It's not a secret that the market for law school graduates is not nearly as strong as it used to be. Nine months after graduation, the majority of the graduates of a startling number of law schools does not have full-time employment that requires a J.D. degree. In this market, concerns have been raised about the way some law schools advertise the value of their degrees and whether they are being candid about how their graduates are faring in the job market.
Now, the advocacy group Law School Transparency says that it will review a law school's marketing materials to see if the school is complying with ABA's disclosure practices and best practices. If the school complies, LST will "certify" the school. This article by Karen Sloan explains. Here's an excerpt:
Law schools grappling with the American Bar Association’s new rules
governing the reporting of graduate job-placement statistics have been
offered some help—for a price. Law School Transparency, the
nonprofit organization that helped push the ABA into beefing up the
consumer information law schools must report each year, has unveiled a
new “LST Certification Program.” The group said it would review a law school’s marketing materials to
ensure that the job placement statistics provided comply with the ABA’s
rules and adhere to LST’s own best practices. It promises “compelling
graphics that appeal to today’s applicants” and to bestow an “LST
Certified” mark for schools’ promotional materials—evidence to
prospective students, alumni and others that they are “open, honest, and
fair.” The idea is as old as the organization itself, said
executive director Kyle McEntee, who co-founded the group in 2009 while a
student at Vanderbilt University Law School. “We put it on the
backburner for years, but we rekindled the idea when we put together the
Transparency Index.”
