Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Goodbye is too good a word



I began this blog one summer afternoon in exactly way I’ve started every other professional project I’ve undertaken which ever amounted to anything: without thinking about whether doing so would achieve anything worth achieving, or at least win the approval of important people.

I started it because I had something to say, and this seemed a good way of saying it. For a few days I wrote anonymously – something I had never done before – more as a stylistic experiment than anything else.  But naturally people in legal academia instantly became more concerned with Who Was Saying These Outrageous Things than in whether those things might actually be true.  So I dropped the mask -- which ensured that a few of those people would busy themselves henceforth with irrelevant personal attacks, rather than substantive responses.

19 months and 499 posts later, it turns out that the core message of this blog – that legal academia is operating on the basis of an unsustainable economic model, which requires most law students to borrow more money to get law degrees than it makes sense for them to borrow, given their career prospects, and that for many years law schools worked hard, wittingly or unwittingly, to hide this increasingly inconvenient truth from both themselves and their potential matriculants – has evolved from a horrible heresy to something close to conventional wisdom.

That enrolling in law school has become a very dangerous proposition for most people who consider enrolling in one is now, if not a truth universally acknowledged, something that legal academia can no longer hide, either from ourselves, or – far more important – from anyone who doesn’t go out of his or her way to avoid contact with the relevant information.

ITLSS has played a role in what can be without exaggeration called a fundamental shift in the cultural conversation.  How big of a role it’s not for me to judge. Within legal academia, the pioneering work of Bill Henderson on the economics of legal education, and Brian Tamanaha’s writing and research culminating in his book Failing Law Schools, were both critical contributions to that shift.   Others inside law schools – Jim Chen, Deborah Rhode, Herwig Schlunk, Akhil Amar,  Ian Ayers, Paul Caron, Ben Trachtenberg, Orin Kerr, and Jeffery Harrison to name a few – have moved the conversation forward in various ways.  And of course Deborah Merritt has lent her name and talents to this blog for nearly a year now as a co-author, greatly enhancing both its intellectual and stylistic range.

Outside the legal academy, a diverse group of voices, ranging from the scam blogs that had such a strong effect on at least Tamanaha and me, to Above the Law and JD Underground, to the tireless unpaid labor of Kyle McEntee, Patrick Lynch, and Derek Tokaz, aka Law School Transparency, found their way into the pages of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and onto the CBS Evening News.    A movement that begun on the margins of the legal world, through the work of people like Loyola 2L, and Scott Bullock of Big Debt/Small Law, and Nando of Third Tier Reality, has gone mainstream.

This blog is now the length of about four typical academic books.  Anyone who wants to browse through it will find posts touching on just about every topic related to legal education and the legal profession regarding which I have something to say.  Readers looking for a more concise statement can buy or borrow a copy of my book Don’t Go to Law School (Unless), either in paperback or e-book form.

All of which is to say that I’ve said what I have to say, at least in this format.  I’ll continue to write on this topic, both in academic venues, in the popular media, and even from time to time in blog form, at Lawyers, Guns and Money.   But the time has come to move on from here.

I’ve never written anything about the professional and personal price I ended up paying for starting to investigate, more than a year before I began this blog, the structure of contemporary American legal education.  Perhaps I’ll tell that story someday.  For now I’ll merely note that if people enjoying the extraordinary protections afforded by tenure aren’t willing to confront institutional corruption, then academic tenure is an indefensible privilege.  

People have asked me how I can continue to be on a law faculty, given my views.  This question – when it isn’t simply a hostile attempt to derail conversation – is based on a misunderstanding.   I very much believe in the potential value of higher education.  And I believe that legal education can and must be reformed radically.   (On one level the most important short-term reforms couldn’t be simpler:  the cost of law school attendance must be reduced drastically, and the number of people graduating from law school must be decreased by a significant amount. In the longer term, the American legal system will need to confront whether it is either pedagogically justifiable or financially viable to continue to require the basic law degree to be acquired through postgraduate education). 

In some very concrete, practical ways, reform is much easier to achieve from the inside. I’m proud of the fact that, as of this coming fall, my law school is on track to have cut tuition in real dollar terms over the past two years – something which perhaps no other ABA law school will be able to claim.  I’m proud that CU Law School, which two years ago was publicizing highly inaccurate employment information, is now one of the most transparent schools in the country on this score.  I don’t happen to believe that I would be more effective working for reform as an ex-law professor. Still, even if I did believe this, I’m well aware I wouldn’t have the moral courage to quit. That makes my belief suspiciously convenient -- but it doesn’t make it false.

In any case, reform driven by forces both outside and inside the law school establishment is essential, and it’s beginning to happen.

I hope and believe that, as the unsustainable and unjust nature of the status quo becomes more and more apparent, more people inside law schools will openly advocate for real change. 

In closing, I would like to thank the commenters on this site.  Nearly 50,000 comments have been posted here.  With very rare exceptions, I chose not to censor what anyone had to say because one goal of this project, both on this blog and elsewhere, has been to give voice to people who have been carrying their anger, shame, and grief in silence.  Helping to break that silence is what this blog has been all about, and internet commenters, here and elsewhere, have played a critical role in doing so.

I would wish everyone good luck but I won’t.  It sounds terrible when you think about it.

254 comments:

  1. First to thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dean O'Brien makes close to $1 million a year and has a connection to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

      Low ranked law school Deans and Professors across the country are raking in the money and publishing in influential newspapers.

      They won IBR, basically a guaranteed supply of free money for as long as they want it.

      You took them on in court, and they showed you why you are what you are, and they are what they are. You got your asses handed to you.

      Now the one blog you losers had to whine on anonymously is shutting down (not until Campos got his book deal and fame out of it).

      As I've told you before, this has nothing to do with law school. Law school is not responsible for your failures. You fail, because you're losers. You were losers in highschool, you were losers in college, you will be losers for the rest of your life. If there was no such thing as law school some other winners would have profited off you.

      You're just a bunch of dumb loser bitches. Accept it and shut the fuck up.

      Delete
    2. Swallow the business end of a shotgun, Mr. Infinity.

      Delete
    3. The only thing you share with this board, 705, is that you are transparent. Pathetic.

      Delete
    4. He has to walk away. THere's nothing more to write about. Its that simple.

      Delete
    5. No matter how much money I continue to make (through actual work - not by participating in a student loan scheme), and regardless of how much I will continue to enjoy watching the law school cartel nose dive, I won't forget Mr. Infinity, the former "World Travelling Law Student" (lulz) who has no job and likely lives in his parents' basement. The assclown that can't keep a blog going for more than a week without being thoroughly destroyed. The only victim of the law school scam that deserves his miserable fate.

