Are you ready to talk Dodd-Frank? Do you want to?

Former Gonzaga Law School Dean, current GU Professor Daniel Morrissey will deliver the keynote speech for “The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act Symposium,” a daylong event starting at 8 a.m., Friday at Barbieri Courtroom at the Gonzaga University School of Law.

Sponsors are the GU Law School and the Gonzaga Society for Law & Business.

Morrissey's overview of the Dodd-Frank legislation will run from 12:30-1:30 p.m. He'll examine the litigation issues of the act, passed in July 2010 as a way to shore up the oversight of the financial services industry.

Among the areas covered are the “Say on Pay” provision of Dodd-Frank, which deals deals with executive pay, and several other issues, including the broker fiduciary duties, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, whhistleblower provisions and derivatives regulation.

The symposium provides 5.5 CLE (continuing legal education) credits. The cost is $200 per person , or $25 for non-GU law students.

For information, go to http://www.law.gonzaga.edu/Career-Services/cle_calendar.asp.

As a struggling, underpaid journalist I feel some envy but a lot of sympathy for those folks who are pushing through the Gonzaga University law program.

A recent post by National Jurist magazine came up with 60 “best value” law schools, based on the quality of education vs. the cost of the three years spent earning a degree. Gonzaga was among the group, landing in the B-minus category. Most of the 60 schools in the ranking are public law programs.

The University of Washington made the A-minus list. The University of Oregon landed in the B-plus group.

The criteria included a tuition rate lower than $35,000 per year; a bar pass rate higher than the state average; an average total indebtedness below $100,000; and employment rate nine months after graduation at 85 percent or more.

The listing noted two GU data points: the tuition per year at GU law school is $31,460. Which is about right for the kind of school it is. Its “average” student indebtedness is $94,074, which assumes a student is not getting any scholarship or grant money to pay for school. Only two other law schools in the group of 60 had a higher figure for debt: Lewis and Clark Law School (private school, $95,608) and the University of Minnesota ($94,087, which is $13 more than GU’s).

And using ABA data, the ranking looked at bar exam pass rates. GU’s pass rate is listed at 79.9 precent for first-time test takers. The UW scored 84.6 percent, Willamette had 84.9 percent and Lewis and Clark scored 80.5 percent.