Balkinization: Law Schools Suffer Loss in Lawsuits

Law Schools Suffer Loss in Lawsuits

Brian Tamanaha

Of the dozen-plus misrepresentation lawsuits filed against law schools by their former students, in recent months three have been dismissed (several have survived motions to dismiss and are in discovery). The core basis for the dismissal is the same in all three: prospective students cannot reasonably rely upon employment data posted by law schools.

Judge Schweitzer dismissing the suit against New York Law School:

plaintiffs could not have reasonably relied upon NYLS's alleged misrepresentations, as alleged in their fraud and negligent misrepresentation claims, because they had ample information from additional sources [*] and thus the opportunity to discover the then-existing employment prospects at each stage of their legal education through the exercise of reasonable due diligence.

Judge Cohen dismissing the suit against DePaul Law School:

Plaintiffs allege that it was reasonable to rely on the Employment Information without making any independent investigation of their own because DePaul is a law school and prospective students should be able to rely on information presented by a law school. Plaintiffs, however, offer no authority standing for the proposition that prospective students or enrolled students may close their eyes to publicly available information [*] on employment opportunities for lawyers and rely solely on data provided by the educational institution in deciding to enroll at, or stay enrolled at, the institution.

Judge Quist dismissing the suit against Cooley Law School:

The bottom line is that the statistics provided by Cooley and other law schools in a format required by the ABA were so vague and incomplete as to be meaningless and could not reasonably be relied upon. But, as put in the phrase we lawyers learn early in law school--caveat emptor.

These three law schools, and others facing similar suits, undoubtedly count these decisions as victories. But I cannot shake the sense that they mark a deep wound to the standing of law schools. The students we welcome in our doors are being warned by state and federal judges that they cannot take at face value the employment information we supply. For law schools, which have always held themselves out as honorable institutions of learning and professionalism, this is crushing.

[* Judges Schweitzer and Cohen both assert that there was ample available public information on the true employment prospects. This is not correct. When writing my book on law schools, I discovered that it was nearly impossible to find comprehensive employment data on individual law schools. A sophisticated and suspicious prospective student would have been able to figure out that the employment numbers posted by many law schools are incomplete and untrustworthy, but they would not have been able to find out the actual employment numbers. It was only after the lawsuits were filed that more detailed information became available.]

Posted 12:58 PM by Brian Tamanaha [link]

Comments:

Brian,

My understanding (perhaps mistaken) is that the lawsuits have not fared very well and that more than three have been dismissed.

Other than the Thomas Jefferson case in California, which of the suits are in discovery? It would be helpful to know as well if there have been written decisions in these cases.

# posted by

Milan : 1:55 PM

This comment has been removed by the author.

# posted by

Brian Tamanaha : 2:40 PM

Milan,

In addition to Thomas Jefferson, the WSJ blog reports that suits against Golden Gate and USF have "cleared initial hurdles" and are proceeding, although I have not seen written decisions on either (see http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/09/12/illinois-judge-tosses-consumer-fraud-suit-against-depaul-law/

# posted by

Brian Tamanaha : 2:41 PM

This isn't my field, but it seems bizarre to say that a fraudulent claim isn't fraud if dutiful investigation reveals its falsity. I found especially interesting Judge Quist's contempt in the sentence, "But, as put in the phrase we lawyers learn early in law school--caveat emptor."

Do you think that these judges may have been biased, either by conscious professional loyalty to law schools or by unconscious deference to institutional authority?

# posted by

KC : 2:51 PM

Leather handbags at present come in numerous styles and patterns. Ever since the animal skin turned out to be a lot more hard to find post WWI, makers of leather handbags advanced from basic leather to a combination of various materials with natural leather. That resulted in the various types of Lanvin Bag which were manufactured for ladies and also gentlemen.These days Leather is being used more artistically by incorporating it with different varieties of materials, Microfibre increasingly being one of these. In such handbags, leather is required sometimes only in the frames or just the fringes that dangle beautifully from the Lanvin Handbag. These alterations in handbags got a very good reaction from most people and are generally continuing until date.
http://www.lanvinbagonline.com/

# posted by

dogdog bagbag : 10:21 PM

Today, many women choose lanvin bag, because they like the image of a large bag lanvin. If you are not so high, you'd better choose a small bag will make you look more slender. If you are that high and strong, big bag lanvin handbag is your best choice. The big bags distraction so that people will only notice your beautiful bag, rather than your body.

# posted by

ba san : 11:41 PM

Hi

I read this post two times.

I like it so much, please try to keep posting.

Let me introduce other material that may be good for our community.

Source: Relationship manager interview questions

Best regards
Henry

# posted by

Bologna744 : 5:24 AM

Good to see the blurry robot prevention device is working so very well.

# posted by

Joe : 10:48 AM

Joe, that's the bad news. However, the good news is that we can discover goods and services to avoid.

