The big news in legal education is Thomas Jefferson School of Law’s restructuring agreement ( pdf) with its bondholders to shave off two-thirds of its debt obligations and surrender its building to continue operating. In its frequently asked questions section about the agreement, the law school puts a positive spin on its future, stating, “There are recent studies that indicate that graduations from law school and growth in the job market will reach equilibrium in FY 2017.”
The school doesn’t cite any of these studies, but curious creditors might be interested to know that the only ones that have produced such optimistic results are often flawed. Notably, by matching trends in law school enrollments with recent graduate job outcomes, they assume that anyone who begins a law career will remain in it indefinitely, which does not capture the significant attrition that occurs in the legal profession.
