates who passed the bar exam within two years of graduation, fell from 91% among 2020 law graduates to 90% for the class of 2021.
Ten of the 15 law schools with the highest 2023 first-time bar pass rates are in the so-called T-14, which are ranked in the top 14 by U.S. News & World Report. Five schools outside the T-14 also made that list.
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- Terraform Labs received a U.S. bankruptcy judge’s permission to hire Dentons to defend the company from an SEC lawsuit, after the law firm agreed to return $48 million that Terraform had pre-paid for legal work. Dentons’ large retainer had sparked objections from Terraform’s creditors, the SEC, and the office of the U.S. Trustee, which is the DOJ’s bankruptcy watchdog.
- The U.S. Marshals Service is asking Congress for $38 million to fund two new programs aimed at bolstering judicial security in response to a rise in threats against federal judges and U.S. Supreme Court justices. The two programs were tucked into the DOJ’s budget proposal and were part of the U.S. Marshals Service’s overall request for $4 billion for the 2025 fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
- OpenAI added former Republican U.S. Senator Norm Coleman of Hogan Lovells to the artificial intelligence startup’s stable of U.S. lobbyists. The Microsoft-backed company has also worked with Akin and DLA Piper on influence matters.
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That marks the percentage drop in offer rates to law students interviewing for Big Law summer associate positions in 2023, according to new figures released by the National Association for Law Placement. Offer rates were the lowest since 2012, and with fewer offers on the table, law students couldn’t afford to be choosy. The overall acceptance rate for law firms’ summer associate offers was 47% — the highest on record since NALP began tracking it in 1993.
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“Only lawyers can argue about what is
the meaning of beer.“
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- U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika in Delaware will hold a status hearing in the firearms prosecution of President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden. Noreika said the attorneys in the case should be prepared to discuss a trial schedule in the event that the court denies Hunter Biden’s bid to dismiss the indictment. Biden has pleaded not guilty.
- The SEC is due to respond in the 5th Circuit to a request from energy industry providers Liberty Energy and Nomad Proppant to pause new agency rules requiring some companies to report climate-related risks. The SEC’s rules already face a legal squeeze in at least two courts. West Virginia and nine other Republican-led states sued the SEC in the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit.
- A 5th Circuit panel will hear arguments over Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s challenge to provisions of the federal whistleblower law. Lawyers for the group at O’Melveny are vying to defeat a $1.8 billion lawsuit by an anonymous anti-abortion activist and the state of Texas seeking to recover money they claim the organization illegally took from Medicaid. Planned Parenthood said the federal government concluded there was no violation of federal law.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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- A 5th Circuit panel upheld a Texas law requiring family planning clinics to notify parents if their minor children seek birth control and get their consent to provide it. The opinion largely affirmed a ruling in favor of a father who sued the federal government over its policy barring some planning clinics from notifying parents that their child requested birth control.
- Professional services firm BDO lodged a federal trade secrets lawsuit against its smaller rival Ankura Consulting, accusing the company of improperly poaching its healthcare transaction advisory practice with a series of senior-level hires. McDermott filed the $60 million lawsuit in Virginia federal court.
- Geico will not face class action claims as it defends against a lawsuit alleging it overcharged policyholders early in the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman in Chicago ruled that policyholders in Illinois could not sue as a group because questions about calculating damages for individual drivers would “inevitably overwhelm” questions common to the proposed class.
- A 4th Circuit panel upheld a $3.4 million award for a white male former healthcare executive who claimed he was fired so the company could replace him with women to further its diversity goals. The appeals court rejected hospital operator Novant Health’s claim that the award for lost pay was improper, but said an additional $300,000 in punitive damages was unjustified.
- A 2nd Circuit panel revived a lawsuit by a whistleblower who accused McKesson of providing drug pricing tools to doctors for free, to induce them to buy drugs from the company. The court restored state law claims by Adam Hart, a former McKesson business development executive, over tools to help oncologists increase profit margins for prescribed cancer drugs.
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- White & Case added M&A and private equity partner Lavanya Raghavan in London. She arrives from Ropes & Gray. (White & Case)
- Kirkland picked up capital markets partner Marwa Elborai in London. She most recently was from Allen & Overy. (Kirkland)
- Bracewell hired tax partner J. Dean Hinderliter in Dallas from Winston & Strawn. (Bracewell)
- BakerHostetler brought on M&A and sports transactions partner Nicholas Simon in Cincinnati. He previously was at Keating Muething & Klekamp. (BakerHostetler)
- Weil added tax partner Steven Lorch in the firm’s New York office. Lorch, who focuses on the energy sector, previously was at Bracewell. (Weil)
- Venable added Chicago-based commercial litigation partner Abram Moore from K&L Gates. (Venable)
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In 2023, the SEC continued its trend of bringing fewer enforcement actions against auditors than in recent years. However, the SEC last year brought what appears to be the first enforcement actions against auditors in connection with SPACs as well as an auditor independence violation claim in a federal district court, rather than in an administrative proceeding, write Anita Bandy, Andrew Fuchs and Charles Smith of Skadden. Enforcement actions against auditors are expected to remain at roughly the same level in 2024.
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