Law Schools - Fraudulent Business

One of my few friends from law school and I had a really long conversation (more than an hour long, and made me feel homosexual for a second) about life (which included a lengthy healthy discussion about the fucked up system of law school itself + how fucking poor you still are even if you make six figures in NYC + how much little $ I would save post graduation in the City that knows how to fuck up the real estate market). After talking to him, and after seeing a fellow Blogger's website, I wrote a long comment. After reading it over (shut it I'm a dork), I decided to make it into an actual post. I think it completely makes sense, and here it goes with some minor revisions thereafter.

You know what's funny about law school (that's not in the Top 15 of the USNWR ranking since pretty much every student will get market jobs)? We're taught to be ethical by disclosing every fucking shit we've done in the past to the character & fitness committee, because we have to have a higher standard of ethics. The funny thing is, law schools (besides the top 10 schools) NEVER EVER disclose the material facts on their employment statistics, that could FULLY inform prospective candidates.

It's absolutely fucking hypocritical, and I want to ask the ABA how/why they don't find this to be just a "tad" bit ironic. We learn in corporations/securities regulations that companies must disclose all MATERIAL facts to potential investors (and would hold the CEO and the lawyer personally liable after the enactment of SOX). Granted, publicly traded securities and law schools are vastly different; but they have many commonalities to them.

First, the average law student racks up at least $100,000 in debt - if that's not a fucking investment, you tell me what that is. Second, as potential law students make choices and expect some kind of return on this "investment", just like any other investors would. Third, there is a market for law schools (supply and demand), just like the stock market itself, or any securities market.

Yet, law schools are allowed to manipulate their employment statistics all they want, and allow misled prospective law students to think that they'll be arguing 1st Amendment rights billing $700/hr (or negotiating the next break-through merger deal that's going to revolutionize a specific industry). It's such bullshit - and I get angry because I was one of those people (read: idiots) that was completely misled by faulty employment statistics. Furthermore, while I was fully aware of the fact that rankings mattered a lot if you weren't in the top 10 law schools, I didn't realize how subjective the grading system was. It's such bullshit, someone needs to step up to the ABA and let the voice of the majority of the law students be heard.

I honestly shouldn't complain, since I'm a 2L and have a "good job" lined up, and that was because I was a "sleazeball" and used one of my networks to get the job. But a good amount of people I know don't, and they weren't "privileged" enough to have the resources to abuse their network resources. And frankly, it pisses me off. It would be different if the law school were to honestly disclose what % of students graduate and are employed by "market-rate" firms, what % of students are in real "clerks" (e.g. not a traffic court), etc, and after full knowledge, the prospective candidate decided to go to the school anyway (it's called assumption of risk).

In all honesty, friend and I were talking... and I have a goal in my mind. I hope that friend is going to stick through with me on this idea. It's ballsy, but I feel that it'll be something for the first time in a long time, I have something to be passionate over.