The LST Team

Kyle McEntee

[email protected]

Kyle McEntee is an attorney, public policy expert, and technologist who is nationally recognized for his role in American legal education.

Kyle co-founded LST in 2009 with Patrick Lynch and served as its executive director until LST was acquired by the Law School Admission Council in early 2022. Since that time, he has become a key figure in American legal education, publishing scholarly articles, issuing reports, and speaking at conferences and seminars on legal education. He is a frequent commentator in the press, having been quoted hundreds of times in the world's most reputable news organizations, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Economist, NPR, and others. He has written columns in Bloomberg, the National Law Journal, ABA Journal, Above the Law, Inside Higher Ed, and elsewhere.

Kyle is a licensed North Carolina attorney with a J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School and a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He does research for the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System. He is a special advisor to The Pipeline to Practice Foundation, an organization committed to enhancing diversity in the legal profession by supporting and nurturing diverse law students and early-career attorneys at key stages of their academic and professional development. He is the chief programmer behind LST's innovative web-based tools, which are accessed for free by over 200,000 users per year. His work as a web developer has played a major role in making the fruits of LST's advocacy efforts accessible to the general public.

His work in legal education has been nationally recognized by a number of organizations. While still in law school, he was voted Lawyer of the Year by readers of Above the Law. The ABA Journal named him a Legal Rebel for his work "challenging the institutional gatekeepers of the legal profession" and the National Jurist has named him the 5th most influential person in legal education. At age 27, the National Law Journal named Kyle to its list of the 100 most influential lawyers in America, the youngest ever on the list, which has been periodically produced since the 1980s.

I Am The Law features lawyers from around the country discussing their jobs so that students can better understand what the practice of law is really like. The show launched in January 2015 and is one of the largest and best-regarded podcasts covering the legal profession. Women In The Law is a mini-series released in Fall 2016 about the challenges women continue to face in the legal profession. Kyle McEntee is the executive producer for both shows.

I Am The Law Hosts

Listen to the podcast

Women In The Law Producers

Listen to the podcast

The survivor corporation, Law School Transparency, Inc., will wind up by the end of 2022. Its board of directors will continue to oversee this non-profit corporation until that time.

Maggie White, Chair

Maggie is Corporate Legal Counsel for EMC Insurance Companies in Des Moines, Iowa. Prior to moving in house, she worked in private practice where she focused on employment discrimination litigation. She is a past president of the Iowa State Bar Association Young Lawyers Division and remains involved as a member of various bar sections and committees. She is a founding member of the Iowa Young Lawyers Division Diversity Committee, and was inspired to run for the Division's presidency when she noticed women were not well-represented in the past line of officers. Maggie is passionate about helping law students and young lawyers reach their full potential and one of her goals is to help remove barriers to entering the legal profession for those from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds.

Maggie serves on numerous community boards, including the Board of Counselors at Drake University School of Law, the young professionals board of her local library, and as president of the advisory board for her county's juvenile drug court.

Maggie received her B.A. in Law, Politics & Society with a minor in Psychology from Drake University in 2006 and her J.D. from Drake University School of Law in 2013. In between college and law school, Maggie worked as a teacher and administrator at a Montessori school in Kansas City. She currently lives in Des Moines, Iowa with her partner, Joe, and their dog, Darlo. In her free time, she can be found running road races, trying new restaurants, joining too many book clubs, and attempting to conquer the New York Times Sunday crossword.

Kyle McEntee

Kyle has served on the Board of Directors since its founding in 2009.

Cassie Christopher

Catherine Christopher is a Professor of Law and the Associate Dean for Bar Success. Her teaching, scholarship, and service are almost entirely aimed toward one goal: Helping Texas Tech Law alumni pass the bar exam. Dean Christopher teaches primarily bar preparation and academic support classes, including the new Introduction to the Study of Law class, which is now part of the standard first-year curriculum. Her scholarship, in a variety of formats, speaks to both law students and law faculties about how best to prepare and support students taking the bar exam. As the Associate Dean for Bar Success, Dean Christopher spearheads several school-wide initiatives, both curricular and extracurricular, designed to build bridges from law school to the bar exam and on into practice.

Dean Christopher holds a B.A. in Political Economy from Barnard College of Columbia University and a J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. After graduating from law school, Dean Christopher entered private practice with a small boutique firm specializing in banking law. She represented regional banks in commercial real estate transactions, bankruptcies, and foreclosures. This practice experience informs her other area of scholarship, financial technological innovation. She has written and presented several articles about blockchain technology.

She is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, Texas, and the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Elisabeth Steele Hutchison

Elisabeth Steele Hutchison directs the Admissions Office at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa | William S. Richardson School of Law and is a national leader in law school admissions.

Before joining the faculty at the Law School, Elisabeth worked in The White House and at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Elisabeth is an alumna of Carleton College, where she served as a Young Alumni Carleton College Trustee, and the Yale Law School.

Elisabeth is passionate about educational institutions and committed to improving the systems that support them. Elisabeth is a member of the executive council of the Minority Network - Organization of Law School Admissions Officers of Color. She is an enthusiastic supporter of the Pacific Coast Association of Pre-Law Advisors.

In addition to her work at the University of Hawai'i, Elisabeth teaches people how to communicate effectively over video through her company, Work from Home University, LLC.

Abbey Morrow

Abbey Morrow is Corporate Counsel for Cox Automotive, Inc, where she practices compliance and data privacy law. In addition to LST, she serves on the Atlanta Bar Association's Board of Directors and the Georgia Bar Journal's Editorial Board. She is also involved with various metro-Atlanta legal community initiatives.

