Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Indiana Tech Law School Charter Class grads achieve impressive 8% bar passage rate

Some scambloggers were disappointed, even surprised, by the ABA’s accreditation earlier this year of that grotesque parody of a law school, Indiana Tech. However, as applied to Indiana Tech, the scamblog critique is unwarranted in one respect-- this particular newly-accredited JD mill will not exactly be making a significant contribution to the overproduction of lawyers, at least any time soon.

21 persons graduated in May with the law school’s Charter Class. Though the grads got an encouraging sendoff from commencement speaker Jerry Mathers, there was unfortunately no "Leave it to Beaver"-style happy ending after the bar exams were graded, though there was perhaps a wholesome lesson learned. According to the school, a dozen of these grads sat for the July, 2016 Indiana bar exam. The Indiana Lawyer reported that only one of those 12 passed, i.e. about 8% of its bar takers and 5% of the overall class.


On Indiana Tech's 2016 commencement program, three law graduates (all from Indiana) are listed as having made law review, and two of these three earned magna cum laude honors.  The cream of the Indiana Tech crap, I mean crop, and yet none of these three names appear among Indiana's list of successful examinees. A total of seven grads, all from Indiana, are listed on the program as having participated in moot court. However, none of these seven names appear among Indiana's list of successful examinees. I mean, even Charlotte Law, with by far the worst bar passage rate in North Carolina, was able to boast that practically the entirety of its moot court board passed the bar.

You would think that even the world's fastest gyroscope couldn't spin its way out of this disgraceful mess, but Indiana Tech VP for University Relations Brian Engelhart gave it an audacious whirl, commenting to the Indiana Lawyer that "As is the case everywhere, we had a mixture of passage, failure, and those within appeal range."

Perhaps so, but the nature of the "mixture" counts for something. I await the professional baseball player who gets one fluke hit during his rookie season, but strikes out every other time at bat.  Could he not defend his performance by saying: "As is the case with every other pro ballplayer, including every hall-of-famer, my performance involved a mixture of hits, outs, and questionable calls"?

By the way, the overall bar passage rate for the July exam in Indiana was 61% for all takers and 68% for first-time takers. So Indiana Tech grads underperformed the State average for first-time bar takers by a trifling 60%, and its publicly announced goal by 92%. 

I note that Indiana Tech's accreditation is technically "provisional," one of only four schools that hold that status.  There is a special ABA standard for withdrawal of provisional accreditation where there is a reasonable likelihood that the school will be unable to comply with ABA Standards. See ABA Standard 102(b): "The Council may withdraw provisional approval if the Council determines that the law school. . . is no longer able to demonstrate that there is a reasonable probability that the school will achieve full compliance with each of the Standards." 

The ABA must immediately initiate an investigation of Indiana Tech. Tech's bar passage rate provides crystal clear evidence that the school will be unable to bring itself into compliance with the ABA’s soon-to-be tightened Standard 316 on bar passage. ("The ABA Accreditation Standards Review Committee approved a proposal Saturday to change the requirement so that schools must show that 75 percent of their graduating classes pass a bar exam within two years"). Not to mention the shamelessly-flouted Standards 501(a) and (b) on sound admissions practices: "A law school shall not admit an applicant who does not appear capable of satisfactorily completing its program of legal education and being admitted to the bar."

The ABA itself, and even a few thoughtful dissidents from within the academy, is favorably inclined towards accrediting new schools in the interests of pedagogical innovation, alternate tuition pricing structures, diversifying the profession, ect, ect. That would perhaps be okay if quick accreditation were counterbalanced with equally quick de-accreditation of existing law schools, whether provisionally or fully accredited, where employment outcomes and bar passage rates establish that the school has failed its basic obligation to "prepare its students for admission to the bar and responsible participation as members of the legal profession." See ABA Standard 301.

