tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post806931600829598608..comments2024-03-27T20:23:56.493-06:00Comments on Outside the Law School Scam: Seton Hall Law Prof. Paula Franzese advises law students to "[e]mbrace a Forrest Gump-like view of the world and the people in it."Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-22727655182126637672017-08-07T14:34:09.792-06:002017-08-07T14:34:09.792-06:00Look, anyone who has met Franzese knows she believ...Look, anyone who has met Franzese knows she believes on this... her work, her career, her teachings are based on the core beliefs in this book... it works for her so it makes sense that she will advice others accordingly... i know i dont believe this but hey if it works for someone " to fake it till you make it" what's it to you?...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-71045754734610235032016-04-26T11:54:33.854-06:002016-04-26T11:54:33.854-06:00What? You've got $223K in debt and no job pro...What? You've got $223K in debt and no job prospects other than "building" panino at Panera Bread?<br /><br />My, you do look glum! What you need is a gramme of FranzeSoma!<br /><br />Ah, the warm, the richly coloured - the infinitely friendly! - world of FranzeSoma-holiday. <br /><br />How kind, how good-looking, how delightfully amusing every one is with FranzeSoma!Imagining The Open... Huxleynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-47974984330136274462016-04-25T12:14:00.516-06:002016-04-25T12:14:00.516-06:00"I can’t fathom why happiness is discussed in..."I can’t fathom why happiness is discussed in this book."<br /><br />The reason they talk about "happiness" is because it is a distraction. Rather than focus on the economic argument (which they will lose), they need to distract with "Hallmark channel" type nonsense. <br /><br />Excellent post by the way.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-75857666629840357182016-04-25T08:37:18.622-06:002016-04-25T08:37:18.622-06:00Harvard Law graduate here with honors. Federal co...Harvard Law graduate here with honors. Federal court clerkship and one job as a transactional attorney in a V10 firm. Older but far from too old to work. I am a straight white male from a preparatory school background and T5 undergrad school.<br /><br />Have been looking for work for three years. Initially given several months to look, but no takers Job ended over two years ago.<br /><br />Now am applying to the higher paying paralegal jobs online in addition to the attorney jobs terporary and permanent. Still no interviews save for one law firm three years ago that wanted huge portable billables.<br /><br />Look at Campos' recent article in his Lawyers, Guns and Money blog comparing Columbia Law to the palace of Versailles. Look at the vast increase in the number of students over the last 40 years to turn Columbia into a cash cow. At the same time, the job market is stagnant and many of the high paying jobs are in big law, that is heavily younger lawyers. In house is heavily people who came directly from big law. I cannot believe but that the employment outcomes for older classes at the top law schools are horrific because many of those people are nowhere to be found among employed lawyers or employed human beings.<br /><br />Even partners are losing jobs right and left in some practice areas, years before retirement age, and finding no takers for their services or jobs that one would never go to a top law school for. No matter where in the U.S. a lawyer applies, the competition for jobs is unbelievable.<br /><br />Harvard does not help unless a lawyer is under 45. It is the disappearing Harvard Law degree unless a lawyer can hold his or her job until her or she is ready to retire.<br /><br />Think carefully before you go to Harvard Law School or another top law school. Think about healthcare or education where you can work when you want to, as long as you are able.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-89427354280075604162016-04-25T07:37:55.351-06:002016-04-25T07:37:55.351-06:00Good point, Nando.
