Verdict Reached In The Alaburda v. Thomas Jefferson Law Landmark Case Over Fraudulent Employment Statistics

Which side prevailed in this historic trial?

Anna Alaburda (Photo via Peggy Peattie / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Anna Alaburda (Photo via Peggy Peattie / San Diego Union-Tribune)

In May 2011, Anna Alaburda, a 2008 honors graduate of Thomas Jefferson School of Law, filed a class-action lawsuit against her alma mater, alleging that the law school had committed fraud by publishing deceptive post-graduation employment statistics and salary data in order to bait new students into enrolling. Alaburda claimed that despite graduating at the top of her class and passing the California bar exam, she was unable to find suitable legal employment, and had racked up more than $150,000 in student loan debt.

Almost five years later, after inspiring more than a dozen other class-action lawsuits against law schools, Anna Alaburda has had her day in court. Never before had a law school been forced to stand trial for allegedly inflating its employment statistics.

Today, we have a verdict. Which side prevailed in this historic trial?

The jury in the case was unsympathetic to the plight of downtrodden law school graduates, as it found for Thomas Jefferson School of Law on all counts in a 9-3 verdict. The San Diego Union-Tribune has additional details on the information presented at trial that could have swayed the jury:

While the employment rate of graduates appeared in some rankings to be about the same as other law schools, Alaburda’s attorney during the trial said the school didn’t disclose that some of those graduates were working in book stores, restaurants, hair salons and even selling tractors.

An attorney for the school rejected the claims and said Alaburda never proved them. The attorney also reminded jurors that she had turned down a job offer, and that many Thomas Jefferson alumni have had successful careers.

Alaburda sought $92,192 in lost income and $32,475 in reimbursement of tuition and fees. She won’t receive a cent of that. Instead, her name will be dragged through the mud. She’ll be mercilessly mocked by people across the nation for daring to file suit against a law school where graduates’ chances of employment are essentially no better than a crapshoot. This is incredibly unfair, but it’s what we do to people we deem to have “absurd” legal claims. As members of the legal profession know, however, Alaburda’s claims were anything but absurd.

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The public doesn’t understand just how common it was — and perhaps still is, at some law schools — for employment information to be so grossly misrepresented for financial gain. If only people had known the true employment figures at schools like Thomas Jefferson Law, not as many of them would have signed up in droves to throw six figures of federally backed loan dollars at a school for the chance of putting the “bar” in “barista,” for want of better job opportunities after graduation.

Congratulations to Anna Alaburda for her willingness to be the public face of a lawsuit that desperately needed to be brought. It’s a true shame that Thomas Jefferson School of Law won’t be held accountable for its past transgressions, but it’s even more despicable to know that law schools may now believe they’ve received a free pass to continue putting forth untrue statements about their graduates’ job prospects.

We encourage law school hopefuls to look at the numbers, and to ask questions when things seem too good to be true — as they were at Thomas Jefferson School of Law for years and years. Until the public uses the information that’s widely available to them when choosing which law school to attend, schools like Thomas Jefferson School of Law will continue to be able sell pipe dreams to budding lawyers at way too high a price.

UPDATE (3/25/2016, 11:15 a.m.): For additional insight into this case, see ATL columnist Jeff Bennion’s post-trial interview with one of the jurors.

Jury rejects fraud claim against law school [San Diego Union-Tribune]

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Earlier: Class Action Filed Against Thomas Jefferson School of Law
What The Alaburda v. Thomas Jefferson Law Case Is Not About