There are 205 accredited law schools in the US, and in no case is de-accreditation more warranted than in infamous Indiana Tech's, with its almost cartoonish or circus-like parade of scam pedagogy, scam promotion, scam personalities, and scam outcomes, as exhaustively catalogued on this blog. See the following, and I may have missed a few:

http://outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com/2016/05/gee-wally-thats-swell-indiana-tech.html

http://outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com/2015/12/indiana-tech-tries-to-appear-selective_23.html

http://outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com/2015/12/indiana-tech-lawprof-andre-douglas-pond.html

http://outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com/2015/11/hip-hop-and-law-dougie-freshs-magnum.html

http://outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com/2015/04/indiana-tech-finest-unaccredited-law_16.html

http://outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com/2015/04/indiana-techs-missing-law-school.html

http://outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com/2015/09/indiana-tech-cant-even-be-given-away.html

http://outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com/2014/09/indiana-tech-fort-waynes-finest.html


http://outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-uniquely-exceptional-muse-of.html

http://outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com/2014/05/indiana-tech-law-school-doing-math.html

http://outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com/2014/05/patient-zero-indiana-tech-law-school.html

http://outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com/2013/12/toilet-paper.html

http://outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com/2013/10/oathiness-of-professionalism-at-indiana.html

http://outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com/2013/10/why-law-students-should-pin-their-hopes.html

http://outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com/2013/09/indiana-tech-law-prof-adam-lamparello.html

http://outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com/2013/08/indiana-tech-vs-scamblogs.html

http://outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com/2013/08/dean-peter-alexander-just-doesnt-care.html

http://outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com/2013/08/an-open-letter-to-indiana-tech-law.html

http://outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com/2013/06/indiana-techs-dean-says-its-not-about.html
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44 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 14, 2016 at 6:59 AM

    Wow.
    I feel like calling dougie fresh into my office and channeling Dean Wormer from Animal House:

    "douglas cummings. A fine example you set. Bar passage rate 8.0%"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousSeptember 15, 2016 at 1:19 PM

      Epic. This was needed.

      --------------------------------

      8%. Well.. It's a lot better than, uh.. 7%.

      Right..

      Right??

      Delete
  2. AnonymousSeptember 14, 2016 at 8:50 AM

    Check out this quote given by dean pond scum at the time of graduation:

    “They’ve got to go out and be great,” associate dean for admissions and student affairs andré douglas pond cummings said. “…They’ve got to be really smart about how they represent clients, how they are ethically, how they engage in interactions with other lawyers. They’ve got to be better than just good lawyers.”

    Better than just good lawyers? Somebody needs to tell dougie to put the crack pipe down. Most of these morons will never get to be any kind of lawyer because they’re too dumb to pass the bar exam.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Stonemason, Esq.September 14, 2016 at 11:17 AM

    Cough...cough...ok, here goes! Minorities! Opportunity! Diversity! Unmet demand! Intellectual career! JD Advantage! Million Dollar degree! You can't disrespect education! The American dream! Models and bottles! BUY NOW!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Stonemason, Esq.September 14, 2016 at 11:19 AM

    Cough...cough...ok, here goes! Minorities! Opportunity! Diversity! Unmet demand! Intellectual career! JD Advantage! Million Dollar degree! You can't disrespect education! The American dream! Models and bottles! BUY NOW!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Old Ruster from the former JDJunkyardSeptember 14, 2016 at 11:48 AM

    20 graduates listed on the program.
    16 graduates are from Indiana.
    12 graduates took the Indiana Bar.
    8 graduates still to be accounted for.
    If all 8 pass "a" bar, the overall pass rate would rocket to 45%.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousSeptember 16, 2016 at 10:58 AM

      You would think if any of the out of staters passed a bar, the school would have reported it to boost their %. For goodness' sakes, its only 4 people. They can't be that hard to track down.

      Delete
  6. AnonymousSeptember 14, 2016 at 12:10 PM

    When i took the bar exam from my TTT in the mid eighties (of course there was no ranking then, so I didn't realize my school, which locally had a good reputation), the overall passage rate was over 80%. Either the test has gotten very much harder, or the quality of people being accepted to these law schools very much lower. Wonder if these people will end up sitting on the courts and making rulings that have a huge effect on a person's life. As a litigator for over 30 years, I can tell you that there is nothing more frustrating than a judge who just doesn't get it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. dupednontraditionalSeptember 14, 2016 at 1:05 PM

    Thank you for summarizing the ITLS posts over the years, a fitting coda to an excellent, but tragic, OP. I had forgotten that there has been (at least) this many.

    Three years of warnings, folks. Three years.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousSeptember 14, 2016 at 1:33 PM

    How about sending this post to every member of the US House and Senate and to the Secretary of the Department of Education. There is no better example of tax dollars being wasted.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Old GuySeptember 14, 2016 at 1:44 PM

    Brooks Ledger, you have the dubious distinction of single-handedly saving your toilety alma mater from being the first accredited law school to have no one pass its state's bar exam.

    Indiana Tech should erect a statue in your honor. "Brooks Ledger: the one and only."