      Delete
  2. Thank you Lawprof.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I will keep it short and to the point:

      Thanks, Lawprof.

      Delete
  3. Thank you LawProf. Please keep fighting the Scam.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I honestly hope that, just as with most other bloggers who make grandiose exits, Law Prof will come back for the odd post.

    I am concerned, however, that LP does seem to be hinting at having paid a cost for speaking out on this blog. I hope this is not part of his reasons for exiting stage right.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Its all of higher edu at this point. F it all. Take your student loans and shove it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. You should make either monthly or quarterly posts, or cross-post entries from the Law, Guns & Money blog.

    Also, you can at least link any mainstream articles you write on here.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Diogenes, with his lamp held high, walked out of the mists of time looking for an honest man. Now he walks back into the mists with the lamp turned down, not realizing that he is the honest man.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your posts have been interesting.

    I know it's a cliche, but you can accomplish quite a lot if you are willing to jump through the necessary hoops.

    Everyone knows that there is a lot of potential value in getting off your butt and getting to work.

    Good luck on your journey.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow Lawprof. I am glad you kept going for so long. I am sorry that you took so much abuse from the system for your efforts and I am glad you had the courage to continue for so long.

    I wonder if you were pressured into stopping? Or if the fight to continue didnt seem to matter if it is now conventional wisdom?

    I don't agree that it is conventional wisdom and I think that law schools will continue in their old ways without a loud voice to reign them in. Do you think all the students going to the University of Denver next year are truly aware of the scam?

    But I think you will continue to see injustice and deceit and wish to write about it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. It is likely that Lawprof was censured for this blog. He must be under terrible pressure from every other law professor to just shut up and let things go.

    we saw how the VAPs reacted to the idea that they were part of a scam and how little they cared about the outcomes for students.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, findings, and opinions. The personal attacks were unwarranted. At times, I've thought, "he must be paying a immense price for his views." Additionally, every word, phrase, or utterance in the realm of law is ripe for legal action. This blog has been eye opening. Thank you, and good luck in all your future endeavors.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'm a law professor who has been visiting this site every morning for nearly a year. At first it angered me. Then it depressed me. Now I realize it has changed the way I think about myself and my work.

    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So, what is the next step on your personal journey?

      Delete
    2. Are you the colleague that sends Leiter all those emails about this blog?

      Delete
    3. 2:09 is the comment of the day! And of course, many thanks to Paul for his efforts!

      Delete
  13. Good job, LawProf. I know I've been harsh on you in the past, but you were always fair, always thought-provoking, and your realization of the importance of open discussion without censorship was key to the success of this blog.

    You will be missed.

    Just don't do a "Painter" and delete this blog, please.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I think that Law Prof has said all that there is to say on the topic. Still, I will miss his posts. He fought the good fight and for that, he has my thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is a lot more to say and do and more aspects of the scam to be uncovered.

      Without lawprof's voice the scam movement will be hampered.

      Wait to see what schools do when the new employment numbers are released.

      Delete
  15. I hope LawProf reconsiders, there's till much more that needs to be said b/c the scam is on-going.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree. There are stil many things to be said. Perhaps law prof got into trouble for saying things specifically about CU.

      No idea. But I spend enough time on TLS to know that the scam is still
      Perking along just fine.

      Delete
  16. The obnoxious thing will be seeing Leiter do his little victory dance...

    ReplyDelete
  17. LawProf,

    Thanks for what you've done. Your honesty, guts and decency in a world of precious time-serving remoras - aka lying bandits - is much appreciated.

    I hope the price you've paid isn't too great.

    Please don't take this blog down.

    And just in case, someone with greater tech skills than me please SAVE this blog and its comments so that it can be accessed in the future if it is taken down.

    ReplyDelete
  18. LawProf,

    While I assume that you are a man of the Left, we conservatives have been making a similar argument against tenure for years: profs won't use it for its purpose.

    In order to become a prof, a person has to spend high school and college focused on good grades and shining apples. Then it's often a year or two of master's work, then at least five years of Ph.D. studies, a year or two of post-doc, and then seven years on the tenure track.

    And all of that time must be spent becoming geometrically more concerned with whether someone powerful will disagree with you and squash your ambitions.

    There is no way that a normal person can conform so scrupulously and be so conflict-averse for more than 20 years and then, magically on the day of the tenure decision, become the fiercely independent-minded academic of legend.

    Call it Skinner Boxing or operant conditioning or whatever you like, most tenured academics will continue to act as they've learned to: like meek titmice nibbling their cheese while nervously scanning the horizons for a foot coming down.

    You're not one of them.

    Hail and Farewell.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Very sad. I predict that you see the law school grifters re-group in your absence, similar to the way that anti-stat baseball writers re-grouped after FJM went dead, culminating with this year's horrific awards voting.

    Regardless, you did a good thing here.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Thanks for all your work!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Professor Campos,

    I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for all you've done for the cause of law school transparency and exposing the many dire employment problems in legal education and the legal profession, both here on Inside the Law School Scam and elsewhere. You've done a masterful job, sir. I hope you'll reconsider ending ITLSS, but I respect your decision to do so. Keep fighting the good fight and I wish you all the best.

    OhioDocReviewer

    ReplyDelete
  22. Thank you.

    You are a fighter in a just cause.

    Rebelling against an injustice where you are certain to fail is absurd. But to not rebel against an injustice where you are certain to fail is also absurd. Only one choice offers the opportunity for dignity.

    ReplyDelete
  23. As a CU alumnus (undergrad), I want you to know that your tireless, courageous work here has made me feel prouder than anything to have come out of Boulder in a long time. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Thanks for all you've done. I've religiously followed this blog multiple times a day. I'm the father of a lawyer and I don't hesitate to tell kids to beware the law school scam. I hope others will continue the fight and change will occur.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Man, without this blog my days just got 200x longer.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Mr. Campos,

    I'm a mid-career government attorney and one of what I imagine to be many lurkers on this site. I think this blog is fantastic. I've found your writing informative and, despite the difficult subject, enjoyable for its style and honesty. I think I've learned more about aspects of my profession here than I have from just about any other source. For that, I have a lot of appreciation for the commenters as well.

    In the end, I think mostly what I've come away with is a sense of compassion for people who have found themselves in horrible circumstances through no fault of their own.

    I will miss your writing. And I thank you for your integrity. The world needs more of it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "people who have found themselves in horrible circumstances through no fault of their own"

      Spoken like a true government worker.

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    3. Sorry, 'bout that. I was going to say: Trolls gonna troll.

      Delete
  27. Thanks. A very interesting and informative read.

