Friday, January 14, 2011

Your Morning Outrage

Another warning to students contemplating taking on massive debt in this economy:

The ABA Journal recently reported on the plight of Hassan Johnathan Griffin, a recent graduate of Ohio State University Law School. He has $170,000 in law school debt, in addition to $16,500 in credit card debt. He is working part time at the public defender's office for $12/hour. As a result the Ohio Supreme Court upheld the ruling of the Ohio Board of Commissioners on Character and Fitness, finding that Griffin has "neglected his personal financial obligations" in that he has "chosen" to work part time for the PD rather than pursue full time employment. Thus, he failed the character and fitness portion of the bar.

Are you there Common Sense? It's me, Rose. This is wrong on so many levels.

First, and most obviously, why should anyone drop $170K on training to become a lawyer (ha!) when they are going to be punished for that debt by being refused admission to the bar?

Second, do we honestly think this guy would be working part time for $12 an hour in the hopes of being promoted to a full time PD if there were other options available to him? Seriously, who would do that? Why wouldn't you just take a high paying job until the PD's office starts hiring again if that is really your dream job?

Third, I would say the title is misleading. This law grad has a plan to pay back his debt, it just hasn't played out yet because of the miserable job market. Instead of refusing people admission to the bar on these grounds, why don't we deal with the excessive number of toilet law schools? If we take on the over-saturation of the legal market, attorneys would not have to work part time for $12/hour.

Further coverage:

Jobless Juris Doctor
Above the Law

12 comments:

  1. As 12:35 says: What an absolute and surreal Joke!

    Being judged by a panel of Hypocritical Monsters that have never had any Character and Fitness since time began.

    A pack of Demons straight from the bowels of Hell itself!

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  2. Beyond a pack of shit! These judges know that this guy represents 85%+ of all JD grads. WTF? So are all current grads, 3Ls not acceptable to the bar? I suppose they should stop admitting students to the Law School then....but that would put a dent in profits. What about the uslessness of that third year of law school and its hefty price tag.

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  3. Unfortunately, I think this is a way for state board to limit the growth of lawyers, no matter how reprehensible the decision is especially in this economy. Someone tries to get employment in their field as well as gain experience but accepted what's out there. So now, he or she is even in a worse position because he or she won't be a licensed attorney and now made UNQUALIFIED for EVEN MORE jobs. Be careful those of you promoting people to default on student loans and not care, they're watching you--even though most of us are between a rock and hard place! The lesson don't take Ohio bar if you're a law graduate and if not, don't go to law school.

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  4. At least the PD's office pays in Ohio, regardless of how insulting the amount.

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  5. Unfortunately it's the students who are punished, even though the schools and government should never be giving out that level of loan debt to law students.

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  6. This guy got screwed by some A holes in Ohio. Talking about the lawyers eating their young. Ohio Bar admissions should be ashamed of itself. May those who affirmed and supported this horrible decision suffer from a guilty conscious.

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  7. "Hassan Johnathan Griffin" should be a rallying cry for anyone who disagrees with the way the legal system is run. This adds a very personal story to a system with so many profound problems, but whose problems are often communicated by numbers. People respond well to faces, stories. This is a good one.

    My heart goes out to this guy, but after dropping out after my first semester of law school to avoid going into debt, I have to say that I don't exactly have an ocean of sympathy for him.

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  8. This is ridiculous. I cannot believe we indebted, job-searching, hoodwinked recent grads aren't banding together and demanding the massive reform needed in order to overhaul the broken system. Soon there will be large numbers of jobless, broke, bankrupt and very intelligent lawyers (or, more accurately, people who passed the bar or graduated law school who are prevented from being lawyers) who will be incredibly angry and have nothing to lose . . . and know the legal system. How this doesn't scare the rest of people is beyond me.

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  9. Unaccredited Law Student, former Cooley Kid, starting my own unaccredited Scam Blog, need help. Here is my first post. Would love a link, and your thoughts on how I can improve. You are one of my hero's! Keep fighting the ABA man!


    http://abanoway.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/

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  10. I feel for this guy. I graduated from NYLS and passed NY/NJ bar exams. I work in customer service for $12/hr, but I have a great benefits and retirement plan and incentive pay. I feel lucky. I'm not even applying for admission to practice in either state, because I want to cut the reckless spending on a degree that isn't worth anything. I'm thinking of going to community college and working towards an accounting degree. Seriously.

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  11. Instead of law school, why don't people apply to medical school?

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  12. i just came across this blog from another blog. Wow, I didn't even though that was part of character and fitness portion. Now I am def glad I decided not to go to law school. In the 4 years ive been out of grad school, I have yet to land a job that pays more than ten bucks an hour. Im in the process of switching careers and going into teaching instead.

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