SBM Blog

Sign Of Market Forces At Work: First Big Law School Tuition Cut

In what the National Law Journal describes as the first significant law school tuition reduction since nationwide application totals began to decline in 2011, the University of Arizona is cutting tuition by 11% for in-state residents and an 8% for nonresidents.  Annual tuition for residents will be $24,381; non-residents, $38,841.

Cooley Law School At Western Michigan?

It's a courtship that has gone on for many years. Cooley Law School and Western Michigan have been, shall we say, friends with benefits in such things as joint degree programs and shared facility initiatives. For three years, they've talked about more. Now it looks like they are planning to tie the knot, or, in press-release-speak, they are "discussing the possibility of a stronger alliance that would create a formal affiliation between Cooley, a private law school, and WMU."

From the press release, here's the description of what's already in place:

• 2002—Cooley and WMU launch a partnership that brings a law school to Grand Rapids for the first time, when plans are announced to open a Cooley branch campus in conjunction with WMU's Graduate Center-Downtown in the Arena District. WMU completed a $1.6 million buildout of one floor of its Graduate Center to to meet Cooley's needs. In 2005, Cooley moved to its own facility near the WMU Graduate Center.
• 2002—WMU and Cooley launch a joint Juris Doctor/Master of Public Administration degree program.
• 2008—WMU and Cooley launch a joint Juris Doctor/Master of Business Administration degree program.
• 2011—The schools launch their third dual-degree partnership, providing West Michigan with its first-ever Juris Doctor/Master of Social Work degree program.

The Two-Year Law School Arrives

The Earle Mack School of Law at Drexel University announced yesterday that it will begin accepting applications this June for a two-year J.D. program, called Fast Forward, that will start in May, 2014.  Because Fast Forward requires the same number of credits as the traditional three-year J.D for graduation, it does not appear to offer the kind of tuition savings that some critics say is necessary in a challenging legal marketplace.  But by lopping off a year of law school it does reduce student living expenses and creates at least the chance of employment as a lawyer a year earlier than the traditional program.  The school said that due to the intensity of completing the J.D. program in just two years, "Fast Forward is best suited to students who have strong academic credentials, who have significant life experience after college or who have decided on a specific career path in legal practice."

First Lawsuit Alleging Fraudulent Law School Employment Data Comes To End Of The Road

The first of 15 lawsuits alleging fraudulent enticement filed against law schools across the country, including Michigan's Cooley Law School, has been dismissed by New York's highest court without comment. Jesse Strauss, the lawyer for the plaintiffs suing New York Law School, says that despite the outcome he feels that the effort has been worthwhile because it has put pressure on law schools to be more comprehensive, conscientious, and forthcoming about their employment statistics. 

Some of the 15 lawsuits continue. On March 20 a federal judge in New Jersey denied a motion to dismiss a fraud case against Widener University School of Law.  In California, state court lawsuits against the California Western School of Law, Golden Gate University School of Law, the University of San Francisco School of Law, Southwestern Law School, and Thomas Jefferson School of Law have survived initial motions to dismiss. The case against Cooley Law School, brought by Strauss and Michigan Law grad David Anziska, was dismissed in federal district court and is under appeal.

How Michigan's Bar Passage Rate Compares To Other States

The March edition of Bar Examiner, a publication of the National Conference of Bar Examiners, has  charts on the 2012 bar passage rates in the 50 states and District of Columbia (and U.S. territories).  Here's a PDF with Michigan's statistics highlighted. Bottom line, Michigan's July 2012 passage rate of 57% was the nation's fourth lowest, behind Wyoming (51%), District of Columbia (53%), and California (55%).  If you look only at the takers from accredited law schools, however, only Wyoming's passage rate is lower than Michigan's. Take a look at the 10-year summary while you're at it.

