Another Angry Letter To A Law School Dean

"Dean Hiram Chodosh
Dean Reyes Aguilar

S.J. Quinney College of Law
University of Utah
332 S. 1400 E., Room 101
Salt Lake City , UT 84112

Dear Reyes and Hiram,

Gentlemen, on your school’s materials, it states that 98% of graduates from the Class of 2008 were employed within 9 months of graduation. And, according to the representatives from your school, this is based off of 100% response rate to the graduate survey.

The same material also claims that the median starting salary is $89,021 for the Class of 2008. Is this counting private and public employers? Is this also counting those graduates who are working in non-law positions? Does this median figure include those working as retail and insurance salespeople, school teachers, clerks, and research assistants?

Lastly, the school lists a starting salary range of $42,000-$215,000. So, does this mean that not one single graduate from 2008 found a job making less than $42,000? I find this incredibly hard to believe – isn’t there a large oversupply of lawyers and JDs in the U.S. ? Since your school publishes and presents these figures to attract more applicants, would you be willing to submit these figures to an outside, independent audit?"

1 Hour Notice

"This is my first MAJOR gripe about doc review in about 3 years. In July about 60 people were recruited by Lexolution to do a review for Dechert. The review initially went well. We did our job, had no complaints from the people upstairs and then all of a sudden we were told to pack our stuff because the project will be suspended until at least next week. We were given 1 hour notice on the eve of thanksgiving week! Some people actually need to prepare to take their belongings (e.g. tupperware, mugs, dinner, ipods, wires, etc.) since we practically lived there anyway and were all under the impression that the project was going to last through December

Its clearly obvious where we rank on the totem pole but they should've had the decency to give us more notice than 1 hour. To add insult to injury, we may also not qualify to file for unemployment until we find out whether in fact we are officially unemployed. We were told that we should know by Wednesday whether we're coming back. What a load of crap this is!

Of course, I'm not surprised that we were let go right before thanksgiving. After all, its not as if Dechert has any respect for social standards and to them we are a dime a dozen anyway. But at least have the decency to give us more notice than 1 hour! It is noteworthy that we were all let go on a Friday. Ya think this was planned in advance?

It just goes to show that there is no fraternity among the legal profession, nor are there any social boundaries. For the first time in my life, I'm thankful we have a penal code. Who knows, if murder were legal they would probably set the whole case room on fire just to avoid letting us have our unemployment benefits, which by the way, is not nearly enough to get by."

Return Of The Eunuch

BLAST FROM THE PAST, THE EUNUCH IS BACK!
"'The Eunuch' is back in the general population. I heard through a friend that he is on the Countrywide project at Labaton as a temp making a whopping $32 an hour flat. Apparently he is no longer with Anita's shit law firm. Also, I heard that he is trying to impress at Labaton and become a project leader. He does this by copying and pasting large portions of the document in the Attorney Comments field of the coding sheet thereby hoping to impress; of course, this dumbass provides no relevant comments of his own. But from what I hear, it doesn't take a lot to impress on the Labaton project. The Eunuch and Labaton: What a perfect duo!"

BLAST FROM THE PAST - http://temporaryattorney.blogspot.com/2006/01/anita-and-her-sidekick.html
http://temporaryattorney.blogspot.com/2006/02/hey-heyyo-yo-sidekick-has-got-to-go.html

A Happy New Year's Surprise: Unemployment Benefit Extensions Set To Expire By End Of The Year

Readers of your blog should note that the recent unemployment extensions do not apply to everyone. This is especially important for those laid off after July 1, 2009, as we go into the holiday season when temp hiring may slow down.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/us/19unemploy.html?_r=1&hp

Blacklisted By Lexolution

Wear it as a badge of honor. The arrogance and greed of those shysters is so great that they think they are immune from 19th century fire and labor code regulations.

"I just walked off a LeClair Ryan document review gig. Although the fact that I was thankfully offered a better paying job at another firm and by another agency, the work conditions at LeClair were so ridiculous that I probably would have left anyway. Some of the random activities prohibited at this jokehouse: wearing earphones, making phone calls, text msging, doing anything with your phone, having a non document review related conversation with anyone near you, etc.

Despite promptly notifying my rep, I still was graced with a bitchy phone call about how unprofessional I am. Oh, I almost forgot, 15 dollars an hour. Parking not included.

I imagine I'm now blacklisted from Lexolution, but I'm so bitter I couldn't care less."

