Week 14: Completing the Last Sections of the Memorandum of Law

Time with my Students is Coming to an End

We have long semesters at Qatar University College of Law.  It means that we are all very exhausted by the last week of the semester.  This year, the Ramadan fast adds another dimension to the challenges of teaching this last week.

I am trying to make it a little easier for students to complete all the sections of the Memorandum of Law that I have taught them to write this semester. They have analyzed the use of the same name, Azul Marine Supply, and a similar trademark in connection with two marine supply shops.  They have used two Qatari trademark cases and several sections of the Qatari code to complete their analysis.  They have listened to and summarized a meeting with the partner, a client interview, and an interview of a confused consumer.  They have learned to brief cases.   They have also learned to conduct legal research in two databases, including Westlaw Gulf.   I have also required them to keep all the handouts in an organized folder.  

This week we will write the Caption, Facts, and Brief Answers of the memo. 

This course challenges students in many ways.  They work across languages and legal cultures.  They struggle with the shift from description to analogic reasoning.  They test my high expectations.  Some try to cheat.  In the end, we teach a skill set and a mindset that I know they will use throughout their careers. 

To my students with nearly perfect attendance records, thank you for you dedication to the course and to your learning.

To my students who turned in all the assignments, bravo!  That alone is a big accomplishment.

To my students who have earned perfect or nearly perfect scores on all the assessments, congratulations on your progress to earning a high grade in the course.

To my students who managed busy lives filled with a job and a family, I admire your time management skills and your desire to get your college degree.

I hope all of you will stop by my office when you are back on campus, either next semester or after graduation.  I want to hear your stories of success.

Know that I care deeply about you and wish you the very best. 

A Western Expat Notices Abaya Fashion Trends

Pushing the Form

I have now lived in Qatar for three fall seasons.  I teach at Qatar University College of Law, so I am perfectly positioned to see youthful fashion expressed in the abaya.  

Many Westerners, when they see a photo of a group of Arab women wearing abayas, probably assume that the abayas they wear are the same in style, fabric, and embellishment.  Not true.  As the outward statement for these young women, you see many expressions of their personality and fashion sense in the abayas they choose to wear. 

Some students, who view the abaya as a utilitarian piece of clothing, may wear the same abaya all semester.  Other women, more fashion conscious, may have four or five abayas that they rotate throughout the semester.  

As a seamstress, I am fascinated at the thousands of interpretations of this basic form.  In Qatar, most abayas are cloaks with long sleeves that a woman wraps in front of her and holds with one lower arm and elbow.  A rare one will have a front zipper that gives more freedom from having to clutch it all day.  

In the fall of 2015, I noticed that some of the fashion-forward students wore gray or taupe abayas, sometimes with a matching scarf.  Here are three examples. All of these images are commercial photographs, so I am not breaking any cultural rules by sharing them.  Some photos stop at the shoulder, which preserves the privacy of the photographed woman. 

You can quickly see that manufacturers of abayas use many different fabrics and embellishments. 

In the fall of 2016, I noticed a new trend: dramatic compositions in which white played an important role.  In my mind, this trend challenged taboos about which gender should wear which color.  (Men here wear a white thobe in the hotter months of the year.)  Also, while one of these models is not wearing a hijab, a Qatari women would not venture into the public sphere without one.    

This fall, I am seeing a new trend:  black abayas short enough to show off the designer shoes many women wear here.  I would have loved to overhear the conversations between mothers and daughters during the back-to-school shopping.  Mom:  "That's too short!"  Daughter:  "Mom, nooooo!  You can only see my shoes!"  I'm sure it sounded like the conversations I had with my Mom about how short my skirt could be during the '70s Twiggy fashion era. 

I asked my students this week if I was right in noticing that they are pushing one aspect of the abaya (its length) while preserving a traditional aspect of it (the black color).  Yes, they agreed.  Change comes in one increment at a time.  

For more images of this elegant and diverse piece of clothing, see here. 

My Second Semester in Qatar Starts on Sunday

Committed to 

High-Quality Legal Education

So, I am re-posting these teaching tips here for easy retrieval as I need them.  Two law professors that I admire for their commitment to high quality legal education offer them for our use.

Students? What do you think of these suggestions?

LSAC Releases Update on Law School Applications

ASL Not the only Law School Adjusting to the New Normal 

This month, LSAC reports: “As of 5/09/14, there are 337,978 Fall 2014 applications submitted by 49,907 applicants. Applicants are down 8.3% and applications are down 8.9% from 2013.” 

One blogger charted, in late 2013, the national downturn in applicants based on LSAC data: It is a very powerful illustration of the change in the number over the last several years.

The National Jurist explained in a Dec. 2013 article about the drop of enrolled students:

According to figures released by the American Bar Association, law schools enrolled 39,675 new students this fall—an 11 percent decrease from the 44,481 students who enrolled last fall. The last time law schools saw such low 1L enrollment was 1975, when there were 163 ABA-accredited law schools. There are 202 such schools today . . . . University of St. Thomas School of law professor Jerome Organ in June wrote a blog post predicting 38,300 to 39,900 matriculants in 2013.

