tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post7436779583536945235..comments2024-03-28T10:56:31.720-06:00Comments on Outside the Law School Scam: A Message to Friends and Supporters of OTLSSUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-48029812023971404432014-02-20T22:13:01.243-07:002014-02-20T22:13:01.243-07:00And it was based on an earlier era. Prof. Kingsfie...And it was based on an earlier era. Prof. Kingsfield is based on "Bull" Warren, who taught at Harvard Law in the first part of the twentieth century.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-6582291854170540462014-02-20T20:53:55.562-07:002014-02-20T20:53:55.562-07:00Mr. Hart was played by Timothy Bottoms. Four years...Mr. Hart was played by Timothy Bottoms. Four years later, he played the part of a man blowing up rollercoasters...the supposed sequel to Paper Chase if he would have graduated.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-70986974370909799762014-02-20T19:17:48.198-07:002014-02-20T19:17:48.198-07:003:25, in addition, although 8:35 did not actually ...3:25, in addition, although 8:35 did not actually claim Turow wrote Paper Chase (the statement was "Paper Chase ... a... fictionalized account of Scott Turow's 1L"), 8:25 is obviously way off base given Paper Chase preceded 1L by about 4 years and so could not be even loosely considered an "account" of 1L. <br /><br />Possibly the opposite is true.Imagining The Open Toadnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-49508043170402610392014-02-20T19:11:30.703-07:002014-02-20T19:11:30.703-07:00Wow, 2:04 PM must live under a rock. Everyone who...Wow, 2:04 PM must live under a rock. Everyone who's anyone knows the Ellie Woods Mystal is a legal news writer over at Above The Law.Imagining The Open Toadnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-90099281373892139282014-02-20T16:28:58.484-07:002014-02-20T16:28:58.484-07:00Speak out! Don't be ashamed to tell your story...Speak out! Don't be ashamed to tell your story. The law school cartel is counting on our silence.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-68171841503148823482014-02-20T16:25:51.390-07:002014-02-20T16:25:51.390-07:00John Jay Osborn, Jr wrote the Paper Chase. Not Tu...John Jay Osborn, Jr wrote the Paper Chase. Not TurowAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-69703308231534086962014-02-20T16:05:55.163-07:002014-02-20T16:05:55.163-07:00You will certainly want to retool the ads before d...You will certainly want to retool the ads before distributing, uploading or posting them anywhere unless you are packing a release from Bob Odenkirk and an image license from High Bridge/Gran Via/Sony Pictures Television. <br /><br />I trust (hope) that you paid the right license fee to Shutterstock (or 123rf.com) for the guy with his head in the net....<br /><br />Just saying...TryToHelpnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-14177416763436242182014-02-20T15:35:01.505-07:002014-02-20T15:35:01.505-07:00Since I can't find a fucking job, perhaps I sh...Since I can't find a fucking job, perhaps I should hop aboard the student-loan gravy train. Shall I set up the Old Guy Skule of Law and Manicures?<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-30444234208341736972014-02-20T15:04:19.699-07:002014-02-20T15:04:19.699-07:00I don't know what this Elle Woods stuff that p...I don't know what this Elle Woods stuff that people keep talking about is (I don't watch television or Hollywood swill), but it should be obvious that the representation of lawyers in the media will be unrealistically glamorous. No television show is going to explore the dreary life of a law graduate who cannot find work at all.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-79588901755348477692014-02-20T11:54:33.858-07:002014-02-20T11:54:33.858-07:00It's only a matter of time before people catch...It's only a matter of time before people catch on to other sectors of academia -- <br /><br />http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/20/us/lawsuit-accuses-for-profit-schools-of-fraud.html?action=click&contentCollection=Europe&region=Footer&module=TopNews&pgtype=article<br /><br />As stated in article -- <br />... for-profit schools have drawn scrutiny in recent years for aggressive recruiting, high prices, low graduation rates and heavy borrowing by students who often have poor job prospects afterward. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-54883453066235370412014-02-20T11:19:56.677-07:002014-02-20T11:19:56.677-07:00I can't find what Harvard Law School tuition w...I can't find what Harvard Law School tuition was from that era, but Harvard undergraduate tuition in 1981 was $6,000 - $15,440 in 2014 dollars. 