PreLaw Law School Magazine
The Voice of Legal Education

Critical Issues in Legal Education

Why some grads are worse off, while others doing great

Tue, 07/05/2011 - 9:18am -- Jack

Are law grads really better off than 10 years ago? It depends on the law grad.

We just published a story that shows that, on average, recent law graduates have a better standard of living than they did in 1998 — by 74 percent for those who enter private practice and by 45 percent for those who enter public service.

But while the average has improved, one has to take a close look at the data to understand what really happened to the legal profession over the past ten years.

A 45% employment rate? How law school employment numbers are inflated

Wed, 06/15/2011 - 12:06pm -- Jack

By Jack Crittenden:

Paul Campos, a law professor at the University of Colorado, grabbed some attention in late April with a commentary piece in The New Republic that identified the true permanent employment rate for recent graduates at 45% — at best.

There has been a lot written in the past year about law school employment rates and the general consensus is that NALP’s 88.2 percent figure is misleading.

The problem with IBR

By Brian Tamanaha

In Failing Law Schools, I argue that the economics of legal education don't work for the bulk of students because the high cost of a degree exceeds the economic return they obtain. In 2011, only 55% of graduates nationwide landed full-time jobs as lawyers; the average law school debt of private law school graduates was $125,000 (not counting undergraduate debt and interest accrued), and the median salary was $60,000. A law graduate who earns the median salary cannot manage the monthly payments on the average debt.

The Quickly Exploding Law Graduate Debt Disaster

The average indebtedness figures for 2011 law graduates are stunning. Last year, 4 law schools had graduates with average debt exceeding $135,000. This year 17 law schools are above $135,000. Last year the highest average debt among graduates was $145,621 (Cal. Western); this year the highest average debt is $165,178 (John Marshall). Below are the 20 schools with the highest average law school debt among graduates (these figures do not include undergraduate debt).

New York Law School's "Victory" Was a Defeat for Law Schools--And Why the ABA Transparency Rules Will Fail

When the fraud lawsuit against New York Law School was dismissed last week, the school proclaimed vindication. It was anything but that. What Judge Schweitzer ruled is that no reasonable consumer would have relied upon the obviously inflated employment percentages and salary numbers posted by the school.

How legal education is changing, albeit slowly

Thu, 01/12/2012 - 12:00am -- admin

By Jack Crittenden

At this year’s annual gathering of law professors and law school administrators, known as the AALS Conference, the subject of change hung over the event as perhaps never before. All of the bad publicity about legal education over the past few years has not gone unnoticed by the leaders in legal education.

 

Indeed, there was more talk of change than ever before. And even more importantly, behind that talk, there is action.

What to do about misleading data

Fri, 10/14/2011 - 1:29pm -- admin

In the world of logic, we know that if both Villanova University and University of Illinois reported inflated LSAT and GPA numbers to U.S. News & World Report, then there are other schools who have also played fast and loose with their data.

Its all part of the rankings race that we wrote about last March. And many in legal education suspect that there are other culprits, just by looking at their data.

The Good News about the Dismal Salary Report

Wed, 07/13/2011 - 4:47pm -- Jack

The latest salary data shows a steep decline in median private starting salaries — down from $125,000 in 2008 to $104,000 for the Class of 2010. But while some firms are paying less, the real reason for the drop is that the large law firms are hiring fewer associates.

Salaries for new attorneys in public interest, government, academics and judicial clerkships are relatively flat.

Law firms with 251 to 500 attorneys dropped the most, from $160,000 to $145,000. Law firms with 51 to 100 attorneys dropped from $95,000 to $85,500, the greatest percentage change.

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