Scrap The Bar Exam? Illinois State Bar Says ... Maybe

There are a lot of reasons to be thinking about the how, what, and why of state bar exams, but scrapping it because law students are compiling too much debt? That's what a report to the Illinois State Bar Association suggests considering, joining Arizona and New York in alternatively urging consideration of offering the bar exam during the third year of law school:

[S]upreme courts could allow qualified students to take the bar exam in February of their third year, thus avoiding the cost of studying for the bar exam after graduation, and reducing the delay before beginning work. Such a proposal should be careful not to restrict the time law students have in their third year to become practice ready. Alternatively, supreme courts should consider offering bar admission to qualified graduates of their state’s law schools without a bar exam.

Wisconsin and New Hampshire are now the only states offering admission to the graduates of selected law schools within their state without exam ("diploma privilege").

The wide-ranging report spells out the probable impact of law school debt on access to justice, including:

• Small Law Firms Face Challenges Hiring and Retaining Competent Attorneys
• Fewer Lawyers are Able to Work in Public Interest Positions
• As Fewer Attorneys Find Sustainable Jobs in the Private Sector, More Attorneys Enter Solo Practice
• Attorneys Report that Debt Burdened Lawyers are Less Likely to Engage in Pro Bono Work
• Debt Drives Young Attorneys Away from Rural Areas
• Heavy Debt Burdens Decrease the Diversity of the Legal Profession
• Threats to Professionalism

The report was accepted by the Illinois State Bar Board of Governors last week, with the Board voting to recommend its adoption by the state bar's Assembly in June.

Games Law Schools Play To Beat The Ranking System

Above The Law's post on how the University of Virginia la school gets such great results in "yield" -- the percentage of students who accept offers of acceptance -- beautifully illustrates the lengths to which law schools will go to help their rankings. Kudos to the ATL for the clever picture, too.

Are The LSAT And GPAs Of Law School Admittees Really Declining?

Apparently yes.

Canada: No Drop In Law School Applications

Applications to law schools in the United States have been declining dramatically, but law school applications just across the border in Canada are holding steady, according to a report from the Law School Admission Council (LSAC).

Stephen Gillers at Legal Ethics Forum asks:

How can this be? Are we so overlawyered where by contrast Canada has found the market sweet spot? Are Canadian law graduates finding jobs, thereby explaining the continued strength in the Canadian application rate? And if so, why the difference?

A comment to the post offers these reasons as explanation:

Slight Uptick in Law School Applications -- But Who's Applying?

A drumbeat of downbeat news about the legal market is probably to blame for the collapse of the decades-old law school applicant souffle (before you scream "mixed metaphor" remember that loud noises can cause a souffle to fall), so what's the explanation behind a "slight uptick" in law school applications in the last month, keeping the general rate of decline below 20%?  A law professor notes in Brian Leiter's Law School Reports:

The perverse thing is that the largest percentage application decline has been among the strongest applicants (by GPA/LSAT).  For students of at least the top X law schools (and I've done no science to identify the "X", but I suspect it's at least "10") employment opportunities remain strong, and given recent law firm hiring patterns, advancement opportunities for this generation of law firm associates should be very positive.  The question for those students should be, as always, do you want to be a lawyer, and, second, do you value the education that LS can offer for other things you might want to do.

I appreciate that a general message of caution for law school applicants is wise, but I think people should also get advice relevant to their situation.  These are sensible points, and they do extend beyond "the top X."  Many state law schools are still reasonably priced, and have had, over the long haul, good professional outcomes for their graduates.  Many regional law schools, private and public, have strong market niches and, due to the competition for students, are discounting sticker price substantially.   Prospective students should, indeed, "get advice relevant to their situation," and that advice will mostly not be found on blogs or chat rooms, alas.

Brian Leiter concurs, and notes that the points apply beyond "the top X:" 

Many state law schools are still reasonably priced, and have had, over the long haul, good professional outcomes for their graduates.  Many regional law schools, private and public, have strong market niches and, due to the competition for students, are discounting sticker price substantially.   Prospective students should, indeed, "get advice relevant to their situation," and that advice will mostly not be found on blogs or chat rooms, alas.