The U.S. News & World Report law school rankings are back, catching the attention of students, attorneys and law school administrators throughout the country. This year’s rankings reveal upgrades or downgrades for schools like the University of Michigan, the University of Cincinnati and Brooklyn Law School, as well as tuition and enrollment variations among schools.
None of the three highest ranked schools took top honors in any specialty category, but all three placed in the top ten of at least two specialties categories.
Top Ten
The rankings reveal few changes to the ranks of the most elite law schools. Yale University remains in the top spot, followed by Harvard University and Stanford University, which share the second spot.
Columbia University and the University of Chicago share the fourth spot, while the University of California, Berkeley, Michigan and the University of Virginia share the eighth spot. (Michigan switched places this year with Duke University, with Michigan moving up from No. 11 to No. 8 and Duke moving down from No. 8 to No. 11).
The remaining top ten law schools are New York University in the No. 6 spot and the University of Pennsylvania in the No. 7 spot.
Top Twenty-Five
The additional top 25 law schools are: Duke University (No. 11); Northwestern University (No. 12); Cornell University (No. 13); Georgetown University (No. 14); University of Texas, Austin (No. 15); Vanderbilt University (No. 16); University of California, Los Angeles (No. 17); Washington University in St. Louis (No. 18); University of Southern California (No. 19); Boston University (No. 20); University of Iowa (No. 20); Emory University (No. 22); University of Minnesota (No. 22); University of Notre Dame (No. 22); Arizona State University (No. 25); George Washington University (No. 25); and Indiana University, Bloomington (No. 25).
Indiana, Boston University, Michigan, Iowa, Vanderbilt, USC, and Arizona State moved up at least one slot.
Greatest Gains and Losses
Some law schools made significant gains this year, while others suffered losses. Within the top 100 ranked schools, Cincinnati had the most improved ranking, getting bumped up from No. 79 to No. 60.
Other schools that moved up five or more spots are Boston University (up 6 to No. 20); Indiana (up 9 to No. 25); Wake Forest University (up 7 to No. 40); University of California, Hastings (up 9 to No. 50); University of Houston (up 9 to No. 50); University of New Mexico (up 11 to No. 60); University of Oklahoma (up 7 to No. 60); Loyola Marymount University (up 10 to No. 65); Loyola University Chicago (up 6 to No. 72); St. John’s University (up 8 to No. 74); Villanova University (up 13 to No. 74); Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge (up 12 to No. 82); Northeastern University (up 5 to No. 82); St. Louis University (up 5 to No. 82); University of New Hampshire School of Law (up 5 to No. 82); and Wayne State University (up 8 to No. 97).
On the flip side, Brooklyn Law School experienced the greatest decline in ranking, getting downgraded from No. 78 to No. 97.
Other schools that moved down five or more spots are the University of Alabama (down 6 to No. 28); University of Washington (down 5 to No. 33); Pepperdine University (down 13 to No. 65); University of Tennessee, Knoxville (down 13 to No. 65); University of Denver (down 5 to No. 72); American University (down 7 to No. 78); University of Nevada, Las Vegas (down 11 to No. 78); Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago-Kent) (down 8 to No. 86); Pennsylvania State University (Dickinson) (down 15 to No. 86); Pennsylvania State University, University Park (down 15 to No. 86); University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (down 11 to No. 86); Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (down 5 to No. 92); University of Hawaii, Manoa (down 10 to No. 92); Michigan State University (down 6 to No. 100); and SUNY Buffalo Law School (down 13 to No. 100).
Ranking Criteria
The U.S. News rankings are based on 2015 and 2016 data and calculated according to the weighted average of various measures including peer assessment scores, median LSAT scores, median undergraduate GPAs, acceptance rates, employment rates for graduates, bar passage rates, and library resources.
Enrollment and Cost
The U.S. News rankings also include information on enrollment and tuition. Of the top 50 law schools, the school with the highest enrollment is Harvard, with 1,767 students (followed by Georgetown, with 1,725 students). The school with the lowest enrollment is Washington and Lee University, with 314 students (followed by University of California, Irvine, with 334 students).