    ReplyDelete
  28. I shall miss reading your blog with my morning coffee. I'm sure you often felt like a lone voice crying in the wilderness but you probably saved the futures of many kids.

    ReplyDelete
  29. See you on the other side . . .

    ReplyDelete
  30. It is hard to imagine that we would have gotten the attention we did without you. The law graduates of the last five years and the prospective law students of the next five years owe you a debt.

    Thanks again.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Happy trails, LawProf. Thank you for all the work you've put into this blog, and for the professional risks you incurred on behalf of the Lost Generation of JDs. I wouldn't say it's been a pleasure, since most of the stories here are quite depressing, but you and DJM have done a superb job.

    Any chance you or DJM or one of your research assistants could put together a "weekly roundup"-style of scam stories? This blog is a great resource and it would be sad to see it disappear entirely.

    ReplyDelete

  32. This blog was one of the highest services of a public intellectual in the last ten years. You won your arguments, changed the conversation, and have begun to change policy.

    Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Law Prof,

    I want to thank you for giving the scamblog movement a level of legitimacy that allowed myself, when I was a 0L, to perk up and pay attention to what was happening. Your insight has been invaluable, and I hope that you won't lose faith in the cause of reforming legal education (and higher education in general) just because the status quo is so entrenched.

    You've only scraped the tip of the iceberg. We need to know more about long-term outcomes and the true cost of the JD. Thanks for all your hard work, and I sincerely hope this isn't the last we hear from you.

    ReplyDelete
  34. I don't know if I would call Colorado's disclosures one of the most transparent in the country. It has its own positive spins like "Of the 188 students in the class of 2013, 173 reported summer employment in or related to the legal profession."

    * = Thirteen of these 160 employed graduates were working for judges and in other public service roles and receiving funding from Colorado Law's post-graduate public service fellowship program.
    http://www.colorado.edu/law/careers/graduates

    You have to go to footnotes to find:

    * = Thirteen of these 160 employed graduates were working for judges and in other public service roles and receiving funding from Colorado Law's post-graduate public service fellowship program.



    ReplyDelete
  35. Professor Campos,

    I would like to thank you for writing this blog. This time last year I was planning on applying to law school thinking that being a lawyer was a sure way to a stable and lucrative career. After suffering 5 months of LSAT prep, taking the test this past October and December and sending out applications, I discovered this blog just as it was about time to seek out how to finance my potential law school career. The statistics you provided and the posts by recent graduates and unemployed attorneys were alarming. Needless to say, I have since changed my mind on attending law school seeing that it is a losing proposition. I would like to thank you for giving me information that helped me avoid a $175,000 mistake.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Thanks for the blog. You should thank top-law-schools.com as well in your OP.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wrong. TLS owes Lawprof. TLS had to be dragged kicking and screaming into understanding the scam. They wouldn't even allow direct links to this blog until recently.

      If Lawprof should thank TLS because several of the many clueless 0Ls who post there gave him material, I'm not sure he owes them for that.

      TLS is still filled to the brim with clueless 0Ls who plan how biglaw is going to save them from the debt they have to repay just to go to law school. It is still way too pro law school and way too clueless in understanding the depth of this scam and the uncertainty of a career in law.

      TLS is mostly 0Ls looking for validation of their ideas. Very few posters there have any real experience with actually going through law school and OCI , almost none have any experience with the actual practice of law.

      The knowledgable posters on TLS move on as they get busy or can't find work and are embarrassed to return.

      TLS is still filled with misinformation .

      Delete
  37. Please add my thanks to those you're receiving from other quarters, LawProf -- this blog has been a great help in validating my reality. Godspeed to you!

    ReplyDelete
  38. The biggest threat to any society is the remediable hurts that people allow to continue why they just stand and wring their hands and do nothing. It is very easy too for someone who is a "winner" in the current system to ignore its faults. It take real courage for one of the winners, one of the insiders to start yelling the emperor has no clothes. In creating this blog Paul Campos did so -

    Many of his critics dishonorably took the path of currying favor with the establishment and preached to old order. It is interesting that when Prof. Leiter made his attacks on Campos two years or so ago his comments were enthusiastically received by many law professors - now he is widely derided, even among those he curried favor with, while Campos is at least respected.

    Bravo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

      Delete
  39. Actually, it's more academic than law professors per se. Seems like law professors are our PHDs, and the underlying concept is that great thought can cure any problem, just like you can become a law professor without practicing law. There's no tie between the reality and law school, sort of like young Germans told the war is being won, given their antitank bazookas and turned out in the Berlin streets to become the last casualties. Be interesting to know if the German law schools were still teaching Nazi doctrine in April of 1845.

    ReplyDelete
  40. 1945, never could type.

    ReplyDelete
  41. To join the chorus, thanks. I don't think we've heard the last of you.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Wow, I guess Campos didn't care that much about this after all. On to the next attention grabbing endeavor - may the TV lights always shine on him.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How does it feel to be a punch line now Brian?

      Campos fucked you up the ass, and you'll be sore for a long long time.

      Delete
  43. Thanks for your hard work, Prof. Campos.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Bro, I've been here since the beginning. You're kind of a coward for quitting the main thing that kinda sorta excuses your salary and where it comes from. So you get some criticism regarding how you make your money and as a result quit? Because thats how it reads.

    Its your duty to shine the light on all this in as bright a light as possible until its all resolved. You don't like the criticism? The quit your job instead of this blog. Pathetic. Yes, you are far less pathetic than the vast majority of legal academia but pathetic nonetheless.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 7:23 is a dickhead. That is all.

      Oh, also to keep this from getting deleted, I think that law schools should have a fiduciary duty to their students to present employment statistics in as truthful a fashion as possible.

      Delete
    2. 7:43 is simplistic child. That is all.

      Delete
    3. I am not simplistic!

      Delete
  45. Thanks for sticking your neck for the previously ingnored untouchables of the legal profession. You have done much to legitimize the law school truth movement. Your leadership will be sorely missed, but we will carry on.

    ReplyDelete
  46. I think you should continue this blog, if only because there is more work to be done.

    The collapse or severe contraction of the experienced job market and the fact that law schools can and do ignore that collapse in setting the size of first year classes is a huge problem. The lack of ongoing employment statistics will go away if you do not continue, but rather lawyer unemployment will get worse every year.

    Why not start a petition to every senator and congressman on the right education committee in congress to require ongoing employment data of law schools, require them to use both 9 month and ongoing employment rates from a law school in setting the amount of federal loan dollars that school can use, require law schools to show an unemployment rate of less than 15% (counting law school funded jobs as unemployed) in both their first year and older classes as a condition of receiving federal dollar, and requiring them to cut down classes as part of a 5 year or 10 remediation plan to work off any greater level of unemployment among their grads. Try closing the law schools that do not hit 50% employment rates overall.

