Open Letter to the New York State Bar Association

I didn’t intend to write anything about the new mandatory 50-hour pro bono requirement New York will impose on its bar applicants next year, figuring I had nothing new to add. However, I received an e-mail from the New York State Bar Association’s Office of the President, saying: In his Law Day speech on Tuesday, [...]

New York Spared a 16th Law School, for Now

Emily Melas, Daniel O’Connor, and Nate Fleming, “Plans for law school tabled by BU officials,” in Pipe Dream (State University of New York (SUNY) Binghamton newspaper) It appears SUNY Binghamton’s law school has gone wherever law schools go when they’re tabled indefinitely, like Wilkes-Barre in Pennsylvania. “There are law schools right now who are not filling [...]

NYSBA Journal Article Relies on Several Logical Fallacies to ‘Connect the Dots’ on Legal Education’s Outlook

Gary Munneke, “Race to the Finish Line: Legal Education, Jobs and the Stuff dreams are made of,” New York State Bar Association Journal Citing his 40-years’ observation of the legal job market, Pace Law School professor Gary Munneke writes, “So when I say the writers and bloggers in the legal press have missed the mark [...]

Update on News in the Law School World

There were a bunch of articles I couldn’t get around to this past week, and they’re worth consolidating into one post. (1)  Law School Lawsuits “New York Law School fights class-action suit over job rates,” Thompson Reuters. NYLS’s attorney states: “The allegations are not only baseless, but also belied by the plaintiffs’ own complaint, which [...]

A Hypothetical Class of 2014 Law Student’s Journey into Debt

Recently, Inside the Law School Scam’s LawProf discussed the amount of law school debt a student may expect to take on and provided NALP figures of starting salaries as a comparison. LawProf used some research I provided, and I’m grateful for his linkback to the LSTB. Unfortunately, some of what I sent him was inaccurate [...]

NYT Supports Private Student Loan Bankruptcy Reform, Protects Financialized Dept. of ED

After trashing for-profit universities, the New York Times editorial, “Relief for Student Debtors” adds this: It had long been the case that federally backed student loans were protected during bankruptcy proceedings. That is reasonable, since those loans were backed by taxpayer dollars and flexibly structured so that borrowers could receive deferment in tough times and [...]

The Lemmings Are All Right: Richard Matasar Responds to David Segal

Anyone who read last weekend’s New York Times piece, “Law School Economics: Ka-Ching!” by David Segal should also take the time to read NYLS dean Richard Matasar’s response, “Law School Cost, Educational Outcomes, and a Reformer’s Agenda,” on NYLS’s website. Matasar keeps his cool and provides the written pieces he sent to Segal before the [...]

Two Quick Comments on David Segal’s Portrait of Richard Matasar

(1)  Law schools cannot self-terminate. I suppose it’s safe to say that when NYLS dean Richard Matasar stepped down, I was easier on him than David Segal is in today’s NYT piece, “Law School Economics: Ka-Ching!” My personal opinion that I realized after I published my piece is that if you want to be a [...]

Links Head Soup—Even More Media Coverage on Law Schools

There is really a lot of press on law schools this week! HomelessLawyerPostingFromLibrary found three good ones (Lawyers Against the Law School Scam, “Is There Blood in the Water?”). (1) Razib Khan, “The ‘Law School Scam’ Media Bubble,” in Gene Expression (Discover Magazine) Khan jokes that not only is there a law school bubble but [...]

Task Force to NYSBA and Law Schools: More Debate + Transparency Please

Instead of the clichéd approach of finger-pointing between and among law schools, employers and the bar, the Task Force recommends an approach in which the various sectors and stakeholders work together to undertake the professional formation of young lawyers. [Report from the NYSBA Task Force on the Future of the Legal Profession, Page 38] On [...]