Salon.com > law school

Law school is a sham

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000

"In the spring of 1974 — purely speculatively, I told myself — I took the Law School Admissions Test.
— Scott Turow, "One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School"

Unlike Scott Turow, I always wanted to be a lawyer. Once I entered law school in 1976, it never occurred to me that using my JD to earn a living would be a significant challenge, or that my student loans from college and law school—roughly $50,000 in 2012 dollars—would be anything other than a minor inconvenience. I’d heard stories about unemployed lawyers driving taxicabs, but they were irrelevant to the life I’d planned. In that respect, I was similar to most of today’s prelaw students, who are convinced that bad things happen only to someone else. The difference is that the current prospects for law graduates are far worse than my contemporaries’ and mine ever were. Over the past two decades, the situation has deteriorated as student enrollments have grown to outpace the number of available new legal jobs by almost two to one. Deans who are determined to fill their classrooms have exploited prospective students who depend on federal student loan money to pay tuition. The result has been an unsustainable bubble.

Student loans: The next housing bubble

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 18:00:00 +0000

The American system of higher education is increasingly becoming a fiscal disaster for ever-larger numbers of students who move through it. That disaster is being caused by a combination of terrible incentives, institutional greed -- and the pervasive myth that more education is the cure for economic inequality.

The extent of this myth is highlighted by a new report from the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, which indicates that nearly half of all employed college graduates have jobs that require less than a four-year college education. Despite such sobering statistics, the higher-education complex remains remarkably successful at ensuring that American taxpayers fund the acquisition of educational credentials that, in many cases, leave the people who obtain them worse off than they were before they enrolled.

Far from being “priceless,” as the promoters of ever-more spending on higher education would have Americans believe, both undergraduate and post-graduate education is turning out to be a catastrophic investment for many young and not-so-young adults.

John Roberts bankrupts law students

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 12:45:00 +0000

Any privileged person in this country who wants to remain complacent about the social status quo would be well-advised not to consider exactly where his money comes from. Here’s a small but telling example. Federal judges are required to file disclosure forms regarding other sources of income they may have besides their federal salaries and benefits. A glance at Chief Justice John Roberts’ 2009 form (the most recent available to the public) reveals the following entry:

“New England School of Law, Summer Program, Galway, Ireland – teaching stipend: $15,000.”

Another part of the form reveals that the same school reimbursed Roberts for his airfare, meals and lodging for at least the two-week period during which the course -- on the history of the Supreme Court -- was held. Roberts co-taught the course, which met seven times for two-hour periods, with a law professor, Richard Lazarus.

Roberts and Lazarus taught the same course on the scenic island of Malta last summer, and will do so again amid the charming old world architecture of Prague this July. (Lazarus did not respond to my request for information regarding what he was being paid to teach the course or how responsibility for teaching and grading it was divided between himself and the chief justice).

Too many lawyers? Says who?

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 23:30:00 +0000

I’m a law dean, and I’m proud. And I think it’s time to stop the nonsense. After two years of almost relentless attacks on law schools, a bit of perspective would be nice.

For at least two years, the popular press, bloggers and a few sensationalist law professors have turned American law schools into the new investment banks. We entice bright young students into our academic clutches. Succubus-like, when we’ve taken what we want from them, we return them to the mean and barren streets to fend for themselves.

Taking potshots at unnamed critics is fun.

The hysteria has masked some important realities and created an environment in which some of the brightest potential lawyers are, largely irrationally, forgoing the possibility of a rich, rewarding and, yes, profitable, career.

My crippling student loan

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 23:59:00 +0000

A longer version of this piece originally appeared on Ann Nichols' Open Salon blog.

Twenty-five years after taking out my student loan, I can say there's a decent chance I'll die owing enough money to buy a small island. My story may or may not be typical, but it proves how easily someone can find themselves in my position with a little lack of planning, a few unforeseen events and an unforgiving economy.

After graduating from college, I had no idea what line of work to pursue. I was unhappy and insecure, and I decided that practicing law was a more reliable alternative to getting a doctorate in English or trying to make it as a writer. My parents thought it was a waste of my actual talents, and my friends felt it was a terrible idea based on my temperament. Undaunted, I took the LSAT and got into several schools before finally picking the most expensive in the most expensive city. There were loans available, and I borrowed the maximum amount available -- just enough to cover tuition, rent, food, books and a subway pass.

Will I survive law school?

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 01:00:00 +0000

Dear Cary,

I feel like I need my own declaration of independence, something I believe everybody else has when they realize they're in some kind of minority. I know myself to be very different from everybody else, something I used to take pride in. But now my pride has abandoned me and I am often tearfully unhappy.

My unique personality was actually measured by the Myers-Briggs test, if you believe in that sort of thing. Not only did the results show I was a very rare personality, the INFP role variant, my score was also clearly that, the clearest example of an INFP the counselor had ever seen.

Perhaps as a 12-year-old, my Myers-Briggs result would have been what I hoped for. Somewhere along the way, however, something went wrong.

My preferred writing style nowadays is stream-of-consciousness. My attention span has become that of a kitten, and no amount of writing over a paragraph interests me. As a result, my academic performance has suffered and though I'm in my last year of law school, I now feel like I'm doing something I don't want to do.