    Something has to be done. Law schools have still escaped even with this blog with impunity and are running to the bank with billions of ill gotten federal loan dollars that will ruin students' lives.

    I think such a petition would get the signatures of hundreds of thousands of lawyers. You can get these signatures online, along with their law schools and classes.

    One of the problems is that the lawmakers in a position to change this do not understand that there is an employment crisis at all levels of the legal profession.

    ReplyDelete
  47. I've enjoyed reading and commenting on this blog. You have done a great public service--God knows how many people you have helped avoid making a huge mistake.

    ReplyDelete
  48. This blog prevented me from leaving a reasonably good career for what I thought was the glories of law. Prof. Campos, you've probably saved my life.

    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Thank you, Prof. Campos.

    Old Guy

    ReplyDelete
  50. Thank you, Prof. Campos. You have truly been doing the Lord's work.

    Templar

    ReplyDelete
  51. As a troll, I'd like to express my disappointment that this blog is ending. Many times I have written incoherent hateful rants from the safety of my parents' basement as I wolf down piles of corn chips, and many times I have gleefully exulted at all the attention I have gotten in response. I really don't know what can replace this site, if anything, and I'm saddened to see it go.

    I have one last thing to say.

    You're all a bunch of losers with no skills which is the real reason you all can't get jobs. Actually that's the real reason you went to loser state university for law school to begin with, and why you stayed there for all three years once you knew you had no prospects. Yeah good luck, sue them, you'll fail at that the way you failed at everything else in life, you LOOOOSEERS.

    Now I have to go, as my mom needs me to help her take up her groceries.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kill yourself with a quickness.

      Delete
    2. Sorry, I read your post so quickly, I thought it was that that jerkoff Mr. Infinity again.

      Carry on.

      Delete
    3. No there are multiple trolls out there. Like rats fleeing a sinking ship, we'll all come to the surface now that Campos has accepted defeat.

      Delete
    4. mmmm, corn chips. Nothing like the smell of a moldy basement to enhance the flavor of corn chips.

      In related troll news, Brian Leiter wrote today that law school is a good decision, as evidenced by the uptick of law school applications.

      [Insert troll face here]

      Delete
    5. Lol...hope you find somewhere else to post. Might I suggest TLS?

      Delete
    6. From Leiter: "Prospective students should, indeed, "get advice relevant to their situation," and that advice will mostly not be found on blogs or chat rooms, alas."

      Alas, surely not. Rather it will come from law schools themselves.

      Delete
  52. It's not over.

    Professor Campos has done fine work, but we can stand on his shoulders, together, and continue, just as we have done in prior years.

    Join us and collaborate as one at outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com.

    Outside the Law School Scam will be a group effort that will bring together many bloggers, many writers, and many opinions from students, graduates, lawyers and more, all sharing the same concerns about legal education, employment, and debt.

    Don't let this be the end. There are some great commenters here who should become bloggers in their own right, some bloggers elsewhere who need a new forum, and Outside the Law School Scam would make a fine place to write regularly or occasionally, to continue making a difference, without having to splinter this movement across multiple sites. The strength of ITLSS is that it brought us together.

    LawProf has given us a gift. Let's take it, build upon it, and not let these important issues that affect all of us simply die out.

    Interested?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. fuck yes this is what i am talking about

      Delete
    2. After signing the condolonces book here, I'll give it a shot over there. What do we have to lose?

      Delete
  53. Thank you - can't wait for the book.

    ReplyDelete
  54. You've done amazing work here. Congratulations, and thanks. And by the way: the commenters here are also pretty incredible, so thanks to you guys as well.

    ReplyDelete
  55. Thank you professor Campos. If I was half the troll I was five years ago I'd do a final post as Lietner telling everyone that the reason they are unemployed is that they are worthless and weak and do not study German philosophers every day.

    Seriously, I would ask you to consider doing one post every 1-2 months on lawyers guns and money, and cross posting it here. That would be a way to keep your blog more findable in the search rankings, so that 0Ls can continue to find it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree this is important.

      Is there anyway commentators can bump this blog to keep it up in the rankings?

      Delete
  56. Huh? You going to leave before the US News Rankings come out in March?

    ReplyDelete
  57. I will start with your first post, and tweet one a day under #Suits. I invite others to do the same. :) Thank you Prof.!

    ReplyDelete
  58. "Campos is ephemeral, Joan King is eternal!"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joan King's ChroniclerFebruary 27, 2013 at 8:36 AM


      "Between the years when the oceans drank AtlanTTTis, and the rise of the sons of Arias there was an age undreamed of. Add onto this, Joan King. Destined to wear the jeweled crown of Brooklawonia upon a troubled brow. It is I, her chronicler who alone can tell the off her saga. Let me tell you of the days of high tuition!"

      Delete
    2. "Hi, Joan King!"

      Delete
  59. outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com

    A ray of sunshine on this darkest of days?

    ReplyDelete
  60. sad day - a daily dose of reality here coming to an end. i bet law school admission deans and admins are dancing for joy. now they can go back to getting away with murder w/o worrying that antics will be exposed on ITLSS.

    ReplyDelete
  61. Thank you, Professor Campos, for this wonderful blog. Your writing -- and the research required for much of it -- has been outstanding; almost as great as the fire that prompted you.

    Thank you particularly for bringing us stories from various victims of the scam, and, well, about the perpetrators as well, even though THOSE stories were pretty revolting.

    Thank you for tolerating the juvenile and hateful comments that have appeared from the self-indulgent among your readers, including the stupid "first" bs that infects almost every thread.

    Thanks, and I look forward to hearing more from you.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Part of me wishes this weren't true. Nonetheless, I say thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  63. "Congratulations LawProf! Thank you so much for taking the time to share this exciting information."
    Read More

    ReplyDelete
  64. Thanks for the work you've put in Lawprof. I remember when I stumbled across this blog as an angry, unemployed CLS student. Now this issue is front and center in the legal profession. Who knows where we'll be in a year or two?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There was a post in TLS the other day claims an 85% biglaw rate for CLS. There is a lot more work to do.

      Delete
  65. Law Prof---I hope that you have suffered little to no professional or personal repercussions for fighting the good fight with us. You have done us a great service in your 499 posts. I look forward to reading your remarks on legal education reform and the law school scam movement in other forums. Many thanks to you.

    ReplyDelete
  66. Thank you for documenting this scam industry, Paul.

    ReplyDelete
  67. the king is dead....long live the king...

    thanks, bud

    --unperson, ETLSS

    ReplyDelete
  68. Odd to see you walk away at this point, nevertheless, a heartfelt thank you from all of us.