An Open Letter To Dean Richard "The Slimeball" Matasar

"Tom:

Attached is a copy of an email I sent to Richard Matasar at New York Law School. I'm forwarding it to you because I thought you might be interested in it, given your recent post on your blog about Access Group and Matasar.

Thanks and keep up the good work with the blog."


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
Date: Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 11:21 AM
Subject: Letter from an '02 almunus
To: rmatasar@nyls.edu

Dear Mr. Matasar:

My name Is . I am a 2002 graduate of New York Law School, and I am admitted to practice in both New York and New Jersey.

I am writing to encapsulate and memorialize my disappointment with both you and New York Law School in general. I'm terribly disappointed with how my legal "career" has played out in the seven years since I graduated, and I was shocked and outraged to hear that you concurrently serve as Dean of NYLS AND as Chairman of the Access Group (a CLEAR conflict of interest that should be addressed by the ABA and New York Bar Ethics Committee).

In short, my NYLS degree is not worth the incredibly high price tag that I paid for it, using student loan funds I obtained from your Access Group. I was unable to ever obtain a permanent legal job that would pay me enough to both service my student loan debt and put food on my table. This was not for lack of trying; I utilized Attorney Resume and paid top dollar to have my resume written and gain access to almost 1,000 law firms' contact information, only to be rejected by EVERY firm to which I sent my resume. (That's correct: almost 1,000 REJECTIONS - both affirmative rejections and "trashcan rejections," where they didn't write back. Not even ONE interview.)

I contacted the NYLS "Career Services Department" in 2003 (in quotes because it's not really a Career Services Department, but a farce). They apologized that I was having problems and directed me to a link on the NYLS website to TEMP AGENCIES, under the guise of "Legal Recruiters." "Lots of our graduates do Contract Attorney work to hold them over until they can find permanent employment," they said. Little did I know what "Contract Attorney" work entailed, how horribly and disrespectfully I'd be treated, and how I'd ruin even the slightest chance I'd have to secure a permanent job with the albatross of "Contract Attorney" on my resume. But this was supposed to "hold me over," as per your "Career Services" department's assertion.

Since I was desperately in need of income in order to eat and service my debt to your Access Group, I contacted the temp agencies and was soon put to work for approximately $30 an hour. The conditions were reminiscent of a Third World sweatshop; there were over 100 "attorneys" stuffed into a dingy, poorly ventilated basement that was infested with cockroaches! And there were an inordinate amount of NYLS graduates on this job; I don't have an exact number, but I would estimate at least 15 or so.

This project lasted approximately three months, at which point it ended and I registered with several other agencies. I quickly was placed on another project that was worse than the first one, at a very prestigious downtown firm. We were shoved into a sub-sub basement, surrounded by mountains of dusty and dirty boxes, and made to review the contents of these boxes. Now I have no aversion to getting my hands dirty, but this was ridiculous, given the abuse we sustained at the hands of our supervisors. I won't go into more detail, but it was a terrible experience. And, once again, there were and inordinate number of NYLS graduates working with me.

These temporary jobs continued for five years. For five years, I bounced from one temporary job to another, some lasting for a few weeks, some lasting almost a year. No opportunity for advancement, no respect, no benefits (or at least benefits that were too expensive for me to afford, given I was being soaked by the Access Group each month and had other bills to pay.) Then the economic crisis of 2008 happened.

I completed my last (and possibly worst) temporary project in November 2008. Since then, I have been unable to land another temporary project. That's right, Mr. Matasar: I have been unemployed for ONE YEAR!! For one year, I've been collecting unemployment benefits and struggling to make my student loan payments to your Access Group.

In the past year, I've been frantically trying to find work, to no avail. I've sent out hundreds of resumes, to no avail. I even have an interesting story for you:

A college friend of mine works for Cognizant, a mobile communications technology company. Upon hearing of my plight, he asked me to give him my resume so he could forward it to his friend in the legal department. I hesitatingly did so, knowing in my heart and mind that I would be quickly rejected and laughed at because of all the Contract Attorney experience listed on my resume. (It has been my experience that Contract Attorney experience is a quick way to get your resume thrown into the trash in record time. I've heard several interesting justifications for this, including that Contract Attorney experience is an indicator that the candidate "didn't really want a permanent position." Meanwhile, Contract Attorney work was the ONLY work I could get that would allow me to earn enough money to survive and pay my debt to THE ACCESS GROUP. Can you say CATCH-22, Mr. Matasar?)