I have blogged about the various aspects of this story here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Red Velvet Lawyer Mentioned in National Jurist Article on the Legal Job Equlibrium

The Red Velvet Lawyer 

Gets Some Notice

In an article predicting when law-related jobs will exceed the number of law school graduates, the National Jurist discussed my blog posting on the same topic, found here.

I want to clarify that my posting attempted to support the prediction made by Prof. Organ at the MAPLA conference in October 2013.  And, as noted in updates to my posting, I am happy that other folks are further examining the data and making a more precise prediction.

I fully support the informed decision-making of any person applying to law school right now.  I also strongly recommend that prospective students work closely with pre-law advisors.  As I have posted elsewhere, they are a highly professional and committed group of people who strive to serve the best interests of the students they advise.

I also noted that 70 percent of prospective law students fail to take advantage of this important resource.

"Toxic" Press Environment for Law Schools?

"Toxic" Press Environment 

for Law Schools?

At the October 2013 conference of the Midwest Association of Prelaw Advisors, Washington University School of Law Dean, Kent Syverud, gave a speech on the Future of Legal Education.  I have discussed different aspects of the speech in several postings.

At one point, he identified the current press environment surrounding law schools as "toxic."  I recently had my own experience with this press environment.

Yesterday, Brian Leiter discussed this toxic environment in his own blog, which I highly recommend.

A Complex Set of Factors

This week-end, I finished reading Brian Tamanaha's 2012 book, Failing Law Schools. I found his discussion of the ABA regulatory environment of law schools especially interesting.  While it created high quality law schools, it also drove up the price of a legal education by requiring additional "inputs," including higher salaries for faculty members; more time for faculty members to produce scholarship; more faculty members to reduce student-faculty ratios; shiny new buildings; advanced technology; and bigger library holdings.

A mission-driven school, like ASL, even if it wanted to pursue a low-cost strategy, had to comply with the ABA requirements if it wanted to obtain and keep accreditation.

I also liked Tamanaha's discussion of the role of the U.S. News and World Report rankings in escalating tuition costs. Law schools competed on services rather than price to ensure a higher position in the ranking. (ASL, as an unranked, 4th-tier access school, has been indirectly affected by the ranking system, but that story is too long to tell here.)

Falling Tuition Costs

The good news is that the cost of law school is coming down.  Several schools have cut tuition costs, including New York Law School, Seton Hall Law School, and University of Arizona College of Law.  Other schools are freezing tuition, including the Appalachian School of Law, the University of St. Thomas School of Law, the University of Massachusetts School of Law, and Ave Maria Law School.

Most law schools are offering scholarships to applicants with higher LSAT scores, thus substantially reducing the sticker price of law school.  Many schools, including ASL, offer 100 percent tuition scholarships to especially attractive students.  For some students, it has never been a better time to get an affordable legal education.

Tamanaha's book also discusses the risk of student debt, which all applicants to law school should read.

I will continue to do my best to sort through the data on the New Normal.  If that means I also personally deal with the "toxic" environment created by a few scambloggers, so be it.

And, I will continue to be proud of ASL, its faculty, staff, students, and graduates.  I know what we are doing here.   I know how dedicated we are to helping people.

Dec. 8, 2013 update:  The University of Iowa School of Law announced a tuition reduction.  For stories about it, see here, here, and here.

Dec. 14, 2013 Update:  More on the "price war" among some law schools in highly competitive markets.

Dec. 31, 2013 Update:  Even Above the Law (or at least its readers) seems to be tired of the law school "crisis" storyline.  Perhaps, having declared "victory," even he will reduce the toxic environment surrounding law schools and the decision to become a lawyer.

Prediction: Full-Time Jobs will Exceed New Law Graduates for Graduating Class of 2016

The Tide Turns Again?

New Jobs Exceed the Number of Law Graduates in 2016?

At the conference of the Midwest Association of Prelaw Advisors held at the end of October 2013, Professor Jerry Organ predicted that jobs would exceed the number of law school graduates in 2016 (as I recall).

He suggested that the market would turn because applicants to law school would continue to decline while the trend in new law jobs would hold at least steady.

So, here is my attempt at supporting this prediction.  I am using data provided by LSAC at the MAPLA conference, which I have discussed in earlier postings.  I am also relying on data provided by NALP.

I make the following assumptions:

• Enrollment of first-year law students will decline by 8.0% from the previous year through the 2015 entering class.
• Each entering class experiences an attrition rate of 12 percent. So, only 88 percent of each first-year class graduates three years later.
• New full-time jobs in three categories -- bar required, JD advantage, and other professional jobs -- will hold steady at the 2012 level of 31,776 jobs.
• All categories of full-time jobs will hold steady at the 2012 level of 33,759 jobs.

