The recent discussion of Indiana Tech and their "raffle-based" scholarship pitch made me think back to the varied posts that I've seen on this fine establishment over the years. Time after time, I have asked myself "no, really, what were they thinking," as Indiana Tech Law School seems to solidify everything that is wrong with the current legal-education-mindset.
But, wait, wasn't there a "feasibility study" published a few years ago that explained why there needed to be a fifth law school in Indiana? A well-researched, vetted manifesto as to why money should be spent, why multiple working hours should be invested, and scores of students should sign on the dotted line? Yes, Indiana Tech even published it on their website! Let's go find it:
Whoops! A muted trumpet plays "wahh wah wah wahhhhhhh....." in my head after I key in the website address. Apparently some "ninjas" ran off with the report that only recently proudly proclaimed the raison d'etre of ITLS!
(Incidentally, it seems appropriate that "ninjas" absconded with the report. Children of the 80s learned early on that ninjas were super-awesome-magical defenders of truth and justice and went after the bad guys...although history indicates that ninjas were, in reality, hired mercenaries that did the "dirty work" that their masters found too politically intractable and dishonorable to do themselves...say, for example, erasing "mistakes.")
Well, never fear, gentle readers! Thanks to the mystical power of the internet, what once was lost (or absconded with) can now be found! Join us below the fold for some highlights of the study:
Well, never fear, gentle readers! Thanks to the mystical power of the internet, what once was lost (or absconded with) can now be found! Join us below the fold for some highlights of the study:
1. They knew the demand for legal education was dropping. To counter this, the explanation was (1) demand is cyclical, (2) economic downturns show growth in applications, and (3) for the last half-century, law school enrollment has increased steadily (and tripled during this time frame). Translation: Housing prices never go down!
2. They knew the debt v. income ratio for JD graduates was increasingly negative. To counter this, they cited the "After the JD" longitudinal study from 2010, concluding that the debt incurred wasn't really that bad after all.
3. They knew about the bimodal distributions of salaries. To counter this, they again point to the "After the JD" 2010 study, where median debt had fallen to $50k after five years, yet "respondents reported generally high levels of satisfaction with their lives...[law students] see their education as the gateway to meaningful, interesting careers."
4. They knew that fewer and fewer Indiana Residents applied to law school from 2006-2010. Enough said.
5. They knew that Indiana ranked 44th in lawyer density and 12th in lawyer GDP. Clearly, there is some unused market-share there. Indiana needs more lawyers, and the lawyers already in place should be stabbed in the back and should have to take a haircut, because Numbers.
The overall conclusion? "The economy once more [is] growing at a greater rate than the supply of lawyers, [so] the current national decline in law school applications should be no longer-lived or severe than past declines." [Snicker guffaw wa-ha-ha-ha! Ed.]
And:
"There is a need for another law school in the state of Indiana. The state is fortunate to have four excellent law schools, including two that are elite national law schools. What is good for the state in one sense is not good for many aspiring Hoosier lawyers who are well-qualified but must leave the state if they are to pursue a legal education. Roughly half of all Indiana residents who matriculate at ABA-approved law school do so out-of-state. Others forgo their dream entirely."
Yes, because it's all about "dreams." Just like the fluffy cotton-candy this study was based on.
Friends, ITLS did their "research", and just like a special-snowflake law school decided that they could beat the odds. Knowing full well what was in front of them and their graduates, they went ahead anyway. Even with two elite law schools in the state already, and two others with long track records. Some people would call that negligence - I assume the board of trustees does, at any rate.
Sometimes, people have to forego their "dreams," due to the harsh winds of circumstance. The only problem is that perhaps Indiana Tech won't see their sugar-plum-profits, so they can just "write it off." If only indebted JDs were so equally lucky.
http://web.archive.org/web/20110811013218/http://www.indianatech.edu/Academics/Documents/Law-School-Feasibility.pdf
Save a copy before they try to get it removed from the archive.
ReplyDeleteIndiana does not have two élite national law schools, or even one. Every single law school in Indiana, and for that matter neighboring Ohio and Kentucky, is a fourth-tier institution with unacceptably low levels of adequate employment for graduates.
The claim that many people forgo their dream of going to law school or leave the state in order to pursue it does not justify the opening of a law school. It is clear that this "feasibility study" was written as a justification for a predetermined decision.
And the fake centurion in the photo is almost as ridiculous as Pond Scum and that dirty-haired fuck with the lascivious memoirs.
If you want to play that game, then Notre Dame is fifth-tier, IUB is sixth-tier...and Indy Tech is thirteenth-tier. Why? Because I say so. Good for 24 hours or until my next comment.
