Are Disgruntled Law School Graduates a Bunch of 'Whiners'?

Are disgruntled law school graduates a bunch of whiners? Lawyer turned television personality Star Jones seems to think so....

When William Robinson, president of the American Bar Association, gave an interview in which he suggested that unemployed or underemployed law school graduates “should have known what they were getting into,” he was widely criticized. His emphasis on “personal responsibility” didn’t go over too well in some quarters of the legal profession and blogosphere.

But in defense of Bill Robinson, other people share his views. And some of these people are prominent personages.

Take prosecutor turned television personality Star Jones, who seems to have little sympathy for jobless law grads….

It’s official: the controversy over the value proposition of law school has gone mainstream. First it hit the New York Times, through a series of hard-hitting articles by David Segal. And now it’s being featured on morning television talk shows, so people can consider this weighty subject between bites of oatmeal and swigs of coffee.

Yesterday the Today Show did a short segment on the law school lawsuits. After host Matt Lauer briefly described the cases — purported class actions filed by graduates of various law schools against their alma maters, based on allegedly misleading employment statistics — he turned the floor over to his panel of commentators. Panelists Star Jones, Donny Deutsch, and Dr. Nancy Snyderman were unsympathetic to the plaintiffs.

Jones, a litigatrix turned legal commentator, said that there was “no way” the suits would be successful. She suggested that the plaintiffs should focus their energies on their job searches rather than blaming others. “No one’s going to hand you a job,” she said. “I hate whiners!”

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Deutsch, who is not a lawyer, viewed the controversy from a cultural rather than legal perspective. “This isn’t a legal issue,” he said. “This is what I call the Whiny Generation…. Talk about Brokaw’s ‘Greatest Generation’ — this is the opposite.”

Do you share the reactions of Jones and Deutsch? Check out this short video clip (under two minutes):

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Jobs for Law School Grads [TODAY.com]

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