ABA President Has Little Sympathy for Unemployed Law Grads

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January 5, 2012

ABA President Has Little Sympathy for Unemployed Law Grads

Reuters, ABA Head Has Little Sympathy for Jobless Lawyers:

Young lawyers with huge educational debts and no jobs in a depressed U.S. legal market should have known what they were getting into, the president of the ABA said on Wednesday. William Robinson, in an interview with Reuters at the ABA's office here, responded to a deluge of recent criticisms from Congress, the media and law students about the role of the trade group in fostering high expectations about legal jobs.

Robinson, a lawyer in Kentucky, said anyone entering law school has already completed an undergraduate degree or more. "It's inconceivable to me that someone with a college education, or a graduate-level education, would not know before deciding to go to law school that the economy has declined over the last several years and that the job market out there is not as opportune as it might have been five, six, seven, eight years ago," he said. ...

Stories in The New York Times and elsewhere have scrutinized the accreditation process, suggesting some ABA standards , such as encouraging tenure, unnecessarily raise law school costs.Robinson called such suggestions unfounded. "None of the studies show that the ABA rules of certification are what's responsible for the cost of legal education," he said. Other factors, such as competition for professors, are driving the increase in cost, he said.

Robinson recalled his own experience paying for law school at the University of Kentucky, where he got a degree in 1971. "When I was going to law school, and I sold my Corvair to make first-semester tuition and books for $330, a sizeable portion of the faculty had tenure. They had tenure then and they have tenure now," he said. There are still inexpensive options outside the elite law schools, he said. According to ABA statistics, 68 ABA-accredited law schools have annual tuition at or below $25,000. ... He said "it's a complex question as to whether the cost is higher than it should be or is justified."

January 5, 2012 in Legal Education | Permalink

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Comments

Hmmm, when I applied to law schools in the winter of 2006 and began law school in August 2007 (class of 2010) the economy was doing just fine. The economy was in shambles when I graduated (and was looking for a job) though. Class of 2009 had a similar experience.

You'd think the president of the ABA would realize that law school is a three year program.

Posted by: Anon | Jan 5, 2012 2:09:49 PM

The blatant, fraudulent, misrepresentation of placement and compensation statistics by ABA accredited schools would put to shame any truck-driving school that advertises on late-night TV.

Posted by: jim harper | Jan 5, 2012 2:36:24 PM

Annual tuition at or below $25,000 is "inexpensive." Imagine that.

Posted by: Jake | Jan 5, 2012 9:17:12 PM

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