Student Debt Webinar

Via Res Ipsa Blog, a post titled Student Debt Webinar: Public Service Loan Forgiveness and Loan Repayment Assistance Programs features some details pertaining to the College Cost Reduction Access Act (CCRAA).

Equal Justice Works is presenting a number of webinars on the CCRAA. The CCRAA provides loan forgiveness for students who enter government positions, including prosecutors and public defenders, as well as public interest lawyers. The seminars provide important information on qualifying loans, loan consolidation, and managing student debt. Sign up for one of the free webinars here.

Legal Research Skills Tested On Bar Exam?

A thought provoking post at Legal Blog Watch by Carolyn Elefant Should Bar Exams Test Legal Research Skills?, is a reaction post to Joe Hodnicki post on Law Librarian Blog Should (When Will) Legal Research Skills Be Tested on bar Exam? It is obviously an involved topic, but I will try to briefly sum it up. Both sides seem to agree that strong legal research skills are important. But they disagree on the testability of legal research skills. The first question seems to be: Are legal research skills 'testable'?

One argument states that legal research skills would be hard to test because lawyers often have access to different kind of resources (electronic vs. print). Other argument says legal research skills could be easily tested because it is about the theoretical approach and knowledge of available resources rather than about having access to them. Well, what do you all think? Are legal research skills testable? And if so, should they be tested on bar exam?

Laptops in the Classroom

According to a recent article by Jana McCreary of Florida Coastal School of Law, laptops are more distracting to non-users than users (The Laptop-Free Zone). One suggestion--rather than banning laptops, professors should create laptop-free zones in their classrooms.