UMASS Dartmouth School of Law: "Winning"!

The only school I love to hate nearly as much as Tom Cooley is UMass-Dartmouth. It's a recent addition to the over saturated market in Massachusetts.  It was opened on the premise that every last corner of Massachusetts needs a law school.  Every.... last... corner.  And with the opening of every shit law school is bound to be an influx of shit students.  There are only so many decent, accomplished applicants to go around.  It's my guess that Harvard, BU, BC, Northeastern, Suffolk, UMass, etc. etc. etc. got first dibs on those applicants and UMass-Dartmouth was left with this winner:

John E. Cassidy, 26, was released by Fall River Superior Court Judge Thomas MaGuire on the condition he does not break any laws and does not possess firearms, the District Attorney's Office said.... The UMass Dartmouth law school student charged with illegal firearms possession was ordered released on personal recognizance Friday...

No big whoop, right?  He's not the first law student to break the law, but like many law students--he rises above his peers with another charge:

Cassidy, a Texas native, has an open fugitive warrant from his home state, where he was charged last year with possession of explosive components. He will remain incarcerated in the House of Corrections pending that matter, the District Attorney's Office said. 

So close!  If only that past warrant didn't come up!  He'd be roaming the halls at UMass Dartmouth with the other students and those people that won't shut up in his head.  With his intimate knowledge of the criminal justice system, he'll surely be a great attorney.  He gives new meaning to jailhouse lawyer.  Maybe he'll get paid by his fellow inmates in cigarettes.  He's got to command a higher rate than other jailhouse lawyers--while he's in jail at least.

On March 2, police seized an AK-47 military assault rifle along with a 9-mm handgun and 200 rounds of ammunition from Cassidy's apartment at Ledgewood Commons in North Dartmouth. A roommate also alleged Cassidy had assaulted him. 

Any chance his intention was to have a shootout at school?  I definitely don't encourage it, but what the heck was packing so much heat for?  Was he pissed about the tuition?  Maybe his roomie was the classroom gunner?  Maybe he's just stark raving mad.  If that's the case, you'd think that it would have been apparent from his prior record, his essay.... the way he looks?!

I feel like I'm playing the fiddle on the slowly sinking ship formerly known as the legal profession.  Quantity, not quality.  Remember!  That's the key to the educational industrial complex.

I'm wonder if UMD is going to expel him.  I'm sure it's hard to part with his tuition check, but here's to hoping they will do the right thing.

Winning! 

UMASS Dartmouth School of Law: The School I Love to Hate

Last I checked, BIDER has plenty of readers in Massachusetts.  I can only assume that the readers are keeping the message to themselves.  I dissuade, or attempt to dissuade, at least one 0L a week.  Really.  That's in person too.  I think it's my duty. I will take time out of my day to speak to a person at length about the misery that my career choice has brought me. I even did so when I worked in Big Law because I knew that I was one of the lucky few.  BIDER readers in Massachusetts must just read the blog and keep the news to themselves so they can see what will happen when the lemmings graduate and join the ranks of the unemployed.  Honestly, it's like failing to tell someone that their aspirin is laced with cyanide when you know it is.  What is wrong with you guys?

I ran into this story on-line and I am truly upset.  I have covered the opening of UMass Dartmouth a few times and I have always maintained that the state's decision to jump on the capitalist bandwagon, to the detriment of its students, is tragic.

Now, they are getting free press from the Wall Street Journal:

Take, for instance, the situation at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. According to this Boston Globe article, applications and enrollment at the state’s first public law school have “surged” since the merger of UMass Dartmouth and the Southern New England School of Law. According to the Globe, the bump in interest serves as “an early sign that the controversial merger is off to an auspicious start.”

According to the story, the new school, now known as the University of Massachusetts School of Law, received 462 applicants for this fall’s incoming class. It’s more than twice the number who applied last year, when the school was a private institution. The size of the first-year class is also doubling to 155, and the caliber of the applicants, at least as measured by undergraduate grade point averages and LSAT scores, have risen — all despite the fact that the school has yet to be accredited by the American Bar Association.

Here's the kicker folks... the school is not yet accredited.  WTF???

“Students are voting their confidence in the fact that we can probably get the accreditation,’’ Jean MacCormack, chancellor of UMass Dartmouth, who plans to seek the designation in 2012.

So, I can look into my crystal ball and see that these 155 students will graduate in three years with $80K+ of debt and no job.  Mark my words.  I think that law school is a risk if you go to anything outside of the T14 T8.  With no accreditation to date, this sewer is bound to be a TTTTrash bin in 2012. And to make it worse, it doesn't see like it's all naive 22 year olds that are going to this school:

The Globe calls the new students “a nontraditional group,” ranging in age from 21 to 59 years old. More than a fifth will pursue law degrees part time while continuing to work. And perhaps taking a page from the folks out at UC Irvine, nearly 40 percent will receive financial aid, including 25 students awarded a fellowship that covers half of the tuition for committing to four years of practicing public service law upon graduation.

25 of 155, is not a majority.  It's not even close.  And, I would venture to guess that these fellowships are in the form of bait and switch financial aid--the kind you lose after you didn't maintain you GPA first year.

Massachusetts should be ashamed of itself.  There is no need for a TTTToilet bowl law school in SE Mass. The market is amply serviced by BU, BC, Harvard, etc. etc.  Enough already.  Soon, everyone will have their own personal lawyer.  Much like a cleaning lady, they will be underpaid and undervalued.  $75 to clean an apartment?  I'll review your mortgage application for you for $60.  What's the difference?