carlfense Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 On The New Republic's cover this week, Noam Scheiber chronicles the looming economic collapse of the legal profession. This will come as bad news for the thousands of people who each year take out towering student loans to join that profession. And it also ought to scare the people who run America's law schools, which once sold themselves in large part by promising graduates a safe place in the elite. With that in mind, we reached out to law professors, writers, and practitioners for thoughts on how to improve law school. http://www.newrepublic.com/article/113983/how-fix-law-school-symposium The two year+ model sounds like a great idea. Link to comment
knapplc Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 I thought Mojo Nixon had the best theory on lawyers. Link to comment
carlfense Posted July 24, 2013 Author Share Posted July 24, 2013 I thought Mojo Nixon had the best theory on lawyers. Link to comment
GSG Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 I thought Mojo Nixon had the best theory on lawyers. I'm not familiar with this person. Enlighten me, please. Link to comment
knapplc Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 It's been quite a while since I've listened to this song, so I'm linking it rather than posting the video here because of possibly NSFW lyrics. LINK My apologies, carlfense. but not so much Link to comment
BigRedBuster Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 I've never been to law school but I like his ideas. One thing lawyers could benefit from is experience in the real world outside law. It is amazing sometimes lawyers attitudes towards what they feel is a victory in a situation. Another thing is that law students need to realize that there are careers outside of actually practicing law that they can be extremely successful in. For instance, I have a college friend who went to law school, graduated top 5 in his class and never took the bar exam because..in his words...."I hate my professors, I hate my fellow students, I hate law". He started a construction business and is extremely successful. He says his law education has helped him in his business. Link to comment
carlfense Posted July 24, 2013 Author Share Posted July 24, 2013 He started a construction business and is extremely successful. He says his law education has helped him in his business. I seriously considered doing that. Link to comment
Creighton Duke Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 The cause of the "economic collapse" of the legal profession isn't so much with the law schools themselves or the structure of the curriculum, but with the hordes of legitimately stupid people who are chasing the dream of being a "lawyer". Go to lawschoolnumbers.com or whatever it is and take a look at the profiles of a lot of the people on there, particularly those applying to T3-T4 schools. I wouldn't trust those people to clean my apartment yet alone to represent my in court. GPAs in the low 2s? LSATs in the low 140s? Yet these kids are getting in to law school. Of course, they have no legitimate credentials and when they graduate, they're lucky to get paralegal gigs. So you have crappy ABA-accredited law schools that open up and cater to these idiots while charging some of the highest tuition of ALL law schools. Yes, the ABA should take some blame for granting accreditation, but these schools see a demand and act upon it. Not a demand from the industry, mind you, but a demand from the hordes of dreamers who are all to happy to take out over $100k in student loans for the chance to be a "lawyer". As long as idiots possess completely inflated images of their own self-worth and capabilities, the "economic collapse" of the legal profession will persist. Link to comment
carlfense Posted July 24, 2013 Author Share Posted July 24, 2013 The cause of the "economic collapse" of the legal profession isn't so much with the law schools themselves or the structure of the curriculum, but with the hordes of legitimately stupid people who are chasing the dream of being a "lawyer". Go to lawschoolnumbers.com or whatever it is and take a look at the profiles of a lot of the people on there, particularly those applying to T3-T4 schools. I wouldn't trust those people to clean my apartment yet alone to represent my in court. GPAs in the low 2s? LSATs in the low 140s? Yet these kids are getting in to law school. Of course, they have no legitimate credentials and when they graduate, they're lucky to get paralegal gigs. This is true in some areas but it's not accurate in Nebraska . . . Link to comment
Creighton Duke Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 The cause of the "economic collapse" of the legal profession isn't so much with the law schools themselves or the structure of the curriculum, but with the hordes of legitimately stupid people who are chasing the dream of being a "lawyer". Go to lawschoolnumbers.com or whatever it is and take a look at the profiles of a lot of the people on there, particularly those applying to T3-T4 schools. I wouldn't trust those people to clean my apartment yet alone to represent my in court. GPAs in the low 2s? LSATs in the low 140s? Yet these kids are getting in to law school. Of course, they have no legitimate credentials and when they graduate, they're lucky to get paralegal gigs. This is true in some areas but it's not accurate in Nebraska . . . Ok. That's true, but I guess I should have clarified that I'm talking more about the private T3-T4 schools vs. state schools. Link to comment
carlfense Posted July 24, 2013 Author Share Posted July 24, 2013 Ok. That's true, but I guess I should have clarified that I'm talking more about the private T3-T4 schools vs. state schools. In that case, that's correct. I can't believe that anyone would pay actual money for a T-3/4 JD. Link to comment
Creighton Duke Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Ok. That's true, but I guess I should have clarified that I'm talking more about the private T3-T4 schools vs. state schools. In that case, that's correct. I can't believe that anyone would pay actual money for a T-3/4 JD. Right. And that's my point. So many people get this dream in their heads that they can be "lawyers", but find that they can only get into crap schools. 3 years and over $100k later, we have an overabundance of JDs. Get rid of, say, 25-30 of the the schools with the lowest standards (especially those in areas where there are already a number of established, legit, law schools) and I think much of the problem is resolved. Link to comment
rawhide Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 everybody dun; can we tell jurist jokes now ??? Of course, none apply to AR Husker Link to comment
Mavric Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Bob Kerrey speaking at my brother's UNL Law School graduation (paraphrasing): I told a lawyer friend of mine that I was speaking at law school graduation. He asked if I needed a lawyer joke. I told him I didn't need a joke. Lawyers are hard-working people who put a lot of effort into their schooling and long hours on their jobs. They have to keep up on a lot of things to help people out when they need them. My friend laughed and said "That's a good one. Use that one." 1 Link to comment
teachercd Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Must refrain...must refrain Link to comment
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