2014 Harvard Law School tuition is $52,350.<br /><br />Even if you assume that the law school tuition in 1981 cost a bit more than undergraduate tuition, Harvard law school tuition has roughly tripled since the early '80's.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-63079965256673409682014-02-20T10:20:26.887-07:002014-02-20T10:20:26.887-07:00The law schools soak the public at the rate of a q...The law schools soak the public at the rate of a quarter of a million bucks a head, yet we'd be wrong to accept a few nickels and dimes in donations. <i>Cherchez l'erreur !</i>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-26073206434782779862014-02-20T09:46:04.250-07:002014-02-20T09:46:04.250-07:00This sounds promising.This sounds promising.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10157020541840080308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-88525696323064702902014-02-20T09:35:20.849-07:002014-02-20T09:35:20.849-07:009:45 pm, excellent post and this is a subject I...9:45 pm, excellent post and this is a subject I've been wanting to discuss in this blog for awhile.<br /><br />Paper Chase was at least a reaslitically fictionalized account of Scott Turow's 1L, a book about his first year law school experience at Harvard. The Paper Chase series was a Spielbergish adaptation of the novel. The green of the lawns, the wet stones on the buildings were palpable; the conflict of each episode was announced by french horn and was resolved by clarinet or viola accompaniment. It was only dangerous as any fictionalized account can be dangerous, similar say, to We Are Marshall and college football. As far as depicting the realities of law school though, well, if Paper Chse was your siren call to law school, it wasn't too far off key.Those of us who went to law school in the 80s anticipated that our law school experience would be similar to Paper Chase,even if not at an Ivy, and we were not disappointed. At least Paper Chase was idealistic in way that could withstand scrutiny. As law students, we experienced the same class preparation terrors, night sweats, conflicts with fellow students that the Paper Chase characters experienced. <br /><br />Let's contrast to today's lemmings who reference Legally Blond, Ally McBeal and the unwatchable Suits as inspiration for embarking on a career. These shows are farces, the characters are clownish, one-dimensional mannequins and the plots are paper-thin attempts to combine slapstick with stylish clothes. If Paper Chase or, in the 60s, Perry Mason, shaped your ideas as to what law school and legal practice were all about and served as some sort of inspiration, then at least you would be a sane idealist. However, if you are going to law school to recreate your version of Elle Woods or live in some scene in Legally Blond or Suits, then something is seriously wrong with you. I frequently encounter this type of magical thinking insanity in today's law students, which also is in ample evidence in Law School Lemmings. What I also find with respect to today's law students is that (1) many of them have never had a job, (2) many of them don't drive a car and therefore have never had to plan for expense and maintenance, and (3) many of them are in constant contact with their parents whom they consult with all day long. There is a connection between living this Peter Pan-type existence and not being able to separate reality from farce. These students are gullable and easy targets for aggressive law school recruiting, and few will ever practice law. The sane OLs are reading this blog, examining the evidence, talking with practicing attorneys, asking law schools the right questions, and are declining to pursue a legal career. The law school students in the comming years will be the extremly bright and well-connected and the insane.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-3979231687265172372014-02-20T09:19:41.663-07:002014-02-20T09:19:41.663-07:00CAS127, I've personally wondered about this id...CAS127, I've personally wondered about this idea, and we may discuss it further. Could you shoot us a throwaway e-mail contact at the address above, so if the group does decide to go down this path, we can get back to you more easily? You are welcome (in fact, encouraged, given the pro-scam stalkers) to remain anonymous, of course. <br /><br />Thanks - always nice to talk to someone who has done something similar prior.dupednontraditionalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04170022654810216357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-28756507307671200332014-02-20T06:49:51.758-07:002014-02-20T06:49:51.758-07:009:45 PM, submit this as a front-page post.9:45 PM, submit this as a front-page post.