California Western School of Law is going to the dogs.

Can you mock something and approve of it at the same time? This photo depicts Neils Schaumann, President and Dean of the California Western School of Law, petting a dog. The photo appears on the "events calendar" of the California Western School of Law site and is meant to promote the school's Student and Diversity Services' "Law Dogs on Campus" event on April 15th. The California Western site urges law students to "[t]ake a finals study break and spend some quality time with trained therapy dogs."

 

I think this is a good idea. Therapy dogs have proven their value in providing comfort to persons suffering from anxiety or post-traumatic stress. The dogs selected to be trained as therapy dogs have particularly patient and affectionate dispositions, as the picture illustrates. Though, given that the animal depicted on the left is a fourth-tier law school dean, it is to be hoped that the animal on the right has recently gorged on beef liver and suffers from a temporarily inflamed bowel.

 

I expect that the California Western law students will get stress relief from petting these dogs, just as promised. So congratulations, without irony, to California Western Law School Student and Diversity Services for hosting a worthwhile event. 

 

The dogs don't care that California Western School of Law is a bottom-of-the-barrel law school, one of the 57 out of 201 ABA accredited schools that US News & World Report did not bother to rank.

 

The dogs don't care that the average graduate of the California Western School of Law is carrying  an incredible law school related debt of  $167,867, which is the second highest debt level among the 201 ABA accredited schools-- a debt level calculation, incidentally, that excludes undergraduate educational debt, and interest accrued thereon. [1]

 

The dogs don't care that the employment prospects of California Western law grads are dismal. Only 40.3% of the graduating class of 2012 obtained bar-required, full-time, long-term, non-solo jobs within nine months of graduation, and only 36.5% obtained such jobs in 2011. For both years, California Western's placement record was among the 40 worst of the 201 accredited law schools. [2]

The dogs don't care that California has had a severe and recurring budget crisis for several years,  so that the chances of a recent law grad obtaining a state public sector job remain worse there than elsewhere, which is saying a lot. Indeed, out of the 568 total members of California Western's graduating classes of 2011 and 2012, a mere 33 obtained a full-time judicial clerkship (at any level)  or a full-time government job within nine months of graduation. [3]

The dogs don't care that California has an unusually difficult bar exam.

 

The dogs don't care, but these points combined are likely to have a catastrophic impact on a graduating California Western law student's prospects in the human world. 

______________________________________________________

notes and links.

 

1. Edged out only by Thomas Jefferson School of Law, whose students graduate to a law school debt load of $168,800, and even worse job prospects than California Western's. Oh, San Diego, where is thy shame!

 

2. http://www.lstscorereports.com/?r=other#  (2012)

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?r=other&class=2011#

 

3. http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=calwestern&show=aba  (2012)

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=calwestern&show=ABA (2011)

Much, Much Worse

"The Jobs Crisis at Our Best Law Schools is Much, Much Worse than You Think," by Jordan Weissmann (The Atlantic)

Money Quote: "The problem isn't just about no-name law schools churning out JD's nobody wants to hire. Even graduates at some of the country's top programs are struggling."

"Much, much worse" than WE think is really saying something.

*****

"I went to college, law school and grad school -- because I wasn't born elite,"  by James Poulos (Forbes)

Money Quote: "It really is possible to get the best from an elite education without getting trapped in post-graduate hell — if only you’re willing to replace your love of money with a tolerance of debt, and you’re willing to flout the rules of absurd competition that produce so many credentialed casualties."

*****

"Calls Mount for Changing How Interest Rates are Set on Federal Student Loans," by Kelly Field (The Chronicle of Higher Education)

Money Quote: "President Obama's budget for the 2014 fiscal year, due out on Wednesday, is expected to propose moving to market-based interest rates o federal student loans."

Foolish Contradictions of Scam-Deniers‏

I won't add to the smackdown that JeffM has gotten elsewhere, both here and on JDUnderground (everyone but he himself is aware of it; his self-esteem is protecting him well. He almost had me persuaded at one point). I would add one thing to address his arguments further. He does what I might call the self-contradictory combination of selective out-of-context facts and woo-woo: 

Out-of-context Fact: "There is enough demand for legal services that the median income for those who hold occupations as attorneys is $115k."

But that doesn't count unemployed attorneys and includes big-pocket BigFlaw partners!

Woo-Woo: "It doesn't matter whether we can absorb 1 million grads. I don't plan my day tomorrow on the off-chance a North Korean nuke will hit my back-yard."

But what if everyone adopts your attitude: there still wouldn't be enough jobs? 

Out-of-Context fact: "It's a false proposition. The statistics will NOT LIE. Period. This, by definition, means that there will always remain a sizable segment who will NOT adopt the right approach."