    ReplyDelete
  10. Old GuySeptember 14, 2016 at 2:12 PM

    Bear in mind that Indiana Tech's curriculum includes six semesters of obligatory bar review (dressed up as "Foundations of Legal Analysis").

    Throughout its shameful history, Indiana Tech has spewed bluster about quality and excellence and innovation. Let's see you boast and swagger now, Indiana Tech. Even I had not expected a calamity of this magnitude.

    Engelhart's comment was worse than none at all. Suppose that a couple of the eleven people who failed can bring a successful appeal. So what? That's still an appalling result.

    Had I had the unenviable job of answering for Indiana Tech, I would have said "We are shocked at this poor result. Of course we want all of our graduates to pass. We have already begun to investigate ways to help this past year's graduates and improve our curriculum." But Indiana Tech can't do anything with aplomb.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. AnonymousSeptember 20, 2016 at 2:52 PM

      So 92% of Indiana Tech's graduates are highly unlikely to know, at any point in their lives, "what it means to be a lawyer," in hip-hop dean adpc's oft-repeated phrase. Anyone remember that?

      But that's what they were supposedly teaching those gullible kids in the first place. "What it means to be a lawyer." Dream on.

      Delete
  11. Old GuySeptember 14, 2016 at 2:29 PM

    What happened to David Felts? He was the smiling lad, featured for ages on Indiana Tech's home page, who said "If the current Circuit Court Judge for Allen County recommends a certain law school, it is definitely a school to consider and attend"—without pointing out that the judge in question just happened to be his father. (Indiana Tech continued to post this deceptive advertisement long after we lifted the lid on it.)

    Did Felts the Younger defer the exam? Did he fail it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousSeptember 14, 2016 at 3:58 PM

      His name does not appear on the pass list.

      Delete
    2. Old GuySeptember 14, 2016 at 7:24 PM

      I know. The only one who passed was Brooks Ledger.

      I'm curious to know whether Felts the Younger even took the exam. If not, why not? Shouldn't the scion of the current Circuit Court judge for Allen County be abundantly prepared for the exam?

      Delete
  12. AnonymousSeptember 14, 2016 at 4:09 PM

    Stop it now. Don't kick them when they are down. It seems like you have blood coming out, whatever. This is deplorable. What is wrong with uneducated lawyers? Love'em, I love'em, love'em.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Captain Hruska Carswell, Continuance KingSeptember 14, 2016 at 4:18 PM

    Indiana is a booming state. Gary doesn't smell too bad and they just resurfaced the Toll Road. The potholes on I-65 are being filled in as we speak. They have casinos where you can smoke and there is a building boom of CVSs' and diabetes clinics. Lots of gun, pawn and fire works stores. If you need a State that makes it, make it Indiana.

    ReplyDelete
  14. AnonymousSeptember 14, 2016 at 4:53 PM

    Remember when a final applicant applied for Indiana Tech's first class immediately before the school year started, and the Dean was quoted in the media saying, "We'll take him"? I wonder what happened to that guy. Just think of how many lies were told to get him in the door.

    ReplyDelete
  15. NandoSeptember 15, 2016 at 5:04 AM

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdJ8x6lyrfo

    Me upon reading this news.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Old GuySeptember 15, 2016 at 10:03 AM

    Possibly Indiana Tech's curriculum is so ill conceived that even the best Warriors® who complete it are very unlikely to pass Indiana's bar exam. Certainly Indiana Tech spends an inordinate amount of time on oaths, pins, specializations (discontinued last year), "soft skills", hip-hop (discontinued this year), "global leadership", and other fluff that won't help anyone to pass the bar exam. My élite law school, by contrast, didn't do any of that; it simply got on with the business of teaching law.

    A law school that draws from the 170s simply teaches law, whereas one that dips deep into the 140s and 130s (maybe the 120s?) feels free to indulge in all sorts of cotton-candy frivolity.

    And maybe also the profe$$ors cannot teach competently. This would not surprise me. Really, I don't know where they got this lot, which features a pretentious white guy who writes all four of his names in lower-case letters and makes a fetish of hip-hop; a greasy-haired slob who published tell-all memoirs about his adventures with whoring and anorexia; and an elephantine registrar who feasts on fried bologna sandwiches with mayonnaise (disgusting), reads nothing but trashy magazines, and spends her time snooping in other people's houses.