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-16652672992120532792014-02-20T06:40:17.073-07:002014-02-20T06:40:17.073-07:00Thank you for the offer and the encouragement. Th...Thank you for the offer and the encouragement. This idea may be something we mull over, but we don't take donations currently becuase it allows an all-too-easy cheap shot from our detractors.<br /><br />Even though funds would be earmarked for advertising, supporters of the establishment would say "see, they are doing it for the beer money!!!111!111eleven!!!", although there is no "money" in being a scamblogger, trust me. Strawman-ers gotta strawman and shills gotta shill in any event.dupednontraditionalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04170022654810216357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-18953344474248353622014-02-19T23:25:49.563-07:002014-02-19T23:25:49.563-07:00If the point is to reach out to less informed/more...If the point is to reach out to less informed/more casual potential law school applicants, I would suggest...<br /><br />1) A CPM (cost-per-thousand-impressions) campaign handled through *any* of the hundreds of CPM internet ad networks in existence.<br /><br />Untargeted campaigns might cost *50 cents* per thousand internet ads (the huge supply of internet ad space has driven ad costs dramatically down) with a small guaranteed buy ($100?).<br /><br />Very well targeted ads (by demographic, by website, etc.) might go for $1 to $2 CPM - again, the huge oversupply of internet ad space has made CPM prices almost laughably cheap.<br /><br />It is perhaps even *easier* to run a Google Adsense CPC (cost-per-click) campaign that essentially gives away Google Search impressions for free (charging only for click-throughs). Here, the targeting is entirely driven by the selection of keywords. Google's Adsense tools are very straightforward and have very low upfront costs.<br /><br />2) Source of Funding? Hold a Kickstarter campaign - even minimal campaigns can generate $8k to $10k on average - and with the large base of scamblog readers...the campaign will go very viral...**and serve as high profile advertising in and of itself.**<br /><br />The general press is addicted to the "novel" and there is little more novel than a Kickstarter to bring down the law school cartel.<br /><br />Trust me - If you seriously try to crowdsource an anti-cartel ad campaign...you'll get extensive free press coverage (the general press doesn't have the built-in conflict of interest that the legal press does when it comes to law schools...and *their* advertising dollars).<br /><br />I'm posting under a pseudonym, but if you want some free Kickstarter/ad campaign assistance (educated amateur division) just post the site's interest in really going down this road and I'll call/email in.<br /><br />CAS127Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-70414605252644922432014-02-19T22:45:08.532-07:002014-02-19T22:45:08.532-07:00"The Paper Chase" is yet another ingredi..."The Paper Chase" is yet another ingredient in the now-distasteful cultural bouillabaise that allows law schools to continue their senseless binging on fresh college grads and the resulting bulimic vomiting of thousands of newly minted JD's into a tragically maladjusted marketplace that sours by the month. The film is the jewel in the crown of the law school mystique. Yet like 'Triumph of the Will,' it should be viewed not to glorify its subject in any way, but rather to try to better comprehend the resulting dysfunction that grew therefrom. <br /><br />Written and filmed in the Nixon era (1973), the film is blissfully free to navigate the sensory buffet of law school, helping the viewer to generous servings of the intimidating, curmudgeony Professor; the hardworking, resourceful Law Student; the drama of the Socratic method unfolding in a classroom-- without ever having to confront the meteoric rise in tuition that has long since drained the degree of worth. Tucked safely inside this 40-year-old time capsule, the film is a curious type of Watergate-era "Suits"-- only its protagonists sport long hair, sideburns and bell-bottom jeans. The post-school legal world may well be their oyster. And repaying debt was as distant as AIDS, the Internet and cyberspace. <br /><br />Yet even understood through this historical prism, Paper Chase is to law school what "Gone With the Wind" is to southern history and the plantation system: a superficial, stylized gloss that can be dangerously deceptive to the degree it's taken as fact... or at least to the degree that its entertaining storyline and plot displace deeper analysis of actual facts and practices.