An Interesting Answer from New San Diego Dean

The following is a question and answer from AmLaw Daily's recent interview with new U. of San Diego dean Stephen Ferruolo:

[Question]: Law schools have been under fire recently for reportedly misrepresenting post-graduation employment statistics. Did you consider that controversy before accepting the dean position?

[Answer]: I know, from the point of view of someone who's been running a law office for the past few years, what has been going on in the legal marketplace. The expectations of law students from the time they began three years ago to their graduation now have changed dramatically. Students have not been able to fund their lives the way they thought they would be able to when they started law school. But I still believe law is great training for a wide variety of opportunities out there. We just need to work hard to provide our students with the best training and show them the way to the best opportunities.

This may seem unremarkable to some, but notice how the answer doesn't exactly match what was asked. The question was only whether the indisputable controversy (like his lesser cross-town rival being sued) contributed in his decision regarding the job at all. You can admit that a controversy exists without conceding the most salient points of the "other side." And yet, our new San Diego dean didn't repeat the same ol' talking points, but rather admitted flatly that recent students are disgruntled with their return on investment, and that the end result does not match the incoming expectations.

Granted, Ferruolo is a long-time practitioner, so he likely missed the series of lectures about delivering academia propaganda while he was actually working, but consider how radical of a change this is from just a year or two ago, when administrators would defend their statistics and their graduates fortunes.

For all those of you considering going to San Diego law, consider this very carefully: the chief executive at your possible school just admitted publicly that the product did not meet the expectations of its consumers. Would you ever purchase, say, an oven if the CEO came out and said "yeah, the product isn't doing what everyone thought it would?" If the product being sold to you was the exact same thing with no substantive changes? Of course not!

But then one has to wonder: if someone straight from the front line of the legal marketplace says that students are not being able to "fund their lives," how is it that the median salary of San Diego graduates in the private sector is $97,000? And how is the "public service" sector salary $58,000? Will these numbers be similar next year after Dean Ferruolo lets everyone know that the legal marketplace is certainly NOT hiring half the "private sector" graduates at or above $97k??? Will San Diego tuition stay north of $41k to reflect the difficult reality for recent graduates, or will the plundering continue?

Only time will tell.