If all these assumptions hold up, full-time jobs (in three categories) will exceed the number of graduates from law school in 2017. If I include all full-time jobs in the count, then those jobs will exceed law school graduates in 2016. 

Here's my math: 

Decline in first-year law students from the prior year, according to the LSAC data. Pointed brackets (<>) indicate my predictions.

2009-10     52,500          3.5%     (number graduating in 2012:  46,364) (all time high)
2010-11     48,700        -7.2%     (projected number graduating in 2013: <42,856>)
2011-12     44,500        -8.7%     (projected number graduating in 2014: <39,160>)
2012-13   <40,940>   <-8.0%>   (projected number graduating in 2015: <36,027>)
2013-14   <37,665>   <-8.0%>   (projected number graduating in 2016: <33,145>)
2014-15   <34,652>   <-8.0%>   (projected number graduating in 2017: <30,494>)
2015-16   <31,879>   <-8.0%>   (projected number graduating in 2018: <28,054>)

[As noted in an update below, NALP and ABA report data differently.  According to the ABA reports, the all-time-high enrollment of 52,500 occurred in the Fall of 2010 (not 2009).  Accordingly, my data is off by one year because I use the NALP data.]

Employment for 2012 graduates, according to the NALP data:

• 46,364 total.  (The data shows that about 12 percent of law students who start law school in 2009 did not graduate in 2012.)  

• 44,339 reported their employment status to NALP.

• Of those reporting their employment status, they fell within the following categories:
• Bar passage required, full-time:   26,876
• JD Advantage, full-time:                4,730
• Other professional, full-time:          1,770
• Non-professional , full-time:             330
• Unknown, full-time:                            53
• Total full-time employment:          33,759

• 2012 graduates with jobs in the first three categories total 31,776.  

Nov. 19, 2013 Update:  The Faculty Lounge blog suggests that the down turn in law school applications (and hence first-year enrollees) could be higher than expected. So, my estimated 8.0% decline in first-year enrollees could be conservative.

Nov. 20, 2013 Update:  Brian Tamanaha, in his book Failing Law Schools,  cites data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicating that "from 2000 to 2010 the economy created 123,000 new lawyer jobs; departures from the legal profession over ten years added another 151,400 openings.  Combining the two, there were about 275,000 job openings for lawyers . . . ."  I assume his use of the terms "lawyer jobs" or "job openings for lawyers" ties to the NALP category of "bar passage required, full-time" jobs.

He also says: "The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects about 25,000 openings for lawyers each year through 2018 (new positions and replacements for departures) . . . ."   Thus, if the discussion is confined to full-time jobs requiring bar passage, the decline in applicants to law school would need to be sharper and more sustained to ensure that every graduate got a job in that category.

Nov. 22, 2013 Update:  I received this email today from Professor Deborah J Merritt, John Deaver Drinko/Baker & Hostetler Chair in Law, Moritz College of Law:

Paula, I saw your interesting post on when the number of law graduates will equal the number of jobs that were available in 2012. Unfortunately, I think you confused the degree totals for 2012 and 2013 -- it's an easy mistake to make because of the odd way in which the ABA reports data. I've made a post on my blog in which I re-run the calculations and also make some different assumptions about jobs. I thought you might like to see the results:

http://www.lawschoolcafe.org/thread/when-will-graduates-jobs/

Just to make it clear, I relied on a report prepared by LSAC for the MAPLA conference.  It does not make the source of the data clear, but does drop a footnote suggesting that the applicant data came from the ABA. I know the two entities share data, but I've not done the research to know how or what.  Thanks, Professor Merritt for your further analysis.  She predicts that law jobs requiring bar passage will not exceed the number of law graduates until 2021.

Nov. 23, 2013 Updates:  One of the scambloggers has picked up this posting and offered commentary, most of which is an ad hominem attack against me and my law school (or its graduates).  As I have said elsewhere, and as the headlines clearly indicate, this was not my prediction, but an effort to support the prediction of Prof. Organ. In addition, I have continued to update this posting with links to the analysis of other people and have posted all three of the comments received so far.

As far as his barrista comment, yes, barristas would be included in the total count of full-time jobs needed to see a market turn in 2016.   They would fall in the non-professional, full-time category, which in 2012, included 330 of the 33,759 graduates reporting employment.  As far as I know, none of our ASL graduates became full-time barristas after graduation.  And, even if they did, they soon found better employment. Please see the comments to this posting about the limitations of the 9-month cut off for employment data.

Nov. 27, 2013 Update:  Wall Street Journal blogger, Jacob Gershman, picked up the story and concludes:
"So is it a good time to consider law school? The jury is still deliberating."

Dec. 6, 2013 Update:  For more on this topic see here (JD Advantage jobs), here (JD Advantage jobs), and here (the unemployed and grads working part-time) and the embedded links to the National Jurist article on the job equilibrium.

Dec. 7, 2013 Update:  An ABA Journal blogger has picked up the story and mentioned The Red Velvet Lawyer here.