    The fundamental problem, however, is the quality of the students. Even with the finest curriculum and instructors (neither of which is found at Indiana Tech), there would be no way to make silk purses of the sows' ears that Indiana Tech admits.

    ReplyDelete
  17. AnonymousSeptember 15, 2016 at 2:07 PM

    At least the career services office should have an easy time of it - imagine the glossy brochures to prospective lemmings next year: 100% of bar passers employed as attorneys!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Old GuySeptember 15, 2016 at 6:08 PM

      You're assuming that Mr. Ledger will get a job in the field. If he doesn't, that rate will actually be 0%.

      Delete
    2. AnonymousSeptember 16, 2016 at 6:54 PM

      Indiana Tech will just give him/her a job. 100% it is.

      Delete
    3. Old GuySeptember 18, 2016 at 12:25 AM

      Hire him as dean of bar review.

      Delete
  18. Old GuySeptember 15, 2016 at 6:06 PM

    Let's hope that this little escapade will take Indiana Tech down. After hearing of these appalling results, this year's 3Ls must be worried about not being able to join a bar, and this year's 1Ls must be wondering about all the smoke that the smiling, overpaid personnel of Indiana Tech blew up their asses.

    Indiana Tech has to report on its graduates' employment ten months after graduation. That will be in March of 2017. Right now it seems that at most one graduate will be able to call himself a lawyer by then. All of the others, I'm sure, will be exercising Global Leadership.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Captain Hruska Carswell, Continuance KingSeptember 15, 2016 at 8:36 PM

      No law school will be "taken down." Not gonna happen. That would be deplorable. Let's be honest here with each other. It is all about jobs and bring back federal dollars to the community. This law school represents highly paid, highly skilled "creative" class jobs among its faculty, staff and administrators. Where are jobs like these in a dystopian rust belt state like Indiana? No matter how many new jobs are created in a "for now" cyclical booming RV industry, it will never match the concentration of white collar jobs this school creates. Plus, it is prestige to host a law school. Think of all the "receptions," banquets, lectures and court activities hosted there.

      Delete
    2. AnonymousSeptember 17, 2016 at 3:15 AM

      I would hope that donations would dry up after these results came out. Who would throw money at this stink-pit? Speaking of, my just -barely first tier law school now employs students to call alums to beg for donations. When I received a call last week, I explained to the law student that the nonprofit I've chosen to support provides music lessons for underprivileged kids rather than pay law profs six figures to teach two classes a semester, and didn't she think that was a better use of money? I didn't really get an answer.

      Delete
    3. AnonymousSeptember 17, 2016 at 12:28 PM

      I concur in part and dissent in part. Law schools and higher education are as worthy an investment as providing music lessons to "urban under achievers." (See Big Lewbowski) These universities are a spiritual, cultural and educational background for society. They serve the community in infinite ways. I agree with you that law professors should not be paid anywhere near six figures. Professors should be paid the exact same as a an average solo or small firm lawyer which is over 50% or the profession. A salary of 37-49K, Obama Care on their own dime, no defined pension. No paid vacations, but some time off without pay. No sabbaticals and carry over priced mal-practice insurance, and pay bar dues. They should be required to work on some holidays and work 40-60 hours per week.

      Delete
    4. AnonymousSeptember 17, 2016 at 10:25 PM

      Are you being sarcastic, 12:28 PM? Please explain to me how the study of "Hip-Hop & The Law" or "Magic & The Law" provide a spiritual, cultural, and educational background for society?

      Delete
    5. AnonymousSeptember 18, 2016 at 9:52 AM

      Not being sarcastic. Education is social, shared value. It is the key to the advancement of society...everything from tech to law and order, medicine, engineering, space exploration and on and on. It is a value in of itself. It is not a handout, but a tool. Even "Hip Hop law." I took Church and State. During my long career, I have only had two cases that touched on that. How is Hip Hop different than automobile liability law? Or commercial transactions under the UCC? The problem is not Hip Hop law. The issue is tuition and return on investment. Law professors and administrators are too richly compensated given the extreme glut of attorneys who are qualified to take their places. For every professor, there are 10,000 attorney shmucks like me and you who are willing to take their places for a few hundred bucks and 1099 contractors. Desperation.