Seton Hall, supposedly the Har...Good point, Nando.<br /><br />Seton Hall, supposedly the Harvard of Northern New Jersey, has become a dumping ground for unemployable sociopaths of all kinds. From what I've seen they're unreadable as well. They're in it only for the sweet, sweet student loan money. Anyone except a resident of North Jersey attending on full scholarship is guaranteed a lifetime of failure, poverty, and collection harassment. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-3175783120661780572016-04-24T22:22:42.298-06:002016-04-24T22:22:42.298-06:00"More than a third of practicing attorneys in..."More than a third of practicing attorneys in the United States are problem drinkers and 28 percent struggle with depression, according to a new study conducted by the American Bar Association and the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation.<br /><br />Researchers surveyed nearly 13,000 attorneys nationwide—to date the most comprehensive effort to quantify substance abuse and depression rates in the profession—and found that those problems are far more common among attorneys than other professionals.<br /><br />For example, 15 percent of physicians and surgeons are problem drinkers based on the amount of alcohol they consume or the frequency they drink, compared to 36 percent of lawyers.<br /><br />“This long overdue study clearly validates the widely held but empirically undersupported view that our profession faces truly significant challenges related to attorney well-being,” said Patrick Krill, an attorney who runs a substance-abuse treatment program for lawyers and judges at Hazelden and a co-author of the study. “Any way you look at it, this data is very alarming, and paints the picture of an unsustainable professional culture that’s harming too many people.”<br /><br />The study, titled “The Prevalence of Substance Use and Other Mental Health Concerns Among American Attorneys,” appears in the February edition of the Journal of Addiction Medicine."<br /><br />http://journals.lww.com/journaladdictionmedicine/Fulltext/2016/02000/The_Prevalence_of_Substance_Use_and_Other_Mental.8.aspx<br /><br />"Mental health crises plague attorneys along with alcohol abuse, study says"<br />http://www.calbarjournal.com/March2016/TopHeadlines/TH1.aspxAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-33663152222122105192016-04-24T19:58:49.295-06:002016-04-24T19:58:49.295-06:00Oh, yes, that's exactly what happened. I'v...Oh, yes, that's exactly what happened. I've said for years that I attended an élite law school, but actually I went to Shittin' Hall and got bad grades from Franzese and Simkovic. My bitterness about that experience has become transmogrified into a vicious and self-serving attack on the whole law-school enterprise. How did you call my bluff?Old Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02399124824529778710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-49870490648898759782016-04-24T19:25:04.773-06:002016-04-24T19:25:04.773-06:00I think 2:09 values positivity over accuracy. I su...I think 2:09 values positivity over accuracy. I suppose prioritizing bullshit over factual correctness is "thinking like a lawyer."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-68055836582526804562016-04-24T19:20:20.505-06:002016-04-24T19:20:20.505-06:00I've been a lawyer now for going on 19 years. ...I've been a lawyer now for going on 19 years. I live in an area with a low cost of living, but people don't make much money here. The median annual income for lawyers has been dropping steadily. It is now I believe $54,000 a year, so half make less than that. I make a little more, but barely. I work for a salary plus a percentage of what I bring in, or that's the way it is supposed to work. I used to get paid that percentage of the what we made in the form of bonuses on cases I brought into the office. I haven't gotten one of those in over eight months. Revenues are down in our four offices and our boss just quit paying us the bonuses. There are only three attorneys other than our boss. We're all owed thousands in bonuses and sometimes we don't even get our salary checks or we get shorted on those checks. I'm owed thousands in salary checks. <br /><br />None of us have quit our jobs though because there is just nothing else out there. There are no jobs and sole practitioners are filing bankruptcy left and right. So far my boss has always pays me back when he misses a check. It sucks, but I guess I just feel lucky to have a job. So many are out of work or just barely scraping by. I have a giant corner office with marble floors and $1,300 chair and Mercedes to drive with a gas card. I could be doing worse, but man I never dreamed being a lawyer would be such a hard way to make a living. <br /><br />I don't mind working hard. I don't mind working long hours. I hate doing that and having such little free time and such little time with my family when I'm barely making any money doing it though. Lately my wife has been earning more than me and she only has an associates degree. She's an RN, a nurse, and earns her money, but I just never dreamed that 19 years into it I would be making this little money. We have no benefits either. The wife has excellent benefits. There was no money to pay for my continuing legal education expenses or licensing expenses in the two states where I work the last couple of years. A lot of times I have to buy office supplies out of my own pocket. If revenues don't pick up the office is going to go under and I'm going to be competing with new graduates for jobs. We just keep lowering our prices though and people still can't pay us what they owe us so we're working more cases than ever for a fraction of what we were pulling in. It's killing me. <br /><br />Man, this business sucks. It's only going to get worse if law schools don't start shutting down. I feel sorry for the new guys. I feel for everybody in this God forsaken business. I think there is a special place in Hell for law professors and marketing folks at law schools who keep encouraging people to go to law school. