ABA takes charge of Law School Grads' Employment Data

In a marked change the American Bar Association Section on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar - which has a quasi-monopoly hold on legal education requirements - will take direct responsibility for law school graduates's employment data.  Several schools have been sued for posting misleading data and the financial crisis has focused attention on the problems of debt-burdened law grads unable to find sufficiently lucrative employment.  The December 3 ABA Section Council Statement's key changes, according to American Lawyer Media (ALM) are:

• Law schools will report their graduate employment and salary data directly to the ABA, rather than through the National Association of Law Placement. 
• Graduate employment information will be made available to the public faster. Instead of being published two years after a particular class graduates, the data will be collected earlier in the year and will be made public approximately one year after graduation. 
• Law schools will have to report whether graduates are in jobs funded by the schools, themselves. They will have to stipulate whether graduates are in jobs requiring bar passage; positions for which J.D.s are an advantage; professional positions that do not require a J.D.; non-professional positions; and whether jobs are long-term or short-term.