LaVerne Denied; Others At Risk? Not Really.

As has been widely reported, the ABA has formally denied LaVerne College of Law full accreditation citing its low bar passage rates. I've already written extensively on this topic and have noted that the many of the current students may suffer most, so I'll not regurgitate those feelings here. That said, I'm happy the ABA took a stand against a mediocre institution and only wish they would do it in areas other than bar passage (which, let's face it, can be taught with an intensive study course and can be gamed like any other standardized test), like actual attorney employment [x] months after graduation.

Now that the hammer has fallen on LaVerne, should anyone else be sweating?

According to this link, Thomas Jefferson, Whitter, Western State, and Southwestern were all at least 15% below the California State average in 2010. But all of them are already fully accredited, and they didn't do nearly as bad as LaVerne, so I don't expect any action here.

What about the nation's other four provisionally-accredited law schools? Well, none of them provide an easy out for the ABA.

The Charleston School of Law had a 72% bar pass rate last July, -4% against the overall, and -11% compared to the University of South Carolina. The previous exam was similar. Although there's no compelling reason to have more than one law school in South Carolina, they're in almost no danger on this front, and they're in the worst shape.

Drexel had an excellent year in 2009 and posted the state's best result in Feb. 2010. Elon has done well, and Charlotte isn't doing nearly as bad as LaVerne.

So unfortunately, I fear this will just be a one-time thing. The other new schools apparently have learned how to emphasize bar pass rates and teach to the test so that the ABA won't have a good reason to reject them. Not that being a graduate of Elon will be any easier for a prospective student than being a graduate from LaVerne, but I suppose one less school in the mix is a net positive.

EDIT: Looks like Charlotte and Elon both gained full accreditation (the title of the article reads "earned...") at the most recent vote despite graduates from either having little to no chance at meaningful legal employment. Way to go, ABA.

Know Anyone At East Tennessee State?

I know undergraduate schools have law school fairs all the time, but I thought this one coming up at East Tennessee State on Jan. 18 was especially interesting. Here's a list of the participating schools:

• Appalachia
• Ave Maria
• Belmont
• Campbell
• Charlotte
• Drexel
• Florida Coastal
• Liberty
• Lincoln Memorial/Duncan
• Memphis
• Mercer
• Tennessee
• Stetson

Apparently, if you ever want to have a regional pow-wow of lower-tiered law schools, just have a law school fair at a lower-tiered undergraduate school. There must be a Batman-like sign that goes up that calls admissions people to the trough of possible tuition-payers.

There is one school on this list I would pay a dime to attend (Tennessee, and that's only if I was a Tennessee resident and didn't get a scholarship to somewhere nicer).

One of the panel presentations is going to be called "Why Go to Law School." If anyone near ETSU is free on January 18th and wants to have some productive fun, go and ask the representatives what percentage of their graduates are employed, what percentage default on their loans, etc.

I understand ETSU probably thinks its doing its students a service by hosting the educational equivalent of a "buy-a-Timeshare-now" circus, but ETSU's "best and brightest" would be best served by having an objective picture rather than an orgy of propaganda.