<br /><br />Professor Kingsfield (Houseman), the so-called Socratic Method, and what would later come to be known as a "Tier 1" law school exprience all feature prominently in the picture, and have come to be cultural proxies for actual experience. Law professors are idolized by the studentry. Like "Full Metal Jacket's" one-hour tour through 1968 boot camp, Paper Chase introduces the public to iconic figures (Kingsfield) and classroom bullying, creating an accepted cannon of central-casting-type characters.<br /><br />Law School is East-Coast centered, and housed in prestigious buildings. There are tough, prestigious, brilliant-as-shit professors who apparently engage in scholarship and research, too. They are busy and impatient. Libraries are important. Wood paneling. Classroom bullying becomes entertaining and, in a way, uplifting -- much as we love L Lee Ermy's drill sergeant in "Full Metal Jacket" and we cheer for the officer candidates in "Officer and a Gentleman."<br /><br />If the film could be viewed in its historical context, it would be an interesting artifact. Yet the fact that many of the Nixon-era law graduates portrayed in Paper Chase arrived at the market buffet first... and many are still there today. Your professors, your bosses, your competiton. As the Carpenters were signing "We've Only Just Begun" in 1973, the legal academy's hyper-overproduction of JD's was in its infancy and market saturation had only just begun. The film becomes somewhat darker when this stark fact is recognized. <br /><br />In the final analysis, perhaps the film's most poignant insight into law school is unintentional. The talented actor who played the 1-L student, Mr. Hart, has the surname of 'Bottoms.' And forty years later, students heading off to law school in 2014 will most likely be 'bottoms' in a vastly different way. <br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-656983573212039632014-02-19T22:21:44.281-07:002014-02-19T22:21:44.281-07:00The television series (first season) was better.The television series (first season) was better.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-86379052327542909012014-02-19T19:48:47.459-07:002014-02-19T19:48:47.459-07:00One of the sarcastic titles for the tweets on the ...One of the sarcastic titles for the tweets on the Law School Lemmings site gave a very good idea:<br /><br />"Can we do a Kickstarter campaign to pay for a professionally shot PSA with Reese Witherspoon admonishing the lemmings who believe Elle Woods is a realistic role model?"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-46098046514750785412014-02-19T18:02:54.621-07:002014-02-19T18:02:54.621-07:00The Movie: "The Paper Chase" was on TC...The Movie: "The Paper Chase" was on TCM today.<br /><br />Any thoughts on that movie in some 40 year hindsight? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-81687801918356765062014-02-19T17:33:19.679-07:002014-02-19T17:33:19.679-07:00The photo doesn't quite capture the characteri...The photo doesn't quite capture the characteristics of a tout at Honest Bubba's U$ed Karrrrrs & Skule of Law (halle-fuckin'-lujah!). Keep the horrible shirt, but substitute a loud plaid jacket, and add a whopping plastic flower for the boutonnière. Also use a fatter man who exudes the aesthetics of Budweiser and gun racks.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-50952169156322428512014-02-19T15:52:26.300-07:002014-02-19T15:52:26.300-07:00You could have banners above your blogs asking for...You could have banners above your blogs asking for contributions from your readers. I would not mind sending you money. Another time a banner could ask the readers to print the blogs and leave them on bulletin boards/cafeteria/public places. Another time ask your readers to like you on Facebook. Ill start leaving them in the train. And THANK YOU for your quality work,Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-7569197456091425872014-02-19T13:35:14.256-07:002014-02-19T13:35:14.256-07:00The downtown airport in Toronto is plastered with ...The downtown airport in Toronto is plastered with ads from the Ontario Bar Association on the theme "Why I Went to Law School". The legal "profession" and academy in Canada are not yet so horrific as their US counterparts, but they're certainly headed into the toilet.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com