Statistics? Why do you think your own personal career, started decades ago, applies to others, especially recent grads?

Woo-Woo: "I don't care to philosophize about it. I am more of a non-fiction sort of person."

And so, we see that if even if we know nothing else, a self-contradiction cannot be so. O, you silly Scam-Deniers!

Law School News Round Up

"Drexel to offer two-year law degree,"  by Associated Press (PhillyBurbs.com)

Money Quote: "With enthusiasm for law school waning over concerns about high student debt, Drexel University is creating a two-year degree program designed to help new attorneys get into the workforce sooner and start making money. The accelerated juris doctor degree program at the Earle Mack School of Law will require the same amount of coursework and cost the same as the traditional three-year degree — about $37,000 tuition per year, plus room and board." (Emphasis added.)

If I am reading this correctly, the two-year degree is going to cost the same as the three-year degree. The only difference is you "start making money" sooner?!?

*****

"Undeterred by declining enrollment, University of Michigan keeps admission practices the same" by Kellie Woodhouse (AnnArbor.com)

Money Quote: "While some law schools are choosing to cut their class sizes due to souring job prospects and declining applications, it's business as usual for the University of Michigan Law School." The article goes on to claim U of M has 95% of its 2011 law grads employed. Nice debate going on in the comment section of the article.

*****

"New UC Law School a Bad Idea," by Dan Walters (Fresnobee.com)

Money Quote: "CPEC was absolutely correct six years ago in concluding that the state had more than enough lawyers and didn't need another expensive, taxpayer-subsidized law school. There is -- or should be -- a lesson in this tale."

Mr. Walter's writes an "I told you so" column.

*****

"Law schools still fighting off graduate's charges of Fraud over employment statistics," in JD Journal

Interesting chart on employment outcomes in California law schools clearly shows the food chain.

*****

"Law schools get 'lawyered," by Kevin Simms (The Bottom Line)

Good round up of the various class actions filed against various law schools.

Miss OTLSS - Advice Columnist

I received the following email recently:

Dear Miss OTLSS:

I don't know what to do!!!! I have an embarrassing problem and it's starting to consume my entire life. I have an Internet addiction. I obsess over a single web site and go there dozens of times each day to read the posts and see who might be writing about me. But here's the weird thing. They never are writing about me. And that upsets me. It's like I'm obsessed that they used to talk about me, but now everyone has forgotten that I even exist.
 

Sometimes, when I drink after work, I start posting dumb things in the comments section to try to get attention and turn the conversation towards me. I know it's stupid, and I know that mixing alcohol and Internet comments never turns out well, but I do it anyway. I pretend that the police are coming to arrest them, and I know all these little triggers of things to say that will get people to post comments about me. And it makes the people really mad. They don't like me changing the conversation from important things they are discussing and towards topics about me. I don't know why this annoys them and makes them so angry. Who wouldn't want to talk about me?
 

I know my parents and family and friends are upset that I continue to subject myself to this kind of abuse online, but I just can't stay away! I am ashamed of what I do and I know that I have lots of debt and have made some bad decisions but what advice do you have to help me stop this cycle of destructive behavior. It's like this site is my life.
 

What can I do?
 

Sincerely,
 

John Koch
Ron Lock

And I read that (fake) email and thought, "Hey, I can have some fun with this. Imagine the laughter and comments I could generate with some cheap jokes and silliness."

But then I thought otherwise.

You see, while some of our targets - Brian Leiter, Tamara Piety, assorted deans and professors and administrators and hangers-on who live from the scam - are valid, I'm not sure that John, er, I mean Ron is.  So rather than a lighthearted jab at this particular person, I'm going to go the serious route:

Dear John Ron:

Get help. I mean that. Get help. What started as a healthy little hobby many years ago with your initial scamblogging has turned into an unhealthy obsession that is ruining your life. And sometimes, I worry that you've lost control of this, that you've let it take over your entire existence, and that you're in danger of ruining the rest of your life with this addiction. Yes, addiction.

The Internet can do that. It's addictive, and I suspect you're addicted to something else too. Much like many other addictions and addictive substances, there are those who can handle it and those who, for whatever reason, just spiral out of control through no fault of their own. Alcohol, for instance. Most people can sensibly enjoy a drink or two once in a while. Some can't - we all know them, those who drink a six pack each night of the week and too much at parties, but they still manage to kind-of function. And some, a few, just can't stop the alcohol from taking over their lives, and their failure to manage their addition kills them. They lose jobs, drive drunk, engage in extremely risky behavior, become depressed, drink more to compensate, and end up alone in hospitals and graves.

