ABA (Law School) Accreditation Chairman speaks.
The Minnesota Lawyer blog's JDs Rising blog recently published an article about a lawyer's interview with ABA (Law School) Accreditation Committee chair Jay Conison, who is the Dean of the TTT Valparaiso University School of Law. It was reported that Conison doesn't have the authority to speak for the ABA or the Committee, but could speak based on his own experience.
The interview (or at least the article) produced few revelations other than standard claptrap about how the ABA can't really do anything to remove accreditation from law schools and how the ABA wants to increase the standards and transparency in employment statistics.
The article didn't seem to mention whether or not Conison addressed the real issue nor whether the interviewer asked any substantive questions: Is the ABA at all concerned about the problem of lawyer overproduction? If so, what is the ABA doing to address this humanitarian crisis of having tens of thousands of highly-educated yet student-loan-debt ridden and impoverished lawyers?
I suspect that the ABA is not concerned about it all. The people who sit on these committees have done very well for themselves and many, such as Dean Conison, have a pecuniary interest in lawyer overproduction. (What would Conison do if Valparaiso's law school closed because no one wanted to enroll at TTTs anymore?)
If the ABA were truly concerned, it could probably address the problem of lawyer overproduction without violating any antitrust consent decrees. The ABA could probably increase the standards for accreditation and require a very detailed and transparent reporting of employment statistics. Most importantly, the ABA could warn prospective law students about the reality of the legal profession and strongly recommend against going to law school. If the ABA did this, it would send a loud message and might reduce the amount of JD production.
That the ABA has refused to do any of that is evidence that it is not sincerely concerned about lawyer overproduction, lawyers’ financial well-being, and the quality of lawyers’ lives. Also, I doubt that the ABA's consent decree requires it to accredit foreign law schools and to approve the foreign outsourcing of legal work.
If Dean Conison were willing to discuss this further and face the scambuster blogger and JD Underground crowd, what questions would you want to ask him?
5 comments:
This post is all wrong. Valparaiso is tier 4, not 3. Get your facts straight!
And yeah, having a dean of a toilet school in charge of accreditation standards is a textbook example of a conflict of interests. Why don't we let fat chicks decide what our beauty norms will be while we're at it?
Why are medical schools and dental schools so successful at keeping their numbers low? Aren't we supposed to be the experts on how to get around those pesky rules about competition???
Med and dental schools not only keep the number of schools down, but when they are finally forced to open a new school they limit it to about 50 seats. So, even though they've opened a new school it won't damage the well protected market. Why can't we be as smart???
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/rankings/page+8
Valparaiso is a fourth tier piece of garbage.
I have received numerous requests to feature this toilet of law on my blog - and this provides further impetus. Look for Valpo Law to receive the TTR treatment.
To 10:22 am - apparently the ADA and AMA are more willing to risk a lawsuit with the DoJ, than the army of pussy lawyers at the ABA.
I had a funny feeling that Valparaiso's law school might receive a well-deserved toilet treatment as a result of this post.
I wonder if Conison would have the cajones to appear on a Down by Law podcast or to even respond to a series of questions from us.
Do you all even know how law schools are ranked/tiered? Probably not. You all were probably TERRIBLE law students who can't find jobs because you don't know how to properly market yourself, and your social skills are only strong on BLOGS! Don't hate on TTT's because they are employed and you are not.
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