Law Schools

Most Schools Would Like Law School Transparency to Just Go Away

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In July, we profiled the efforts of a group of Vanderbilt law students who are trying to bring more accuracy and transparency to the employment statistics provided by law schools. Their group, Law School Transparency, has requested all ABA-accredited schools to provide useful information to prospective law students — information that neither the ABA nor U.S. News currently collects.

Without the regulatory hammer of ABA (which the organization inexplicably refuses to wield), or the public shaming of U.S News (a for-profit magazine, not an industry watchdog), LST is up against some long odds. They’re trying their best, but their interim report indicates that thus far, 188 law schools have completely ignored their efforts to report simple facts on the employment prospects of law school graduates.

In fact, to this point no school (not even Vanderbilt Law) has agreed to provide the information LST is requesting. Poor Zenovia Evans would have starved to death by now.

But 11 schools did find the time to send out a courtesy letter citing the reasons these schools cooked up to justify keeping people in the dark about employment prospects for law school graduates…

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Ode to an Adjunct Professor

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Craigslist might have had to close down its adult section, but its Missed Connections area is still alive and kicking.

And that’s a good thing, at least for one UC Hastings law student who had one stimulating lecture with an adjunct law professor teaching intellectual property. The lady was quite taken by the guest lecturer, as the title to her Missed Connections post implies:

You: Adjunct law professor unjustly enriching my imagination – w4m – 25

That’s just the headline. The body of the note is much more steamy.

Maybe not New York Jets talking to Ines Sainz sexy-talk, but pretty damn explicit for an IP law class, taking place on a lazy day out in California…

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Clerkship Application Season: Open Thread
(And a tricky issue re: non-citizen law clerks.)

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Please hire us! We're Americans! Want to see our passports and birth certificates?

It’s that time of the year again: clerkship application season. Here is the requisite open thread for discussion, where you can trade news and gossip about which courts and judges are hiring, which ones are done, which clerkships are great, and which clerkships you’ll hate.

Pursuant to the 2010 Law Clerk Hiring Plan for federal judges, applications could be received last Tuesday, September 7. Today, September 13, is the first day when judges can contact applicants to schedule interviews. The calls were allowed to go out at 10 a.m. Eastern time (sorry, Californians). Interviews can be held and offers can be made starting on Thursday, September 16, at 8 a.m. Eastern time (again, our sympathies to Californians; but think of it like Christmas morning, when waking up early brings joyful news of a gift).

Word on the street is that the Plan is starting to break down, with an increasing number of judges, including some of the most prestigious and popular ones, hiring ahead of the deadlines. Getting federal judges to follow rules isn’t easy; they’re used to making the rules, not obeying them.

Furthermore, the Plan by its terms “does not cover applicants who have graduated from law school”; these applicants may be interviewed and hired by judges at any time. More and more judges are going down this path and hiring law school graduates rather than 3Ls, which (1) gives them clerks with more experience, either in practice or in another clerkship, and (2) allows the judges to avoid the mad scramble for talent under the Plan.

How competitive will the hunt for federal judicial clerkships be this year? Let’s discuss….

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(And a tricky issue re: non-citizen law clerks.)”

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From Law School Dropout to Billionaire: Meet Stewart Rahr

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Should you drop out of law school? In last week’s debate, I argued against the proposition, and in favor of staying in school.

But the decision to drop out of law school works out well for some people. Take Stewart Rahr, the subject of a recent, interesting profile in the New York Observer.

Back in 1969, Rahr dropped out of NYU Law School, to work for his father’s pharmacy in Brooklyn. Where is Stewie Rahr today?

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Admissions Officers Expect Even More Law School Applicants

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Kaplan, the prominent test prep company, conducts an annual survey of law school admissions officers. This year, those admissions people expect to be swamped by even more people clamoring to get into law school. Here’s the stat from Kaplan’s press release:

Law School Applications Continue to Climb: 56% predict an increase in applications this year, while only 6% predict a decrease – 25% predict application numbers to remain flat, while 13% were not sure.

Last year saw record or near-record numbers of applicants to law schools. So this year is going to see even more applicants? This is getting ridiculous…

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The Cart and the Horse

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Ed. note: This post is written by Will Meyerhofer, a Biglaw attorney turned psychotherapist, whom we profiled. A former Sullivan & Cromwell attorney, he holds degrees from Harvard, NYU Law, and The Hunter College School of Social Work. He blogs at The People’s Therapist.

One of my clients told me last week he went to law school because he “didn’t want to do an MBA.”  Apparently he’d only considered those two options.

Another client told me he’d decided between a PhD in History and a JD, and went with the JD because he “didn’t think there would be jobs for academics.”  Fair enough.  Unfortunately, there weren’t many jobs for lawyers, either, and at least with a PhD, as opposed to law school, he might have received some sort of “stipend” ( i.e., a meagre handout), or adjunct faculty position (i.e., cafeteria work).  That way, he might not have ended up both unemployed and in hock up to his eyebrows.

