Georgetown University: Help or Employment Manipulation

Found this article and thought I'd share:

With many graduates struggling to find jobs, the Law Center has announced that it is extending its program, giving stipends to graduates participating in internships for public interest organizations.

The program provides students with $4,000 so that they can participate in law-related volunteer programs, according to Barbara Moulton, assistant dean of the Office of Public Interest and Community Service at the Law Center. Started this summer, the program has now been extended for three more months in order to aid graduates still unable to find jobs.

The program is not advertised on the Law Center’s website, but has been announced to Law School students via an email. Currently it is only available to members of the Class of 2010 who are unemployed.

OPICS will only distribute the stipends to students whose internships with the volunteer organizations last for at least three months. The graduate must also continue to look for permanent employment in order to receive the stipend.

The program comes at a bleak time for law school graduates: While 88 percent of law school graduates of the Class of 2009 were employed by May 2010, 25 percent of the jobs reported are temporary, according to The National Association for Legal Career Professions, a higher percentage than earlier years. Another 10 percent of the jobs reported are half-time. 

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Wow. Those employment stats are dire for such a reputable law school.  I would like to think that Georgetown is giving these stipends out of the kindness of their hearts, but I know better.  I'm sure that the stats are coming due for the Class of 2010 and the numbers aren't looking good.  This stipend, a drop in the bucket, is enough of a carrot to make the little Hoyas jump at the "opportunity" and count themselves as employed.

This plan is reminiscent of Duke's little ploy.   If any Georgetown Administrators come to this site, let me be clear.... STOP ACCEPTING STUDENTS.  The only way you can ensure your employment stats improve is to limit your class size and cut your budget.  Unless you want to walk over homeless Georgetown Law Grads on M Street, quit pumping them out.

Things That Make You Go Hmmmm!

Thanks Tipster!  Sorry it's blurry... but I think y'all get the point.

2.27 GPA and 151 LSAT

Ran across that subject line in a discussion on Top Law Schools.  The doomed 0L elaborated by saying:

Is there a law school in the US that will take me? Having trouble finding low end law schools. Thanks for the help!

and

joemoviebuff, would you mind elaborating a bit? are you insinuating that the quality of education would not be worth the investment? or that it would be tougher to get hired and find a job once out of school? or both? 

for what it's worth, i never studied or practiced for the lsat. are you currently attending law school? i suppose i'm just trying to figure out if law school is something i actually want to do. i have no doubt i would succeed in law school if i put in the effort...something i obviously did not do in undergrad   is there any way to make up a poor GPA, say with graduate school or maybe an associate's degree? or am i just SOL? 

thanks for all and any input! 

Ugh. For the record, Hardknocks and I are NOT writing for this guy.  He is basically suicidal and retarded.  It isn't because his GPA or LSAT are low.  The other 0Ls chimed in with advice:

Bypassing the question of whether you should go to these, here are some good suggestions:

John Marshall Law school in both Atlanta and Chicago, Thomas Cooley Law school in Michigan ( four locations), Ohio Northern Law School , Western New England Law School, Suffolk Law School, Florida Coastal Law School, Barry and Nova Law School, University of Baltimore might take you, Ava Maria Law school, and University of Dayton among many others.

As for whether you should go to these, some of them are actually quite good and well- respected in their areas. A lot depends on your goals. If your main goal is big law, it will be tough to get a job attending any of these schools unless you are in the top 5% of the school and preferably in the top 5-10 people. If you have lower aspirations, any of these can do the job. If you just want a legal background but don't want to practice law per se, any of these will do the trick.

The only appropriate answer for this monkeybrain is not to go.  You're asking for it, buddy.  By "it," I mean a lifetime of anguish, heartache and debt.  Also, for the record, there is a law school for everyone. But those law schools that are for you should be shut down and boarded up.  They shouldn't be part of your lifetime plan.  I would be wary if they accepted someone with your credentials.
Why do I bother reading Top Law Schools?  It really makes me sick to my stomach.

