WSJ on Closius and UB Law’s rank
August 26, 2008
For those of you who missed it, the University of Baltimore School of Law was featured prominently today in a Wall Street Journal story about the U.S. News & World Report law school rankings. The magazine is thinking of revamping its ranking criteria to address the widespread practice of admitting inferior applicants as part-timers, since part-time students’ LSAT scores and undergraduate grades don’t count in the rankings.
Amir Efrati writes:
One of the top beneficiaries of the current U.S. News criteria is Phillip Closius, former dean of the University of Toledo’s law school. He led the school’s rise from the list’s fourth tier to its second tier within a few years. After he took the helm of the University of Baltimore law school last year, that school also quickly climbed the rankings, to 125 this year from 170 last year, he says. (Schools in the third and fourth tiers aren’t publicly ranked — instead they are grouped together — but deans can find out where they placed.)
Mr. Closius’s winning strategy in both places: Cut the number of full-time students accepted into the program to boost the median LSAT scores and GPAs, which together account for more than 20% of a school’s ranking. In their place, the schools add more part-time students, who can transfer to full-time the second year.
Closius says the strategy is good for weaker students because it lets them ease into law school. He also tied the improved rank to subsequent “multimillion-dollar grants and donations for a new building.”
The story also has a small chart showing how some schools’ ranks this year would have been different had part-timers been counted. According to that chart, the University of Maryland School of Law, which placed 42nd, would have been ranked a bit lower, in the mid- or high 40s.
Ron Miller over at the Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog posts about this story, too.
CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer
Sphere: Related ContentRFP issued for new law school design
June 30, 2008
Calling all architects and engineers: the University of Baltimore wants you to design its new $107 million law school.
A request for proposals (PDF) was issued Friday for the new John and Frances Angelos Law Center, scheduled to open in 2012. The building, like the current law school home, will be named after the parents of Peter G. Angelos, a UB alum who recently pledged up to $5 million in matching funds toward construction.
The Abell Foundation is underwriting a $150,000 design competition for the building, to be located on the corner of Charles Street and Mount Royal Avenue. The architect is scheduled to be selected by January.
An initial technical proposal is due July 28, and those interested can attend a pre-proposal conference and tour the new building’s site July 10.
DANNY JACOBS, Legal Affairs Writer
Sphere: Related ContentAccentuate the mole
June 25, 2008
Truth be told, I have to look up the spelling of UB President Robert Bogomolny’s name every time we write about him (Brother, can you spare a vowel?), but I’ve never worried about how to pronounce it.
Apparently, though, many people do. Luckily for them, the school takes its educational mission seriously, in a light-hearted kind of way, offering this pictorial and phonetic guide on its Web site.
BARBARA “accentuate the ZIN” GRZINCIC, Managing Editor/Law
Sphere: Related ContentJustice comes to town
April 24, 2008
Hey, Justice Antonin Scalia! You’ve just finished hearing arguments for the term on the Supreme Court! What are you going to do next?
“I’m going to Baltimore!”
The University of Baltimore School of Law, to be precise. Scalia, slated to appear on 60 Minutes on Sunday and co-author of a book that comes out on Monday, is in town today for a session with UB Law students, a luncheon, a meet-and-greet with various faculty members and a public session across the street from the school at the Lyric Opera House.
Possibly hoping to avoid a repeat of 2004’s “Hattiesburg Incident,” in which federal marshals appropriated and destroyed two reporters’ tapes at a high school appearance (for which Scalia later apologized), UB Law’s spokesman was quite clear in issuing an invitation to the Lyric event. Reporters may bring a notebook, pencil and tape-recording device “for reporting purposes only — not for broadcast.”
Scalia’s book, co-authored with Bryan Garner of LawProse Inc., is called “Making Your Case: The art of persuading judges.” It stems from interviews Garner did with eight of the nine justices between 2006 and 2007, which Garner has put up on his Web site.
BARBARA GRZINCIC, Managing Editor/Law
Sphere: Related ContentWanted: Law-related license plates
April 23, 2008
Seen on Charles Street yesterday: a cool law-themed license plate. It was an out-of-state plate, possibly from Ohio or North Carolina, bearing the letters “PRO BONO.” I guess the owner must be big on doing free legal work for the needy. Either that or it’s someone who really, really likes U2.
Anyway, the car attached to the plate was pulling into one of the University of Baltimore’s parking lots, so maybe the driver was heading to an event at the law school. Anyone out there, maybe someone at UB, know who the driver was?
While we’re at it, what’s the best law-related license plate you’ve seen? Snap a picture of it and send it my way, and maybe we’ll post it on the blog.
CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer
Sphere: Related ContentProtest over parking fees
April 7, 2008
The possibility of a drastic increase in parking fees at the University of Baltimore has caught the attention of staff and students, some of whom are planning a midday walkout and protest on Thursday.
Full-time students, who pay an estimated $171 for an annual parking pass, would pay more than $1,000 a year to park under the proposed rates if they use a space for more than 8 hours per weekday.
The new rates, which will be the subject of town hall meetings this spring before going into effect next year, are based on the amount of time a person’s vehicle occupies a space and, for staff, on salary.
University Spokesman Chris Hart said the rate hike is, in part, motivated by the need to fund the Fitzgerald at UB Midtown, a mixed-use development planned for the Bolton Yard Lot, and represents an effort to reclaim the $1 million the school spends each year on parking subsidies.
Brian R. Shepter, a third-year law student and president of the Student Bar Association, objects to what he sees as the university administration’s sudden solution to the problem and top-down approach, suggesting instead a gradual increase in rates over two or three years.
“Students weren’t involved in the process and now we’re being blindsided with this.” said Shepter, who is also concerned about the likelihood of satellite lots and shuttles during construction of the Fitzgerald project.
“No one’s contending that parking rates shouldn’t go up,” he said. “They should definitely go up. The question is, why can’t we phase it in? They’re going from a million dollar deficit to back in the black in one year…Give students time to calculate for these things.”
Hart said the university seeks to strike a balance between the interests of students, many of whom commute, and the school’s mandate to make the most of its facilities — in this case, converting a surface lot into a public-private retail and residential development that will include a gated, staffed 1,250-space parking deck.
“They’re telling us loud and clear that it’s expensive for them. We’re trying to tell them about value, value-added,” Hart said Friday. “There’s more dialogue to be done.”
Do the students have a legitimate gripe? Or are they lucky to still be paying what would amount to below-market-rate parking prices?
BRENDAN KEARNEY, Legal Affairs Writer
Sphere: Related ContentHarford scientist solves odor issues
March 18, 2008
“Unpleasant and embarrassing personal odors.”
They are exactly what you think they are. They are the silent scourge of offices, hotels, homes – basically anywhere with a shared restroom. And one Maryland scientist says he’s found a way to combat them.
Oxi-Odor Eliminator is the brainchild of Eric McGill, Harford County resident and University of Baltimore graduate. It’s a powder that’s sprinkled in toilets right after exactly what you think it’s right after.
An interesting solution to an eternal problem. (And, apparently, partially a product of prodding by McGill’s wife.)
But is it feasible, I wonder? Do you think these little packets of powder will ever replace air freshener and scented candles?
And who out there wants to give it a try?
JOE BACCHUS, Web Specialist
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