Going to graduate school has become a popular substitute for finding a job, especially in this recession.  Grad school sounds easy — basically a few extra years of college — but it only puts off a lot of tough decisions that have to be made sooner or later…

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Does Religion Trump Sexual Orientation at NYU Law School?

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Earlier this week, we discussed the discovery of potentially anti-Semitic graffiti in Vanderbilt Hall, the home of NYU Law School. Yesterday Dean Richard Revesz issued a forceful response to the law school community via email, condemning the graffiti as “highly offensive and hurtful” and declaring that “[s]uch hateful conduct is deplorable and has no place in our community.” (We’ve reprinted Dean Revesz’s message in full at the end of this post.)

Some observers, however, questioned whether the graffiti was really that bad. First, it was vague and conclusory, reading simply, “Damn Orthodox Jews.” Second, rather than reflecting animus from a non-Jew against Jews, the statement might have reflected tensions within the Jewish community itself. Several commenters raised the possibility that the graffiti was written by a less religious Jew who objects to the greater religiosity of Orthodox Jews.

Dean Revesz’s response raises another issue, namely, whether the administration at NYU Law takes anti-religious discrimination more seriously than discrimination based on sexual orientation (even though both are part of the school’s non-discrimination policy)….

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The Student Loan Racket: Now in One Easy-to-Understand Graphic

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I’ve written a lot about the horrible reality of the student loan industry. I’ve talked about how schools have no incentive to keep costs under control, how student debt is the next “credit bubble,” and how student loans cannot be discharged through bankruptcy (which is ridiculous).

But I’m not good with pictures. Luckily, the people at CollegeScholarships.org are good with pictures. They brilliantly break down the entire student loan racket in one easy to understand graphic.

Look at it; share it with your friends. Send it to parents of kids bound for higher education. If you are wondering why America’s students are in such a bind, here’s all you need to know…

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Cut Your Losses, or Finish Law School? An ATL Debate

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Martin Luther dropped out of law school - and so can you.

At what point should you give up on your dream of becoming a lawyer? It’s a question on many people’s minds lately. Whether they were laid off during the recession and haven’t been able to get back in, or if they’ve just graduated law school to the triumphant sounds of crickets, people are wondering when it’s time to stop throwing good money (and effort) after bad.

It’s a question some people start asking before they even graduate from law school. With the school year getting underway, returning law students are once again wondering whether or not they made the right choice when they matriculated to law school in the first place.

Earlier this week, Lat received this question from a 2L at a top-eight law school:

Hi David. I’ve got a dilemma and it’s really eating me up and I was wondering if you could give me some advice. Here are the salient points:

* I’m at [redacted] — an awesome school.
* It’s a crappy economy and I don’t anticipate getting a job anytime soon.
* My 1L grades are A-, B+, B, B, B-, B-, B-, B-.
* I’m not sure I really want to spend my life being a lawyer. It seems like such a boring profession.
* I think I would be really happy being a public interest attorney, like working at the DA’s office or on Capitol Hill. I get excited about those jobs — but they pay nothing and are super-hard to get.
* I’m about $70K in debt — so I’ve invested so much!

People tell me that a JD is a great credential to get. I just don’t know if it’s worth it to finish the degree. It’s so darn expensive. Realistically, if I stay the course I’ll graduate with $170K in debt. If I don’t finish, I’ll never have the degree and the prospects that come with it.

I feel that long-term, over a 40-year career, it could be good to have the law degree — it’s from [redacted], not from a lower-ranked school.

Should I finish law school or walk away?

Mwahahaha — David isn’t here, Mrs. Torrance.

Just kidding. Lat is here, and he will answer your question in a second. But first, let Elie explain why you should run, now…

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Meet Miss England — She’s a Law Student!

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Another day, another law student turned beauty queen. If you can’t get a legal job in this economy, you might as well settle for a free car and a year’s supply of make-up, right? It’s certainly better to get the cosmetics for free than to steal them — just ask Caroline Giuliani (Rudy Giuliani’s attractive daughter, who could herself be a beauty queen.)

Last week we wrote about Chantal Raymond, a gorgeous graduate of Harvard Law School who was recently crowned Miss Jamaica World. Today brings beauty pageant news from across the pond, reported by the Telegraph:

Jessica Linley, 21, defeated 60 other contestants to win the title at the annual pageant in Birmingham. The statuesque blonde – who wants to be a solicitor – will now represent her country at the Miss World contest in China next month.

No, not that kind of solicitation — although the luscious Linley could make a mint in that older but less learned profession. “Solicitor” and “barrister” are British terms for “lawyer.” (For more on the difference between the two, see here.)

Let’s learn more about Linley — for example, where does she go to school? — and maybe see another photo or two….

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