Adam Smith, Esq.:  This article exams the state of brand new lawyer employment and the need for law schools to change with the times.  It also makes a point that I have made many times, i.e., law schools have a duty to tell prospective and actual students the truth about the employment of their recent graduates.  The author proposes that law school adopt the equivalent of the the securities law’s 10b-5 rule with respect to employment statistics.  Rule 10b-5 states:

It shall be unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly, by the use of any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce, or of the mails or of any facility of any national securities exchange,

(a) To employ any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud,
(b) To make any untrue statement of a material fact or to omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading, or
(c) To engage in any act, practice, or course of business which operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon any person,

in connection with the purchase or sale of any security.

The author proposes that all law schools be required to disclose:

  • Employment by sector (with thanks to Prof. Bill Henderson for the categories):
    • BigLaw (NLJ 250, for clarity)
    • Other law firm
    • Government
    • Public interest
    • Judicial clerkship
    • Business
    • Graduate school (pursuing another degree)
    • Academia (working in academe, that is)
    • Unemployed
    • Unknown/can’t be found, and
    • 1L attrition
  • For all its alumni
    • As of graduation, and
    • On the first, third, and fifth anniversaries of their graduation
  • Along with average student debt load at graduation.