January 1, 2012
The Law School Bubble
ORIGINAL ARTICLE FROM THE ABA JOURNAL
With a struggling economy and a declining job market, law schools have come under attack in recent months. With a staggering 44,258 graduates in 2010 alone, according to the ABA, the already saturated legal job market can simply not keep up with the current flow of students. The result is that students are graduating with enormous amounts of debt and few job prospects to help pay them off. In 2010, 85 percent of law graduates boasted an average debt load of $98,500, according to U.S. News & World Report. Given the staggering debt and little hope for high paying jobs, some graduates have begun looking for a scapegoat. 15 law schools have been served with class action lawsuits, the principal complaint being that they misrepresented the facts pertaining to future job prospects. The crux of the argument is that if the statistics had not been
manipulated, many students would not have decided to take on the huge debt load that accompanies a law degree. We at The Prairie Law Group believe that it is important to take a proactive approach to these claims and put a stop to them before they are given a chance to besmirch the good name of law schools
that are doing their best in a tough job market. Over the course of the last 30 years, including multiple ups and downs of the job market, we have developed a comprehensive plan for dealing with these kinds of complaints.
Rex C. Curry for The New York Times
Feb 10, 2013
A Call for Drastic Changes in Educating New Lawyers
ORIGINAL ARTICLE FROM THE NY TIMES
A steep decline in law school applications and an abundance of underemployed law school graduates has made it clear that the current process of educating lawyers is not sustainable. The Task Force on the Future of Legal Education has gathered to suggest ways of ameliorating the current law education system. Members have advocated changing law school to a two year program, reducing accreditation standards, or creating a less extensive training program for legal technicians.
OTHER NEWS
Apr 29, 2013
Simpler, tougher bar passage accreditation standard to be considered by ABA committee
Feb 7, 2013
New bar passage rate requirement for accreditation prompts law school to sue Calif. bar officials
Dec 6, 2012