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Law Schools Bracing for Wave of Class Actions?

By Cynthia Hsu, Esq. on December 28, 2011 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

2012 may prove to be the year of the law school lawsuit.

At least that's what some attorneys at LeClairRyan are saying. They claim that they've been tracking the "noise" on blogs and social networks for months. Their conclusion is that disgruntled law grads everywhere seem poised to sue.

Are you surprised? If you're currently sitting pretty in a BigLaw office, you're probably grateful for your law school education. It netted you a high six-figure paying job, after all. Granted, you don't have a social life. But hey, life's all about compromise. At the same time, you likely know some law grads that fall into one of the following categories:

  • The temporary worker: Floating from firm to firm, these law grads staff doc review projects. They also hate life and rue the day they decided to go to law school.
  • The underemployed attorney: These JDs have a job. But they're not happy with their job at all. They're so unhappy that they describe themselves as "underemployed."
  • The unemployed attorney: These are the saddest of all law grads. They've sent out dozens (hundreds?) of resumes, all to no avail. You just want to give them a hug. And some of your spare change.

It's not surprising that there may be a wave of lawsuits coming down the pipeline. It's also not that rare. Some law grads have already made headlines by suing their law school. Anna Alaburda, a Thomas Jefferson law grad, sued her school over their deceptive employment statistics. She claimed the attractive statistics lured her into thinking she'd have a legal job after graduation.

Instead, she graduated with debt -- with only part-time and temporary work to her name.

Maybe LeClairRyan's predictions will come true. It's easy to envision other law school lawsuits filed by disgruntled students like Anna Alaburda. The real question is -- will they actually be successful?

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