Ever since Michigan Law announced its choice of Ohio Senator Rob Portman as graduation speaker, the school has been embroiled in controversy. Why?

Because a large part of the student body, including 98 graduating students who have sent a letter to Dean Evan Caminker, feel that Senator Portman has an anti-gay rights stance. The students' letter reads as follows:

While we do not wish to silence debate nor to categorically deny individuals with anti-gay politics any opportunity to speak at the law school, we believe that [the] decision to host a [graduation] speaker who is openly hostile to LGBT rights is deeply unfair to the LGBT students who will be in the audience this year celebrating their graduation.

The school has commented that although it appreciates the students' input, Senator Portman will speak as scheduled. Students are reportedly considering walking out of graduation in protest.

What do you think? How much say should students have over who speaks at their graduation ceremony?

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Above the Law reports on an interesting phenomenon at the ABA Tech Show in Chicago -- no business cards were exchanged, only Twitter handles.

Granted, the attorneys who attended this particular conference are certainly into technology otherwise they wouldn't have been here, but this occurrence does underline the importance of law students' adoption of technology as well -- this is the world you're soon to be joining, so if you're not on Twitter, maybe it's time you checked it out.

On the other hand, I don't believe business cards are completely useless, as I've written about before. What do you think about business cards and Twitter? Will the latter replace the former?

P.S. You can follow me @lawschoolguide!

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If you're interested in becoming a prosecutor or entering law enforcement in New Jersey, there's some good news for you out of the County Prosecutors Association: the group is offering four scholarships to law school students going down these career paths.

Each scholarship is for $2,500; New Jersey residents with demonstrable financial need are eligible. Applications must be in by June 23, 2011.

The four scholarships are as follows:

• Oscar W. Rittenhouse Memorial Scholarship: applicant must be accepted for admission to a law school and must have an interest in becoming a prosecutor.
• Harris Y. Cotton Memorial Scholarship: applicant must be accepted for admission to law school and want to be a prosecutor with an emphasis on domestic violence or hate crime prosecutions.
• Andrew K. Ruotolo Jr. Memorial Scholarship: applicant must be accepted to law school or graduate school and exhibit an interest, and commitment to, enhancing the rights and well-being of children through child advocacy programs.
• John H. Stamler Memorial Scholarship: applicant must be a sworn law enforcement officer seeking educational advancement on a college or graduate level to improve his or her effectiveness as a law enforcement officer.

For more information, contact Jeanne Chianese, confidential aide to Ocean County Prosecutor Marlene Lynch Ford at (732) 929-2020.

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Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Lisa M. Rau is heading up a new fellowship program that "gives [area] graduates the opportunity to work as unpaid law clerks under different judges in the court."

Graduates of Temple, Drexel, Rutgers-Camden, Widener, Penn, and Villanova are eligible for the program, which has no amending date, meaning that graduates can work with the judges for however long they would like. As the positions are unpaid, the hope is that graduates can gain valuable experience as well as make contacts that will lead to a paying position.

While a paid judicial clerkship is certainly preferable, such a fellowship can be an excellent opportunity while the participant searches for a full-time, paying job. I'd highly recommend Philadelphia area 3Ls consider this program even for a short stint -- if you can afford it, of course.

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According to the Law School Podcaster:

"Deep breath.  It's not the end of the world, but it is surprising:  LSAT testing center security has increased. Red Alert LSAT Geeks! LSAC now requires a full-body scan of anyone who enters the testing site."

Read more about the new regulations at both the Law School Podcaster and the LSAC website.

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U.S. News and World Report is currently considering a proposal to give more weight to a law school's diversity in the rankings. Read more about the proposal at The National Law Journal.

What do you think? Should diversity be weighted into law school rankings?

You might also be interested in:

• How Important Are Law School Rankings?
• U.S. News 2010 Rankings Out -- *Yawn*
• St. John's Prof Calls on Consumer Reports to Rank Law Schools
• Profiles of Top Law Schools
• Princeton Review's 2011 Law School Rankings

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JdMission co-founder Sunitha Ramaiah will be holding a free seminar on long-term planning for law school applicants. Topics that will be discussed include the following:

• Creating Your Ten-Month (and Beyond) Timeline
• Maximizing the Impact of Community Activities
• Accelerating Personal Goals
• Taking and Retaking the LSAT
• Making the Most of Campus Visits
• Understanding the Differences Between JD Programs

Date: Thursday, April 14, 2011
Time: 7:00-8:30 p.m. EST
Location: Kaplan's Manhattan Center, 131 W. 56th Street, New York, NY
Price: Free!

For more information see the registration form and jdMission.

H/t Law School Podcaster.

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We've discussed the benefits of taking time off between college and law school before, but I just came across an interesting piece in the Yale Daily News that offers more insight:

Only 20 percent of the first-year class at Yale Law School came straight from college, and more than half of the 80 percent who took time off had been out of school for more than two years. Students and administrators interviewed said that for those who wait before applying or attending Yale Law School, the intervening years may help them understand why they want to apply to law school and what they hope to gain from it -- which can strengthen their application, as well as guide their course of study after matriculation.

Did you take time off before law school? Would you recommend it?

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DRI has announced the guidelines for its 2011 Law Student Diversity Scholarship competition. Those eligible include incoming 2L and 3L students who are African American, Hispanic, Asian, Pan Asian, and Native American and incoming 2L and 3L women students of any race or ethnicity; the organization will be giving two scholarships in the amount of $10,000 each to applicants who best meet the following criteria:

• Demonstrated academic excellence
• Service to the profession
• Service to the community
• Service to the cause of diversity

This year's essay topic is as follows:

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide two separate suits in which foreign product manufacturers are contesting the state courts' exercise of personal jurisdiction over them.  The Court will decide, among other things, if a company's mere awareness that a product could wind up in a state is sufficient to establish personal jurisdiction, or if companies must purposefully direct their products toward a state to warrant the exercise of personal jurisdiction.  If the Court concludes that foreign manufacturers can or cannot be sued in any state in which the product is sold, absent direct contacts with the forum, what impact might that ruling have on product liability litigation defense?

The deadline for applications is April 27, 2011; you can see the full requirements and other details at 2011 DRI Law Student Diversity Scholarship.

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Are you a 1L or 2L who will soon be asked to prepare a legal memorandum for a summer employer? Or are you a 3L who will be soon preparing many, many legal memoranda in your first full-time position as an attorney?

Be sure to check out my review of Morten Lund's Jagged Rocks of Wisdom: How to Write a Legal Memorandum before you get that first assignment.

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