Job Market Obiovusly Improving - Law Schools Not Needing to Hire Own Graudates These Days

Derek Muller has published the results of his research regarding law school-funded jobs for recent graduates:

This year, the first full year of reporting after the change went into effect, law schools dramatically cut back on [law school-funded] positions. There were 520 law school-funded bar passage-required positions for the Class of 2012, up to 777 for the Class of 2013 and 833 for the Class of 2014. This year, however, the number plunged to 397. 

Muller initially suggests this is due to the change in US News' reporting methodology.  But the thought that non-profit educational institutions would somehow rig things to their benefit is highly cynical and seems like a circuitous conclusion that completely ignores Occam's Razor.

Muller, being at some level an academic, can't help mention the actual reason for such a drop:

There are, of course, non-USNWR reasons to see such a decline. Perhaps the employment market is naturally picking up for the best schools...

No reason to go further.

I honestly don't get this obsession with dumping on American law schools when there are much simpler explanations.  The recession of 200whatever is long, long gone and no longer effecting our economy in any way.  The temporary blip in lawyer fortunes eradicated, the market for lawyers is rip-roaring so much that law school beneficence is simply no longer necessary to ensure every last graduate gets a good first step on the million-dollar superhighway.

Today, as compared to a month ago, it is much more likely that Donald Trump will be the next President of the United States.  That's a somewhat surprising result unthinkable five years ago.  But the turnaround in the legal sector was entirely predictable for anyone who understands the situation.  Law schools temporarily gave their students entry-level jobs to ease them into the market until the economic pendulum swung back.


It's so much of a scam, it's not really a scam at all.