    ReplyDelete
  69. Law Prof,
    A tinge of sadness lingers within the notes struck in your farewell entry.

    I hope that the price you allude to, does not include your family also being caught up in the maelstrom, but I venture that it does.

    The meaningful road does not end, it just takes another turn. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  70. Professor, thank you for this blog, your comments in media, your law review articles, and your book.

    I just wish you would reconsider your goodbye. Law schools are at a key balance point with the collapse of applicants. We need to have reliable and knowledgeable commentators sharing their thoughts as law schools close and the government begins to examine their lending policies.

    Regardless, godspeed in your future endeavors.

    ReplyDelete
  71. Thank you, Paul. Those words seem too small to embrace all the ways you've helped individuals, changed the discussion about legal education, and brightened our days with your writing. And they don't even touch the nasty internet comments and other negative effects you undoubtedly have suffered. But, inadequate as it is, thank you, and thank you again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh fuck off. You ruined this blog with your law professor twaddle. Go scam some kids instead.

      Delete
    2. Proving her point exactly.

      Delete
    3. 355: no class at all. You're an embarrassment.

      Delete
  72. Paul, thanks for the excellent blogging for the last 19 months. This blog played a critical role in changing the conversation about law schools. It has been a model for how a blog on a single topic can have a real influence. And as much as I'll miss reading it, I think you probably picked a good time to drop it: As you say, its message has pretty much become the common wisdom.

    ReplyDelete
  73. Paul, I have never gone to law school or even seriously considered it. However, I appreciate the work you've done because you have exposed ways in which trust has been abused. To me, that is one of the worst sins (Though I'm not religious, I can hardly think of a better word.) anyone can commit another.

    Thank you for the truth. I hope you'll reconsider and wish you well in future endeavors.

    ReplyDelete
  74. "I very much believe in the potential value of higher education." -- The follow-up question to that is whether the "potential" value of higher education justifies its cost. The answer to that question should be pretty clear.

    Thanks for your efforts with this blog.

    ReplyDelete
  75. The prosecution does have to rest at some point.

    Thanks for all your work here, Prof C!

    ReplyDelete
  76. take paul's best blogposts, summarize them into short videos and upload to youtube

    ReplyDelete
  77. I'll believe it when I see it. Paul has made posts like this before. He has too much invested in this fight to quit. Especially now that we are finally gaining some ground. Why not switch to weekly posts for a while?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope ou are right. I don't want his blog to die or simply become filled with spam.

      Delete
  78. Did anyone else just feel a great disturbance in the force?

    Let us hope that 1000 scambloggers will rise up in his place!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The already have. insidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com

      Delete
    2. outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com, moron.

      Delete
  79. "You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning. . . .

    And that, I think, was the handle--that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn’t need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting--on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. . . .

    So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Boulder and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark--that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.”

    Just kidding.

    Vaya con dios, El Prof de las Leyes.

    P.S.: Is Merritt quitting too?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I fucking hope DJM is quitting! She was terrible here.

      Delete
  80. Hello, i believe that i saw you visited my blog thus i came to go back the favor?
    .I'm trying to to find things to improve my web site!I guess its adequate to make use of some of your ideas!!

    My web-site: Fun parties on a college campus

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Campos, what will the spambots do? Did you even consider the spambots?

      Delete
  81. First, of course, thanks to LawProf. Why he did what he did, doesn't ultimately matter. He did what he could to help get the message out.

    A couple days ago, someone here asked "Time to re-form and regroup?"

    I looked at long arguments about whether LP should resign and who was the "right" person to lead the scam-blogging movement and I began to think: this conversation is taking on a life of its own that is obscuring the real point.

    I had the feeling this blog had run its course. And I was about to post something like this:

    I think that for many, it is time, as they say, to ... move on.

    Scamblogging is not a career and not a life. It is not what any of you set out to do but rather what you were driven or forced to do in response to a web of deceit.

    It doesn't matter who is exposing the latest aspect of the scam or what their motives are.

    The point of the law school scam movement was to expose the pervasive lies of schools and prevent, as far as possible, other people from being caught in the scam.

    If you look at that WSJ link from 2007 about L2L, you can see that many comments made there are still being made -- almost word for word in many cases. L2L was apparently making those comments a couple of years prior to that.

    The same points are still being made here, now, and at places like jdunderground. Years later. Yeah, there's more evidence and more acceptance now that the complainers aren't losers or crazy ... but the situation hasn't changed.

    Too many schools, too many students, too much easy loan money, too few jobs, too many dead-end careers, too many evasions and lies, too many phony solutions (space law in Mississippi!).

    It's reaching the point where almost everything that can be said, has been said. The blogs are a great place to vent, criticize and commiserate.

    But they don't replace a career -- or even a "mere job." Just like hanging out at the bar, complaining about the steel mill that closed years ago and threw you out of work, won't do anything to bring the steel mill back.

    If you are in the wrong 50%, what are you going to do with the rest of your life? Sure, start a scamblog, but writing and reading about the law school scam won't bring back your lost time or pay your loans.

    If you are in your late 20s, early 30s, there's a long time ahead. If you're in the wrong 50%, you aren't going to be a lawyer, ever, right?

    What are you going to be doing? What's your plan? Where are you headed?

    LawProf has a career. Fairly or not, you still need one -- whether he quits or not, stops blogging or not.

    Those old bloggers who have fallen silent, have somehow moved on. Their sites may live on, to be discovered by those diligent enough. As will this.

    Keep letting people know in any way you can and accept that some will never get the message.

    But ... get a life.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your condescending and judgmental views. You have no idea what careers or lives the posters here are living. You have no basis to dismiss our decisions to take action as being because we don't have jobs or families.

      This is exactly the reason Lawprof has been so crucial to exposing the scammers. No one questioned his having a career or a life.

      Delete
  82. If you are in Boulder, and you want to see Lawprof speak on the toipc - he will be presenting a CLE on the crisis in legal education. Here are the specifics:What: 1 CLE – “The Crisis in American Legal Education”When: Thursday, February 28 noon-1:00 p.m.Where: Caplan & Earnest (1800 Broadway Ste. 200)Who: CU Professor, Paul Campos. I will be there to say thank you in person.

    ReplyDelete
  83. Festschrift! Festschrift!

    ReplyDelete
  84. Old John Brown’s body lies moldering in the grave,
    While weep the sons of bondage whom he ventured all to save;
    But tho he lost his life while struggling for the (debt) slave,
    His soul is marching on!