When it comes to tuition and fees, the most expensive of the top 50 law schools is Columbia, at $62,700 per year (followed by Cornell University, at $59,900 per year). The least expensive of the top 50 schools (at least for certain students) is Brigham Young University, at $11,970 per year for full time LDS members (followed by University of Georgia, at $19,476 per year for in state students).
Starting Salaries
The median starting private sector salary for 2014 law school graduates from 108 schools was between $50,000 and $74,999. Graduates of 39 schools had a median starting salary of between $75,000 and $100,000, while graduates of 30 schools had a median starting salary of more than $100,000.
For public sector jobs, graduates from 69 schools had a median starting salary of under $50,000, and graduates from 112 schools had a median starting salary of between $50,000 to $74,999.
Specialty Rankings
The following law schools each came in No. 1 for the following specialty areas of law: Georgetown for clinical programs (overall rank No. 14); Seattle University for legal writing (overall rank No. 111); Stetson University for trial advocacy (overall rank No. 103); St. Louis University for health care law (overall rank No. 82); Vermont Law School for environmental law (overall rank No. 132); Ohio State University for dispute resolution (overall rank No. 30); Berkeley for intellectual property law (overall rank No. 8); and NYU for both international law and tax law (overall rank No. 6).
None of the law schools ranked in the top three overall (Yale, Harvard and Stanford) earned the top spot in any specialty ranking. However, Harvard made the top ten for health care law, dispute resolution, international law and tax law. Yale made the top ten for clinical programs and international law, while Stanford made the top ten for clinical programs and intellectual property law.
Conclusions
With the rankings now in, ambitious college students can set their sights on making it into law schools in the coveted top ten. Those who aspire to practice in niche areas like environmental or tax law can hone in on the most appropriate schools for them. Meanwhile, law school administrators at upwardly mobile institutions can celebrate their accomplishments this year while their counterparts at schools heading in the other direction can assess how to reverse course and move up by the time the rankings roll around again next year.
Monday, April 04, 2016
Saturday, April 02, 2016
"Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires"
Face it--there seemingly will always be a market for certain books. Just choose to chronicle some facet of the Kennedys, the Nazis or, as Selwyn Raab has opted, the Mafia, and a certain sales threshold is guaranteed. Quality seldom seems an issue. Just serve it up and the buyers will come.
Happily, "Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires" is worth every cent, and for those who haven't gotten into Mafia reading on either the fictional -- as in Mario Puzo-- level or other documentary accounts, this may well be the only book you need to read.
So well written and encompassing is Raab's effort that even at 763 pages
, many readers will pine for more. And of course there could be more at some point. As the title suggests, a Mafia resurgence is more than quite possible after the John Gotti era unraveling of the more traditional operations in the 1980s and '90s. The next time, it just might not be so Italian based.
Raab serves up a history of the underworld that is long on coherency and understanding and short on the kind of mind-numbing detail other Mafia historians wander into. He gets right into the notoriously efficient work of Charles (Lucky) Luciano, whose rules of engagement ended a lot of shoot-'em-ups and kept the Mafia pointed at one goal -- ever increasing the amount of money pouring into the organization and individual coffers by corrupting American government and business, not necessarily in that order.
It was Luciano who advocated the organization adopt secretive, low-profile standards for thievery, extortion and other crimes as opposed to the over-the-top "I'm just giving the people what they want" personna that Chicago boss Al Capone advocated. And Raab pulls the thread by luring the reader to all that came after. With a reporter's love of fact and disdain for much of the fictional crap about these dark knights, we follow the organization's operations through its real birth during Prohibition, its World War II profiteering, its '50s heyday as a union corrupter and Las Vegas force and its '80s and '90s stumbling largely attributed to a name now very familiar -- Rudy Giuliani. It was Giuliani's use of RICO (the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act) that did great damage to the Mafia's traditional legal defenses in the 1980s.