And your addictions, whatever it is that is bringing you back here time and time again, is killing you. I read your blog over the years. I read your comments on other sites over the years. I've seen your pieces on the news, listened to your radio interviews. And I saw that what started as an almost therapeutic outlet became something that overtook your life. You convinced yourself that people were out to get you, that you were in a hopeless situation, that there was no solution to your problems with debt. It's almost as if you've decided that this is going to kill you. And, fairly or unfairly, rightly or wrongly, there are those who may have used you in the process - "Look here, look at what we've found. This guy graduated from law school and has hundreds of thousands in debt that will never go away. Stay away from law school lest you end up like him!"

Sorry to play armchair therapist, but it's almost as if you want to be humiliated, punished, mistreated, abused, and treated like crap for your sin of making the mistake of going to law school. It makes you feel as bad as you think you should feel under that mess you're in right now.

Look, I buy into the scam. We all do. It's real. I know you buy into it too. And I know the feeling of being scammed by a law school, of paying close to $150K for an education, and many years later, after paying the loans diligently (when employed - forbearance when not), the balances have not gone down at all. It's depressing. It's crushing. And if you let it, it can consume your entire life.

But even though I buy into the scam, I try my hardest not to let it ruin my life. And it's rough at times. Some days, it's a struggle for thoughts of anything else get a word in between thoughts of how my own life has been ruined by the decision I made to go to law school. Some days, I really do believe that my last thought on this earth, right before I die, will be how law school ruined my life. Not thoughts of my kids, or husband, or the great times that I have had and can have again. The thought that law school ruined it.

And here's why I'm writing this. It's because I've struggled with alcohol for twenty five years now, ever since my late teens. At first, it was something I enjoyed, then a problem I thought I could control, then a mess. A "28 Days" Sandra Bullock kind of mess. And before law school, I had got my life back together again, married, kids. Then I went to law school. The lies, the debt, the lack of jobs and any kind of future, all of that had me drinking again by the third year of law school, when it was clear that it had all fallen apart. I would drink before classes. I would drink after classes. And I drank to get me through the ups and downs of post-JD life. The unemployment. Strangely, the employment was often worse. You want a trigger for alcohol abuse? Try working for a solo who listens at the door while you're peeing (yes, I can hear you tiptoeing outside as I sit and scampering off when I wipe, you pervert), then quitting that to go work in doc review. Yeah, my life worked out so well! Didn't see that career path mentioned on the law school web site. "Our graduates go on to enjoy careers in large law firms, government agencies, and for dirty old men with toilet fetishes."

And our little addictions are something that need to be taken very seriously. When life is good, we often drink less, take fewer drugs, and avoid those things we seek out in the down times that help us get through the day. But when life is bad, we look towards the bottle, the spliff, the coke, the Internet, risky sex, spending, gambling, whatever helps take our minds off the mess we're living through.

With so many law students and grads living what seems like a hopeless nightmare, addiction is a huge problem. Life for us is so bad, so often. What you're going through, John, is not unusual.

It's just that I think that you are exactly like me, in a way. We both struggle. Every day, I think about drinking. Sometimes, I still do drink. I'm no saint, and regularly my promise to keep alcohol out of the house just doesn't work. Life for me, post-JD, seems to be one recovery after another. And I bet it is for you, too. You avoid this site for a while, then something draws you back in. Alcohol? Internet addiction? Something harder? Only you know that. And it spirals out of control until you manage to grab onto something on your way down and pull yourself up, again and again. But for you, for me, for any of the silent ones out there who are struggling through these issues, there will come a time when that handhold won't be there and you - we - will fall further than we think.

I don't want this to necessarily be about you either, John. Like any advice column, it's directed at one person but read by many, all of whom could benefit from the same advice. So here it is: get some help, whether it's someone trusted you can talk to, a therapist, a group, whatever you can find. Just make sure you are not using what you're addicted to as the thing you trust to get you through. For me, a bottle of wine sounds like the best therapist in the world, but it's the worst thing I can do. For you, the a few drinks and then the Internet might seem like the best therapist, the best place to get things off your chest, but it's the very thing that is ruining your life. And for anyone else out there who is struggling with drinking, drugs, whatever it might be, just be very aware that as a law student or a post-JD, you're in a stage in your life where things may well be going very badly and you might find yourself in a situation where you wake up one morning and realize that you're out of control with whatever you're using to get you through the day.

I thought it was embarrassing to have a problem, and I was mortified that others might know and that I might need to get help. But I did. I still keep it - largely - a secret. Those close to me know. Most people don't. And they know that I'm not comfortable getting on a high horse and becoming completely sober. That's not me. They know that once in a while, it's better for me to have a drink or two and then pick myself up. And they know the warning signs, they know when to tell me to stop if it gets to that. And I have someone I can talk to, someone who I trust, just us two. Someone who I can confide in. Taking that first step and admitting to yourself that you have a problem is easy. You probably know it already. Taking that second step and admitting it to someone else, that's the hard part. But people do understand. There are people out there who can help. Believe me, John, everybody is screwed up. And people don't judge as much as you think when you ask for help. In fact, good people don't judge at all.

