Association of American Law Schools (AALS)
The AALS was formed in 1900 by 32, educationally focused, legal institutions (“Association of American Law Schools”). During this time in history, a lawyer was not required to obtain a legal education in order to practice law. Typically, lawyers only had to do an apprenticeship or pass a state qualifying exam, also known as a Bar exam. The AALS sought to increase these minimum requirements, by requiring lawyers to graduate from an accredited institution before being allowed to practice law. Slowly, the AALS successfully achieved this goal, and by the 1960s all states required students to graduate from a national, or state accredited institution (“Association of American Law Schools”). Currently, the AALS represents over 172 law schools and 10,000 faculty members in the United States; and maintains the same premise of improving the practice of law through legal education (“Association of American Law Schools”).
In furtherance of their goals, the AALS conducts, and promotes research on items that affect legal education and the legal profession. One report sponsored by the AALS was how the public sector, of the legal profession, could be affected by increases in tuition for law students (Field, 2002). AALS’ concern was that without tuition waivers or scholarships available to students, most students would not enter the public sector legal field. In turn, a reduction in staff for this section could be detrimental to the practice of law, and to socio-economic classes, which rely on the public sector for legal support. AALS believed students with large student loan debts would be forced to enter the private sector due to the pay disparities between the public and private sector. Therefore, the AALS co-sponsored a report which studied this concern.
Dr. Erica Field, currently an Associate Professor of Economics at Harvard University, studied four years of law student admission data, financial aid support, and matriculation employment to achieve her results. Field used New York University’s College of Law as her testing assessment. Upon analysis of all NYU financial awards, exit interviews, and job acceptances Field discovered that the greater the financial aid award the greater the likelihood a student would entering the public legal sector (Field, 2002). The results were similar to a seesaw. As one side increased, the other side decreased in nature. After Field’s results, the AALS, similar to the AAU, advocated for greater financial aid packages to low and middle-income students, but also for anyone who would be interested in pursuing a career in the public sector. Since AALS’ call to action, a number of prominent law schools have implemented tuition forgiveness programs for select students who commit to a certain amount of years in the public sector. Additionally, numerous state and federal departments utilize loan forgiveness programs to entice and encourage gainful employment of lawyers in the public sector.
In conclusion, if not for the AALS’ call to arms, the public legal sector might have been irreparably damaged. However, thousands of legal students are now able to attend law school without having to worry about insurmountable student loans.
References:
Association of American Law Schools. (n.d.). Retrieved October 16, 2011, from Association of American Law Schools website, http://www.aals.org/index.php
Field, E. (2002). Educational Debt Burden and Career Choice: Evidence from a Financial Aid Experiment at NYU Law School (IR Working Paper #469). Retrieved October 16, 2011, from http://www.aals.org/reports/education/index.php.
Glad to see this report and its consequences in terms of tuition forgiveness programs. I have a friend who graduated from the University of Virgina circa 1990 and was accepted into UVA's law school as well as Harvard law. Since she was a Virginia resident, she had in-state tuition at UVA, but opted to go to Harvard as she already had one UVA degree, and Harvard was ranked slightly better, #2 versus #7. When she graduated from Harvard, she had to take a position as a tax attorney, because it is very high paying work and she had to pay off six figure loans she took out to attend Harvard. At the time, there were no loan forgiveness programs of any kind and she HATES her job! Most people expect Harvard to open many doors in a career, but her high level of indebtedness actually decreased her options.
ReplyDeleteMy post is above. Paul Watkins
ReplyDeleteMost of the folks I knew that went to Harvard or Yale hate their jobs as well. It isn't really the job they hate, as much as the billable hours that are required to make partner. Even then, it is similar to the tenure process at colleges. If you don't get it, your career is done there. All those hours and no holidays for nothing.
ReplyDeleteMost of them go on to become consultants, professors, or work in a different field. I believe the last study I read said that after 5 years from matriculation, 40% are in a different field.
As I tell everyone else, It is important to pick something you love. When you do, the money will come.
What a great method to get graduates involved in the public, where there is such a great need. The AALS created a commission, Learning to Serve, to address the role of public service and pro bono work in legal education. The American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct suggests that lawyers should aspire to donate at least 50 hours of service a year. Findings indicate most do not volunteer their services. Of those who do, less than a fifth serve low income groups. Public work is often neglected while it provides an excellent opportunity to develop community and professional relations. The commission claims that legal education can help establish good habits of “giving” back to society as an institutional priority. If students get connected to these public causes and organizations early then perhaps they will continue after graduation. I wonder how many legal educators contribute hours of practice to such causes? It would be great if student volunteering during the summer could result in reduced tuition for second and third year students? It would improve the reputation of the school and help students’ cost burden.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth
http://www.aals.org/probono/report.html