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-32828419409756032512016-04-24T14:55:37.930-06:002016-04-24T14:55:37.930-06:00I think 2:09 just put dybbuk in his place.I think 2:09 just put dybbuk in his place.Law School Truth Centerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13166092871374037640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-33361616211559138852016-04-24T14:09:39.352-06:002016-04-24T14:09:39.352-06:00Let me guess you got a bad grade in her class? Wow...Let me guess you got a bad grade in her class? Wow. Don't hate on a positive attitude. Great professor and amazing person. If you don't like her philosophy, don't read her book. PS it sounds like law was always a bad fit for you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-31026199235261104962016-04-23T18:48:37.692-06:002016-04-23T18:48:37.692-06:00Old Guy,
How dare you criticize attendance at law...Old Guy,<br /><br />How dare you criticize attendance at law school!!!! According to the Salary and Income issue of Parade Magazine, Attorney Brian Bixby, 63, of Boston earned $875K last year. You need to read the book, PAL.Captain Hruska Carswell, Continuance Kingnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-57571284422307616562016-04-23T12:25:58.985-06:002016-04-23T12:25:58.985-06:00I don't know why I'm dignifying this shite...I don't know why I'm dignifying this shite with an answer, but here goes:<br /><br />—— The world is yours.<br /><br />Yes. You're a veritable Ozymandias, 0L. Nay, you're a fucking god. After all, you've been admitted to Thomas Jefferson. Maybe even with a $1000 "scholarship". Proof positive of your divine glory. You shit strawberry ice cream. God Herself genuflects before you.<br /><br />—— As a lawyer, you are uniquely trained to ordain positive outcomes and alter the course of history for the better.<br /><br />Yes, your miraculous powers stem <i>uniquely</i> from that magical training that you got for a mere $300k in non-dischargeable debt bearing an almost usurious rate of interest. And you can <i>ordain</i> positive outcomes. Just say the word, and—poof!—the whole fucking planet will stop rotating on its axis.<br /><br />—— You will lead with both your mind and your heart.<br /><br />Anybody who would spend $20 on Franzese's book is obviously a born leader.<br /><br />—— Law school will teach you a method of analysis and hone your powers of discernment so that you can and will become a ninja for the good.<br /><br />And if you act now, we'll throw in a free nunchaku.<br /><br />—— REASON TWO: The law is a magnificent career path. It will allow you to do well ...<br /><br />Oh, yes, indeed. At Seton Hall, for example, the median salary for the 76.1% of 2014 graduates who reported this information was the princely sum of $50,707. That can be yours for the estimated price of $269,855.<br /><br />—— ... and, most essentially, to find meaning in the work you do.<br /><br />Don't listen to the naysayers and the killjoys. There's a hell of a lot of meaning to be found in scooping French fries or handing out shopping carts.<br /><br />—— REASON TEN: You will change your life by speaking only good things about it and others.<br /><br />Don't ever breathe a negative word about the law-school scam.<br /><br />—— In school and at work, relentlessly say thank you to everyone who is a part of your path.<br /><br />Starting with your saintly professors. "Thank you, Franzese, for shoring up the law-school scam. Thank you for your obscenely high salary. Thank you for selling a $300k bill of goods to foolish students."<br /><br />—— The faultfinders seem so prevalent because they are so noisy.<br /><br />Indeed. We dominate the media. We drown out the still small voices of modest, humble souls like Franzese, McElroy, Leong, Leiter, and Dougie Fresh.<br /><br />—— Move away from that cacophony of grievance and lead the team of cheerleaders for the good.<br /><br />Yes! Lead the cheers for Franzese! Give me an F! Give me an R! Give me an A! (And a U and a D.)<br /><br />Old Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02399124824529778710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-59684302569545987432016-04-23T11:44:17.529-06:002016-04-23T11:44:17.529-06:00Amazingly enough, several people have praised this...Amazingly enough, several people have praised this nauseating tripe on Amazon.com. Unlike the obvious shills who touted Lisa McElroy's cretinous "novel" as soon as it was released, the people singing dithyrambs to Norman Vincent Franzese seem sincere. <br />Old Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02399124824529778710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-80365343701519790022016-04-23T05:18:10.059-06:002016-04-23T05:18:10.059-06:00Shorter Franzese:
"work sets you free"...Shorter Franzese:<br /><br /> "work sets you free"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-36323234754225756612016-04-22T22:41:03.616-06:002016-04-22T22:41:03.616-06:00I'm just picturing the new line of textbooks f...I'm just picturing the new line of textbooks for the current crop of law students, all named "Dummies Guide to [xxxx] Law".Atavisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04322154136007443079noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-54386906792500245212016-04-22T09:32:43.871-06:002016-04-22T09:32:43.871-06:00Utter crap.