Have I got a solution for the debt crisis that many of us are struggling with? Nah. It's student debt, it'll be there for decades, and we have to pay it off somehow, no matter how much we push for change. I'm still not over that, and it's a depressing thought. It ruins lives, and you know that better than many. But we all have to do what we can, get whatever help we need, to make sure that in ten, twenty, thirty years, however long it takes, that we're still here, that we've managed to live a little, and that this mess doesn't consume our lives.

I hope you don't mind me writing this, John. It's not intended as any kind of personal attack. It's hopefully doing what I think you wanted to do all along, which was be a positive role model in helping others avoid falling into the JD and student debt trap. And if I'm right - and I think I might be - then you could do far more good by changing the conversation away from "look at the terrible mess I'm in, and here's how it's killing me", and towards "look at the terrible mess I'm in, and here's how I'm coping."
 

The Adjunct Law Professor

 

Sorry to be a downer, and sorry to post to not-very-amusing things two weeks in a row. I really do stand by what I wrote in my last paragraph: that I think that John could be a valuable voice of someone who can help others cope with addiction, a voice from someone who has hit rock bottom and clawed his way back up from a psychological perspective. The debt is going nowhere, but one thing we can control - and perhaps this is harder than paying off the debt - is whether we allow addiction to take over our lives.

John, you could do some real good with this. Or you could let it kill you. I'm just putting it out there. You're the only one who can decide what you want to do.

The Legal Academics Weigh In

"More than 50% of graduates aren't making a living - Study,"  by Jacob Gershman (Wall Street Journal)

Nothing loyal bloggers didn't already know, except now put into a serious academic study!

*****

y

"Course Load: The Growing Burden of College Fees," by Marian Wang (Pro Publica)

A good article about the tremendous number of "fees" with happy sounding names (who wouldn't want to pay a few extra bucks for "academic success"!) that are being added on to the tuition bill at check out time.

*****

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/04/07/3247913/new-uc-law-school-bad-idea.html#storylink=cp

"Goldilocks and Legal Education," by Luke Bierman (Huffington Post)

Money Quote: "If three years is too long, and two years is too short, maybe two-and-a half years is just right."

Luke Bierman is the "Associate Dean for Experiential Education, Law Professor, Northeastern University School of Law"

*****

"The real problem with law school: They train too many lawyers," by Eric Posner (Slate)

Money Quote: "Last month, a notable group of legal educators who call themselves the Coalition of Concerned Colleagues released a letter declaring that law schools have spewed forth more graduates than the legal market can absorb, resulting in rising unemployment among young lawyers, who cannot pay off colossal student loans....The CCC letter similarly argues that legal education should be less expensive and less uniform, which sounds fine in the abstract. But in the details, the proposed fixes will make the crisis worse than ever."

*****

"Law School is a Sham," by Steven J. Harper (Salon)

Mr. Harper stays on his virtual book tour drumming up interest in our cause.

The Land of High Self-Esteem Idiots‏

Soon the spirits of Rabbit, Turtle, Thunder, and a great being called Wakjonkaga came among the people in the shape of human beings, and told them that Co-No was not a gambling consultant but an evil spirit who was created before humankind was upon the earth. Rabbit said that this being was filled with jealousy and anger against the human race and was to be avoided at all costs. —Winnebago myth

I used to wonder why people behave the way they do. I saw much illogical behavior, so I eventually concluded that they were simply stupid people. I figured that if they can't reason properly, that is, basing their decisions and judgments on evidence (i.e., reality) and think logically, from cause & effect, they were just plain dumb. For example, superstition: otherwise normal people honestly expecting television psychics to speak to their dead relatives on a personal level. But worryingly, it seemed like so many people were stupid that society itself should have collapsed by this point. I witnessed stupidity in the young but also the old; the stupidity seemed randomly distributed throughout the population, whether in wizened ancients, middle-aged potbelly boomer-men, surf bums, or high schoolers. 

Recently, thanks to the help from our scam-denying friends, I finally understood the source of the ever-present "stuperstitions" of the world: emotional-driving biased thinking. The failure isn't intellectual, but emotional. Also called by its old fashioned equivalent term, wishful thinking. I prefer to call them High Self-Esteem Idiots. I am not referring to the ScamDeans, or their consciously complicit Professorial enablers, but the innocent bystanders like "JeffM" that a recent post on here discussed.