Dec. 9, 2013 Update:  Job data reported for legal industry here.

Dec. 10, 2013 Update:  TaxProfBlog picks up the story and says I've predicted a 2017 equilibrium date. I'm not sure where he got that.  I'm still saying 2015 or 2016 depending on how you define "employment."

Dec. 27, 2013 Update:  One blogger, Matt Leichter, of the Law School Tuition Bubble blog, has continued to work with the numbers and published a story in the AmLaw Daily here.

Jan. 9, 2014 Update:  The National Jurist has analyzed the data and made a prediction here.

March 2, 2014 Update:  Finally, Prof. Organ, who started this conversation, has weighed in with his well-supported prediction here.

March 12, 2014:  Professor predicts "almost guaranteed legal employment for all law school graduates" over the next two decades.

March 21, 2014 Update:  Another professor offer insights.

San Diego Conference on "Branding"

Branding: The Event

Branding, as in a consistent brand identity. It is all about the perception you create about yourself in others.

I have spent the last three days in a lovely hotel in Del Mar outside San Diego getting an intense exposure to the rules, concepts, and goals of branding.   The event sponsor, Re Perez, brings years of expertise to his business of helping entrepreneurs become more successful.   The program has helped me identify my core values and clearly define my purpose.  I'm excited about the potential.

He has also partnered with other entrepreneurs who have taught sessions on Facebook marketing and a "touch" management system called Infusionsoft.

I wish our students and alumni could get this training and this service.  The results of these systems and approaches are nothing short of impressive.

Today, I plan to win a $20,000 consulting package for the law school in a raffle. Please send your well wishes my way.

Graduate School Bubbles Bursting Across all Professions?

Graduate School Bubbles Bursting Across all Professions?

One of my colleagues forwarded this story appearing in The New England Journal of Medicine.  The story provides an answer to the following question: "Are we in a medical education bubble market?"

The authors answer that question in the last paragraph of the story and suggest a difficult future for other professional schools.

Although it seems unlikely that we're in a bubble market for medical education, we may already be in one for veterinary medicine. That bubble will burst when potential students recognize that the costs of training aren't matched by later returns. Then the optometry bubble may burst, followed by the pharmacy and dentistry bubbles. At the extreme, we will march down the debt-to-income-ratio ladder, through psychiatrists to cardiologists to orthopedists . . . until no one is left but the MBAs.

It explains:

In medicine, students buy their education from medical schools and residency programs . . . . This education is transformed into skills and credentials that are then sold to patients in the form of services. So long as it is believed that patients, or whoever purchases health care on their behalf, will keep paying more and more for physicians' services, students and trainees should be willing to pay more and more for the education that enables them to sell those services. 

A simple measure of this market economy is the ratio of the average debt of a graduating

student to the average annual income in the profession on entry into the workforce. There are more precise ways to measure the return on investment in medical education — for example, the net present value of the stream of cash flows out (for education) and in (for services). But that value isn't very intuitive for most prospective students. In contrast, debt-to-income ratios reflect what students must borrow rather than what they must pay and, given whatever other assets they may have, how much in the hole they have to go. Thus, these ratios may better reflect how students actually feel about buying education.

It concludes that graduates can still expect to pass on debt costs to patients, except in two fields of medicine: primary care and psychiatry.  It then suggests:

[A]s high as the debt-to-income ratios may be for primary care and psychiatry, they are even higher for some other fields — notably, veterinary medicine, optometry, pharmacy, and dentistry. [Chart omitted.] For veterinarians, incomes have risen slowly even as student debt has exploded. [Citation omitted.] 

In short, the adjustments law schools are now making to respond to the decreasing volume of law school applicants predict adjustments other professional schools will likely face.

And, this generation of college graduates have no good, affordable, choices, it seems, if they want to obtain professional training that leads to a predictable middle-class lifestyle.

So, where are the stories about why professional school got so expensive across the board?  What role did the U.S. News ranking system play in the run-up in costs?  Did the professional school accreditation process contribute to the escalation of costs?

At the MAPLA conference, Washington University School of Law Dean Kent Syverud noted that legal education "has never been better."  We saw a period of extraordinary demand for a legal education that attracted domestic and foreign students.  The academy offered "terrific" teaching and research.  The best scholars in the world migrated to US law schools from abroad because U.S. law schools offered opportunity and stature.  Very qualified students entered law school with aspirations to change the world.  Law schools built "amazing" buildings with broad professional functionality. Law schools offered "stunning" services to students.

He suggested that dozen of current law schools now offer an education equal to the education offered only by the top 10 schools 25 years ago.  I believe that.

He called it a "Golden Period."  But, schools did not compete on price, but on U.S. News ranking.  (I thought as much.)  It came during an era of abundance with readily available student loan money, low default rates, and plenty of jobs for graduates.  He said (as closely paraphrased as I can get): "That world is gone.  We face dramatic change."    