Fake It 'Till You Make It??
Real...Utter crap.<br /><br />Fake It 'Till You Make It??<br /><br />Really???<br /><br />That may work in fields where they don't thoroughly probe your colon 10 years out asking what your LSAT score was, let alone for transcripts, class rank, etc.<br /><br />You can't "fake it till you make it" in law because the credentials and necessary pedigree are either there or they're not. It's completely binary and the opportunities presented flow from this without exception (I'm omitting having all-important family wealth / connections here.. For 99% the above IS the absolute Rule..)<br /><br />No amount of bullshit positive thinking will open doors in the legal field that weren't already open based on the above. Conversely, negative thinking won't do much damage, IMO. In fact, it just *might* help a Lemming or two, i.e. persuade someone that law just might not be a viable career choice OR push a practicing lawyer to move out of this shit "profession", if they can, and on to greener pastures.<br /><br />She's hit the 30 year mark in academia feasting at the trough. This is the person dispensing advice to people about practicing law?<br /><br />She's the goddamn Tony Robbins of the industry. <br /><br />Affirmations, positive thinking, and pep talks mean SHIT without a solid well-researched Game Plan that has a high degree of success and then implementing that plan into action and then finally results.<br /><br />The analogy to law would be: Mom is a Partner at a large firm. Dad is a CEO of a small $50 million+ company. Mom and Dad decide to donate some cashola to some T14 school. They sent me to some elite recognized exclusive prep college. I have the grades. I'm being tutored for the LSATm etc.<br /><br />That's a Game Plan for law vs. your average lemming who is so far behind the above example in the Power Curve it's not even funny..<br /><br />The above hypothetical person, btw, will likely Reverse Robin-Hood her classmates, etc. because this is how the Real 'Murica works: The 1% Top Take All. YOU get what's left - the scraps. You're the one gambling with, maybe, a 2-3% chance of success vs. the above person who, through her family wealth and contacts plus excessive constant grooming, will CRUSH you like a Bug.. <br /><br />"Exactly; there is no way to parody this drivel. The subtitle of the book ought to be "Don't worry, be happy...so long as you keep sending that federally insured loan $$$ my way.""<br /><br />Bingo.<br /><br />This is pure Boomerism in all it's glory.<br /><br />I had to sit through her drivel in Bar Review. That was bad enough.. Now this?!??<br /><br />This makes my brain want to blow up..<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-703489011520201032016-04-22T09:04:26.300-06:002016-04-22T09:04:26.300-06:00When I was twenty-something, I had a subscription ...When I was twenty-something, I had a subscription to Soviet Life. I was inspired to kick Ronald "Deficit" Reagan in the ass. Anyway, these "masters of the universe" need to believe they have found meaning in their work. The only reason that chasing after 3 bill retail thefts is meaningful to me, is because I find it fascinating and challenging to represent mopes. The worse, the better. I may not make my Obama Care payment, but it is a hoot. Folks who read this book are trying to purchase this "hoot."Captain Hruska Carswell, Continuance Kingnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-25393692404591642262016-04-22T08:30:32.119-06:002016-04-22T08:30:32.119-06:00Excellent comment from the trenches. Prospective ...Excellent comment from the trenches. Prospective law students (and LawProfs/administrators, hello) would do well to read this.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-68103704119343687802016-04-22T07:51:05.478-06:002016-04-22T07:51:05.478-06:00Someone who seeks this book to discover meaning an...Someone who seeks this book to discover meaning and themselves, has not and never will. I once had a girlfriend who tried to search for meaning and purpose not from her life, but from art and paintings that OTHERS did. She never figured out it's what you do and how that shapes you.... She would find this book "inspirational." I broke up with her when she told me "let's make a baby." I thought, Holy Shit? With this chick? Is was my Seth Rogan moment.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-79300848964289259092016-04-22T07:43:46.443-06:002016-04-22T07:43:46.443-06:00Anon at 6:35 am:
