Young Lawyers Division of ABA Presses for Truth in Law Schoo

The latest to address the lack of law school transparency, the Young Lawyers Division of the ABA has adopted a multi-point resolution, called Truth In Law School Education, pressing law schools to give better, more detailed graduate employment data. Here are four things they want schools to do.

· Classify the employment of graduates better so they indicated whether jobs obtained are full- or part-time, in the private or public sector, permanent or temporary, and in the legal profession or an alternative field.

· Place employment information where applicants can easily find it.

· Display salary data of graduates, including median salary information by employment type, by state/region, and for all graduates.

· Make known the actual cost of law school, on a per-credit basis, and including the cost of living.

And two considerations they urge the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar to make.

·Revise the accreditation standards to require schools to display detailed employment data on the website and other communications materials;

· Use a revised version of the questionnaire that incorporates the provisions of the resolution.

David Yellen, a member of the committee revising the ABA's questionnaire, told The National Law Journal:

"This resolution is largely consistent with the direction the Standards Review Committee is taking," said member David Yellen, dean of Loyola University Chicago School of Law. "So although I don't know whether or how schools will respond to the resolution, I believe that fairly soon most of this data will be required to be disclosed, assuming the [council of the Section on Legal Education] adopts the [committee's] proposal."

The resolution will be heard by the ABA's House of Delegates in August.

[The National Law Journal]

[Truth in Law School Education (PDF)]

Related: Young Lawyers Demand the Truth about Law Schools