    ReplyDelete
  85. I think 10:04 raises a valid point. The scam blogs follow a natural trajectory and ultimatley individual bloggers realize that there is nothing left to say that hasn't already been said multiple times. And they move on. Blogs like L2L, Esquire Never, and Shilling Me Softly etc... are long gone. Nando is still around, but mostly going through the motions at this point (I don't fault him, he has done more than his share and has other priorities). Like those who came before him, Law Prof probably decided it was time to move on. And while I'm sorry to see him go, I think he is doing what's best for him.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com could be a useful place to keep the message alive. The problem with saying everything there is to say and then quitting is that people think that the problem is solved or that things have changed.

      Nothing has changed. We need to keep pounding away each and every day, non stop, to make sure kids know that law school is not cool. Everyone knows that smoking is bad for you but we still see warning messages everywhere. The same old message needs repeating and repeating and repeating, not saying once and then disappearing.

      Delete
    2. Maybe he just feels there's more effective ways to promote change. I'm sure he's still going to write for mainstream sources and speak at schools, etc. If those platforms reach a wider audience why not be happy he's pursuing that path?

      Delete
  86. Hi Professor Campos,

    While it saddens me to see you go, I completely understand your decision to stop (hopefully just for now). I can only imagine the toll this blog has taken on you and commend you for whatever sacrifices you've made (and not always shared with us).

    Because of what I've read in this blog, I was able to convincingly dissuade at least two people from wrecking their lives. Like me, I am sure there are many other people who were able to do the same, and (whether they know it or not) some would be 1L/2L/3L/unemployed JD is better off now than they would have been without ILSS.

    I don't know exactly what is going on at your school, nor do I care to speculate. I did not know much about the school before ILSS, especially when it came to its faculty. You kind of put the school on the map for many. You did so not through cutting-edge legal "scholarship" (if such a thing even exists), but rather through the practical discussions that have shed so much light on something that affects such a large segment of the population (when taking taxpayers into consideration). So, when I now think/hear of Colorado, the first image to come to mind is not a that of one of the numerous scammy, second-rate schools. Rather, I think of it as one of the VERY FEW schools with faculty members that have the moral fortitude and intellectual capacity to see/call things as they are, regardless of how popular it will make them in given circles.

    I hope that in the near future you come to reconsider your decision not to blog anymore . Until major (and meaningful) reform takes place, there will always be a sizable audience eager to hear your take.

    Best of luck.

    ReplyDelete
  87. Thank you.
    -Regular reader, first comment.

    ReplyDelete
  88. Quitter.

    Just kidding. Thanks for the work, Lawprof. You have a lot of credibility in this discussion. Don't hesitate to fight against the scam as often as the opportunities arise.

    ReplyDelete
  89. Two more years of applicant declines at the levels we have seen this year and the previous two, and law schools will be closing all over the country. And then Paul Campos can start a new blog: "Inside the Effort to Redesign Legal Education."

    I am very grateful for your and Deborah Merritt's brave, informative, sharp, and elegant writing on this blog. You have definitely honored your moral obligations to your students.

    dybbuk

    ReplyDelete
  90. Your blog was by far the best source of criticism of the law school status quo. Along with David Litowitz's "The Decline of Young Lawyers" and of course Tamanaha's book, you have convinced me that I'm best off keeping my legal government job rather than go back for a JD. Mine is one of those bona fide legal jobs for which I "only" needed a subject area-specific terminal Master's. My JD colleagues get paid only marginally more to do mostly the same work, meanwhile I have a fraction of the debt they have.


    It will be hard to find a better daily source of incisive commentary. Thanks for what you've done.

    ReplyDelete
  91. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83tboDnpE7Y

    ReplyDelete
  92. Oh no! There's a huuuuuge rotten "Seton Hall Law" sticking out of the office toilet! The janitor is on his knees weeping before it!

    ReplyDelete
  93. The timing of this announcement, a few weeks after the latest announcement about plumetting law school applications, is too big of a coincidence. Campos is getting squeezed out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Can't help wondering that myself. Say your college claims you are damaging the reputation of your institution ... I wonder what that would mean for tenure.

      Just speculating.

      Or your colleagues could stop speaking to your and shut you (and your family) out of social events etc. Boulder is not that huge a place ...

      "Personal and professional pressures."

      Well, just thinking out loud.

      Delete
  94. WHY ARE YOU ENDING IT???

    ReplyDelete
  95. Thank you for making this blog and providing a space for those of us lost in the meatgrinder without censoring the humanity out of it. I'm still especially touched that you found one of my comments fitting enough to post as a separate entry.

    Keep up the good fight, and if I get the opportunity to meet you, the first beer's on me.

    ReplyDelete
  96. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sqAxNrWD0E

    Here on the stage, the time has come
    'Mid the strains of 'be my angel', of rockin' 2/4
    Time may keep alive
    That old swan song
    That we've been playing forever,
    Too, time may be right to say 'good-bye'...
    My voice is aching,
    I'm tongue-tied,
    And the sounds we are making are so-o-o old...

    Goodnight song, played so wrong,
    Blame the crowd, they screamed so loud so long.

    It's an honest day;
    Take the best of me and then the rest let go...
    In every situation where there's tireless rage,
    Step outside the cage
    And let the real fool show.
    I should have stayed 'round to break the ice,
    I thought about it once or twice
    But nothing ever changes
    Unless there's some pain...

    And our
    Goodnight song, played so wrong,
    Blame the crowd, they screamed so loud so long,
    Goodnight song, played so wrong,
    Blame the crowd, they screamed so loud so-o-o long...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You just couldn't help yourself, could you? You were banned, ostracized, and ridiculed, yet you never learned.
      Nobody gives a shit about your witchcraft classes, your terrible poems, or your whiny anecdotes.

      After all he's given the scam movement, the least LawProf deserves, is that his last post is not tainted by the idiotic comments of some banjo playing drunk.

      Delete
  97. Sad to see you go, Professor Campos. Thank you for having the courage and the balls to stand up and be a leader--in a profession where there is almost a complete leadership vacuum. It takes a lot of guts to go out on your own and spread a message that will likely isolate you from the droves that follow blindly the conventional wisdom and get angry when their complacent and corrupt way of life is threatened.

    There are still many problems with legal education and the legal industry, and there are still many signs that a lot of legal education "leaders" still don't get it. If they had a chance to paper over these last 4 years and go back to the old ways and say "nothing to see here...we're all good again," almost all of them would.