India a/k/a the Future

Just today our beloved President Obama visited the new world superpower, India.  President Obama and that Indian dude released a joint statement stating:

The two leaders welcomed the deepening relationship between the world's two largest democracies. They commended the growing cooperation between their governments, citizens, businesses, universities and scientific institutions, which have thrived on a shared culture of pluralism, education, enterprise, and innovation, and have benefited the people of both countries.

I argue that this unique relationship has benefited the people of India and the corporations of America.  As BIDER readers know, the lawyers today are the factory workers and computer programmers of yesteryear.  How so?  Because all of us have suffered the effects of outsourcing.  Law Firms have successfully overvalued and undervalued lawyers, all within a decade, and now see the Indian legal workforce as the wave of the future.

The growth of legal services outsourcing has been strong and is likely to remain so, particularly in India, the survey found. Legal services outsourcing is growing at a rate of 40 percent annually in India, with about 110 legal services providers in the country. The Philippines and Sri Lanka provide 20 percent of legal outsourcing.

Law Schools are not about to stand back and let that happen--not without getting in on it first.  University of Michigan Law School (ranked #7 in the nation) has joined forces with Jindal Law School (no relation to Bobby--I think) to form a Joint Centre for Global Corporate and Financial Law and Policy.  What the hell is that? I'm not sure.  Yes, for those of you that need it to be spelled out, JLS is in India.  I have no idea what the effects of this "Centre" will be, but I can't imagine it's good for you and I.  I guess they foresee a day when American law school grads won't be "good for the money" and they are trying to appeal to the affluent Indian attorneys.  Apparently it costs Rs 1, 300, 000 to attend Jindal, which is $29,000.00 a year.  I can't be sure of that figure, however, because they place commas in totally illogical places.  In any event, that's a pretty penny (even though some of those costs are one-time only fees).  So, definitely worth it for a school like Michigan.
The best part is, if you look at the Jindal Law School website--it's peppered with pics of white and black people (clearly Americans).  So, Michigan has postured itself to keep making money once the cash cow, formerly known as the dumb-as-bricks-American-grad-students, have stopped producing milk.  Here's to forward thinking.  Happy Monday!


Next it will be a show on Indian Attorneys doing Doc Review and Patents and Trademarks.

Clothing Drive for Law Students

I try not to cover the same topics as Above the Law.  Even though I used to read it religiously while employed with Big Law, I don't anymore and I'd like to think that we have different readers.  However, I think this little story deserves coverage.
Duquesne is having a clothing drive for 1Ls, because the can't afford to dress professionally--which is probably Step 1 in nailing the interview.

The Duquesne University School of Law is holding a Professional Clothing Drive for Law Students.

We are accepting gently worn professional clothing* for 1st Year Law Students preparing for the Oral Argument Program in the spring and all Law Students preparing for job and internship interviews.

Clothing can be dropped off at the Main Office of the Law School between the hours of 8:30 am and 8:00 pm (Monday through Friday) and
9:00 am to 12:00 pm (On select Saturdays please call for dates). A receipt will be provided for your tax-deductible donation.

* We are accepting business suits for women and men as well as shoes, ties, belts and accessories.

Of course, you probably know where I'm going with this.  This needs to be extended to lawyers.  I go to the Courthouse nearly every day and attorneys dress like... well, like poor people.  Yes, there are those that foolishly spend their money on designer suits.  However, there are many more that throw an old sports jacket over a pair of slacks and call it a suit.  Their shoes are old and cracked and falling apart.  If they even bother to have dress shoes  Many more don sneakers or flip flops--well, the women certainly do.  Don't let me get started on the women.  There is no suit requirement for the women--it seems.  In the summer, female attorneys would go to court in sundresses and a cardigan.  Sometimes sans cardigan and bra.  Some looked like they are going to the park to sun themselves after court after the status conference.  I dress like an idiot in court because my clothes, knowing that I have no means to replace them, now have holes all over them.  It's ridiculous. I spent good money on these clothes when I was employed--why are they falling apart now?
So, anyone on board?  Let's ask the financial industry with their generous bonuses (due to our fucking TARP money) to donate their Hugo Boss suits to the impoverished legal industry. I would get in line for a couple of suits.  Would you?

