Law Dean Says Schools ‘Exploiting’ Students Who Don’t Succeed

Law Dean Says Schools ‘Exploiting’ Students Who Don’t Succeed
Posted Jan 20, 2009, ABA Law Journal
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Law schools are “exploiting” many students who aren’t successful, according to a law school dean who spoke at a program on law school rankings earlier this month.

“We should be ashamed of ourselves," said Richard Matasar, dean of New York Law School.

Matasar said schools need to take responsibility for the failures of their students, according to an account of his Jan. 9 remarks by TaxProf Blog. Matasar said a law school education can cost as much as $120,000 for a students who are making a “lottery shot” at being in the top 10 percent of their class so they can get high-paying jobs.

He spoke during a program sponsored by the Association of American Law Schools that is available in a podcast. TaxProf Blog noted Matasar’s remarks and highlighted a Forbes article that questions whether students are being misled into believing that large school debt translates into a life of economic privilege. The article featured a lawyer couple divorcing amid overwhelming stress because of $190,000 in student debt.

“We own our students' outcomes," Matasar said at the AALS program. "We took them. We took their money. We live on their money. … And if they don't have a good outcome in life, we're exploiting them. It's our responsibility to own the outcomes of our institutions. If they're not doing well ... it's gotta be fixed. Or we should shut the damn place down. And that's a moral responsibility that we bear in the academy.”

At 50 law schools, 20 percent of the students either flunked out, can’t find jobs or have unknown outcomes, according to another speaker at the program, Indiana University law professor William Henderson. TaxProf Blog also transcribed some of his remarks.

Matasar questioned whether students are beginning to understand that law school does not guarantee a good job. He said registrations for the law school admissions test are flat or below the norm for this year. “That's never happened in a downturn in the economy before,” he said. “They're catching on. Maybe this thing they are doing is not so valuable. Maybe the chance at being in the top 10 percent is not a good enough lottery shot in order to effectively spend $120,000 and see it blow up at the end of three years of law school.”

The sh-t is flying in Florida

Feces-throwing monkey on the loose in Tampa Bay

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) - Wildlife officials said a rhesus monkey known to throw feces when mad is on the loose in Tampa Bay. Authorities have been trying to capture the primate since Tuesday afternoon, but it managed to evade a bucket truck and tranquilizer dart.

Gary Morse with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says the adult male is thought to have escaped from an unlicensed source. It was last seen in Clearwater.

The monkey is not considered dangerous.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D95N55DG0&show_article=1

Read 25 Things Lawyers Need to Know in Representing Personal Injury Clients in Maryland

http://www.millerandzois.com/25autocases.html

Read 25 Things Lawyers Need to Know in Representing Personal Injury Clients in Maryland
By Laura G. Zois

Ms. Zois served many years at various insurance companies in Maryland. She now practices as a Plaintiff's attorney in Personal Injury cases. What did Ms. Zois learn the first seven years that has been invaluable knowledge to her in the last four?

She writes:

"The same mistakes were being made over and over again; recognizing this aided my defense of the insurance companies and prevents me from making those mistakes as a Maryland personal injury attorney. The best way to increase the value of your case is to avoid these weaknesses to the largest extent possible. The cleaner a case is presented, the better the settlement offer or verdict. This article is not intended to be a hornbook on how to handle an auto tort case. It is my 'best practices' learned from trying personal injury cases for both sides. "

Click here to continue reading.