Prof says legal ed. "scam bloggers" are reason applications have plunged

In an interview with the Business Insider blog, U. Arkansas - Fayetteville Associate Dean and law professor Steven Sheppard says that the law school scam blog movement is behind the precipitous drop in law school applications rather than applicant concerns about high tuition or there being not enough jobs upon graduation. 

One Law School Dean Tells Us The REAL Reason Nobody Wants A JD Anymore

The Law School Admission Council's numbers indicate that applications for fall semester are on track to reach a 30-year low, the National Law Journal's Karen Sloan has reported.

Sheppard doesn't argue with the numbers, but he does provide an alternate theory of why law school applications have plummeted. Law school hasn't suddenly become a bad investment, according to his theory.

Here's Sheppard's explanation that came in an email to Business Insider:

"The decline in law school applications is as easily explained (and perhaps more accurately explained) by the drumbeat of criticism than by the economics of education or legal employment. This criticism has been initiated by unhappy law students, drop-outs, and graduates, along with critics in the law faculties who have their own axes to grind. It has been amplified by a press and blogosphere that is either not equipped to evaluate the criticism or happy to sell papers by flaming it."

Whether you believe the so-called scam bloggers have an axe to grind, the numbers don't lie regarding the dismal state of the job market and the negative financial consequences of high levels of non-dischargeable educational debt.  Surely Professor Sheppard can't blame a small group of bloggers that includes Paul Campos, Elie Mystal, Bill Henderson and Brian Tamanaha for that. 

Check-out the full story here.

(jbl).