While he devotes a few pages to the oft-told stories like the Louis (Lepke) Buchalter case from the '30s and '40s, Raab scores big points for telling modern Mafia tales that are less often told but are just as magnetic as the '30s-era classics. And Raab is a constant critic of the law enforcement and justice system weaknesses for not prosecuting crimes that seemed all too obvious. And back in the beginning of this review, did we mention the Kennedys?
That would propel the reader to the book's Chapter 15, titled "The Ring of Truth." The title comes from the mouth of G. Robert Blakey, an expert on both the John F. Kennedy assassination and the underworld, about utterances from Frank Ragano, a lawyer who had the opportunity to defend Mafia operators Santos Trafficante, Carlos Marcello and Detroit's own labor racketeer, the still missing Jimmy Hoffa.
Trafficante, Ragano said, confirmed that the Mafia had a hand in the drama of Nov. 22, 1963. The simple theory: Robert Kennedy's vigorous prosecution of racketeering had to be stopped and the best way to do that was by icing the man who appointed him to his job. Yes, there was plenty of bad feeling toward JFK himself, but Raab concludes, "Whether or not they had a part in it, the Mafia had triumphed as a big winner after the assassination."
One other reason to admire Raab's work: He does quite a bit of damage to the fictional image of the Mafia that is the result of Puzo's fiction and movies like "Good Fellas," "Casino" and the most current manifestation, "The Sopranos." Raab quotes organized crime boss Howard Abadinsky as saying, "They are displayed having a twisted sense of honor, 'taking no crap from anyone,' with easy access to women and money. Such displays romanticize organized crime and, as an unintended consequence, serve to perpetuate the phenomenon and create alluring myths about the Mafia."
That's something Raab could never be convicted of.
Reviewed by JOHN SMYNTEK
Happily, "Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires" is worth every cent, and for those who haven't gotten into Mafia reading on either the fictional -- as in Mario Puzo-- level or other documentary accounts, this may well be the only book you need to read.
So well written and encompassing is Raab's effort that even at 763 pages
, many readers will pine for more. And of course there could be more at some point. As the title suggests, a Mafia resurgence is more than quite possible after the John Gotti era unraveling of the more traditional operations in the 1980s and '90s. The next time, it just might not be so Italian based.Raab serves up a history of the underworld that is long on coherency and understanding and short on the kind of mind-numbing detail other Mafia historians wander into. He gets right into the notoriously efficient work of Charles (Lucky) Luciano, whose rules of engagement ended a lot of shoot-'em-ups and kept the Mafia pointed at one goal -- ever increasing the amount of money pouring into the organization and individual coffers by corrupting American government and business, not necessarily in that order.
It was Luciano who advocated the organization adopt secretive, low-profile standards for thievery, extortion and other crimes as opposed to the over-the-top "I'm just giving the people what they want" personna that Chicago boss Al Capone advocated. And Raab pulls the thread by luring the reader to all that came after. With a reporter's love of fact and disdain for much of the fictional crap about these dark knights, we follow the organization's operations through its real birth during Prohibition, its World War II profiteering, its '50s heyday as a union corrupter and Las Vegas force and its '80s and '90s stumbling largely attributed to a name now very familiar -- Rudy Giuliani. It was Giuliani's use of RICO (the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act) that did great damage to the Mafia's traditional legal defenses in the 1980s.
While he devotes a few pages to the oft-told stories like the Louis (Lepke) Buchalter case from the '30s and '40s, Raab scores big points for telling modern Mafia tales that are less often told but are just as magnetic as the '30s-era classics. And Raab is a constant critic of the law enforcement and justice system weaknesses for not prosecuting crimes that seemed all too obvious. And back in the beginning of this review, did we mention the Kennedys?
That would propel the reader to the book's Chapter 15, titled "The Ring of Truth." The title comes from the mouth of G. Robert Blakey, an expert on both the John F. Kennedy assassination and the underworld, about utterances from Frank Ragano, a lawyer who had the opportunity to defend Mafia operators Santos Trafficante, Carlos Marcello and Detroit's own labor racketeer, the still missing Jimmy Hoffa.
