Article. More data here. Paul Caron has an over all list at TaxProf Blog. Law School Cafe notes:
Before publishing, LST sent each law school the results of their website study. More than 100 law schools contacted LST and, over the next three weeks, Kyle and Derek counseled them on how to improve their compliance with Standard 509. As a result of these efforts, the percentage of schools failing to publish one or both of the mandatory charts has fallen from two-thirds to one-third. The online index reveals each school’s compliance status during the initial LST search (click “Winter 2013 Version”) and the school’s current status (click “Live Index”).
Highlights:
- Of the 199 ABA-approved law schools, 78.4% (156/199) did not meet the expectations set forth by Standard 509.
- 65.3% (130/199) failed to publish one or both charts required by Standard 509. 20.6% (41/199) did not publish either chart.
- 46.2% (92/199) published consumer information that was incomplete, inaccurate, or misleading, as prohibited by Standard 509(a).
- Of the 198 schools that graduated students in 2011, 56.1% (111/198) went above and beyond the minimum regulatory standards and met one of ten transparency criteria. 17.7% (35/198) met all ten criteria.
- 47.0% (93/198) published some salary information that’s neither incomplete nor misleading.
- We sent our findings to the dean, career services office, and admissions office of 199 ABA-approved law schools, along with explanations of the requirements, common problems, and what we expect law schools to disclose as a matter of practice. We then consulted with law schools about how they can meet the Transparency Index's criteria. With our guidance and just a small amount of motivation by administrators, we saw immense improvement in law school consumer information. Unfortunately, there is still a long way to go.
[I previously listed the schools with the best transparency but I used the outdated stats and therefore left out quite a few schools that earned the top grade from LST. The following list of 47 schools that get all "green checks" is from Paul Caron's list and my visual inspection of the current chart.
- Akron
- Albany
- Baltimore
- Baylor
- Boston College
- Colorado
- CUNY
- Dayton
- George Mason
- Golden Gate
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Lewis & Clark
- Loyola-L.A.
- Loyola-New Orleans
- Marquette
- McGeorge
- Memphis
- Michigan
- Michigan State
- Mississippi College
- New Hampshire
- North Carolina
- Northern Kentucky
- Oklahoma
- Oklahoma City
- Pepperdine
- Rutgers-Camden
- Rutgers-Newark
- San Diego
- Santa Clara
- Seattle
- Seton Hall
- South Carolina
- Southern Illinois
- St. John's
- St. Mary's
- St. Thomas U. (MN)
- Texas Tech
- Thomas Jefferson
- UNLV
- Washington & Lee
- Wayne State
- Western State
- William & Mary
- William Mitchell
I noticed that St. Mary's has managed to make this list while also presenting one of the highest LST employment scores in the country. In terms of the NALP 250 placement rankings which just came out and are done by a third party, though, it seems to be one of the lowest in the country.
I am not sure how to square this, and I am not sure the LST scores are a very good basis for comparing schools, however well-intentioned its authors are
Posted by: Critter | March 11, 2013 at 12:43 PM
Critter, is there any chance that St. Mary's places well in jobs other than the NLJ 250? They are noted for their ability to teach trial practice and I suppose that in theory could translate to jobs as prosecutors, PDs, and lawyers in smaller firms that go to trial. (I'm just speculating about the discrepancy you mention.)
Posted by: John Steele | March 11, 2013 at 05:25 PM
Critter,
The employment score measures law jobs only. It is a jumping off point. No one number is going to do the job of making an informed decision.
As John points out, St. Mary puts a ton of graduates in tiny firms. The CSO dean there tells me that only a few of those 2-10 firm jobs were graduates banding together.
Posted by: Kyle McEntee | March 20, 2013 at 08:14 PM