2/17/2012
A lawsuit was filed Wednesday against three Chicago law schools for allegedly deceiving students by exaggerating post-graduate employment data.
The accusations were made in three different lawsuits filed by recent graduates of the DePaul University College of Law, John Marshall Law School and the IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. The claims in each of the complaints are similar.
The law schools were accused by some of its alumni of falsely advertising since 2000 that 90% or more of its graduates were employed just nine months after they graduated. The recent graduates also alleged that the employment information touted by the law schools included students working in any type of job, even those that are not related to the legal industry.
It was also alleged by the plaintiffs that the law schools exaggerated the average salaries paid to its graduates because they were based on a small and deliberately chosen sample of high-earners.
The graduates claim that they depended on the data made available by the school in determining where to attend law school. Contrary to the schools enticing illustration of the job market, the students graduated with narrow job prospects and with mounting debts.
One of the complainants in the suit said, “These deceptions are perpetuated so as to prevent prospective students from realizing the obvious — that attending John Marshall and forking over approximately $120,000 in tuition payments is a terrible investment which makes little economic sense and, most likely, will never pay off.”
The three schools did not make any comment whatsoever on the subject matter. They said that they still have to see the complaint.