Trafficante, Ragano said, confirmed that the Mafia had a hand in the drama of Nov. 22, 1963. The simple theory: Robert Kennedy's vigorous prosecution of racketeering had to be stopped and the best way to do that was by icing the man who appointed him to his job. Yes, there was plenty of bad feeling toward JFK himself, but Raab concludes, "Whether or not they had a part in it, the Mafia had triumphed as a big winner after the assassination."
One other reason to admire Raab's work: He does quite a bit of damage to the fictional image of the Mafia that is the result of Puzo's fiction and movies like "Good Fellas," "Casino" and the most current manifestation, "The Sopranos." Raab quotes organized crime boss Howard Abadinsky as saying, "They are displayed having a twisted sense of honor, 'taking no crap from anyone,' with easy access to women and money. Such displays romanticize organized crime and, as an unintended consequence, serve to perpetuate the phenomenon and create alluring myths about the Mafia."
That's something Raab could never be convicted of.
Reviewed by JOHN SMYNTEK
Attend the Gold Standard in Firearms Law Classes with @OliverNorthFNC
The Annual National Firearms Law Seminar will be held on Friday, May 20, 2016 as part of the NRA Annual Meetings. The gold standard in firearms law classes, this day-long seminar provides legal instruction for attorneys and all others interested in Second Amendment law. CLE credit for all states is available.
Topics will include: current constitutional challenges across the country, how to best analyze and bring constitutional cases, executive orders and dangers from the administrative agencies (including the VA and Social Security Administration gun grabs), FFL compliance issues and ATF’s new guidance on who is a "firearms dealer," firearms instructor liability, preemption cases across the country, rights restoration, and gun trusts after 41F. The special luncheon speaker will be LtCol. Oliver North, who will give us his thoughts on arming our military personnel on U.S. soil.
Registration for attorneys is only $245 and $150 for non-attorneys through April 29th. Special pricing is available for active-duty military and police and current law students. Tuition includes the course, study materials, continental breakfast, luncheon, and meet & greet reception.
Seating will be limited. For more information and to register, please visit the Seminar website at http://lawseminar.nrafoundation.org/ or call 1-877-NRF-LAWS.
Topics will include: current constitutional challenges across the country, how to best analyze and bring constitutional cases, executive orders and dangers from the administrative agencies (including the VA and Social Security Administration gun grabs), FFL compliance issues and ATF’s new guidance on who is a "firearms dealer," firearms instructor liability, preemption cases across the country, rights restoration, and gun trusts after 41F. The special luncheon speaker will be LtCol. Oliver North, who will give us his thoughts on arming our military personnel on U.S. soil.
Registration for attorneys is only $245 and $150 for non-attorneys through April 29th. Special pricing is available for active-duty military and police and current law students. Tuition includes the course, study materials, continental breakfast, luncheon, and meet & greet reception.
Seating will be limited. For more information and to register, please visit the Seminar website at http://lawseminar.nrafoundation.org/ or call 1-877-NRF-LAWS.
Friday, April 01, 2016
In Capone's Shadow: Former Teacher Writes Book on Frank Nitti
Book Review of "After Capone: The Life and World of Chicago Mob Boss Frank The Enforcer"" Nitti""" by Mars Eghigian reviewed by Wally Spiers
Even the title of Mars Eghigian Jr.'s new book reflects the fact that Frank Nitti has always been in the shadow of the flamboyant Al Capone.
"After Capone. The Life and World of Chicago Mob Boss Frank (the Enforcer) Nitti
," (437 pages, 75 pages of notes, Cumberland House Publishing Inc.) tells the story of the quieter Nitti who ran the Chicago Mob for more than a decade after Capone built the organization from bootlegging liquor.
The book offers insight to gangland events of the time in Chicago and other connected cities -- not just what happened but also why it happened. It tells of the transformation of the mob from Prohibition busters to gambling and protection racketeering.
Nitti actually was named Francesco Raffele Nitto when he was born in Italy. He Anglicized it to Frank Nitto but even then his last name was constantly misspelled.
Eghigian, of Belleville, is a former horticulture teacher at Southwestern Illinois College and now is a financial planner.