    The fact is that the cost/outcome problem is just the first major problem with legal education. The pedagogical problem is a close second--the "case method" and the "Socratic method" only teach a very narrow band of skills, and they do so very poorly. The third problem, which has largely been ignored, is that legal education is a gigantic failure from the assessment standpoint as well. Law school exams similarly test an extremely narrow band of skills, a lot of which are completely irrelevant to practicing law (i.e. high grades are correlated more with typing speed than anything else). Studies have shown that the subjective nature of the grading is both unreliable and invalid, and yet the empty "prestige" they create is the only thing that matters. It is another example of how, in the legal industry, perception is far more valuable than reality. There is very little sign that these perceptions will abate.

    ReplyDelete
  98. Have been reading this blog for a couple of months now- have never posted, but wanted to say thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  99. Sorry to hear ITLSS is shutting down. Things are just getting interesting...

    Well, with any luck someone will step in and fill the void to document the cultural logic of late legal educational capitalism.

    You did the movement a great service with this blog.

    Gracias, and vaya con dios, lawprof.

    *sniff *sniff

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Well, with any luck someone will step in and fill the void to document the cultural logic of late legal educational capitalism."

      The next generation has begun already over at Outside The Law School Scam. This fight is NOT over!

      Delete
  100. Thank you. I've enjoyed reading this blog very much and learned a lot here. As an RSS subscriber, I would appreciate it if you'd link your articles for LGM and Salon on this blog in the future so we can read them.

    ReplyDelete
  101. Its like you read my mind! You seem to know so much about
    this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you can do with some pics to drive the message home a little bit, but other than that, this is great blog.
    An excellent read. I will certainly be back.

    Feel free to visit my web page: instagram followers

    ReplyDelete
  102. Thank you, LawProf. I hope that your voice was the turning point, in one way or another. It gave legitimacy to something that was dismissed as the ramblings of disguntled whiners, before.

    ReplyDelete
  103. Daily reader and somewhat frequent commenter; just wanted to say Thank You for the work you have done.

    I hope the next time we read from you will be in regard to the Class of 2012 job statistics.

    ReplyDelete
  104. Prof. Campos,

    I'd like to echo everyone's thanks here and also give an encouraging anecdote.

    An extremely highly regarded federal judge was at my T14 school recently. At a gathering, one of the students asked him what he thought about the current state of legal education. He proceeded to condemn the law schools and firms as being greedy, and especially the law schools for recklessly raising tuition for so long. He said he could not believe how much debt people are graduating with, and lamented the gulf between the profession and academia. At the end of his rant, he sternly warned that "top of the pack schools" must start to be leaders and do something about this, and even mentioned my school.

    The law professor in the room was visibly uncomfortable and asked, "is there something positive we can talk about now?"

    It was epic.

    ReplyDelete
  105. No point in encomia this late in the day, except to thank you, Law Prof, for changing the game and shaping the discussion with your blog. My only hope is that this discussion will continue at the level it needs to be happening at, and the changes that need to be made will be made.

    ReplyDelete
  106. LawProf - I am greatly sorry to see you cease blogging. First because of the task that you have taken on and second because of the pleasure your crisp thoughtful writing brought me. Thank you. William Ockham

    ReplyDelete
  107. Thank you for this blog and your efforts in spreading the word about the "law school scam".

    Blogging nearly every single day is a lot of work and it would have been better to have "wind down" the blog to maybe monthly posts and only when there is something really new to say.

    But nevertheless the word is out. Hopefully someone can archive this entire blog so in doesn't get lost.

    I also agree with calls to move to outsidethelawschoolscam. Hopefully we can all gather there and maybe Lawprof can even post or comment on rare occasions.

    ReplyDelete
  108. Law Prof,

    You have done a very valuable service with your blog.

    Not only have your brought to light the serious concerns that recent law school graduates face, but you have also recently brought to light the very serious economic plight and lack of jobs that experience lawyers face today.

    In addition, you have also correctly stated that law school and the practice of law will not enable someone to be marketable in other areas of work (outside of law) and, in fact, non-legal employers most likely will not and have no need to hire lawyers for non-lawyer work.

    I seriously hope that you will reconsider and continue your blog. Although almost everyone comments anonymously, it is evident that experienced lawyers read and comment on your blog as well as recent law school graduates.

    Your voice and words are still needed.

    Thank you for your very important service to the legal community.

    ReplyDelete
  109. Also Lawprof, since you say you will continue on from time to time on your Laywers Guns and Money blog from time to time, I think it would be great to just repost that here. No extra work at all and would keep this blog going, even if occasionally.

    ReplyDelete
  110. Lawprof,

    Im sorry you are going. I know two guys that killed themselves because of the scam. I know third guy who is going to be on welfare soon. So many people have been destroyed by the scam, and even the "winners" will start feeling the pain. I have a pretty decent gig with very manageable debt, but I know I will be thrown out on my ass in the years to come. I know my day is coming, as the structural imbalances are such now that only capital and connections matter in this business, a testament to the fact that this is no longer a profession, but a business like all others.

    This blog has saved countless lives. Lemmings will not abandoned ingrained false notions easily. Yet, when a winner like you tells it like it is, it hits close to home.

    There are alot of aspects of the scam that require exposure, and I am very sad that you, as the centerpiece of this movement, are leaving.

    Thank you for your tremendous work. God Bless you.

    Muni Guy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How I wish one of those guys was JD Painter...

      Delete
    2. Or Mr. Infinity.

      Delete
  111. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Professor Campos (I just typed your name wrong),

      I would like to thank you for what you did. It's great public service in more ways than one.

      Personally, I would say that you're one of the few individuals I came across last year (a time of stress from college & life) who have restored my confidence in people. Best for all your future endeavours.

      Delete
  112. OUTSIDETHELAWSCHOOLSCAM.BLOGSPOT.COM

    We would be fools if we didn't take this to the next level.

    ReplyDelete
  113. When Jesus died, did everyone throw their hand up and say, "Oh well, I guess that's the end of Christianity"?

    No. They moved on. And I suggest we do too. Let's make Outside The Law School Scam the St. Paul to Campos' Jesus Christ.

    ReplyDelete
  114. Thanks, LawProf. I think your exit timing is perfect. Your blog has been a powerful touchstone as I've considered/reconsidered legal academia and my own career trajectory over the past year and a half. -Z32

    ReplyDelete
  115. The joy of the evil-doers (who finally succeeded in wearing LawProf down) when they heard this news is probably the most disheartening thing about his decision.

    I hope LawProf changes his mind, but in any event, Thanks and Godspeed.

    ReplyDelete
  116. Who the fuck gives up halfway through their crusade, just as the tide seems to be turning.

    When the Soviets won Stalingrad did they just shrug and cheer that the Germans were retreating? This timing is bizarre and the effort of saving lives from the scam is not yet finished. It's not enough to acknowledge that the perpetrators of misery are in retreat. Not until Berlin is sacked is this over.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll tell you who:

      A law professor.

