« Ind. Courts - "Search for the front of the Randolph County Courthouse continues" | Main | Ind. Decisions - Supreme Court rules in trampoline case »

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Law - "A Deluge of Law Schools"

Leigh Jones of The National Law Journal writes today:

As many as 10 new law schools are in the works, with the majority of them proposed in the eastern part of the country.

While their proponents insist that the schools will serve the needs of their communities and beyond, the plans are drawing sharp criticism from those who argue that creating more law schools is irresponsible.

With three new law schools proposed in New York alone and others also in the early stages in Connecticut, Maine, Pennsylvania and elsewhere, developing facilities to pump out juris doctor degrees is the goal du jour for institutions looking to build a bigger name for themselves. * * *

All of those schools are in addition to University of California, Irvine Donald Bren School of Law, expected to open in autumn 2009, and at least seven other law schools that have popped up across the country in the last five years seeking accreditation by the ABA.

"This is beyond absurd," said William Henderson, a professor at Indiana University School of Law -- Bloomington. His scholarship focuses on the legal job market.

Henderson's research, which is based on data obtained from the ABA and ALM Research, a subsidiary of the parent company of The National Law Journal, shows dismal job prospects for many law graduates from lower-tier schools already in existence. New law schools, historically, have fallen into the lower tiers of the rankings by U.S. News & World Report, at least in their first years of operation.

Part of Henderson's research focuses on so-called "bad outcomes" experienced by law students, which include graduates who were unemployed nine months after graduation, graduates whose job status was unknown or students who flunked out. He determined the 50 law schools with the highest percentages of bad outcomes and revealed a range between 49.1 percent and 27.9 percent of bad outcomes among the 20 law schools with the highest percentages of such outcomes. All of those schools were ranked either in the third or fourth tier by U.S. News & World Report.

"The popular perception is that there's a big monolith of wealth," he said. "The reality is that some people are making lots of money, and a lot of people are not able to make a living." * * *

"You have to ask yourself if there is a demand for lawyers," said Thomas Guernsey, dean of Albany Law School of Union University in Albany, N.Y. He said plans for the new law schools in his area are "silly."

The perception that law schools are "cash cows" that bring in big money for universities because they have much lower overhead than other professional schools is a myth, he said.

Law schools need at least $50 million to get started, he said, and have much higher operating costs -- including career services staffers and admissions teams -- than in the past. Moreover, public law schools, which can charge lower tuition, require states to kick in the shortfall, he noted.

Because of restraint of trade issues, the ABA cannot limit the number of law schools that seek or obtain accreditation. In addition, the accreditation process does not specifically require law schools to demonstrate that their students can find employment after graduation.

"That's not the issue for us," said Hulett H. "Bucky" Askew, consultant on legal education for the ABA's Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.

The job market should be part of a feasibility study, Askew said, but the ABA's concerns are whether a law school seeking accreditation has conducted a thorough feasibility study and whether it is equipped to serve its stated mission.

The new law schools come at a time when applications nationwide are declining. The number of people applying to the 198 ABA-accredited law schools and the nine provisionally accredited schools across the country dropped for the fourth year in a row, according to the Law School Admission Council.

Preliminary figures for fall 2008 showed a 1.0 percent decline in the number of applicants, while the number of applications increased by 2.7 percent. The figures indicate that while fewer people are applying to law school, they are submitting more applications.

At the same time, salaries for the majority of law graduates are not living up to the hype of six-figure first-year pay.

According to Henderson's research, the median salary for the class of 2006 was $62,000, with half the graduates making less than $62,000. The salaries indicated a "bimodal distribution," in which 27.5 percent of the graduates made between $40,000 and $55,000, and 27.8 percent made more than $100,000.

For past talk of a new law school of Indiana, see this Dec. 28, 2005 ILB entry headed "Idea that landed with biggest thud of the year", this one from Jan. 4, 2007, headed "University of Saint Francis has begun exploring the possibility of opening a law school," and this one from Jan. 5, 2007, adding additional material.

Plus we have the "Ave Maria Law School moving to Fort Wayne?" speculation: Feb. 5, 2007, Feb. 20, 2007, and May 1, 2007.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 4, 2008 09:24 AM
Posted to General Law Related