U.S. News Urges Law School Deans to Improve Employment Data

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criminal lawyer martinsburg wv of AL 2:37AM October 06, 2011

Amen that U.S. News is getting wise to law schools' disconnect with the reality of the marketplace. Incoming law students beware. The legal hiring market has never been weaker and law school tuitions are astronomical. 15 years ago Boalt Hall's annual tuition fee was around $2,000. Starting salaries in law firms then was around $60-70k. Now, according to its own website, "The 2010-11 tuition and fees are $44,245 for California residents and $52,245 for nonresidents." Starting salaries at top law firms are $145k-160k if you are lucky enough to get a spot. And if you don't want to work in a top law firm a legal education is practically unaffordable.
Public schools like University of California argue that law school tuitions should be higher than undergrad because the salary after graduation should cover the tuition. Top law firms have dramatically slashed their new graduate hiring numbers, so even many graduates from top law schools will find themselves unemployed after graduation with $150k or more in debt.
Sadly, legal education has become a tuition mill with law schools getting rich while graduates are languishing unemployed floating enormous debt loads. In particular, the fact that many public schools are charging fees in line with Yale and Stanford is a scandal. I graduated in the late 1990's and I would never enroll in law school today considering these statistics. At least business schools actually TRY to help you find a job and their alumni have some sense of camaraderie rather than cut-throat competitiveness bred into them by their law school.
Do all your research before you enroll in grad school!!! It is time that law schools take a class at the nearest B school and learn about market realities.

FSL legal recruiter of CA 6:15PM March 15, 2011

FYI, I think this is an incredible category, and I think it's incredibly useful to include this metric. But I think a lot of law schools still don't "get it." I think USNWR has to spend some effort including in a footnote the definition of an "article III federal judge"--that is, clerking for a Supreme Court justice, Court of Appeals judge, or District Court judge; and that a Magistrate Judge, tax court, staff attorney, immigration court, military tribunal, or any other Article I court does not count. I'm afraid career services offices reporting data still don't understand this, and I'm afraid that law school administrations still don't care to double-check the data.

Mike R. of IL 6:11AM March 15, 2011

Davis law claimed 98% employed at graduation last year (higher than Boalt, and 20%+ higher than their claims from the previous three USNWR). 'Nuff said.

General Tso of CA 7:35AM March 14, 2011

Wow, how disingenuous. USNEWS has now been peddling inaccurate stats and people are getting mad. There is an easy solution, one that would encourage law schools to collect data and provide students with the actual return on an investment.
Currently a certain T50-100, states that its average reported salary is $100,000, even if only 40 of the classes 280 students report any information at all.
All USNEWS would have to do is report total salary earned/# students. (This would be somewhere around $14,000, a figure many new lawyers would have hoped to earn in their first year, but have not.)
While law schools would hem and haw at such a calculation, education is a huge cost, one that schools say should cost EVEN MORE (introducing tuition increases above 5% this year), and therefore, students should get a truly representative view of where law students end up.

MH of CA 10:33PM March 12, 2011

Welcome to U.S. Newsville:
Established: 1950
Population: 820
Total: 2770

John Q. of MT 11:42AM March 11, 2011

I would like to see the issue of bar passage as a precondition of employment addressed. Unlike the graduates of business schools who can be employed at graduation, law school graduates still face another significant hurdle - passing the Bar. Particularly in a sagging economy, potential employers do not want to extend offers to those for whom licensure and the ability to practice is uncertain. Having a job in May is not determinitive of the success of the graduates, nor reflective of the quality of education received, nor the effectiveness of the career services office in assisting these graduates. Having a job after the Bar is a more effective measure - this is why NALP has collected this data 9 months after graduation. Nine months out gives the bar applicants time to sit for the Bar and to receive their results and secure a position.
It is not the intention of law schools to report employment rates in a deceitful way, however, since statistics are notoriously susceptible to manipulation; it becomes an exercise in frustration to try to ensure that the numbers are fairly calculated across the board for all schools.

CSO professional of NC 12:48PM March 10, 2011