      Did anyone here really believe that this would end differently? That when presented with a job v. blog decision, Campos wouldn't take the cash and tell us to go fuck ourselves?

      I only hope that the faculty at Colorado don't forget his dirty little affair with the scamblogs.

      Has a law professor ever done anything other than let us down?

      Come on. He's a boomer (greedy). A law professor (greedy). This is greediness squared.

      This whole thing was an amusing little aside for Campos. It was a way for him to explore being the center of attention. It didn't work. It almost cost him his job. He went back into the fold and will not be a good little law professor, milking us out of our student loan money.

      I'm surprised that there's so many words of thanks.

      A Cyndi Lauper song comes to mind.

      True Colors. I guess Campos showed us his today.

      Delete
    2. "Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!"

      Delete
    3. "If it almost cost him his job" then I don't see how he can be "greediness squared". I highly doubt he's made much money with this whole scamblogging affair. Even if he made a couple grand (doubt it is more than a few hundred) with his e-book, it would be asinine to do all this if he were indeed "greediness squared".

      As for part of the "reward" getting this publicity and attention, I don't doubt it played a part. But regardless he's already done far more to get the word out than pretty much any other lawprof.

      It would be good if he had wound down the blog rather than abruptly end it. But really I don't see how daily blogging, at this point when the message is much more mainstream, in and of itself will really accomplish much more than it already has.

      Delete
    4. List of top 10 greedy things.

      1. Law professors
      2. Baby boomers

      He hits the top 2 on the list of top 10 all time greedy things. It has nothing to do with this blog.

      Boomers want "theirs" (money).
      Law professors want "theirs" too.

      Greediness squared.

      Nothing to do with this blog. Just the nature of boomers and law professors.

      And as for getting fired, if you think that Campos isn't sitting on a seven figure retirement account, you're a fucking idiot.

      Delete
    5. How does it have "nothing to do with this blog" when the 3:23PM post talked exactly about him "letting everyone down because he decided to stop this blog"? Honestly he has blogged a lot longer than I think anyone really originally could have expected when he first started. And he is right, he has pretty much covered everything that can be covered.

      Its also genuinely stupid to equate all boomers and law profs. Some are clueless and greedy and some less so. Campos didn't exactly "need" to do this because really there is no payoff for all this. To do all this "just for the attention" if he truly didn't care at all is just a ridiculous attack.

      And yes Campos has done well, very well. Which is exactly why his voice was credible in the first place rather than some "loser" who "didn't have what it takes to make it".

      Delete
  117. LawProf (Prof. Campos??),

    Not a law school student/graduate here (at one point I briefly thought about going), but I just want to say that the work you are doing is excellent. I only stumbled across your blog about a month ago, and am a bit disappointed I never got to comment more.

    America would look radically different today if more people, like you, were willing to call out this type of corruption. One of the reasons I've started reading this blog (even though it doesn't narrowly relate to me) is because the types of problems it mentions - outright fraud by powerful institutions - is endemic to this country.

    You've faced some very critical (and unfair) attacks in the comments since I've been reading- but I know you realize just how many of these are coming from people in terrible situations. Thank you for the work you and many others have done and will continue to do, if not on this blog specifically.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rarely was it unfair. A professor leading the scamblogs? Fuck that.

      Delete
    2. He wasn't "leading the scamblogs" whatever the hell that means. No one elected him leader and he never claimed to be the "leader". This whole "leading the scamblogs" crap is just stupid. Nothing stopped people from congregating around, say, Nando's blog instead.

      Delete
    3. yeah it did. something big stopped people going to nando's blog. It was called Nando, and his penchant for forwarding people to virus sites and gay porn when he didnt like thier comments.

      that clown could have been as big as lawprof, but he was such a cunt and so mentally disturbed and such a nasty person that people flocked here when they had the chance.

      Delete
    4. OP here -

      What exactly are you doing, Anon @ 3:24, to help bring reform to this system? Do you truly believe that no one peripherally associated with a corrupt institution can help bring reforms? Do you know how many great historical figures have challenged a system they were part of before turning against it?

      Delete
  118. Senator John BlutarskiFebruary 27, 2013 at 3:20 PM

    3:05 is right! WAS IT OVER WHEN THE GERMANS BOMBED PEARL HARBOR?!?!?!?

    ReplyDelete
  119. LawProf. Thank you for doing this blog. I wish you would keep it up.

    I think just now on this blog we are getting an idea of the second part of the scam and how poor ongoing employment statistics are even for a number of people with top records.

    I wish you luck. You have done a great service for the legal profession.

    ReplyDelete
  120. Lawprof,

    I too want to say thank you and I agree there comes a point when you should move on.

    However, now isn't the time. Look at this:

    http://www.thefacultylounge.org/2013/02/law-school-are-the-wrong-people-being-discouraged.html

    FL links to a toxic website that has the morals equivalent to a pornographic movie. It is saying that law school applications are experiencing an UPTICK.

    I think someone is indirectly fucking with you.

    So please reconsider your decision and keep the message alive - at least temporarily.

    ReplyDelete
  121. Thank you for an excellent blog.

    I have a suggestion. Rather than end the blog, why not turn it over to someone? This blog has become a community where people like to comment, and ending the blog destroys that community. Sort of a shame to see it go. Even though the scam is now old news to us, it is new news for every new 0-3L.

    ReplyDelete
  122. I really wish you wouldn't stop blogging here on this subject - I think you're helping people in more ways than you could possibly imagine. I understand though if you need to move on. Thank you from the very bottom of my heart for your work on this blog - you have helped me so much on a very, very deep level. I truly cannot put into words how important your work has been. YOU HAVE SAVED LIVES AND WILL BE MISSED MORE THAN YOU WILL KNOW. THANK YOU.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How does anyone know lives were saved? Serious question. Doesn't it depend on what happens to the people who didn't go to law school? Maybe some of them made the right decision, maybe some of them didn't. Do we know yet?

      Delete
  123. I been a daily reader for quite some time and and sad to see you are moving on but am thankful for what you have done.

    outsidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com sounds promising. We mustn't let this die, as it is a long ways from over.

    ReplyDelete
  124. DJM or another LP should take over the reins.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Imagine if a law school *dean* were to take over for Professor Campos?

      "Inside the (Inner Sanctum of)the Law School Scam"

      Delete
    2. Imagine if a law school *dean* were to take over for Professor Campos?

      "Inside the (Inner Sanctum of the) Law School Scam"

      Delete
  125. "I’ve never written anything about the professional and personal price I ended up paying for starting to investigate, more than a year before I began this blog, the structure of contemporary American legal education."

    someone mustve threatened LP's career big time for him to fold

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.