2007 Beastly Behavior Award: Joan King

In light of Loyola 2L's victorious win of the WSJ Lawyer of Year Award: http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/12/19/the-law-blog-lawyer-of-the-year-loyola-2l/, I found it proper and fitting that the Tom the Temp 2007 Beastly Behavior Award could only go to one of the conniving and profiteering snakes at one of the TTT law schools.

In October, TTT law school administrator, Joan King, publicly criticized WSJ reporter Amir Efrati's professionalism and integrity. Efrati, in an article detailing the dismal state of the legal job market for graduates of non-elite schools, criticized the way in which King was pitching a $150K law school investment to naive 22 year olds. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119040786780835602.html

King's post-graduate career statistics were portrayed as being incomplete, for failing to disclose the critical fact that only half of her graduates had responded to post-graduate surveys. King was also criticized for her failure to disclose the fact that many of her figures were puffed up through the inclusion of temporary lawyers, many of whom do grunt work, make low hourly wages, put up with abuse from egomanical bosses, and work in cockroach infested basements. King claimed the amount of contract attorneys was "minimal" but declined to give a number:

"Declined to give a number? When annual tuition for full-time students at schools like Brooklyn hover{ing} around $40,000 before expenses (which tack on another $20,000)? That says it all. If these were for-profit companies trying to raise funds from clueless investors and publishing questionable data in their prospectuses, the SEC would be all over them. Universities get away with a lot, so buyer beware." http://www.iveyfiles.com/2007/09/feast-or-famine.html

As Loyola 2L so aptly put it, "If you sell the wealthy a bad investment – you will get sued. They have the Securities Acts to protect them. They can sue in so many ways: for the way you offered it to them, for misleading statements, even for statements you thought were correct, but which turned out to be wrong. As if all these private claims weren’t enough, they even have a massive government agency protecting them!

But poor 22 year old college grads? They have nothing. Feel free to prey on them to heart’s desire. You want their $120,000 of borrowed money? Go get it. You can lie about your employment stats, you can lie about it being “a good investment for the vast majority of your graduates,” you can even lie about your victims. The 90% of your grads who work miserable low paying jobs didn’t get ripped off, they’re just stupid and lazy.

It’s great that the wealthy, those who can afford to invest in securities, get these protections. No one should get ripped off. But when are the poor, who invest in higher education, going to get something?"

Make no mistake about it, without Joan King and her slick TTT shysters puffing up statistics and selling bags of fake goods, there wouldn't be a massive glut of debt-ridden and desperate sheep plowing into the crowded, miserable, and exploitive "Lex-Pollution" and Paul Weiss sweatshops. Unfortunately, until people like Joan King are frog-marched in front of a federal jury, there will always be a need for negative blogs like this.