Scam-fostering publication promotes law school to older people

As if it had not misled the public badly enough with its "rankings", You Ass News has run an article promoting law school to people well beyond the typical age range.

Long-standing readers OTLSS will know that age-based discrimination is very real in the so-called legal profession. Old Guy in particular has written about his experience as a law student past forty: he came in at the top of the class at his élite law school only to find that he could not get so much as an interview anywhere—except for a federal clerkship that did not help him to find other work. He went through lengthy periods of unemployment before ending up in an unsatisfactory role as a lawyer. 

Do not suppose that Old Guy's case is unusual. On the contrary, it reflects the reality of widespread age-based discrimination in the legal realm. But the article cited above mentions this little detail only in passing, near the end: "While you may face hurdles like age discrimination in the legal field, you may also benefit from greater life experience, more resources and connections, and higher clarity of purpose." You will experience age discrimination, and you won't benefit much from those other traits when the time comes to look for work.

Old Guy is an example of someone who Did Everything Right yet still turned out badly because of entrenched discrimination in law. A typical law student beyond age 29, without an élite law school or an élite law review or a federal clerkship or the other nominal advantages that Old Guy had, can expect to fare even worse. If you are over 29, law school is not for you. You can scream about human rights until you are blue in the face, but that will do nothing to land you a job. If you still go off to law school notwithstanding this baleful warning, do not come crying later to Old Guy. 

U of North Dakota contemplates deadly drop in standards

The law school at the University of North Dakota anticipates a shortfall of $2.1 million by 2028. In response, it proposes to raise fees and expand the entering class from 85 to 100 students.

The dean admits that greater expansion might well push his über-toilet into "accepting students that may struggle to pass the bar exam". Indeed, already the LSAT score at the 25th percentile is a horrible 146, and the admission of 15 more students, to say nothing of a greater number, would likely send that score tumbling. It is difficult to imagine where the U of North Dakota could find even 15 more students per year without dipping at least a few points on the LSAT, and probably quite a few.

The dean's statement amounts to a shameful admission that the law school as it stands hovers just above the threshold for students of truly horrible calibre—those who would struggle to pass any bar exam. It is a predatory institution that puts its existence, and the advancement of its faculty, ahead of the needs and interests of its students. 

There simply is no need for a law school in North Dakota, especially one that draws its so-called students principally from the marginal group that will struggle with any bar exam if it does manage to graduate. Rather than coming up with a few million dollars and thinking of admitting even worse trash, the dean should have the honesty to concede that his über-toilet should be wound up as soon as possible.