Hey, Ide...Law students sue law schools: "You sed I'd be able to get a job!"

[CountDeMoney]

Law schools face lawsuits over job-placement claims
By Sylvia Wood, msnbc.com

Adam Bevelacqua graduated from Brooklyn Law School last year with $100,000 in debt but high hopes for his future.

He passed the bar on his first try in New York and had internships to highlight on his resume. And, according to his research, the school's job placement rate for new graduates was between 90 to 95 percent.

But Bevelacqua, 29, is no longer as optimistic.

"I've been looking for work ever since," Bevelacqua told msnbc.com. "The jobs aren't really there."

On Wednesday, Bevelacqua joined 50 other law school graduates from across the country who sued their alma maters, alleging they were misled about job prospects and burdened with huge amounts of student debt.

The 12 lawsuits mark the latest round of litigation against law schools for allegedly misrepresenting their employment data. Last year, similar lawsuits were filed against New York Law School, Thomas M. Cooley Law School and Thomas Jefferson School of Law.

"We believe that some in the legal academy have done a disservice to the profession and the nation by saddling tens of thousands of young lawyers with massive debt for a degree worth far less than advertised," said  David Anziska, a New York City attorney for the plaintiffs in three of the lawsuits filed.

He said the goal was to get law schools "to take responsibility, provide compensation and commit to transparency."

The issue of transparency has gotten national attention beyond the lawsuits.

Last year, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. , asked the Department of Education to investigate the "job placement rates of American law school graduates; indicating whether such jobs are full- or part-time positions, whether they require a law degree, and whether they were maintained a year after employment."  A call Thursday by msnbc.com to Sen. Boxer's office was not immediately returned.

The American Bar Association has already taken some steps to improve accountability among the law schools it accredits. In January, an ABA committee approved rules that could force law schools to disclose more detailed information about graduate job placement.

A call to the ABA by msnbc.com wasn't immediately returned on Thursday.

Bevelacqua, who lives in Long Island, said he decided to join the lawsuit against Brooklyn Law in hopes of pushing the schools to provide more accurate data, especially as they continue to increase their tuitions and enrollments. The current tuition at Brooklyn Law, not including housing and living expenses, is more than $48,000 annually. "Schools won't take people seriously unless there is an economic threat," he said.

Besides Brooklyn Law, the schools named in the latest round of lawsuits are Albany Law School, Albany, N.Y.; Hofstra Law School, Hempstead, N.Y.; California Western, San Diego, Calif., Golden Gate University, San Francisco;  Southwestern Law School, Los Angeles, Calif.; University of San Francisco School of Law, San Francisco; IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, Chicago; DePaul University College of Law, Chicago; The John Marshall Law School, Chicago; Florida Coastal School of Law, Jacksonville, Fla.; and Widener University School of Law, in Wilmington, Del.

A spokeswoman at Brooklyn Law told msnbc.com that the school had just gotten the complaint and was unable to comment on it. She did point out employment statistics for the class of 2010, reflected on the school's website, which showed an overall job placement rate of 88.1 percent.

Bevelacqua hopes he'll be sworn into the bar next month, when he plans to start taking cases as a solo practitioner. In the meantime, he's been making ends meet with temporary jobs, including a babysitting job this week that promises to pay him $150.

While he's always wanted to be a lawyer, working on criminal and family court cases, he says he'd tell prospective students think twice before making that investment.

"If they're going to law school because they think it will open up a lot of employment doors for them, " he said, "I'd tell them to forget it."

[Darth Wagtaros]

Yes.  Higher Ed is a huge ass bubble, especially in stuff like law because the market's saturated and been satureted for years. Something to think about before tossing in scores of thousands of bucks on a degree.

[Phillip V]

Yes.  Higher Ed is a huge ass bubble, especially in stuff like law because the market's saturated and been satureted for years. Something to think about before tossing in scores of thousands of bucks on a degree.

You can't put a price on higher education.

Reason 1: Learning in a rigorous, supported educational environment

Reason 2: Socializing and developing a network of friends and contacts

Reason 3: Status

Reason 4: Self-discovery

Reason 5: Attaining a marketable degree and developing earning potential

http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/why-go-to-college-at-all

[Grey Fox]

48k? Seriously, america. :shame

[Admiral Yi]

48k? Seriously, america. :shame

  Law school professors are hard working middle class Americans.

[Grey Fox]

Hard?

[Phillip V]

Law school and other institutional education made Abraham Lincoln into one our greatest Presidents.

[Admiral Yi]

Hard?

By definition everyone is either a millionaire/billionaire or a hard working middle class American.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Yes.  Higher Ed is a huge ass bubble, especially in stuff like law because the market's saturated and been satureted for years. Something to think about before tossing in scores of thousands of bucks on a degree.

You can't put a price on higher education.

Reason 1: Learning in a rigorous, supported educational environment

Reason 2: Socializing and developing a network of friends and contacts

Reason 3: Status

Reason 4: Self-discovery

Reason 5: Attaining a marketable degree and developing earning potential

http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/why-go-to-college-at-all

No argument, but it is a ton of money adn shouldn't be dived into without some serious thought. I know people who are 30 something and haven't been out of school since they started First Grade.  I think it should be looked at with an aim to supporting oneself after graduation as well as all that other stuff.

[Sheilbh]

By definition everyone is either a millionaire/billionaire or a hard working middle class American.

This is true.  The definition's ridiculous.  I saw that Romney clip talking about how he's not concerned about the very poor.  But what I found weird was that he identified the middle class as 90-95% of Americans.  Presumably unless you're crippled in the poor house hospice then you're middle class and nothing short of diamonte encrusted private jets counts as rich

[Ideologue]

Heh.

Well-timed suits.  This is application season.

I just hope they get to discovery.

As I understand, this will not be the last of the class actions.  I've seen it reported that Strauss and Anziska intend to sue 20-25 law schools every few months.

For my part, I'm not the most typical graduate you could find and thus not a good representative plaintiff, but if I get bounced by any state's C+F, I intend to sue USC in my individual capacity.

[FunkMonk]

Law school and other institutional education made Abraham Lincoln into one our greatest Presidents.

[Ed Anger]

While I'm sympathetic to Ide and his plight, young people and their choice of higher education generally sucks.

[Gups]

By definition everyone is either a millionaire/billionaire or a hard working middle class American.

What about the guys of foodstamps?

I hear ya though. It's the same soundbite over here, except they say hard working families. 

[Valmy]

By definition everyone is either a millionaire/billionaire or a hard working middle class American.

This is true.  The definition's ridiculous.  I saw that Romney clip talking about how he's not concerned about the very poor.  But what I found weird was that he identified the middle class as 90-95% of Americans.  Presumably unless you're crippled in the poor house hospice then you're middle class and nothing short of diamonte encrusted private jets counts as rich

The issue of class makes we Americans nuts.  Basically when we hear class it almost like we think people are talking about bonded peasants and landed aristocrats so essentially everybody who neither of those things is a good middle class American(tm).  Oh and even mentioning the word means you are a commie, I believe Santorum said something similar to that when Romney even brought up the middle class.

'We have no classes in America, sir!'