Grads taking law schools to task for poor job market

[Liberal_in_LA]

Grads taking law schools to task for poor job market

By Mary Beth Marklein, USA TODAY

Law schools, once viewed as a guaranteed path to a high-paying career, are coming under fire as disillusioned graduates find a tighter job market than they say they were led to expect.

A small but growing coalition of graduates, on blogs with names like "Scammed Hard" and "Shilling Me Softly," blame their alma maters for luring them into expensive programs by overstating their employment prospects.

In July, Law School Transparency, a non-profit founded by two Vanderbilt law students, requested that 200 schools submit salary and employment data for 2010 grads, which they aim to post online.

One recent grad even went on a hunger strike on Aug. 5. "We have a new crop starting, and no one's telling them anything about this," says Zenovia Evans, 28, of Denver, who uses the name "Ethan Haines" on her blog, UnemployedJD.com.

The first in her family to finish college, she says that "no one wants to say, 'Hey, career office, you failed me,' " but "I couldn't take this lying down." She says she owes more than $150,000 in loans.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-08-24-1Alawschool24_ST_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

[DURHAM D]

1. Oh please...

Just hang out a shingle.

[seattleblue]

2. Law school has become a huge scam

Universities like to build law schools because they require very little infrastructure compared to other graduate schools and they are great money makers because of high tuition. The ABA has totally failed in their job to be a guardian of the profession. They accredit new law schools every year even though we have way too many already.

Law schools pass through those that are unqualified just to get the tuition money. In previous eras they would have flunked them out. Now unqualified students are moved though school, graduate and then flunk the bar exam. They have no way to pay back huge student loans because they can't pass the bar. But the law schools don't care because they already have their money. If anyone doubts this ask any middle aged or older law school professor.

Their are way too many lawyers now. Several reasons. Document review that lawyers used to do is off sourced to India (which has the same English based legal system as the U.S.) by way of the internet. Research of legal cases is far easier and efficient now because of the internet and computers so lawyers are not needed. Computers make legal documents easy to produce so lawyers are not needed. Government documents that lawyers used to have to retrieve and examine are far easier to access because of computers so lawyers are not needed. Government has been hit with recession and is not hiring like they used to. The internet is full of do it yourself legal help and software so lawyers are not needed.

Student who graduate Law schools like Harvard, Yale, etc. will always be able to find jobs. But the average graduate will find it very difficult now and in the future until the number of lawyers is cut down drastically.

[Gaedel]

3. The solution is..........

Massive disbarment of existing lawyers who step out of line thus creating openings for the newbies. Any lawyer skating close to the ethical line is disbarred.

[seattleblue]

4. Yes a solution but it will never happen.

It is difficult to become an attorney and it is difficult to be kicked out of the profession once you are in. Attorneys are very protective of each other and that is reflected in the bar disciplines.

The real solution is for law schools to quit ripping off their students by giving them a false impression of their future employment prospects. Also for the ABA to immediately stop accrediting any new schools and unaccrediting some of the total scam schools that are out there.