My prediction came true: my friend called me a few days after forwarding my resume and told me his friend in the legal department determined that I "didn't have the skill set" they needed. My friend pressed him to define exactly what he meant by "skill set," and he said the following (my friend actually took notes):

1) New York Law School is a joke, a farce. They don't even consider NYLS graduates for attorney positions. He might be able to get me an interview for a paralegal position though, but it's a long shot. (Mr. Matasar. I AM A LICENSED ATTORNEY, NOT A PARALEGAL!! I SPENT OVER $140,000 TO OBTAIN MY J.D. FROM NYLS AND I'M ADMITTED TO PRACTICE IN TWO JURISDICTIONS!!)

2) Contract Attorney work is GARBAGE. It's document review and can be done by "monkeys." It's not substantive legal experience, and is indicative of my not wanting to get a permanent job. (Meantime, I couldn't get any other work, as I've said. My friend even told him this, but it went in one ear and out the other.)

3) There was no way my friend's friend could forward my resume to his superior without looking foolish and being repremanded for wasting his superior's time.

So, Mr. Matasar, there you have it. I spent top dollar, which I borrowed from your ACCESS GROUP, to get my J.D. from NYLS and pass two bar exams, only to be shunted aside, marginalized, and humiliated by the legal industry. I am on the verge of bankruptcy and as of next month, I will be unable to continue making payments on my ACCESS GROUP student loans. I plan on writing a letter when the next payment is due, explaining that I didn't get what I paid for and was mislead by NYLS's job statistics prior to enrolling (NYLS misleads potential students with employment numbers - you include temporary Contract Attorneys as being fully employed at large firms, which is not the whole truth), and I'm suspending my payments. I am prepared and willing to face the legal wrath that will occur when I default, and I see it as a golden opportunity for me to expose both NYLS's fraud and your unethical conflict of interest

I plan on expressing my outrage at your conflict of interest, namely that you are concurrently the Dean of New York Law School AND the chairman of the Access Group. You thus have a VESTED INTEREST in continuing to mislead NYLS students, convincing them to take on huge amounts of debt from your ACCESS GROUP, which means you personally reap a double benefit. It's not right, and it's not fair. I can't believe you think this conflict is acceptable. It's so wrong, so unethical, and it needs to be addressed on a much bigger level than this email.

Sincerely,

Fool Me Once

I received the following email from several ticked off people this week. If you have followed this blog for any particular length of time, you would know that a project offer from SkaTTTen is like receiving a vow of fidelity from Eliot Spitzer, or a promise from Barack Obama that taxes will not be increased on the middle class.

"Hello,

I wanted to update to let you know, with my deepest regrets and with Skadden’s deep regrets, that the project has now been postponed indefinitely. If anything changes, I will let you know as soon as possible. Clutch Group and Skadden both apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. I hope we have the opportunity to staff you on a project soon. Keep me updated as to your availability. Have a great weekend.

Elle

Recruiter
ClutchGroup
Smart solutions. No borders"

Did Hell Just Freeze Over? Never Mind

I almost dropped to the floor when I read that the ABA (the American Biglaw Association) was actually confronting reality and addressing the issue of crushing student loan debt head-on. When I actually read what they were proposing, however, it didn't take long to realize what they were really up to:

"The move would help the private loan providers, too, by helping borrowers to pay off their loans when otherwise they might default, Lamm added. 'The [private loan providers] should like this plan because otherwise there is a bankruptcy bath waiting in the wings,' she said."

It seems like Richard Matasar and his crony ilk in the Access Group are in over their heads and need a bailout. With the recent creation of the Income Contingent Repayment plan (ICR), what we would essentially be doing by converting private loans into federal ones is socializing the risk of worthless TTT law degrees and putting on the backs of future American taxpayers millions of dollars in guarantees in worthless triple rated "TTT" junk bonds. I say no way.

What we really need:
1. Create transparency and standardization in the publication of law school post-graduate career statistics.
2. Reallow private student loans to be discharged under the federal bankruptcy code. If Access Group can't underwrite credit worthy loans, they should go out of business.
3. Disallow law school deans from serving as CEOs of private lending companies. Clear conflict of interest.

That is all.

http://www.theposselist.com/2009/11/11/aba-proposes-law-student-loan-relief/

The "Distinguished" Legal Profession

At BYU, a law student shows up to class donning full military garb. In NYC, a distinguished Harvard grad tries to torch a church containing the remains of several 9/11 victims using teddy bears as kindling. In a certain document review dungeon that shall remain nameless, disgusting creatures fornicate with each other in filthy basement stalls. Across town, a legal staffing agency hungry for a profit neglects their due diligence and staffs a project with a sexual predator. When heading off to work in the distinguished profession of law, don't forget to bring your mace!