Why, then, a book on a Chicago crime boss? Eghigian said his grandfather came to the metro-east about the time of World War I and established a dry cleaning business on 13th Street in East St. Louis. "When I was a kid I would hear stories at dinner," he said. "My family knew of the local mobsters and protection rackets, like the Master Cleaners and Dyers Association.
"They told stories like the exploding suits."
Exploding suits?
Apparently, to make their points about the need for protection, mobsters would have agents drop off suits or coats in which flammable material had been sewn in the lining. When the heat of the presses hit the material, it would explode, scaring the wits out of everyone.
Eghigian said he found that there really was not much published information on Nitti. "Nobody wrote abut him, at least not accurately," he said.
Eghigian asked a friend who also was an author, former FBI agent Bill Roemer, about the gangster. "He said, 'Nitti was just one of those guys who fell through the cracks. Why don't you write a book?'" Eghigian said. Then Roemer provided Eghigian with a lot of leads.
Eghigian said he has really worked on the book since 1991. Instead of vacations at the beach, he would be in libraries and microfilm files, digging out information.
He found that Nitti ran Chicago after the imprisonment of Capone, even during Nitti's own 18-month prison sentence. In fact, Nitti was in charge for much longer than Capone, until Nitti committed suicide in 1943.
"My goal was to put out a professional project, to do the work. I thought I had time. Nobody had touched Nitti for more than 40 years. Luckily I was right," Eghigian said.
Eghigian is working on other projects now in relation to crime and gangs. He said it is nice to see the results of all his work. "It was a fun project," he said. "It's really fun to see it finished."
Thanks to Wally Spiers
Even the title of Mars Eghigian Jr.'s new book reflects the fact that Frank Nitti has always been in the shadow of the flamboyant Al Capone.
"After Capone. The Life and World of Chicago Mob Boss Frank (the Enforcer) Nitti
," (437 pages, 75 pages of notes, Cumberland House Publishing Inc.) tells the story of the quieter Nitti who ran the Chicago Mob for more than a decade after Capone built the organization from bootlegging liquor.The book offers insight to gangland events of the time in Chicago and other connected cities -- not just what happened but also why it happened. It tells of the transformation of the mob from Prohibition busters to gambling and protection racketeering.
Nitti actually was named Francesco Raffele Nitto when he was born in Italy. He Anglicized it to Frank Nitto but even then his last name was constantly misspelled.
Eghigian, of Belleville, is a former horticulture teacher at Southwestern Illinois College and now is a financial planner.
Why, then, a book on a Chicago crime boss? Eghigian said his grandfather came to the metro-east about the time of World War I and established a dry cleaning business on 13th Street in East St. Louis. "When I was a kid I would hear stories at dinner," he said. "My family knew of the local mobsters and protection rackets, like the Master Cleaners and Dyers Association.
"They told stories like the exploding suits."
Exploding suits?
Apparently, to make their points about the need for protection, mobsters would have agents drop off suits or coats in which flammable material had been sewn in the lining. When the heat of the presses hit the material, it would explode, scaring the wits out of everyone.
Eghigian said he found that there really was not much published information on Nitti. "Nobody wrote abut him, at least not accurately," he said.
Eghigian asked a friend who also was an author, former FBI agent Bill Roemer, about the gangster. "He said, 'Nitti was just one of those guys who fell through the cracks. Why don't you write a book?'" Eghigian said. Then Roemer provided Eghigian with a lot of leads.
Eghigian said he has really worked on the book since 1991. Instead of vacations at the beach, he would be in libraries and microfilm files, digging out information.
He found that Nitti ran Chicago after the imprisonment of Capone, even during Nitti's own 18-month prison sentence. In fact, Nitti was in charge for much longer than Capone, until Nitti committed suicide in 1943.
"My goal was to put out a professional project, to do the work. I thought I had time. Nobody had touched Nitti for more than 40 years. Luckily I was right," Eghigian said.
Eghigian is working on other projects now in relation to crime and gangs. He said it is nice to see the results of all his work. "It was a fun project," he said. "It's really fun to see it finished."
Thanks to Wally Spiers
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