You must practice in Illinois. A...Anon at 6:35 am:<br /><br />You must practice in Illinois. Among the miles of magnificence, one will come across MASSIVE billboards schilling $49.00 for traffic court representation. The Ticket Clinic---DON'T PAY THAT TICKET!!!! And to think just a few years ago, attorneys were getting 5 Bills for a petty traffic ticket....and that was considered cheap. Captain Hruska Carswell, Continuance Kingnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-56452616190113158332016-04-22T07:34:59.663-06:002016-04-22T07:34:59.663-06:00The Little Engine was marketed to children with a ...The Little Engine was marketed to children with a nice moral tale. The touchy feely Law Happiness book is a sales pitch to attorneys and students who can't find meaning in what they do. This professor cynically knows that they don't belong in the Law, so she wrote a hammer for these square pegs. In other words, not a good fit.Captain Hruska Carswell, Continuance Kingnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-416715064245844332016-04-22T06:35:03.710-06:002016-04-22T06:35:03.710-06:00I can’t fathom why happiness is discussed in this ...I can’t fathom why happiness is discussed in this book. <br /><br />The vast majority of people looking at law school see it as a path to some sort of a way to make a living. Earning a living is rooted in being of use to others. But developments occurring over the past 25 years, including irresponsible overproduction of lawyers, advancing technology, and the 2008 economic downturn, have led to a desperately bleak situation where thousands of excess lawyers cage fight for work in a stagnant market. To top it off, the glut has led to further restrictions like tort reform and jury hostility to claimants. <br /><br />We simply don’t need any more lawyers now. Now and for the foreseeable future, there’s no point in becoming a lawyer. Today, people don’t seek out lawyers.... lawyers impose themselves on people and drum up claims. Watch TV. People who actually need lawyers have a host of desperately competing solos and microfirms from which to choose. Why wade into this troubled situation? You won’t make anyone happy. You won’t be fulfilling any needs that can’t already be met, and then some. “Taking a stand for decency” is hard when you’re trying to undercut another solo for a two-bill DUI. <br /><br />Understanding you’re neither needed nor wanted in law and then redirecting your efforts is surely the foundation for personal happiness and self worth. These feelings are promoted by working for people who genuinely want and need your help and can compensate you for it. (No, not make you rich, but enough to allow you to eat and buy clothes). <br /><br />Look at it this way. The act of helping an elderly person across a street is a kind, helpful and useful gesture. Happy face. But when 17 young men compete over one elderly lady at the corner, the picture turns ugly. She is likely threatened and possibly feels harassed. Frown. Seventeen people are neither wanted nor needed for the task. You can’t force yourself on others and expect happiness on either side of the equation. Today’s backlash is not against the concept of helping the proverbial “old lady” across the street (that’s still ok); it’s against the growing horde of “crossing helpers” whose numerosity threaten her. <br /><br />Be of true service to others, and help to fill their genuine needs. Now THAT’S something to be excited about and feel proud of. And yes, you will find meaning in that work. Forcing yourself into a hopelessly glutted market where you’re neither needed nor wanted cannot lead to happiness for anyone involved. Law’s not that rainbow today. Used to be. Maybe in 25 years (????). But not today.<br /><br />As I said, I can’t understand why anyone promoting happiness would urge law school at this particular point in time. The mention of “dreams” and concepts of “majesty” and “nobility” point to self-imagined grandeur, not service to others. <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-21130676817169707192016-04-21T22:53:11.032-06:002016-04-21T22:53:11.032-06:00Any twenty-something who finds that garbage inspir...Any twenty-something who finds that garbage inspirational should be presumptively inadmissible to university. Franzese's shit is foul enough to make Pollyanna blanch.<br />Old Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02399124824529778710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-46104336892871773152016-04-21T21:03:38.527-06:002016-04-21T21:03:38.527-06:00Fifty times as asinine as Jonathan Livingston Seag...Fifty times as asinine as <i>Jonathan Livingston Seagull</i>. Which in turn is ten times as asinine as <i>The Little Engine that Could</i>.<br /><br />Just one quick comment on the substance—such as it is—of this steaming pile of horse shit:<br /><br />"The world rises (or falls) to meet your level of expectation", quoth scamster Paula "Zig Ziglar" Franzese. In other words, if you get a bad outcome, you have only yourself to blame. Certainly don't blame the law-school scam.<br /><br />Far better advice from one of my favorite professors in law school: "The key to law school is to lower your expectations".<br /><br />Old Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02399124824529778710noreply@blogger.com