Nov. 23, 2013 Update:  For more on the dental school analogy, see http://leiterlawschool.typepad.com/leiter/2013/11/the-dental-school-analogy.html.

Nov. 1, 2014 Update:  More on the dental school analogy.

MAPLA Conference in St. Louis Missouri

Conference of the 

Midwest Association of Pre-Law Advisors

This week, I've been attending the conference of the Midwest Association of Pre-law Advisors (MAPLA) held this year in my home town of St. Louis, Missouri.  I have continued to blog on this conference so check my postings in November.

Three things have really impressed me.

First, the pre-law advisors clearly express a strong desire to help their students make the best career choices possible.  I appreciate their professionalism, knowledge, and commitment to serve students.

Employment Trends Update

Second, the conference planners have offered top-notch conference programming. One speaker, the Executive Director of NALP, spoke about the legal employment market here and here. I've tracked the trends myself here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. I'll provide an update on that topic, based on this presentation, when I get back to Grundy.

One speaker predicted that the graduating class of 2016 will see a much-improved employment market. Available jobs should exceed new graduates that year, if current trends hold.

Conditional Scholarship Data

A second speaker discussed "conditional" (aka competitive) scholarships, identified which schools are

offering them to students, and disclosed how well students can retain them given the conditions of the scholarship.  This speaker provided a summary of his research.   Admissions experts and prospective law students have needed this data to assess accurately the cost of attending a law school.  The data is revealing.

As the speaker said, paraphrasing loosely:  "Some law schools make a decision that a prospective student will make a significant contribution to the learning environment.  Once the student joins that community, the student should not be over-stressed with worry about whether he or she can keep a conditional scholarship. This school will make sure the criteria for keeping the scholarship are liberal and favor the student."

Other schools may use conditional scholarships to attract students, but the retention criteria are so rigorous -- say staying in the top 1/3 of the class --that many students loose the scholarships.  Some people might argue that this policy unfairly favors the school. These law schools arguably use a bait and switch tactic in their admissions strategies.

I'll explore this rich topic in later postings.

I am happy to report that Appalachian School of Law has very liberal scholarship retention conditions.  A recent article in the online ABA Journal reported:  

These schools had retention rates at or above 90 percent and below 100 percent: University of Texas, George Washington, Washington and Lee, Georgia, William & Mary, University of Maryland, Ohio State, Baylor, Cardozo, Syracuse, CUNY, William Mitchell, Appalachian and Elon.  (Emphasis added.) 

We are one of two 4th-tier access schools included in this group.

Historical Trends in LSAT Test Administrations, ABA Applicants, and First-Year Law Students:

As promised, I am continuing to blog about the information provided at the conference.  For a discussion of the LSAC admissions data for 1968 to 2012-13, see here.  For LSAC information about the geographic distribution of applicants and applications for the 2012-13 admissions cycle, see here.

Compelling Presentation by Washington University School of Law Dean Kent Syverud

Dean Syverud gave a very compelling speech about the challenges the legal academy faces now that the "Golden Period" of legal education has passed.  I've covered it in other postings here, here, and here.

Location, Location, Location

Finally, St. Louis served as a wonderful host city.  The Cardinals played game three of the World Series last night.  People are exuberant and opinionated (especially about game one). The downtown fountains bubble with red water; vendors selling Cardinal baseball shirts and commemorative baseballs occupy corner stalls in the parks; and the new stadium stands about a block from the conference hotel.

Two nights ago, Mizzou (my LL.M. alma mater) hosted a wonderful event at the Anheuser-Busch brewery. We got free beer, a delicious dinner, door prizes, and a brief tour of the brewery, including the barn holding the Clydesdale draft horses.

Washington University (my J.D. alma mater) -- so very proud of its Collegiate Gothic law school building (funded and named after Anheuser-Busch) -- provided a location for conference programming and a tour of its campus.  I had forgotten just how beautiful the building is. I earned my degree when the law school occupied a badly designed, poured concrete building students called a "fall out shelter."




St. Louis University School of Law hosted conference programming, a tour, and then dinner and drinks on its 12th floor terrace. This terrace provided impressive views of downtown St. Louis, which were especially pretty last night as the sun set behind the urban landscape.

The school moved to its new high-rise urban location at the beginning of this school year.  It spent about $30 million rehabbing an old downtown office building into a sleek, modern, well-lit environment for students.  Students in clinical programs now have easy access to nearby courthouses.

Once I get off these open plains and back to the mountains, I will also pick up on my series profiling Appalachian's distinguished alumni who are working in public service jobs.  

The List of ASL Student Organizations

Student Organizations at the 
Appalachian School of Law

So here it is -- after more than a month of research -- the list of student organizations operating at the Appalachian School of Law.  I am proud of the programming and service our students provide our law school and the regional community.  These organizations enhance our well-being in so many ways.  

