ABA: All Aboard With Transparency!

Finally, we're making headway.  The new pres of the ABA, Steve Zack, is considering a proposal wherein Law Schools would be required to provide accurate statistics to admitted students.  Since the ABA is the face of the legal industry, requiring law schools provide accurate data to students  is so long overdue.... and such a "duh" request.  Stop engaging in fraud.  Come on. The news makes me smile.  It makes me hate the ABA slightly less.  It makes me forget about Lamm.  Lamm was such a bad nightmare.
I remember her half ass attempts to reach out to solos... by doing crap like reducing membership fees.  Any amount is too much to pay for an organization that reams you like a prisoner in a group shower by shipping your bread and butter abroad.  Thanks for that, Lamm!  Now, with Zack, maybe the ABA is turning a new leaf.  However, I must dissect what he says and evaluate the effectiveness of the ABA's potential plan:

The president of the American Bar Association, Steve Zack, told a gathering of law school deans and professors last week that the organization is considering requiring law schools to disclose cost and employment statistics to all accepted law school applicants. According to this story in the National Law Journal, Zack hopes the ABA’s Young Lawyers Division will consider the proposal in February.

First, let's note that he's considering it.  About 200+ Deans are about to start a campaign to make sure this doesn't happen because of all the usual reasons: it's "burdensome, inconvenient, impossible, etc." I call "bullshit."  It's really bad for business to tell the truth about the legal industry.   So, surely the Deans will weigh in on this issue.  Let's see if this proposal survives that attack.
Secondly, for some reason, the transparency will only extend to accepted students.  Why not the general public?  Well, it's my guess that they efficacy of the information will be nil on students that feel "invested."  There is a strange phenomenon among young lemmings.  They seem to think that they are too far gone because they geared their college major towards going to law school, took Kaplan LSAT Prep Classes, and spent time and money in the application process.  The sweat and money spent on the pre-law school process is a drop in the bucket compared to the 100K+ that you will sink in law school.
So, their "logic" (ha!) is--once you've applied and been accepted--it's way to late to actually consider the stats of your prospective school and turn back.  I'm sure that Mr. Zack knows this, hence the truth is only offered to these students who wrongly consider themselves too invested to turn back.  Brilliant.  Add to that, the admitted students will be uniquely situated to keep the nasty secret as they will try their hardest not to mar the reputation of their future alma mater.
So, this is a step in the right direction, but not a big enough step.  I love how law schools, the bastion of the American Legal System, are somehow exempt from common law fraud, the consumer fraud act, and the general principle of honesty.  Their ship is sinking, but I'm wondering if they plan on telling the passengers.

U.S. News Reports REAL NEWS: Consider the Return on Your Investment, or Lack Thereof, when Considering Law School!

Nothing makes a Thursday seem sweeter than a story on the real prospects of law school grads.  I am hoping some of these research whiz kids run into this article when deciding whether to proceed with taking the LSAT.


Of course, it covers NOTHING that my readers didn't already know.  But here are some gems:

The American Bar Association reports that from 2007 to 2008, average tuition rose 6 percent at private law schools, to $34,298, and 9 percent at in-state public schools, to $16,836. Add in living expenses and pricey books, and at least 80 percent of students now rely on student loans to fund their law education.


It may seem out of touch for law schools to be raising prices in a lousy economy, but it's a reflection of supply and demand. Indeed, an increasing number of people appear willing to take on six-figure debt to get a law degree. In 2009, the number of people who took the Law School Admission Test hit a decade high, up 6.4 percent from the year before. "As long as people keep applying to law schools in record numbers, (a) there's no incentive at all for the universities to charge less for the law schools that are already established, and (b) there's every incentive for other universities to open new law schools," says Elie Mystal, editor of the popular legal blog Above the Law.


Tuition raises have become necessary at many universities, especially top ones competing for higher rankings, according to the Government Accountability Office. The heated competition induces schools to ramp up their programs by hiring better faculty, reducing class sizes, providing enhanced student services, and offering more practical coursework.


Many do not research the real economic costs and benefits of a law degree, says Prof. Herwig Schlunk of Vanderbilt University. "It's kind of blindly accepted that education in general, and legal education in particular, is always worth the money," says Schlunk. "[But] there's a lot of kids who do go to law school who really have no business, at least not as an investment matter, in going."


"In their mind's eye, [law students are] thinking of hitting the lottery and getting one of these $160,000-a-year jobs, and it is a fiction," ... "By and large, it's just like the lottery. You're spending a huge amount of money in the hopes of hitting the jackpot, and there's relatively small chances, and the chances have gotten a lot smaller."


Of course, Lamm the Liar makes an appearance with some bullshit that the deferred associates are getting hired, so the market is improving.  Whatever.  The article also goes into some rant about networking and focusing on the skills you had BEFORE law school when finding a job.  Which begs the question, why did you go to law school to focus on skills you had before law school?


The facts remain, and  there are too many attorneys and it's harder to be a big fish in the ocean than it is in a pond.  However, that colloquialism goes.  I still maintain that I'm lucky with far less than a hundred grand of debt.  The biggest problem with graduating today is the debt load which precludes you from taking whatever salary you'd like.  And ignoring your debt load can severely compromise your future--because you won't be able to buy a house or a car with shitty credit.  

But hats off to U.S. News for its attempt at journalism.  Great job!

No More Room at the Bench! The ABA speaks!!!

Surely, by now, you've heard of the above-titled article by Mark Greenbaum. It was among one of the first mainstream media articles that addressed the oversupply of lawyers and asked that the ABA become accountable for its sins--namely, failing to regulate law schools. Well, there's been a response!

Here are portions of ABA President Carolyn Lamm's Letter to the Editor, in pertinent part--which I lifted from ATL.  My comments are in grey:


To the Editor:

You published a recent opinion piece by Mark Greenbaum. His analysis is premised on incorrect facts from which he draws flawed conclusions. He misstates the number of American Bar Association-approved law schools, ties it to what he describes as a “flood of graduates,” and insists the ABA should “block” new schools. He fails to acknowledge that in fact existing law schools have reduced voluntarily class size and therefore despite a minimal increase in the number of accredited law schools (7% over a 5 year period) first year enrollment grew by only two percent. Hardly producing a “flood of graduates”.

First of all, the flood started in the late 90s--not since the Great Recession.  I have yet to hear about a law school that is voluntarily reducing its class size. I would venture to say that is a fib.  However, I have heard that applications are up 20% and that New York Law School, for example, is expecting 50% more first years this coming school year. That is an additional 250 attorneys when New York City cannot support the tens of thousands of attorneys it currently houses.