MOAR Money!

There's so much stupid sh*t going on in this presTTTigious "profession" that I gave up trying to follow it, let alone post about it. Talking about not even trying any more, today's subject is Boston University's BosTTTon UniversiTTTy's new online Tax LLM. Even dry tax blogger Paul Caron noted, "Interestingly, tuition and fees for the online program will be higher than for the residential program: $44,712 v. $44,212."

Ka-Ching!

First, a word about BU. The law school hired 22 percent of its own graduates last year. With this record of suck-cess, why hide BU's light under a barrel when it can roll its brand out into new markets? And charge more to sit at your desk than its own?

Another word about BU: When it issues your LLM, is the diploma going to say either New York University or University of Florida? No? Then why the f*ck would you ever spend your own money on it? Those are the only schools that count, and NYU can even sometimes erase the stench of a prole JD.

What we have here is an unabashed money grab, presumably aimed at foreigners and the credulous. Looks like the law school scam is moving upmarket as disclosure requirements and bad publicity reduce the cash that can be extracted from aimless liberal arts grads.

Law School DeaTTTh LisTTT

A couple of scambloggers are speculating on the next school to follow Texas Wesleyan into the abyss. The criteria are the school either has to fold outright or be acquired by another educational institution. I'd like to add my own criterion that no one will miss it when it's gone.

If you guess right, you win a Kindle.

BIDER has a number of good guesses. Rutgers-Camden is in a death spiral — hopefully, it will take Rutgers-Newark with it — and Hamline is in a small, crowded market where even the University of Minnesota founders. My own guess is TJSL, based on it being a relatively new, independent law school with an expensive campus. Add bad PR and an abysmal bar passage rate and you have a winner.

June 2012

The legal industry added 200 jobs last month. The problem remains that the number of heavily-indebted JDs far exceeds job openings. As I noted in June, growth over the last two years has been negligible. Meanwhile, 45,000 JDs pour into the market each year to compete with both their own cohort and their predecessors.

The overall economy sucks, adding just 80,000 jobs. My employer's industry is sensitive to the jobless rate and my seat-of-the-pants impression in our markets is things are not getting better.

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

Not seasonally adjusted	June	2011	1,123,700
	April	2012	1,113,900
	May	2012	1,115,900
	June	2012	1,132,300	8,600
Seasonally adjusted	June	2011	1,111,200
	April	2012	1,119,000
	May	2012	1,119,500
	June	2012	1,119,700	8,500
Change from May-12 to Jun-12				200

May 2012

Drat! Just woke up from a month-long map. To think I planned another blog even while I can barely keep this one updated.

Legal employment grew slightly in May, and by about 4,800 year-over-year. Before you get your seat deposit in at Dayton — hurry, dammit! — consider this. I looked back at my May 2011 post and note that May 2010 employment was 1,113,100. So, over two years we're talking about adding 7,000 jobs. I further note that the BLS regularly corrects prior statistics, and that if had used 1,115,100 instead of 1,110,400 when I posted May 2011, it would have shown modest growth over 2010 instead of a contraction. In short, we spent the last two years treading water; this is no recovery.

I have one other correction brewing. Last year I wrote, "Yale or fail." Turns out 2011 was a slaughter. How bad? From the NLJ article:

Several of the country's most prestigious law schools, including the University of Chicago Law School, New York University School of Law, the University of Virginia School of Law and Yale Law School, hired 10 percent or more of their class of 2011.

I suspect 2012 will be no better. Yale AND fail? To be continued …

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

Not seasonally adjusted	May	2011	1,111,500
	March	2012	1,110,600
	April	2012	1,114,400
	May	2012	1,116,500	5,000
Seasonally adjusted	May	2011	1,115,100
	March	2012	1,115,800
	April	2012	1,119,300
	May	2012	1,119,900	4,800
Change from Apr-12 to May-12				600

Plug for a new forum

I'm encouraging readers to visit and participate in JD Junkyard. JDU has jumped the shark, IMHO. While I'm not an old-timer, I joined JDU when it was still a vibrant hangout for disaffected lawyers and law graduates. Lately, it's been overrun by trolls and drooling nitwits. There is still quality content, but like TLS, it's not worth wading through the crap to get to it.

Please note that I have no association with JD Junkyard and was not asked to publicize it.

jdjunkyard.lawlemmings.com

April 2012

Good news, and even better news. The good news is there were 3,900 legal jobs added in April. Granted, about 45,000 people are about to graduate from ABA schools, but that means 3,900 fewer JD baristas, JD stock clerks, and JD unemployed.

The even better news is the ABA is set to give provisional accreditation to UMass Law, f/k/a Southern New England School of Law. Harvard, look out! It's comforting knowing that even though the planet is going to hell, that the sun continues to rise every morning and the ABA continues to [A]lways [B]e [A]ccrediting.

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

Not seasonally adjusted	April	2011	1,108,500
	February	2012	1,111,800
	March	2012	1,111,700
	April	2012	1,116,500	8,000
Seasonally adjusted	April	2011	1,114,000
	February	2012	1,118,700
	March	2012	1,117,000
	April	2012	1,120,900	6,900
Change from Mar-12 to Apr-12				3,900

March 2012

Legal employment shrunk a bit last month. Nevertheless, law schools continue to sprout like weeds, ensuring a rosy outlook for legal faculty and administrators. At least for now.

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

Not seasonally adjusted	March	2011	1,109,600
	January	2012	1,110,500
	February	2012	1,111,500
	March	2012	1,111,500	1,900
Seasonally adjusted	March	2011	1,114,300
	January	2012	1,117,500
	February	2012	1,117,700
	March	2012	1,116,400	2,100
Change from Feb-12 to Mar-12				(1,300)