Law School - Noto Law School

Student Sues Law School

February 6, 2011 Alejandro Calderon General, Law School

Law school is a one way street, and it doesn’t go in the student’s direction. David Powers was admitted to St. Johns School of Law (a toilet in New York), and when he filled out his application form, he included that he had been convicted of drug possession back in 1999. The school not only accepted him, they gave him a $20,000 scholarship. At the end of three semesters, he was third in his class.

He also is a CPA, and received a job offer from a prestigious firm and took a leave of absence. He had intended to go back this semester and also filled out his application to take the bar. He requested a letter of support from St. John’s about the prior conviction, but not only did they refuse to help one of their students, they rescinded his admission. Yep, they kicked him out for something they had known about. He is suing for a reversal of their decision to be total fucking hypocrites to rescind his admission.

Here’s what the University told him:

The University’s Assistant Dean of Students, Katherine Sullivan informed Powers in an email that, “information that you now provide in your [application’]…was not included in your [admission] application.” The university claimed he omitted the original charges for selling LSD and ecstasy to an undercover cop, according to the suit.

So, because he didn’t give the details of the charges he gets kicked out? Powers was a licensed CPA for Price Waterhouse, which is one of the best accounting firms in the world. He passed their background check and they knew about his conviction.

David’s real crime is that he forgot the most important rule about law school. If you’re a student and you made a mistake in the past and you’re honest about it, you pay for it the rest of your life. But if you’re a law school, like say, Villanova, and you “fudge” numbers to steal more money from students, you can lie for years and stay in business. One way street, David, and unfortunately, not going in your direction.

Law School Cast of Characters

October 5, 2010 Alejandro Calderon General, Law School

There are several blogs (including mine) trying to convince potential law students to just say no to law school. But for those of you who are still not convinced, I’ve made a list of the cast of characters that are in every law school, be it T-14 or TTT, and how to deal with them.

THE GUNNER – A gunner has his hand up throughout every class because he loves nothing more than the sound of his voice. He is convinced his knowledge of law culled from Boston Legal reruns is superior to that of his professors. Much has been written about The Gunner.
How to deal: Resist the temptation to shove his IPod up his ass, if only because a stint in prison will hurt your chances to practice law. Just roll your eyes with the rest of the class.

THE SAVIOR – This student is generally a vegetarian granola-eating child of hippies, and was raised hearing about how her parents marched for civil rights. She wants to change the world just like mommy and daddy claim they did.
How to deal: Don’t waste your breath trying to convince them that they can’t change the world, just talk about your last hunting trip and the steak you had for lunch. They will avoid you.

THE DEGREE COLLECTOR – Encouraged by their wealthy parents to learn as much as they can because “education beats ignorance” these students have taken higher education to a new level. Not unusual for a degree collector to have an MBA, MA, PhD, and MD. Their parents pay for all their degrees, so why not spend a million or two and 15 years collecting them? They are a problem for the curve; professional students are skilled test takers.
How to deal: Accept that they willup every curve in every class. Use them as your go to person when you need to borrow some money.

THE FAMOUS SPAWN – They try to be modest about the fact that mom and dad make headlines, and some are actually nice. All the professors and students will have their lips attached to this student’s ass.
How to deal: Pucker up with everyone else, or just ignore them. They like being ignored; they’ll respect you for it.

THE BITTER LSAT LOW SCORER- (Not found at T-14) These students are convinced that the LSAT is designed to keep everyone but rich white men from going to Harvard Law, and the only reason they ended up at a TT or TTT.
How to deal: If you want a fight, remind them that middle class Asians score the highest on the LSAT. Otherwise, just smile and walk away.

Massholes Start Law School

August 19, 2010 Alejandro Calderon General, Law School

One of the few law schools not handed instant accreditation by the ABA opened its doors to 182 students who watched too many episodes of Boston Legal. I’m sure it will prove more useful than the education they are about to receive.

University of Massachusetts Law School plans to spend over 13.8 million dollars to try and convince the ABA to give it accreditation. Here’s an idea: Why don’t they just call India and ask how much the ABA expects for a bribe? Might be easier, and the number might be lower than the 13.8 million they are about to spend. That way, they can use more of their suckers students money for inflated salaries.

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Law School Scam Article

August 16, 2010 Alejandro Calderon General, Law School

The New Jersey Star-Ledger has an article today about the law school scam. It focuses on Seton Hall grad Scott Bullock, who wrote one of the scam blogs.

Unless students graduate from schools like Harvard or Yale, they “might as well be busing tables,” Bullock said.“It’s really just a big Ponzi scheme,” said Bullock, 33, of Bridgewater. “They’re just cranking kids out for $45,000 a year.”

The scam artists school administrators admit they’re watching:

School administrators, who admit to keeping tabs on these so-called “scam blogs,” which now number in the dozens, bristle at the charge that they run diploma mills.

They don’t deny it, but they still won’t put this on those shiny welcome to law school brochures:

What law school officials don’t deny is that these are challenging times for new graduates. Job openings are scarce. Firms are increasingly turning to outsourcing or contract work.

Here is why I spend time writing this blog:

But the critics ask: How can prospective students make informed decisions when they aren’t given enough information in the first place?

The schools continue to lie report numbers like this:

On its website, the school currently reports an employment rate of 94 percent for the 2009 class, but does not break that down into full-time, part-time or temporary work. The school also claims a starting salary of $145,000 in private practice, though it does not specify how many grads reported salaries in this area.

It’s not just that there is no longer a return on your monetary investment, the educational value is questioned by this recent graduate of Loyola Law School in Los Angeles:

However, Rothman, who graduated last May, says he soon questioned the value of his education when classes proved so easy that he slept through them and still achieved middling grades. He began wondering whether admissions officers would have “let a dead squirrel roll in.”

If a squirrel could get loans, they will let the squirrel in, dead or alive. They will just charge the little guy extra for insurance in case he chews on a human’s nuts while in class. It will pay another over-priced and worthless professor’s salary.

Outstanding Student Loan Debt Soars

August 16, 2010 Alejandro Calderon General, Law School

The same journalist who wrote an article on the law school scam (see post below) also wrote about school debt.

In the article, she notes that, for the first time, Americans owe more on their student loans than their credit cards. That didn’t surprise me, but the amount did:

Outstanding student loans now amount to nearly $830 billion, surpassing the $827 billion owed in revolving credit, according to an analysis by Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org and FastWeb.com. At least $300 billion of the student debt was incurred in the last four years.

I think it’s time for a bailout for students, or controls to keep the schools competitive enough that the degree means something when you get out. Right now, my law degree has about the same value as a used movie ticket stub.