DeleteI've explained why they're all in the fourth tier:
Deletehttp://outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.ca/2014/12/guest-post-by-old-guy-which-law-schools.html
You are welcome to disagree, but analysis would be more helpful than sarcasm.
Could someone set the record straight for this guy before he Doom-Switches his life?
Delete"disappearedattorney" tried but some a-hole named "crank" trotted out the SlimeCo Defense. Old Guy, your insight, considering you did go to a better school, got better grades, and had a better undergrad as well would probably help a lot!
This fool doesn't realize that continuing on and getting that JD will Scarlet Letter him as far as other fields, and this is on top of the time wasted and any additional money. I can't post there because I'm Ban Hammered courtesy of Uncle Admin.
Btw, Link was/is here:
DeleteSorry 'bout that!
http://jdunderground.com/all/thread.php?threadId=89107
Sorry, but I don't post at sites like that and "Top Law Schools" (where, despite the name, the topic is almost never "Should I take Harvard over Yale?" but rather "Should I take Thomas Jefferson over Indiana Tech?").
DeleteAnyone who wants to find out about Old Guy's damn fool decision to go to law school can search this site.
Of course, people like "crank" can easily explain me away as lazy, ugly, unpresentable, entitled, dishonest, rigid, overbearing, incompetent, or whatever.
It could be you. It could be anybody. The OP in that thread needs another, serious clue-batting.
DeleteOld Guy, that might have described TLS five years ago. Everyone has learned a lot since then, with the exception of some old guy who posts here.
DeleteAnd people called them out on this nonsense at the time, but they went forward with it anyway.
ReplyDeleteI hope someone is losing their shirts on this stupid venture.
Well...has Adam Lamparello posed shirtless yet?
DeleteHow is this turd still floating?
ReplyDeleteListen for the flush that will soon take it down the drain.
DeleteIndiana Tech Turd Law Skule is desperate enough to raffle off a "scholarship" and pay for haphazard people to take the LSAT. It's in dire straits.
Much as I'd love to be the guy to press the flush on this absolute turd of a school, I find it extremely DISRESPECTFUL to describe it in terms of toilets and turds.
DeleteDisrespectful to the human excretion process, that is. shITLS is not classy enough to be elevated to such levels of prestige. shITLS is decidedly canine.
It's yet to disappear because it's still hanging out of dog's asshole, that's why. Like a dog taking a shit that has a piece of your girlfriend's hair in it and the shit kind of hangs suspended between dog's asshole and the ground and the poor thing thinks it's pinched it off, but it can feel the piece of shit dragging against the ground and tugging gently via the "connecting hair" to the next turd way up in it's colon. That's the level we need to be talking when in conversation about shITLS.
DeleteWrong board, may I direct you to ThirdTierReality? That's where the children play.
when the law school industrial complex gravy train's brakes were grinding and wobbling, i saw that report. it epitomized everything wrong with LS shilling and the extent that they would go to get money. many heads needed to roll for that "report" and the only one that i know of is the Dean's.
ReplyDeleteCNN article on predator colleges: http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/28/opinions/wheeler-for-profit-colleges/index.html
ReplyDeleteThe "predator" idea should be extended to certain law schools...
Indy Tech law school is currently operating with donated money and subsidies from other departments. I'd love to see the donors sue both the authors of that ridiculous, incompetent study and those who commissioned it.
ReplyDeleteThe donors were not duped. Anyone reading that "feasibility study" would see that it was cobbled together as a justification for the unjustifiable. Let the donors blame themselves for pissing away millions for that dunghill on the Wabash.
DeleteAll feasability studies are bullshit. The people performing the study know the results desired by the people paying for the study - and they don’t disappoint them. If some moron decided to open up a law school in Nome Alaska, the feasability study would recommend going forward based upon the need for a law school in Alaska, the booming energy and tourism sectors, and moderating winters due to climate change.
DeleteThe one point in the study that makes sense is that half of Indiana law students leave the state for law school, and some of them could be kept in state by a new law school. The problem for Indiana Tech is that is basically what they got: a couple of dozen Fort Wayne residents who wanted to attend law school but, for whatever reason, didn't want to leave the city.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's ridiculous to frame "Indiana" as their territory. Nobody from Evansville is going to go there for the purpose of attending law school in the same state. Van Wert, Ohio, is more a part of their target market than Indianapolis.
Delete"You're not supposed to be here."
ReplyDeleteA rather apt slogan for Indiana Tech Law School as a whole, rather than just something it shows on its 404 page.
I've just heard that all of you guys are in the pay of the Koch brothers - thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteLOL. Steve Diamond needs to stop posting while drunk. Or maybe he is high on meth.
DeleteYou know, I keep looking for that check in the mail, and funny, it keeps not coming. Maybe I'm not on the updated mailing list, or something...
Delete