Contact Attorney Richard Keyt: 480-664-7478|rk@keytlaw.com

Consensus Emerging that Law School Model is not Sustainable

The National Law Review:  “Those themes emerged during the two-day FutureEd 2 conference last weekend at Harvard Law School — the second in a series of three conferences sponsored by Harvard and New York Law School devoted to generating ideas and consensus about how to make legal education more relevant in light of the changing legal industry. . . . ‘The good news for change today is that there is a pretty widespread feeling that the old model of legal education is not sustainable,’ said David Wilkins, director of Harvard’s Program on the Legal Profession.”

Boston College Law Student Asks for Money Back

Boston Herald:  “A third-year Boston College Law School student facing dismal job prospects and a mountain of student loan debt has offered the prestigious Hub institution a unique deal: Keep the degree … and give me back my tuition! In an open letter to BC Law’s Interim Dean George Brown posted on EagleiOnline— an online student-run newspaper at BC’s law school — the anonymous dissatisfied customer said soon-to-be grads are about to enter “one of the worst job markets in the history of our profession” and an “overwhelming majority” of them can’t find jobs.”

See “Boston College 3L Asks for His Money Back; Hilarity Ensues.”  Read the full letter on EagleiOnline,  The unfortunate law student wrote:

“my wife is pregnant with our first child. She is due in April.  With fatherhood impending, I go to bed every night terrified of the thought of trying to provide for my child AND paying off my J.D, and resentful at the thought that I was convinced to go to law school by empty promises of a fulfilling and remunerative career. . . . there are a lot of us facing similar financial disasters. . . . we have had very little help from career services, who all seem to be as confounded as we are by this job market. . . . everyone else in that office has shrugged their shoulders at us and asked if we have tried using Linkedin.

I’d like to propose a solution to this problem: I am willing to leave law school, without a degree, at the end of this semester. In return, I would like a full refund of the tuition I’ve paid over the last two and a half years.”

If only the school would do the right thing and refund the student’s money.  If Boston College did refund the tuition, however, the floodgates would open as many more students would also want a refund.

Profs Predict Law School Closings as More Grads Earn Less than Break-Even Pay

ABA Journal:  “As large law firms continue to hire fewer highly paid associates, law school applications will eventually drop and the number of law schools will likely contract, two professors predict in a recent article.”  The professors article is “Big But Brittle: Economic Perspectives on the Future of the Law Firm in the New Economy.”  For a shocking visual of the sharp spike in law school admissions vs. the decrease in the job market see “The Irresponsibility of Law Schools.”

Someone at the ABA Is Aware That New Law Schools Make No Sense

Above the Law:  “Belmont University in Nashville was planning to start a new law school. . . . I asked: ‘

[H]ow colossally dumb are the people who sign up for a Belmont law degree next year?’ . . . from the ABA Journal:

“It’s not unusual to see graduates of top 25 law schools … working as clerks in department stores to make enough money to volunteer at night,” offering their legal services at clinics and other resume-boosting activities, . . . Law school students are at the bottom of everything and impacted by everything.”

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