Recently the Phoenix School of Law (no relation to UoP) received provisional approval from the ABA. Why is this notable? Well, because it is owned by a for-profit company which also operates ABA accredited Florida Coastal School of Law, Charlotte School of Law and has plans to open more schools. Despite having a median LSAT of only 151, Florida Coastal achieved a bar passage rate of 80% compared to a state average of 71%. What do you think? Will this catch on?
Hi - I am not about law school at all but Ted has asked an interesting question. Is this 80%pass rate just a fluke? A statistical anomaly? Are they on to something? And furthermore, will this lead to McLaw degrees? In a world where there would already seem to be too many lawyers, we are going to begin to produce McLawyers? And more importantly, do they come with fries?
Well, if the McLaw Schools mindlessly mass-produce enough McLawyers (with McFries or not), supply & demand suggests that those exorbitant legal fees should start coming down.
You're probably right about that supply and demand thing but I have this skeptical attitude about prices coming down. I was kidding with the McLaw School comments (at least a little bit). I don't know what the bar pass rates are like at most schools but 80% has got to be very good. Unless those stats are skewed somehow they must be doing something right. Maybe only 5 grads took the test and 4 really good students passed. Who knows?
140 Florida Coastal School of Law grads attempted the bar exam for the first time in the period reported, resulting in a 80% pass rate. http://officialguide.lsac.org/SearchResults/SchoolPage.aspx?sid=184 Here is an interesting graph on the correlation between LSAT score and bar pass rates in California: http://money-law.blogspot.com/2006/09/california-schools-bar-pass-rates.html An argument for the potential educational quality of for-profit schools?
Where I live there is a lot of talk about standardized testing for kids. They take these tests in grade 4 and 8 and 12 (I think that's right). If you don't pass the last one then you don't get a diploma (just some sort of certificate of completion). One argument that comes up is in regards to "teaching to the test." We all know what that means. Is it good? Is it bad? Clearly there are arguments on both sides. Is this what's happening at these law schools? Are they teaching to the test? I don't know, but whatever they're doing, it seems to be working (that is, if bar pass rates are the only measure of success).