Pro Bono Legal Service Providers:

• Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) 
• VITA Tax Services (VITA) 
• Great Eastern Trail Project (GET) 

Law Journals:

• Appalachian Journal of Law (AJoL)
• Appalachian Natural Resources Law Journal (ANRLJ)

Student Government:

• Student Bar Association (SBA)
• Honor Court

Legal Fraternities:

• Blackwell Inn Phi Delta Phi (PDP) 
• Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity, International (PAD) 

Focus on Substantive Law:

• ADR Society 
• Criminal Law Society (CLS) 
• Education Law Society (ELS) 
• Energy and Mineral Law Society (EMLS) 
• Environmental Law Society (ELS) 
• Innocence Project 
• International Law Society (ILS) 
• Patent Law Association (PLA) 
• Sports & Entertainment Law Society (SELS) 
• Sutin Public-Interest Association (SPIA) 

Affinity Groups:

• Appalachian Women in the Law (AWIL) 
• Black Law Students Association (BLSA) 
• Christian Legal Society (CLS) 
• Gay/Straight Legal Association (GSLA or Outlaw) 
• Hamilton Society (veterans)

Political Viewpoints:

• Democratic Law Society (DLS) 
• Republican Law Society (RLS) 
• Federalist Society (conservatives/libertarians) 
• American Constitution Society (ACS) 

Geographic Groups:

• Beltway Bar Association
• North Carolina/South Carolina Bar Association

Sports Groups:

• ASL Softball Team
• ASL Pistol, Gun & Hunt Club
• Running Club

Other Groups: 

• American Association for Justice (AAJ) (trial lawyers) 
• ASL Cares (for pet adoption and rescue) 
• ASL Happiness Project (student well-being) 
• Community Thread Society (for CASA kids) 
• Lions Club 
• Jug Band aka Grun-D-MC (musicians) 
• The Rhetoricals, Toastmasters International (public speaking) 

For more information about these student organizations, take a look at the late August, September, and early October 2013 postings at The Red Velvet Lawyer, http://the-red-velvet-lawyer.blogspot.com.

Student Bar Association: Funding Student Organization Activities

Funding Student Organization Activities 

at the

Appalachian School of Law 

Rather than paraphrase the rules governing SBA appropriations for student organizations, I am simply reproducing the relevant provisions of the Bylaws of the ASL SBA.

§ 3. Allocation of Student Activity Fees 

I. Preliminary Organization Budget

A. Any student organization or student group seeking funding from the Senate shall submit a proposed itemized budget to the SBA Fiscal Policy Committee (Committee). The proposed budget request shall be submitted to the Committee no later than April 1st of the academic year preceding the academic year in which the funds are to be requested. Full funding is not guaranteed nor should be expected. These proposals do not bind the SBA, nor the organization. 

1. The Committee shall only accept proposals signed by the Organization President, Treasurer, and Advisor, or their equivalents. 

2. All budgets shall remain proposals until the SBA Budget is approved by the Board of Trustees.

3. Final appropriations to organizations shall be considered on an event-by-event basis.

B. Upon SBA Senate approval by a simple majority vote, the SBA Treasurer shall submit the final aggregate SBA budget proposal to the Dean and President of the Law School with the SBA President’s and Faculty Advisor’s signature, in accordance with Law School procedures.

C. After the Board of Trustees has made its decision as to SBA funding, the Committee shall meet again to finalize each organization’s proposed budget. 

D. At the first meeting of the fall semester, the SBA Treasurer shall report to the SBA Senate the final budget the Board of Trustees approved for the academic year. 

E. As soon as the SBA Senate approves the budget provided by the Board of Trustees, the SBA President and Treasurer shall notify each organization as to their approved budget figures.

II. Final Appropriation 

A. Any organization or student group requesting funding must complete an official SBA

Organization Funding Request Form which shall be available on the SBA website. 

B. This form must be submitted to the SBA Treasurer by 5:00 p.m. the Friday before the SBA meeting. 

C. The organization’s request shall be entered into New Business on the agenda and sit “on the table.” No organization member need be present at this meeting. 

D. At the next SBA meeting, the organization’s request is entered as “Old Business.” 

1. A representative from the organization must be present at this meeting to answer questions from the Senate. 

2. If no representative is present at the meeting, the request shall be tabled. 

3. The request shall pass upon a simple majority of the Senate’s votes cast. 

E. The SBA Treasurer shall notify the ASL Business Office of authorized disbursements.

III. Funding Priority 

A. Priority shall be given to those organizations or student groups which have submitted a budget requesting SBA funding in a timely fashion and are otherwise in compliance with the requirements of SBA recognized organizations. Funding shall not be limited to officially recognized organizations. 

B. The Senate may, at its sole discretion, provide funding to newly formed and recognized student organizations, however, no organization or student group which has not submitted a proposed budget as per subpart I of this section shall be guaranteed any funding from the Senate. 

