Another View: Lock the Law School Doors

NYT ^ | 09/02/09

[TigerLikesRooster]

Another View: Lock the Law School Doors

September 2, 2009, 10:00 am

Dan Slater, a former litigator, argues that there are too many places at too many law schools, especially with the current hiring slump at law firms.

This summer, in the staid world of legal education, where curriculum is uniform and scholars are trained in the art of like-mindedness, one dean hatched a contrary plan.

In a memo to incoming students, Patricia D. White, the dean of University of Miami School of Law, surmised: “Perhaps many of you are looking to law school as a safe harbor in which you can wait out the current economic storm.” She then urged them to “think hard” about their plans and offered incentives for those willing to defer for one year.

“The nature of the legal profession is in great flux,” Dean White observed. “It is very difficult to predict what the employment landscape for young lawyers will be in May 2012 and thereafter.”

[TigerLikesRooster]

Bubble in legal profession is bursting, too.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[mo]

the most thing to do for the country would be to shutter 50% of the law schools...this fall.

[TigerLikesRooster]

We can use a playbook Henry VIII used. Drag around cannons, visiting one law school after another and if a law school refuse to shut down, just fire cannons until it turns into smoldering ruins.

[mo]

From what I’ve seen...that’s probably about what it’ll take....unfortunately ..a high incidence of collateral damage!!

[Secret Agent Man]

What’s going to happen by May 2012?

Our whole system of law is going to change? Have any law at all?

Tort reform finally gets passed?

We finally put thousands of shysters at the bottom of the ocean and call it ‘a good start’?

[MplsSteve]

One characteristic I have noticed of many law school is what happens when a person goes into law school and how they’ve changed when they’ve come out.

I can name three individuals who went into law school as fairly staunch Republicans. Not the country club type of Republicans either. Two of the three prided themselves as being quite conservative.

After three years of law school, they have come out as liberals. This was number of years ago and they’re all still quite liberal.

Call me naive I guess but I thought the political indoctrination phase of higher education ended when it came to law school and perhaps med schools as well. I thought that they taught people how to practic law and not necessarily think idelogically different.

If there’s anyone out there whose got some thought on why law school seems to tuern people into flaming liberals, I’d like to hear it.

[Hodar]

Funny how the law schools can regulate the laws of Supply and Demand as they will; and it's assumed to be legitimate.

But when Engineers protest the existance, let alone increase in H-1B Visas; we are ignored and called xenophobic, rascist and greedy.

[mo]

“If there’s anyone out there whose got some thought on why law school seems to tuern people into flaming liberals, I’d like to hear it....”

Follow the money....no cash in Constitutional Law...gets in the King’s way....plenty of opportunity screwing over the peons and peasants for the King....

[GeronL]

There was talk of building a free law school... its been a while though... I hope it was dropped

[GOPJ]

Thanks for the ping.

[nufsed]

Can we pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting lawyers from running for public office?

[Feasor13]

I went to law school and came out more conservative as did many of my buddies.

[perez24]

I think it’s when they would graduate.

[truthguy]

Funny how the law schools can regulate the laws of Supply and Demand as they will; and it's assumed to be legitimate.
But when Engineers protest the existence, let alone increase in H-1B Visas; we are ignored and called xenophobic, racist and greedy.

Yes, you are absolutely correct. This has been a pet peeve of mind for a very long time. We are flooded with H-1B Visas in an effort to drive down wages of Engineers and Programmers (Software Engineers) mostly by companies who want people who are cheap. However most of these people do not have proficiency of English and don't have the license to practice law. If there were some crazy way that these H1-B Visa types could work in the legal profession you would see the rules change in about 10 seconds.

[Incorrigible]

Let’s off-shore all the lawyers!

[Trod Upon]

It’s three years of focusing only on what judges and politicians say is allowed, and how to gain advantage within those constraints, without regard to the morality or justice of the situation. Law is no longer a canonization of our society’s values but rather a tool of advantage and plunder. Then they get out, don’t get the six figure job they thought law school was the ticket to (as the vast majority of lawyers never do) and spend the rest of their days stewing in envy. Envy + learned disregard of conscience = leftist. Easy.

[CaptainAmiigaf]

An excellent idea. About 2 1/2 miles offshore, would help a good deal.

[elk]

First, the 3rd year of law school is mostly useless, a cash cow for the university to which any given law school is attached.

Second, a bunch of indentured servants are pumped out (beholden to gigantic loans), unable to afford to think outside the box.

I recall law school classmates saying, "well, Professor A is an outright Commie, but if you don't agree, forget your grade (unless you go and smoke pot with him on weekends), so viva-la-proletariat on an exam, to get by." Sad.

[John Will]

You don’t need to bring in H-1B hoards to do that with Law. Any JD that is not from Harvard,Stanford,Yale,Berkerly, Columbia,Northwestern,NYU,Virgina,Chicago,Upenn,Cornell,Duke,Michigan or Georgetown is pretty much considered not worthy of the elite jobs.