Abbey received her J.D. from Vanderbilt University and her B.A. from the University of Central Florida. In between college and law school, Abbey worked in corporate communications and brand development across the US. She currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia, where her free time is usually divided between fitness and foodie pursuits.

Kyle Fry

Kyle Fry is Associate General Counsel for Kent Corporation.

Kyle received his J.D. from Drake University and his B.S. from Iowa State University.

 

 

Board of Directors Emeritus

Patrick J. Lynch

Patrick is an attorney, nonprofit director, and filmmaker. He has spent the last decade working with coalitions to effect social change in the U.S. and Latin America. He holds a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School, a JD from Vanderbilt Law School, and a BA in Economics and English Literature from Fairfield University. At Harvard, Patrick was a Louis Bacon Environmental Leadership Fellow, where he advised the National Congress of American Indians on establishing its Climate Action Task Force and directed a video essay, Story of Old Town.

Patrick co-founded Law School Transparency in 2009 and served on the board from 2009-2021. His legal scholarship has been published in the Pace Law Review (with Kyle McEntee) and the University of Michigan Journal on Law Reform (with Kyle McEntee and Derek Tokaz). His more recent publications and films explore themes of community identity, Native sovereignty, and climate resiliency.

Lauren Ramos

Lauren is Assistant General Counsel at North American Partners in Anesthesia.

She holds a J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School and a B.A. in Psychology and Spanish from the University of Virginia.

Julia Shapiro

Julia is the CEO and founder of Hire an Esquire, a company reimagining legal staffing. Julia's route to a traditional legal career was redirected when she was sidetracked and then intrigued by the contract attorney world and those that occupied it. She has previously been an adjunct law professor, AMLaw 200 contract attorney, and subject matter expert for a consulting firm's legal clients.

She holds a B.A. from the University of Southern California and a J.D. from the Temple University - James E. Beasley School of Law.

Dr. Scott Boddery

Scott is an assistant professor of political science and pre-law advisor at Gettysburg College. Before arriving at Gettysburg, he taught for several years at Davidson College and, before that, Binghamton University. An expert in public law and judicial politics, Scott writes extensively for both academic and popular audiences. His scholarship—which focuses on judicial behavior and legal decision making—has been cited in political science, economics, and law journals, including the Harvard Law Review. His op-eds have been published in the Washington Post, USA Today, and The Hill. He has also appeared on NPR and been the point of contact for numerous other media outlets.

Scott holds a B.A. in History from Coastal Carolina University, a J.D. from the Florida State University College of Law, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Public Law from Binghamton University.

Former Directors

Natalie Reyes is Deputy Director of Midtown Community Court at the Center for Court Innovation. Prior to joining the Center, Natalie spent four years in Santiago, Chile, where she provided technical assistance for legal and public policy reform of Latin American criminal and civil justice systems at the Organization of American States' Justice Studies Center of the Americas. One of her specialties is how U.S. pretrial reforms could be applied in the Latin American context. She received a B.S. in Psychology from Fordham University and a J.D. from New York University School of Law.

Mike Spivey has helped lead the law admissions and law career services efforts at Vanderbilt University, Washington University in St. Louis, and the University of Colorado. Presently, he is a partner at Spivey Consulting Group, an admissions and employment consulting company.

Sam Casey is an in-house attorney in Atlanta, GA.

The group included current and former partners at national law firms, industry executives, prelaw advisors, current and former law school deans, current and former law professors, consumer advocates, and many more leaders in and around the profession. We are so proud to have such an esteemed group supporting our efforts to improve the legal profession. Their advice and insight proved valuable in their years of service.

The National Advisory Council was led by David Frakt.

At various times, we've benefited from the help of interns and research assistants paid for by third parties, i.e. other NGOs, colleges, or law schools. These volunteers have been current students, prospective students, and even people unrelated to the legal profession.

Law School Transparency was founded as a Tennessee non-profit by two Vanderbilt law students (both of whom have since graduated) in July 2009. However, the co-founders—Patrick Lynch (Class of 2010) and Kyle McEntee (Class of 2011)—began the initiative well before making the decision to incorporate.

On March 14th, 2008, at Vanderbilt University Law School's Admitted Students Day, Vanderbilt took an important step towards improving transparency by releasing a list of where, and with whom, 196 of the 223 Class of 2007 graduates were employed. The list was well-received by accepted students, which at the time included Kyle. Kyle and another prospective student took Vanderbilt's list and added public data to create a spreadsheet, which they then published on various online discussion boards. Some prospectives chose to attend Vanderbilt at least partially because of the list, including Kyle. Shortly thereafter, Kyle and Patrick began discussing the benefits of the list and the possibility of creating a new standard for reporting employment statistics across all law schools.

In the summer of 2009, Patrick and Kyle incorporated LST. This was the critical turning point in their efforts to increase law school transparency. It was apparent that law schools would be difficult to sway towards more disclosure and that disclosure was a key first step towards affordable legal education, while also clear that law schools failing to meet a reasonable request for employment data would be the best first step for achieving system-wide reform. The deceptive employment statistics that schools published with the tacit approval of the American Bar Association added an extra layer to what would prove to be a complex system of problems.

Channeling Justice Brandeis and his famous quote that "sunlight is the best disinfectant," Kyle and Patrick believed that the unethical system would tumble if exposed. They set out to shape a national discussion about how soaring tuition and excessive enrollments were propped up by deceptive marketing, deliberate choices to keep job statistics from applicants, and blank checks from a broken, though well-intentioned student loan program.