A retired Canadian law professor claims the current Canadian law school model has turned legal education into "kindergarten for cretins." Robert Martin claims deregulation of law school tuition resulted in schools developing the Wal-Mart Model (presumably meaning law schools are now offering cheap education at a high volume). The McLean's article, which does not link to Martin's original article that was published in the journal, Interchange, does not specify whether Martin believes the legal market is over-saturated as a result, but by stating that law degrees can now be bought by virtually any sucker who will pay the inflated tuition, he is certainly implying just that.
I am a bit offended that Martin calls law school graduates illiterate and ignorant. Most law school graduates, even those who did not attend first-tier institutions, are probably fairly intelligent and ambitious, although misguided in their attempt to secure middle-class lifestyles by paying six-figures for degrees of questionable value. I believe most of the blame falls on the institutions who charge exorbitant tuition rates while promising graduates starting salaries of $70K +. Maybe that story will be in next month's issue.
Watch "Idiocracy". I like the part where the attorney tells his client that he got his law degree from Wal-Mart. Sadly, this is not too far off the mark. Who knows? I'm sure the ABA would approve such a law school. After all, Wal-Mart has DEEP pockets.
ReplyDeleteAnd it looks as if Wal-Mart itself is dipping its massive foot into the legal services market:
ReplyDeletehttp://abovethelaw.com/2009/11/the-wal-mart-of-law-firms-might-be-wal-mart/
The law school's legal education system is highly regulated by the ABA. The ABA's site team reviews old exams and papers. They review the teaching faculty. The site team looks at everything from trust funds to student transfer requests. I think in a way they want to put schools on probation. Further, the ABA now requires the school to have its graduating class pass the Bar Exam by the locals standard %. So, if FLa has a pass rate of 80% the school must have a graduating pass rate of 80%.
ReplyDeleteWhere the system breaks down is after the Bar Exam. You have a brunch of recent graduates that know nothing. They can't find jobs. They can't pay back the enormous loans. They fail not for lack of trying. What we want the ABA to do, and they won't, is say :I want the population of attorneys to total population be 1:1000. Adjust your admission to reflect this number.
The most ignorant cretins I've seen are those who frequent the Top Law Schools Forum.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree with this professor, but perhaps he was referring to the inordinate number of arrogant douchebags that seem to populate the law school halls - at least at my school...
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