The financial crises and recession of recent years left no part of the global economy unscathed, and that includes the rarified legal field, which has seen revenues drop 10% at U.S. firms since 2008. Yet perhaps no industry has been as slow to adapt to the international and technological challenges of this new austere era. And that reluctance to keep pace with the changing times seems especially evident at law schools, where "legal education hasn't really changed ...

Alta Jacko is the mother of eight children. She is also an ordained priest in the Roman Catholic Church. Jacko, 81, who earned her master's degree in pastoral studies from Loyola University, a Jesuit Catholic school, says being a priest is what she was called to do. Officially, of course, the Catholic Church's Canon Law 1024 says that only baptized men can receive holy orders. But there is a movement against the no-women rule; it began eight ...

If tough love is your thing, you can find a lot to love about Joe Clark. Bullhorn cradled in one arm, a stack of books and papers resting in the other, the 48-year-old principal of Eastside High in down-at-the-heels Paterson, N.J. , charms and bullies his way through the bustling corridors of his ordered domain like an old-time ward boss, relishing every step. He pinches girls on their cheeks, slaps high fives with both boys and girls, greeting most by ...

Teaching seemed a natural, uncomplicated career choice for Stacey Moskowitz. "I like children," she says. "I enjoy watching them learn the things you need to do to succeed in life." In 1990, in her mid-20s, she began teaching third grade at Community Elementary School 90 in the Bronx, N.Y., where she learned how to succeed on the school's terms. She says the principal's underlings gave her a list of students along with the order "to make sure they passed" standardized ...

"I don't have a dad," says Megan, 8, a tiny blond child with a pixie nose who gazes up at a visitor and talks of her hunger. "Well, I do have a dad, ; but I don't know his name. I only know his first name, Bill." Just what is it that fathers do? "Love you. They kiss you and hug you when you need them. I had my mom's boyfriend for a while, but they broke up." Now Megan ...

They are miniscule, measuring at most 2 mm to 3 mm long, yet few things induce more panic or fear among parents than head lice. But while an infestation of head lice on a child can be uncomfortable, the critters do not pose enough of a contagious hazard to justify the strict policies that many schools use to keep infected children out of class, according to a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics . In the ...

Word to those who think the Internet spells the end of traditional print media: "hacker journalists" have arrived to save the day. A cadre of newly minted media whiz kids, who mix high-tech savvy with hard-nosed reporting skills, are taking a closer look at ways in which 21st century code-crunching and old-fashioned reporting can not only coexist but also thrive. And the first batch of them has just emerged from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. They've just ...

When Al Krusac, 72, missed his senior prom in 1936 because he had joined the Army, his high school sweetheart Clara Curtis had to go with a cousin. Last week Al finally got to take Clara, his wife of 50 years, to his first prom. Not only that, Al and Clara were selected king and queen of the West Bloomfield, Mich., senior prom. Said Clara: "This prom was much better because I was with the man I loved. My cousin ...

What are the sources of Protestant-Roman Catholic tension in the U.S.? Last week the Jesuit weekly America listed three areas of friction in a lead article by Editor in Chief Thurston N. Davis. The sore points as Jesuit Davis sees them: BIRTH CONTROL. "Some Protestants speak of birth control as a positive virtue. They are hurt and perhaps humiliated that their code of personal morality in this matter is held to be grossly wrong by their Catholic friends. The ...

Who wouldn't love an easy explanation for autism, the heartbreaking brain disorder whose rates have been rising sharply and mysteriously over the past 30 years? History has served up many possibilities, beginning with a now discredited theory put forward by psychologist Bruno Bettelheim, who famously attributed the condition to uncaring "refrigerator moms." Today autism is thought to involve a genetic vulnerability that's triggered by an unknown X factor, or factors, in the environment. Recent speculation has focused on pesticides, childhood vaccines ...