February 2014

February was unremarkable. The main thing of note, lately, is US Snooze released its 2015 ranking. Well, it's of note to the type who can work himself into a rabid lather over where Brooklyn landed. There are enough of these to keep Bob Morse gainfully employed forever. Unlike, say, lawyers.

The Wall Street Journal did a good summary, IMNSHO. Main takeaway is nothing succeeds like success.

The durability of the top 10: Four decades ago — years before U.S. News started publishing its law school rankings — sociologist Peter M. Blau published the results of a survey of law school deans on which schools they thought were the best. As Duke law professor Richard Schmalbeck noted in a paper, the legal education hierarchy has changed very little. The 1974 survey’s top nine schools all show up in the top 10 of the latest U.S. News rankings.

PRESTTTIGE!

I continue to encourage the terminally credulous to go to law school so they can get what they have coming.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t17.htm

Not seasonally adjusted	February	2013	1,123,100
	December	2013	1,138,800
	January	2014	1,129,500
	February	2014	1,128,900	5,800
Seasonally adjusted	February	2013	1,129,900
	December	2013	1,135,100
	January	2014	1,136,600
	February	2014	1,136,300	6,400
Change from Jan-14 to Feb-14				-300

January 2014

You can tell I take this blog seriously when I forget that I hadn't posted January. Fixed.

During its relatively brief existence, the world has passed it by. As Nando reports, anti-law school sentiment is now mainstream. Want to know what otherworldly, self-serving tripe your favorite law school dean is dishing out? Read CNN. Nice photo of the JMLS building in the article, BTW. I can only imagine how many lemmings have stood on the Chicago 'L' platform by the school, seen the sign, and thrown their life away.

Back to the matter at hand. Year-over-year industry growth was about 7,000 positions. In another impressive statistic, JMLS accepted 64% of applicants for the class of 2017. It's hard to consider law a profession when the criterion for a legal education is being able to fog a mirror.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t17.htm

Not seasonally adjusted	January	2013	1,122,800
	November	2013	1,137,700
	December	2013	1,138,900
	January	2014	1,129,700	6,900
Seasonally adjusted	January	2013	1,130,200
	November	2013	1,135,600
	December	2013	1,135,200
	January	2014	1,137,200	7,000
Change from Dec-13 to Jan-14				2,000