Dean Complains About ‘Glut of Law Schools’
News that the ABA has accredited 200 law schools raises issues about whether “more is better,” according to an Associated Press news analysis.
The story reports that the number of students enrolled in law school is at an all-time high, even as jobs can be difficult to find. Said Makau Mutua, interim dean of the University at Buffalo Law School, ”There’s no question that we simply have a glut of law schools.”
Law professor William Henderson of Indiana University warns that a law degree does not necessarily translate into high salaries. While top firms paid a median $145,000 in starting salaries last fall, overall the median salary for new lawyers was $62,000, according to figures from NALP.
”I think we have this fundamental disconnect between images of lawyers in the popular media, in the courtroom dispensing justice, where everyone seems prosperous and well paid,” Henderson told AP. ”The reality is for a lot of people, law school is a route to trying to start your own private practice, and that’s a very crowded business right now.”
Henderson says law schools engage in “massive exaggeration” of law graduate statistics. One set of numbers reports employment nine months after graduation, but fails to specify whether the grads are practicing law or driving cabs. He says auditors are needed to make sure law schools are consistent in the way they report statistics.
The story mentions a previous report in the National Law Journal that raised similar questions. The two most recent law schools to receive provisional accreditation were Elon University School of Law in Greensboro and Charlotte School of Law, both in North Carolina.
