In many ways, law schools are trade schools. While law schools put out aggregate breakdowns, they do not provide specifics on an individual graduate's job placement and salary. The dearth of official hiring and salary data on each graduate begs the question: do prospective students really know what they are getting into in terms of "return on investment" when they commit to a particular school?
All of that may change soon.
In July, the Law School Transparency, a new non-profit organization, sought information from 199 ABA-accredited schools on each law graduate. The LST requested the schools to provide detailed job list (employer type, employer name, position, credentials, full-time / part-time, office location, salary source, journal) and salary list (employer type, office location, full-time/part-time, salary). The LST explains: "This website aims to become a clearinghouse for employment data from ABA-approved law schools.
"The LST will post the results on its website, as well as correspondence from schools resulting from the group's request for data, within 60 days after the September 10th deadline for responses.
However, the National Law Journal reports, only 11 schools met the deadline, out of which only three - American University Washington College of Law, University of Michigan Law School and Vanderbilt University Law School - said they were considering releasing the requested information. Some universities declined to respond citing violation of student privacy. Ave Maria School of Law is one of the first schools that agreed to provide the data.
Northwestern, while declining to comply with LST's request, indicated that Forbes.com recently asked for similar employment-related information. Apparently, Forbes will use responses to its survey for the new law school rankings list.If not anything, this push towards presenting individual metrics rather than overall statistics begins a dialogue on an important issue. Perhaps in light of the recent economic downturn and the substantial costs of legal education, clarity on law colleges' job results and graduates' starting salaries is more important than ever before. What do you think?
All of that may change soon.
In July, the Law School Transparency, a new non-profit organization, sought information from 199 ABA-accredited schools on each law graduate. The LST requested the schools to provide detailed job list (employer type, employer name, position, credentials, full-time / part-time, office location, salary source, journal) and salary list (employer type, office location, full-time/part-time, salary). The LST explains: "This website aims to become a clearinghouse for employment data from ABA-approved law schools.
"The LST will post the results on its website, as well as correspondence from schools resulting from the group's request for data, within 60 days after the September 10th deadline for responses.
However, the National Law Journal reports, only 11 schools met the deadline, out of which only three - American University Washington College of Law, University of Michigan Law School and Vanderbilt University Law School - said they were considering releasing the requested information. Some universities declined to respond citing violation of student privacy. Ave Maria School of Law is one of the first schools that agreed to provide the data.
Northwestern, while declining to comply with LST's request, indicated that Forbes.com recently asked for similar employment-related information. Apparently, Forbes will use responses to its survey for the new law school rankings list.If not anything, this push towards presenting individual metrics rather than overall statistics begins a dialogue on an important issue. Perhaps in light of the recent economic downturn and the substantial costs of legal education, clarity on law colleges' job results and graduates' starting salaries is more important than ever before. What do you think?