IV. Accounting Procedures 

A. All organizations and student groups receiving funds from the SBA must account for their

spending. Each organization or student group must provide an itemized listing of all vendors and expenses within Fourteen (14) days of the event to the Business Office. A form shall be provided by the SBA Treasurer that organizations or student groups may use to meet this requirement. 

Also, the organization shall return its receipts and invoices to the Business Office within Thirty (30) days after the event. For projects that take place over an extended period of time, the organization shall make arrangements with the Business Office to return the receipts and invoices in a manner that is agreed to by both the SBC and the organization or student group. 

B. At the end of each semester, all organizations shall be required to conduct an audit of the organization’s finances in cooperation with the SBA Treasurer and Head of the ASL Business Office. The Fall audit shall be submitted no later than November 15th. The Spring audit shall be submitted no later than March 1st. 

C. Organizations and student groups that do not comply with this section shall not be placed on any subsequent SBA Senate agenda for any matter until the organization or student group is in compliance. Furthermore, the Senate maintains the authority to reduce an organizations or student groups budget should that Organization fail to comply. Multiple infractions shall constitute grounds for an organization or student group to be properly brought before the Honor Court. 

V. Donation of SBA Funds 

No SBA recognized organization or student group may donate any monies derived in any way from student activity fees previously allocated to the organization or student group without prior approval of the Senate. Any organization or group donating SBA funds shall submit sufficient proof to the SBA Treasurer that the funds were in fact received by the donee. Any such donation shall be made on behalf of the organization and the SBA of the Appalachian School of Law. 

VI. Funding Criteria and Senate Decorum

A. All events funded by the SBA must be open to the entire student body. 

B. Any funding for travel cannot exceed the per diem rate for the destination area set by the ASL. If ASL has not set such a rate, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) per diem rate shall apply. 

C. Voting members of the SBA can not base their decisions about on funding based on race, religion, creed, national origin, gender, sexual preference, political preference, or ideological preference. 

D. A voting member of the SBC may not vote on a request before the Senate if he/she is an executive officer of that organization or student group requesting funding.

Student Bar Association: Standing Committees of the SBA

Standing Committees of the Student Bar Association (SBA) of the Appalachian School of Law 

The Student Bar Association -- which I have described in a series of postings here, here, here, and here -- has established a number of standing committees.  They are:

• American Bar Association Representative
• Student Activity Council
• New Organization Review Committee
• Fiscal Policy Committee
• Charitable Endeavors Committee
• President's Council
• Career Services Advisory Committee
• Legacy Committee
• Mental Health Committee, and
• Property Management Committee

Section 5 of the Bylaws of the Appalachian School of Law Student Bar Association describes each of these committees:

American Bar Association Representative

In the Spring semester, the newly elected SBA President shall appoint an American Bar Association (ABA) Representative. The ABA Representative shall be a rising 3L whose primary responsibility will be to represent the school in all activities of the Law Student Division (LSD) of the ABA. 

The primary criteria for appointment that the President shall consider shall include, but is not limited to; the member’s past commitment to representing the Law School at past functions sponsored by the LSD and that SBA member’s past service the SBA and the Appalachian School of Law. 

The ABA Representative shall be responsible for recruiting new members. The ABA Representative shall also coordinate the activities of the SBA within the LSD. The President may assign additional duties to the ABA Representative to assist Officers in performing their constitutional duties. However, any duties that the President may assign the ABA Representative shall not conflict with those responsibilities specifically enumerated in this paragraph or as may be assigned by the ABA/LSD. It shall be within the sole discretion of the ABA Representative whether to accept additional duties.

Student Activity Council

The Student Activity Council shall develop and promote activities beneficial to the Appalachian School of Law community. The committee shall be lead by a Chairperson who shall be appointed in the Spring semester by the new SBA President. The Chairperson may select students to serve as committee members. Additionally, a faculty representative designated by the Chairperson may participate in any meetings of the Student Activity Council. The Student Activity Council shall coordinate the scheduling of planned events with the proper representative of the Law School. 

The Student Activities Council shall be primarily responsible for the following events: Student

lunches and the ASL Pig Roast. The Student Activity Council may organize any additional activities which will contribute to the social or educational atmosphere of the Law School. The Student Activity Council shall submit a written budget request for each event to the Senate for approval.

New Organization Review Committee (NORC)

Described in the posting about creating a student organization found here.

Fiscal Policy Committee

The Fiscal Policy Committee shall be established to prepare an annual SBA budget for submission to the Law School Administration. The Fiscal Policy Committee shall also be responsible for periodically reviewing SBA funding policies and procedures should such a need arise. The Committee shall be chaired by the SBA Treasurer. In addition to the SBA Treasurer, the Committee shall consist of two Senators, a rising 2L and rising 3L, who are appointed in the spring semester by the newly elected President. The Committee shall, after each meeting, prepare a report of its activities to be delivered at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the
Senate.