      Delete
    6. Stonemason, Esq.September 18, 2016 at 12:31 PM

      9:52 AM, I could say the exact same thing about the sewage disposal and treatment industry. Getting shit out of our houses and into organized, reliable cleaning facilities is a basic building block of all modern societies. It prevents disease, saves us all many hours that would otherwise be spent dealing with chamber pots and outhouses, and generally frees most of us to engage in more sophisticated work. But that wouldn't justify the government paying even one dime to a bunch of people to pontificate on vague "theories" about the metaphysical meaning of shit.

      Delete
    7. AnonymousSeptember 18, 2016 at 6:23 PM

      The government pays tons and tons of scientists and researchers to theoroize and pontificate. The military is mostly about technology research and new hardware. What about NASA and NIH--it provides a lot of jobs. Corporations and business pay for R&D. My only objection is that law prawfs and deans are hugely overpaid. They live like kings compared to a solo like me driving a faded car... Law schools can cut tuition by 2/3 at least if the hire from the glut of attorneys...hello---Law Schools---ever hear of 1099 contractors? I will show up for $250 a week to teach a class...no taxes, no pensions, no health care....

      Delete
    8. AnonymousSeptember 18, 2016 at 7:49 PM

      10:25 PM here. There are too many lawyers because there are too many law schools and too many law professors. If some crazy person wants to study Hip-Hop Law (whatever that is), more power to him or her, but I don't want taxpayer money to pay for it. If you want to study whether aluminum foil on your windows prevents the Russian space program from being able to read your thoughts, that's cool--just don't ask other people to pay for it. Universities are no longer about the public good; they are about making money. Indiana Tech Law is an example of this.

      Delete
    9. Old GuySeptember 19, 2016 at 1:36 AM

      Yes, Indiana Tech is an example of the plutocratic nature of today's universities—except that Indiana Tech has been bleeding red ink from the beginning.

      Delete
  19. AnonymousSeptember 16, 2016 at 6:23 AM

    Well, so much for the innovative curriculum.

    Just for good measure, let's review the law school's statement from their webpage regarding 'Academics.' Try not to choke when you get to the part that says "[t]he Law School’s outcome-based and assessment-driven curriculum includes...one of the most comprehensive academic and bar preparation programs in the United States."

    Here goes:

    "Indiana Tech Law School’s affordable and innovative program of legal education prepares students to successfully practice law—from day one—by combining the analytical rigor of traditional legal education with the skills-based instruction that employers and clients demand. The Law School’s outcome-based and assessment-driven curriculum includes, among other things, one of the most comprehensive legal writing programs in the United States, one of the most comprehensive academic and bar preparation programs in the United States, and a truly integrated program of experiential legal education. The faculty is comprised of prolific and nationally-recognized scholars, award-winning teachers, and dedicated public servants who invest in the success of every student and the needs of the broader community. In so doing, the Law School makes legal education personal, practical, and possible, and prepares graduates to be outstanding lawyers and citizens."

    ReplyDelete
  20. AnonymousSeptember 16, 2016 at 12:07 PM

    When will any meaningful change occur? Maybe never. These law schools are ITT Tech, dressed in a fancier suit. God help us.

    ReplyDelete
  21. AnonymousSeptember 17, 2016 at 6:06 PM

    not to take anything away from this clusterfuck that is Indiana Tech, but the whole LS complex isn't possible without government loan spigots.

    http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/a-subprime-education/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Old GuySeptember 18, 2016 at 12:24 AM

      All law schools, except perhaps a few Harvards and Yales, are effectively for-profit institutions. A few, such as the odious InfiLaw chain, are formally for-profit. The rest, however, appear to "non-profit" only because they distribute their surpluses in forms such as monstrous salaries and benefits, bonuses, and transfer payments to parent institutions. Every law school that I've seen, for instance, greatly overpays its faculty and top administrators.

      Delete
  22. AnonymousSeptember 18, 2016 at 6:14 PM

    The Federal government is lending money to people so they can attend this place?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Imagining The Open ToadSeptember 19, 2016 at 2:29 PM

    Wow! 80%! Who could have imagined this?

    Congratulations to Dean Anderson for making dreams come true, and here's to sincerely wishing Indiana Tech LS continues on its present trajectory.

    And who's to say where that might end?

    ReplyDelete
  24. AnonymousSeptember 19, 2016 at 4:05 PM

    And the ABA is hard at work preparing to deal with the situation.... or not. Probably not.

    ReplyDelete
  25. AnonymousOctober 31, 2016 at 5:36 PM

    well these mother truckers just screwed me. there closing there doors now in 2017 , hope these basterds happy. I got one word for Indiana tech eat a dick

    ReplyDelete

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