Industry Shill Provides Nuggets of Info Among Useless Advice! The Tide is Turning...

Ran across this shill article by Ari Kaplan.  Yes, the majority of the article is utter bullshit.  However, there were some useful reflections on providing a warning to future law students about the debt load and dearth of high paying jobs these days.   He discusses why lemmings are so stupid:

...Most prospective law students sincerely believe they will graduate in the top 10% of the class. "You sign the loan papers with the idea that it will all pay off and it is the idealized big firm life that allows people to take debt," notes Indiana University Maurer School of Law Professor William Henderson. He recommends that the ABA Section on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar direct schools to walk students through the application process more carefully to conduct an intelligent analysis of their career prospects. 

True.  What they don't believe is that they will be among the other 90% of graduates that don't do so well.  Obviously, mathematics is not the lemming's strong point.

Law school applicants are generally naive consumers of debt. "As soon as tuition rose to a level where people had to borrow significant sums in order to go to law school, you had students with no experience taking out loans, repaying them or understanding what it means to have debt," says University of Miami School of Law Dean, Patricia White. "It was a little bit like the foreclosure crisis and the mortgage debacle," she adds. 

Wow.  Dean White might be the ONLY Dean that I admire.  Do you know that she tried to dissuade accepted applicants from attending her esteemed establishment.  I think I'll even ask Nando from Third Tier Reality to refrain from giving UMiami his toilet treatment. Do you know what she did????

To address this disparity, last fall, in her first year as dean, White sent accepted applicants who had already paid their full non-refundable deposit a unique letter that generated national attention. In it, she asked, them to reconsider their choice of attending law school. The dean offered them the option to defer their admission for one year to further reflect on their chosen path. Of the 32 students who accepted her offer, only eight enrolled this year. [emphasis is mine]

and then she goes on to call out the JD degree in BIDER fashion:

"Part of the problem is that students enroll in law school without really knowing what they will do," says White. She describes law school as "the great generalists graduate school" because the typical undergraduate has no real sense of what law is. "It is more common for undergraduates to have a popular culture sense about what the law is," she adds. [emphasis is mine]

Amazing.  Brilliant.  RESPONSIBLE!  Bravo, Dean White. You're my new hero, anti-hero. You're the new Darth Vader because I love you and hate you at the same time.  You're Dexter.  You're a killer with good intentions.  You did the right thing and those 8 idiots that enrolled at University of Miami have been fairly warned--so you can sleep at night when they are working at the local Walmart.  You did your part.

Then Kaplan goes on with his list of ludicrous hints to make the most out of law school.  He suggests you become a "Creative Hustler." I've called myself a hustler on more than one occasion, but it's because I'm hustling to pay my mortgage, student loan fees and eat.  That's the hustle that many law grads are accustomed to you.

 So you can have a good a good laugh, here's a few more of his suggestions:
You must be motivated. "You cannot succeed without a tremendous amount of drive; you need to put yourself on the line and risk failure," says Fulbright & Jaworski Partner Robert Owen. "If you don't have that kind of internal drive, it is not a good profession for you," he adds.

Develop targeted knowledge. "Learn something about something other than law," says University of Southern California Law School Professor Gillian Hadfield. 

"Understand your client's business; it is not enough to understand the legal problem," advises Richard Fields, CEO of Juridica Capital Management (US) Inc. "When you understand your client's business, you can find solutions quicker, faster and cheaper," he adds. 

Ultimately, confidence is the key to success in the law, notes Shepherd. 

Let me summarize: if you go to law school, be a lawyer.  Lawyers must be confident, understand their client's business and know things other than the law.  A lawyer, by definition, is a jack of all trades and the master of none.  Especially the type of lawyers that don't get jobs after law school--those that end up being sole practitioners.  If you do not heed my advice, you too will be a sole practitioner--because you will have no other options.

