Weekly News Roundup

 NPR Journalists Speak at Several Graduation Ceremonies
It’s been an excellent graduation season for National Public Radio. NPR journalists have given commencement speeches at three law schools: the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Albany Law School and University of Maine School of Law.

Nina Totenberg received honorary degrees at both the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and Albany Law School.

NPR Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg took the figurative route, urging future lawyers to remain true to their morals: “Just remember, as you enter the life of the law, that it is not just the firm or the client or the company waiting for you,” she said in her speeches at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and Albany Law School. “Also standing there awaiting your arrival is that blind old lady justice. She expects you to spend some time with HER, too.”
In light of law school graduates’ somewhat worrisome prospects, National Politics Correspondent Mara Liasson struck a hopeful chord with Maine graduates. “We are learning that collaboration is the number one skill for the future,” she said. “I am here to tell you that you are well prepared to weather the storm and to prosper.”
Source: WBAA
Law Clinic Demands Further Compensation
For two years, Students at Fordham University School of Law’s Family Advocacy Clinic helped the parents of an 11-year-old child with learning disabilities receive the services he needed. Before this case, the clinic had never sought compensation from the New York City Department of Education; now, however, the clinic has filed an application for almost $64,000 in legal fees. “This case was so egregious that I felt like we needed to make a statement,” Clinic Director Leah Hill said.
The department requested a 75% discount on the grounds that the academic goals of the clinic’s work led to exaggerated costs. U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Peck suggested that the department pay $43,993 in legal fees—a discount of only about 30 percent. “The Court finds that many of the specific entries that the DOE identifies as excessive or unnecessary are in fact properly compensable,” the judges wrote. If nothing else, Hill said that the very process of filing the application had educational value.
Source: The National Law Journal