ABA considers penalties for law schools that misrepresent job prospects

The ongoing debate over whether law schools are misrepresenting the job prospects for graduates might yet bear some positive outcomes: the American Bar Association is now considering imposing specific penalties on schools that misrepresent graduate job placement data. The chairman of the ABA's Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, John O'Brien, has asked the ABA to draft a penalty provision applying fines or loss of accreditation to schools that intentionally falsify jobs data. The move follows the ABA's public censure of Villanova University School of Law for reporting inaccurately high grade-point averages and Law School Admission Test scores for incoming classes, and the ongoing investigation of the University of Illinois College of Law, which conceded tampering with its numbers for several years.

ABA considers penalties for law schools that misrepresent job prospects law.com Fri, Oct 21, 2011