Thanks for nothing, Kaplan.  I realize that encouraging people to take the plunge of a lifetime is probably part of your contract, but try and keep the bullshit to a minimum next time.  This article was almost good.

On a totally unrelated note, I hate Phaedra Parks from Housewives of Atlanta. "Be a Lawyer, honey. Get your money!"  UGH.
That's why she's married to an ex-con--probably the only bastard that deals with her work schedule and she's airing her life story for profit on Bravo.  SURE.  I hate the glorification of the legal industry by Hollywood--or Atlanta in this case.

Wall of Shame: Getting Paid to Herd Lemmings Into Law Schools

There are a few things I would never do: (1) accept money for sex, (2) kick a dog and (3) join the legal industrial complex. Ann Levine feels differently.  She has made a career of grooming pre-law lemmings students for admissions to law school.  Here's a video post from her blog:

How can she sleep at night?  
Well, I kind of lied.  Before the shit hit the fan, I taught the LSATs to lemmings.  This was in the early 2000s.  Even then, I felt dirty and filled with shame.  Most of my students weren't "law school" material and were leaving decent jobs upon their admission to law school.  I guess I felt like a prostitute.  But, I taught them as best I could--but insisted that they should go to a Tier 1 school (1 to 50 back then) or give up on the dream.  Lemmings have tunnel vision, so most of them went to law school.  Law school is like love, there's someone for everyone.  
I'm happy I didn't keep in touch. I wonder how many of them are unemployed now.  How many of them lost their spouses because of the stress and the debt?  I only taught for a year and I feel bad for having done it.  
I combed Ann's site, looking for some sort of guarantee of admissions into a T14 or something that would justify this sort of service.  Instead I found this:

Direction for answering application questions about writing experience, why you want to attend a certain school, and how to explain away issues including a leave of absence, a prior poor LSAT performance, low GPA, and character questions.

That is just one of the "services" offered as part of a package called "The Works"--which costs a mere $3,495.00.
I've said it before and I'll say it again--if you have a poor LSAT performance or a low GPA--you probably have no business going to law school.  You will not be the next Matlock or a dude from The Practice.  Ms. Levine may be able to get you in the door, she boasts of assisting 1500+ law students through the process, but she can't insure that you'll be successful at the end of the day.  There must be better things to do with $3,495.00, right?
It's hard to keep up this blog with so much evidence that the lemmings don't get it.  There have been several stories in the last few days about the oversupply of attorneys, yet law students are hiding out from the Recession in law school.  They know full well the debt load and the lack of prospects for lawyers post graduation.  

Still, the harsh realities of being a young lawyer have not stopped thousands from enrolling in law school during the recession. Veritas Prep, a graduate school admissions consulting firm, found in a recent survey that four in five prospective applicants still plan to apply to law school even if "a significant number of law school graduates were unable to find jobs in their desired fields." Only 4 percent were dissuaded.

No wonder lawyers are an unsympathetic bunch.


If the infamous slimy Dean of NYLS had this to say:

Students simply "cannot earn enough income after graduation to support the debt they incur," wrote Richard Matasar, the dean of New York Law School, in 2005. "Even those making the highest salaries find that the debt that they have accumulated while in school may tax them for years."

What business does anyone have going to law school?
However, we are going to keep reaching out to potential law students to dissuade them.  It's a sad fact that some of the BIDER readers will click on the link for Ann Levine's services and hire her.  However, I am sure that the brighter ones heed our advice and not pursue the dream of becoming an attorney any further.  
It's going to take a life time to take down the legal industry's good reputation.  I won't quit until people hang their heads in pity when I tell them I'm an attorney.  It hasn't happened yet.  I still dissuade 3 people on average a week--in person.  Just this week, it was a paralegal at my law firm, a classmate from middle school, a hood rat single mother at Family Court in Manhattan and a client.  
I guess we're in it for the long haul.