Pictures from the Zuccotti Park Occupation

At first blush you may be thinking, “LSTB, the occupiers were evicted from Zuccotti Park, why did it take you this long to post all these pictures?” And I will answer, “Because I finally got the film back on Thanksgiving.” “FILM?!?!?!” Yes folks, I toyed with my grandfather’s 1960s Yashica TL-Super, which–get this–is the first [...]

NYT to Law Schools: Teach Harder!!

You’ve probably read the New York Times’ editorial about law schools, “Legal Education Reform,” in the Friday edition. It’s unimpressive, but to spare us both I’ll limit myself to one point. After citing the economy, student loans, lawsuits, and irked Senators, it adds: Yet, at the same time, more and more Americans find that they [...]

Am Law Daily Publishes My Essay on the Two-Year $475 Million Growth in Law Graduate Debt

“Law School Debt Bubble: Aggregate Law School Grad Debt Grew $475 Million Between 2008 and 2010“ Also, I saw Robyn Hitchcock last weekend, and my is he highly synesthetic and very popular with the ladies.

The Orthodox Assumptions in Amar’s and Ayers’ ‘Unorthodox’ Solution to the Law School Bubble

If only I had a dollar for every law professor who came up with a solution for saving the legal academy… Akhil Reed Amar and Ian Ayres, “Paying Students to Quit Law School,” in Slate At least from the descriptive title, we know this will be fun. The opener, though, starts us off on the [...]

How Switching to a Two-Year Law Degree Hoses Law Students

One common suggestion throughout legal ed reform discussions is reducing law school from three years to two. The argument is that the third year is useless, so dump it. I should say right now that I don’t think it’s a good idea, not because the third year is useful but because cutting legal education down [...]

How A Gallon of Spoiled Milk Made Me Angry at Robert Applebaum

Mark Gimein, “Yes, There Will Be A Student Loan Bailout,” in Bloomberg Businessweek Matt Wirz, “Generation Jobless: What Hedge Funds Can Teach College Students,” in the Wall Street Journal Brett Greene, “The $1 Trillion Student Loan Debt Bubble: An Interview with Robert Applebaum,” in the Huffington Post “I was extremely frustrated by the terms of [...]

The Law School Debt Blob

Many readers know of U.S. News’ “Graduate Debt Rankings” page, which contains crucial information on law graduate debt that for some reason is not published in the Official Guide even though the ABA is surely collecting it. Law School Transparency does us the favor of providing the same data from the previous two years on [...]

Two Links on the Student Debt Bubble and Debt Reform

(1) Justin Pope, “Student Loans: The Next Bubble?” in the Huffington Post “The hard part, of course, is that a bubble is never apparent until it bursts.” Boy I hope Dean Baker never reads this one. I good indicator of a bubble is if borrowing for the asset increases faster than the economy. Unless the [...]

Read My Essay on The Am Law Daily; I’m Helping Law Schools Avoid Lawsuits

“Dear Prospective Law Students, Do Not ‘Reasonably Rely’ on Cooley’s ‘Report One’” Also, I’m off to see former Hüsker Dü and Sugar member, Bob Mould, play in Brooklyn. Hüsker Dü was from my home state, Minnesota, so here’s some of his music.

30 Years after They Graduated…

The law school transparency discussion is animated by the assumption that graduate employment data from nine months out reliably indicate the ROI of a law degree. Readers know I question the “reliability” in the assumption, yet such data are reliable because of the importance of first jobs after graduation and that meaningful employment in the [...]