Law School Transparency

The ABA Thinks It’s Your Own Fault If You’re Poor and Unemployed

William Robinson, the newly appointed president of the American Bar Association, is taking a stand on the status quo of legal education in our country. But instead calling for reform, Robinson is defending the ABA's role, stating that young lawyers "should have known what they were getting into." Isn't it wonderful to know that the man in charge of the ABA is essentially playing the "blame the victim" card when it comes to debt-saddled and unemployed law school graduates?

2012 Predictions: ATL’s Calendar Goes All the Way to 2013

Welcome back to work. I’m not going to act like a flight attendant and “welcome” you to a place we all got to at the exact same time, but I do hope your 2012 is starting off well. In case you missed it on New Year’s Eve, we took a look back at our biggest […]

Non-Sequiturs: 12.22.11

* Searching for the perfect holiday present? Via Professor Glenn Reynolds: “As A Christmas Gift, Tell Your Friends and Relatives They’re Fat.” [Instapundit] * If a Republican wins the White House in 2012, who might get nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court? Mike Sacks offers up a star-studded SCOTUS short list: the brilliant and genial […]

Morning Docket: 12.16.11

* A man on trial for sex crimes at a Minnesota courthouse allegedly shot three people yesterday, including prosecutor Timothy Scannell. Guess it’s time to get a metal detector. [Duluth News Tribune] * Instead of trying to force Citigroup’s hand on a tougher settlement, the SEC is appealing Judge Rakoff’s rejection of the original. Don’t […]

Non-Sequiturs: 12.14.11

* Now that Chicago has bared it all, isn’t it time for other law schools to fall in line? Show us the stats for the class of 2010 already. [Law School Transparency] * And this is why your mother told you not to talk to strangers. [Legal Juice] * If you’re going to send out […]

Calling All Disgruntled Law School Graduates: Will You Ring in the New Year By Suing Your School?

Back in October, we brought you the news that Jesse Strauss and David Anziska intended to sue 15 more law schools over their post-graduate employment rates, in addition to their already pending class action suits against Cooley Law and New York Law School. As mentioned during their October 5 media conference, Team Strauss/Anziska will not […]

The University of Chicago Law School Offers Detailed Employment Data; Will Other Schools Follow Suit?

Here's an interesting idea: what if law schools just started posting comprehensive, accurate employment data on their websites? On a voluntary basis -- not compelled by politicians, lawsuits, or the American Bar Association? Take a look at what they're now doing at the University of Chicago Law School. Could it perhaps serve as the model for law school reporting of employment data?

Morning Docket: 12.14.11

* Apparently Gloria Allred will only take male clients if they’re controversial enough to keep her in the limelight. She’s representing the alleged sex abuse victims in a suit against Syracuse and basketball coach Jim Boeheim. [CNN] * Law School Transparency breaks it down for the guy who believes that the “apocalyptic” views of the […]

Is a Senate Hearing on the Way for Law School Transparency?

Law schools have faced an incredible amount of public scrutiny this year. Three law schools — Thomas Jefferson, Cooley Law, and New York Law School — are facing lawsuits over their allegedly deceptive employment statistics. Fifteen more lawsuits of the same variety may be filed soon. Three senators have demanded action from the American Bar […]

Law School Accreditation: What Is To Be Done?

Critics of the current legal-education model, including my colleague Elie Mystal, have accused the American Bar Association of failing to uphold sufficiently stringent accreditation standards. ABA-accredited law schools proliferate, even though thousands of law school graduates find themselves unemployed or underemployed. The ABA was recently chided by the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and […]

Non-Sequiturs: 11.03.11

* Here is Bess Levin’s take on the Groomzilla lawsuit brought by Todd J. Remis, son of a Goodwin Procter partner. [Dealbreaker] * What advice would crisis management guru Lanny Davis give to Herman Cain about Cain’s sexual harassment scandal? Here’s an imagined conversation. [The Hill] * And here is a real conversation — between […]

Another Senator Wants to Hop on the Occupy the ABA Bandwagon

Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), come on down! Okay, I’m sure Senator Coburn wouldn’t put it this way, but you can count him as the latest Senate member who has joined the fight for something that the Occupy Wall Street people should really care about. He wants there to be more transparency when it comes to […]

Quote of the Day: Law School Opacity

The ABA Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar has done a huge disservice to prospective law students, law schools and the legal profession. The legal employment rate is a basic yet crucial part of informing prospective law students. The failure to require law schools to disclose this rate legitimizes questions about whether […]

The ABA Focuses on Losing the ‘Lost Generation,’ One Statistic at a Time

Back in June, it became clear that the class of 2010 had some of the worst employment outcomes of the last 20 years. We knew this because of the way NALP categorized its data, differentiating between jobs that require and don't require bar passage, and between full-time and part-time jobs. But apparently the American Bar Association isn't interested in helping people understand these outcomes on a school-by-school basis. The ABA doesn't want you to know how schools fared in finding full-time legal employment for graduates of the class of 2010....

Two Petitions of Possible Interest

Two petitions of possible interest showed up in our inbox today: 1. In favor of student loan forgiveness: This petition, reminiscent of Elie Mystal’s call for a student loan bailout, “strongly encourage[s] Congress and the President to support H. Res. 365, introduced by Rep. Hansen Clarke (D-MI), seeking student loan forgiveness as a means of […]