I note that at other Blogger websites there aren't so many hucksters. Why here?

# posted by

Shag from Brookline : 11:30 AM

So we have shady characters in comments trying to sell pigs in pokes. Why is this considered off-topic?

# posted by

James Wimberley : 6:55 PM

I love how terrible they are.

"I like it so much, please try to keep posting.

Let me introduce other material that may be good for our community."

I don't think one could write something as funny as that if one tried.

And the way the other one works the intricacies of handbags into every discussion, man, that's good stuff!

# posted by

Mr. Whiskas : 10:18 PM

Amazing post in this blog. Hope more people reaching your blog because you are sharing a good information. I noticed some useful tips from this post. Thanks for sharing this.......... PPI Advisors

# posted by

Michael John : 6:16 AM

I like this post.One and the most important thing is that law is made for everyone.Its good to see this post.Child Custody miami

# posted by

Roger Williams : 8:27 AM

Law students started losing faith in the law schools since at least 2005. I've often wondered why it took the media and professor so long to recognize that. Kudos to Prof. Tamanaha and others for continuing to focus on this issue.

http://www.legalethicsforum.com/blog/2005/03/ethics_is_law_s.html

John Steele

# posted by

JohnSteele : 8:14 PM

I'm not high, at all, at the moment. Should I look for a smaller pocketbook?

P.S. Why do I have to prove I am not a robot when spam gets through?

# posted by

CTS : 8:46 PM

The the ancient French brand Lanvin you sometimes was only a little bit of thought between ordinary and overhangs. What is the mind? Perhaps in front of the mirror every morning and evening looked at which minutes. If so, we will understand a little more, Dress up yourself a little more. In fact, the beauty is also an accomplishment - to keep your skin while also nourishing the soul; with costumes, but also can play sort out a more positive, happy, healthy state of mind. I hope the experts talk about dressing can provide us with some tips about the "mind", advocating the pursuit of beauty and love every day lifestyle.Lanvin bag allows you to add more living color, Lanvin handbag make you more vigor of youth. http://www.lanvinhandbagstore.com/

# posted by

ba san : 1:52 AM

great post ...........

# posted by

ajay : 12:22 AM

Off topic (i.e., no merchandise), I wonder if Jack Balkin is penning an essay on his view of "The Second Gilded Age"?

# posted by

Shag from Brookline : 9:02 AM

John Paul Stevens reviewed Prof. Levinson's book for the NY Review of Books.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/oct/11/should-we-have-new-constitutional-convention/?pagination=false

# posted by

Joe : 9:44 AM

Excellent post I found this great information:

Balkinization: Of the dozen-plus misrepresentation lawsuits filed against law schools by their former students, in recent months three have been dismissed (several have survived motions to dismiss and are in discovery). The core basis for the dismissal is the same in all three: prospective students cannot reasonably rely upon employment data posted by law schools... These three law schools, and others facing similar suits, undoubtedly count these decisions as victories. But I cannot shake the sense that they mark a deep wound to the standing of law schools.

Thanks for share!...

Best Regards,
Michael | generic viagra

# posted by

Michael Steven : 11:01 AM

This comment has been removed by the author.

# posted by

Richard Feynman : 11:08 AM

# posted by

Richard Feynman : 11:10 AM

Joe, thanks for the link to Justice Stevens; review of "Framed." If my eyes hold up, I may read the book.

# posted by

Shag from Brookline : 10:12 AM

http://www.booktv.org/Program/13775/Framed+Americas+51+Constitutions+and+the+Crisis+of+Governance.aspx

C-SPAN will re-air a book appearance by Sandy Levinson on 9/29 at 9AM EST. For those who can access it, the link also provides video.

# posted by

Joe : 1:15 PM

i like your site. and thanks to this post.

free download bangla books site
freedownloadbanglabooks.blogspot.com

# posted by

imamul rahi : 7:09 PM

I absolutely love your blog and find most of your post’s to be just what I’m looking for. Do you offer guest writers to write content in your case? I wouldn’t mind publishing a post or elaborating on a number of the subjects you write concerning here. Again, awesome blog!
Buy HCG

# posted by

Sarah Walton : 12:42 PM

This post is very helpful for me.thank you very much for this post.Really really nice post.

http://www.last-memories.com/grief

# posted by

Sandeep Negi : 2:56 AM

HD kaliteli porno izle ve boşal.
Bayan porno izleme sitesi.
Bedava ve ücretsiz porno izle size gelsin.
Liseli kızların ve Türbanlı ateşli hatunların sikiş filmlerini izle.
Siyah karanlık odada porno yapan evli çift.
harika Duvar Kağıtları bunlar
tamamen ithal duvar kağıdı olanlar var

# posted by

AntoL-Nyo : 7:09 AM