Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Research Blog #2: Scouting the Territory

Since my original post, I have refined my key points that I will discuss. I did this by reevaluating my topic idea and addressing direct question which I will ask. These questions can be found in my original post which I modified earlier today. I have browsed through the articles that Professor Goeller commented on my original post and I have also found a few of my own.

Eckman, Drew. "Rethinking Lawsuits Against Law Schools: Graduates Must Overcome Significant Hurdles To Prevail Against Alma Maters." Journal Of Law & Education 42.3 (2013): 575-583. Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 1 Oct. 2013.
Abstract:  The article discusses various lawsuits which have been filed by law school graduates against law schools as a result of a weak employment market for inexperienced attorneys in the U.S. as of July 2013. Student loan debt and the costs associated with attending law school are addressed, along with class action litigation in the U.S. The National Association for Law Placement's Executive Director James Leipold is mentioned, as well as U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and alleged misrepresentations of post-graduate placement rates by law schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mattox, Kari Ann1. "Transparency And Accountability: What If The Federal Gainful Employment-Debt Measures Regulations Applied To Law Schools?." Educational Considerations 40.3 (2013): 26-29. Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 1 Oct. 2013
Abstract: The article presents an analysis which compares the guidelines to assess transparency and accountability for law schools in the U.S. It compares the guidelines between the American Bar Association (ABA) and the U.S. Department of Education's Gainful Employment-Debt Measures regulations. It suggests that the principles of the regulations are relevant for these schools. It also mentions that ABA's requirement for accreditation will help increase employment rates in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Campos, Paul1. "The Crisis Of The American Law School." University Of Michigan Journal Of Law Reform 46.1 (2012): 177-223. Index to Legal Periodicals and Books (H.W. Wilson). Web. 1 Oct. 2013.
Abstract: The economist Herbert Stein once remarked that if something cannot go on forever, it will stop. Over the past four decades, the cost of legal education in America has seemed to belie this aphorism: it has gone up relentlessly. Private law school tuition increased by a factor of four in real, inflation-adjusted terms between 1971 and 2011, while resident tuition at public law schools has nearly quadrupled in real terms over just the past two decades. Meanwhile, for more than thirty years, the percentage of the American economy devoted to legal services has been shrinking. In 1978 the legal sector accounted for 2.01 percent of the nation's GDP: by 2009 that figure had shrunk to 1.37 percent--a 32 percent decrease. These two trends are not mutually sustainable, If the cost of becoming a laivyer continues to rise while the economic advantage conferred by a law degree continues to fall, then eventually both the market for new lawyers and for admission to law school will crash. In the early years of the 21st century, this abstract theoretical observation has begun to be confirmed by concrete events. The ongoing contraction in the employment market for new lawyers has combined with the continuing increase in the cost of legal education to produce what has begun to be recognized as a genuine crisis for both law schools and the legal profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]


In just skimming through the main points of these articles I have found exactly what I was hoping to find. Amongst these three alone, I have found a plethora of information pertaining to, increasing costs, student loan debt, the shrinking job market, institution accountability, as well as numerous subtopics. My research has eased my concern about a void in up to date information and has actually made me quite confident that I will have an ample supply of information to write a comprehensive paper on this topic! 

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