Ave Maria Is First Law School to Agree to Transparency Group’s Request for Data
Two Vanderbilt law students trying to collect more jobs information from law schools finally have a taker.
The Ave Maria School of Law in Naples, Fla., has agreed to disclose more detailed job statistics, according to the blog Shilling Me Softly and the website of the students’ nonprofit group, Law School Transparency.
The group was formed by law students Patrick Lynch and Kyle McEntee to collect more employment data that will show how much value graduates get from their law degrees.
Law School Transparency sent a letter to 199 law schools this July seeking data about each law school graduate in categories that include their employer type and name, whether their position is full- or part-time, whether the job requires a law license, and their salaries after nine months. The group asked law schools to indicate whether they would participate by Sept. 10.
By that date, eight schools said they wouldn’t participate, three said they were giving it more thought, and Ave Maria said it would respond by Sept. 16, the National Law Journal reported. The three schools are American University Washington College of Law, University of Michigan Law School and Vanderbilt University Law School.
Northwestern University’s law school told Law School Transparency that it agreed with the group’s mission, but it believed the sensitive information being sought is better collected by a more well-established organization, ideally for an alternative ranking. It went on to reveal that one publication is seeking similar information: Forbes magazine.
