Category: Legal Aspects

A reader wrote in:

Dear JJD:

I am an alum of NYLS and wrote in and asked Matasar for a refund. After first year, I told the school I thought I should drop out because my grades weren’t that great. They convinced me to stick it out and said if I did I would get a job. I graduated, and of course couldn’t find a job. When I went to the school for help with the job search, they suggested I get an LL.M to make myself more marketable. So I did take additional courses until a headhunter and one of the professors told me it was a waste of time and most of the students don’t get jobs. I sent the dean an email asking for a refund because it’s been two years since graduation and I haven’t even gotten one interview, let alone a job. I had to write to him three times, but he finally responded. This is his response:

Sorry I have not gotten back to you sooner, but I have been on the road a great deal this summer and am only now just catching up on my correspondence. I regret that you, like other recent law school graduates, have found the job market particularly difficult during this unprecedented economic downturn. However, I disagree with your sense that NYLS is somehow responsible for your predicament. You received a first-rate education. Hence the frustration you currently feel must be measured against the life-long skills and professional education you have received. I see no justification for your demand.
I wish you the best.
Rick

I just wanted to share this with you, and see if you had any advice for me. Feel free to put it up on your blog if you want.
Regards,
In Debt and Unemployed

Well, In Debt, you are in the same boat as most of the folks who read this. I think his response was to be expected.That doesn’t make it right, of course.

What bothers me most about this is his claim that NYLS is not responsible. Couldn’t disagree more with the dean. If a school puts out false employment statistics to lure students in, and then convinces them to stay even when they are not doing well and know their odds for employment are slim, and then sells them an additional degree, well, I think NYLS is responsible.

My advice is to wait and see what happens with the current class action, and then consider suing them. Your claims are slightly different than the plaintiffs in the class action – they have jobs, you don’t, and NYLS kept egging you on to stay enrolled knowing that only they would gain from your being there. Keep me posted.

I broke the story in ’09 that NYLS had admitted an additional 250 students to pay for a new building and various other projects. Something else was recently brought to my attention again.

A former NYLS student informed me that up until a couple of years ago, NYLS students were automatically signed up for their federal loans through Access. That’s right, NYLS automatically hooked up students with Access for their federal loans.

Let’s recap. Matasar knowingly put out false employment statistics to get students to enroll in his school. Then he has the loans (up until about 3 years ago) funneled through a company that he is on the board of directors. Anyone else see what’s wrong with this?

Shouldn’t Matasar be investigated by the New York Attorney General for the employment statistics fraud and for his connection to Access loan?

The NYT plagiarizer reporter missed this. Woodward and Bernstein he is not. But now that this has been handed to him on a silver platter, maybe he’ll “investigate” and get it in the paper. I won’t hold my breath for a thank you or credit.

As you all know, I had wanted to stop writing this blog in part because I had wanted to start a new blog because I felt that now that everyone knows that law school is a scam, my work was done.

However this comment got me thinking that all I really need to do is take this blog in a new direction:

There are a lot of new J.D.s out here with no practical experience, that cannot get legal jobs, and have no clue what to do, or what non-legal jobs might be out there for them. Thanks.

So I thought, why not devote more time to finding a solution to the mess we are all in. I’ll still post on the scam when a dean or law school does something really stupid (see below). But now I’m going to try to find some creative solutions to our unemployment and debt woes, and how to deal with having a lot of blank spaces on our résumés.

Additionally, if you have been discriminated against or treated like crap by a company (especially a law firm) in your job search let me know.

Earlier this month University of Virginia 3Ls wore tee shirts around school protesting their lack of job prospects. They also hung out in front of the school telling 1Ls and anyone who would listen that they were unemployed. One 3L made a beautiful model of the school with his rejection letters from employers.

The school listened, and is paying for bar course and other bar expenses for their unemployed 3Ls. I was impressed until I read the fine print, they are really only picking up about half of the expenses. Bar review courses cost around $3500, not $1500:

Unemployed students were notified of the program Monday morning via a letter deposited in their Law School mailboxes from Dean Paul Mahoney. The letter informs students that they will be eligible to receive up to $500 to cover bar application fees and up to $1500 to cover bar review study courses.

But it’s a step and the right direction, and more schools should follow University of Virginia’s lead. And I will say this until I draw my last breath: any law grad who is still unemployed in the legal profession 18 months after graduation deserves a full refund.