That said, it’s always been incumbent on prospective students to do some research into the likelihood of getting a job in the field they’re interested in. I don’t think it would have taken more than a couple of informational interviews with PDs (or DAs) to find out that a single mother with a young child would be turned down at almost any job that was mostly motion and trial work. Ditto informational interviews at firms of any size that expect associates to work 70-80-hour weeks – a single parent simply can’t do it.

That’s not to say that many law schools weren’t presenting a misleadingly rosy picture of employment prospects even back in the early 90s – they were. And that was when the idea that “educational debt is good debt” went unquestioned.

But if you’re going to law school to practice a particular type of law, you still need to find out what your chances of employment in that field are. If they’re poor because you’re non-trad or have some other “handicap”*, then you have to figure out what else you might like to do with a law degree and then find out what your chances are in that field.

*I once had a conversation with a doorman at my office building. This was in the mid-90s, and he was, IIRC, Cambodian. He told me he was studying for the LSAT because he wanted to become a lawyer and represent people in his community. I told him that was admirable, but the most important thing to do first was improve his language skills because if his written English wasn’t a lot better than his spoken English, he wouldn’t be able to pass the bar (in a state with a 50-55% pass rate), and it would all be for naught.

Stories like this really piss me off. It’s bad enough that they take the aforementioned 24 year olds and run them through the grist mill, but when you damage the potential of a productive adult as well as future generations to boot, then somebody is too addicted to money.

By definition, it’s not the non-trad, because they don’t have any.

Law firms don’t just want smart and competent. They want obedient, and they rightly or wrongly fear that a 37-year-old 1st-year associate won’t like taking orders from a 30-year-old 5th-year associate. When, in reality, all a 37-year-old wants is to make enough to keep food on her daughter’s table and a roof over her head, all while keeping Sallie Mae at bay.

You’re clearly very confused. This hunger strike has less to do with Ethan and his own job search than it does with the approximately 200 ABA-accredited law schools taking in thousands upon thousands of new students each year, asking them to pay exhorbitant tuition rates in exchange for fraudulent promises of high paying jobs upon graduation, and then releasing them to an oversaturated field where most won’t actually find legal work, where their law degrees will actually be an obstacle to finding non-legal work, and where they are left to fend for themselves as they struggle to pay off their mortgage-sized, non-dischargeable student loans. (Yet meanwhile the ABA is now considering acccrediting foreign law schools??).

Yes, more people could be thinking outside the box when it comes to legal employment. I agree. But that doesn’t change any of this sad reality. Good for Ethan for bringing more attention to the widespread scam run by law schools. I wish someone had done something like this right before I dished out more than $100K to attend law school (a top 25 school, mind you) for a degree that no employer cares about.

We all know that this is not true. However, as he has come to learn, others too have gotten involved and have addressed these points (behind the scenes) but with no media mention or exposure.

The opportunity now present….. through his venture is that the solutions that have been sought out coupled with his current protest would force the ABA and Law Council (LSAC) to respond with the Question to be Asked ‘Why have they failed to implement the steps necessary that the DOJ and Attorney General has in its presence and acknowledges as the solution for the issues involving law school ??

The Law School selection process has been a thorn within the side of Higher Ed for nearly 50 years. And his issue also touches on challenges that the media does not want to approach….

In short, he accomplished what he set out to achieve, which we all admire. Now lets bring the solutions to the table for discussion. His sacrifice now has meaning.

So Again I ask, what is he waiting for ?? He can schedule any interview that he so chooses, which now brings just not the issues but the solutions to the table.

Their are many Ex-lawyers and law grads that are now circuit tour experts making big monies and their sole purpose is to bring solutions to the table through the writings of others.

And as a writer, articles require verification on expertise….

Ethan

See below:
http://online.wsj.com/article/NA_WSJ_PUB:SB119040786780835602.html