Charitable Endeavors Committee

The Charitable Endeavors Committee shall be established to develop and promote an annual event to benefit the Blackwell, Dales and Sutin Memorial Funds. The Charitable Endeavors Committee shall be responsible for the following annual events: the Halloween Candy Give Away, the Christmas Angels Program (or some similarly styled program), the SBA Easter Egg Hunt, the Memorial 5K, and any other activities of service to the Law School and local communities. 

The Committee shall be lead by a Chairman appointed in the
spring semester by the newly elected President. Said Chairman may then select students to serve on the Charitable Endeavors Committee.

President’s Council

Periodically the SBA President shall convene a meeting of the Presidents of all SBA recognized organizations. The purpose of these meetings shall be to enhance communication between the organizations individually and the SBA Senators and Officers. Specifically SBA recognized organizations shall be informed of all applicable procedures adopted by the Senate and Law School Administration. The President’s Council shall meet at least twice during each spring and fall semester while the Law School is in session.

Career Services Advisory Committee

The Career Services Advisory Committee shall be established to assist in development and

promotion of student employment opportunities. The Committee shall meet once a month during the academic year with the Career Services Director, who shall serve as the faculty advisor of the Committee, to discuss topics of concern to the students regarding the employment process. The Committee will serve to facilitate communication between the Career Services Office and the students of ASL regarding the employment process. Committee members will assist in scheduling programs for the career services office regarding recruiting, interviewing, internships, judicial clerkships, and professionalism. 

The SBA President shall appoint three (3) 3L students, one of which the President shall appoint Chairperson of the Committee, three (3) 2L students, and two (2) 1L students shall be appointed after November 1 of the current academic year.

Legacy Committee

The Committee shall be responsible for memorializing the events of the year. This includes, but is not limited to; taking pictures at school functions on and off campus, writing articles detailing the events of those functions, and compiling a photo album or yearbook at the end of each academic year. The Committee shall be lead by a Chairperson appointed by the President. Said Chairperson may select students to help serve on the Committee.

Mental Health Committee

The purpose of the Mental Health Committee (MHC) shall be to promote the physical and emotional well being of the students of the SBA and to provide programming to aid students in achieving these goals. Furthermore, pursuant to the American Bar Association Mental Health Initiative this program shall be designed to increase awareness of law student mental health issues and substance abuse problems. 

The MHC shall be lead by a Chairperson appointed during the Spring semester by the newly elected President. The Chairperson shall have the authority to select students to aid the Chairperson in carrying out these goals.

This committee has coordinated activities with the ASL Happiness Project profiled here.

Property Management Committee

The purpose of the Property Management Committee (PMC) shall be to organize, inventory, and store all of the property of the SBA. The PMC shall be responsible for informing students and organizations of the existence of any materials they may need. The PMC shall strive to reduce waste and unnecessary spending of SBA funds. 

The Committee shall be lead by a Chairperson, referred to as the Property Manager, appointed by the President. Said Chairperson may select students to help serve on the Committee.

Student Bar Association: The Legislative Branch (Senate)

The Legislative Branch (Senate) of the Student Bar Association of the Appalachian School of Law

The Student Bar Council (SBC) of the Student Bar Association (SBA) consists of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches.

I discussed the Honor Court - the Judicial branch -- here.  I discussed the Executive branch here.

Representatives of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches must be in good standing as defined by the law school, including the ASL Academic Standards and the Honor Code. Failure to meet this standard results in immediate removal from office and replacement according to the SBA Constitution.

Voting and non-voting members of the SBC must attend all meetings, except for good cause. Absences in excess of four meetings per semester or two consecutive regularly scheduled meetings, without good cause, allows a majority vote of the Senate to remove the member.

The Senate

The Legislative branch of the SBC is known as the “Senate.”  The Senate consists of ten members, including three members elected from, and by, each class of the law school, plus the Vice-President.

All meetings of the Senate are open to any members of the SBA, faculty, administration and public, and the Secretary gives 3 days notice of each meeting.  To maintain transparency, the By-laws prohibit four or more Executive Officers and Senators from discussing pending old business outside scheduled meetings.

The Senate meets no less than once every two weeks when classes are in session.

Duties of the Senate

The Senate has all powers necessary and proper to carry on the functions of the SBA; serves as a sounding board of student opinion, and provides for an effective forum for grievances, complaints, suggestions, and problems which are not otherwise addressed; has the power to call for special elections to fill newly created or vacated positions on the Student Bar Council; and when making decisions about recognized ASL organizations, requires a member of the Senate to abstain from any decision if that member is an officer in the organization that is subject to the vote.

Voting

The Senate will have a majority of the members present before conducting any business; approves or denies all requests brought before the Senate with a simple majority vote, except as expressly provided in the Constitution and ancillary documents; and approves any proposed amendment by a two-thirds vote before holding an SBA Amendment Hearing and presenting the amendment to the full SBA for ratification.

An essential role for the Senate is approving appropriations for student organizational activities.  I discuss the By-law rules governing that process in another posting.

Associate Dean Sandy McGlothlin serves as the faculty advisor to the SBA and its officers.