Rick Bales (Northern Kentucky) at the Workplace Prof Blog, via a hat tip to the Law Librarian Blog, via the Chronicle of Higher Education (boy, that’s a lot of “vias”!) describes a lower court’s recent application of Concepcion to a motion to compel arbitration of a student’s claim against Westwood College for misrepresenting its tuition costs, accreditation status, and job prospects for graduates. The enrollment documents contained an arbitration clause with a class action waiver. The court granted the motion, rejecting plaintiffs’ unconscionability defense. Rick ponders whether law schools should add arbitration clauses to their enrollment agreements, to ward off law student complaints of misleading job placement statistics. Since some arbitrators are underemployed lawyers, perhaps the law students will reach a sympathetic ear in arbitration?
Thanks, Rick, for bringing this to Indisputably‘s attention.
jg
Law schools are a different beast than trade schools, though. Many trade schools charge tens of thousands of dollars in tuition while training student for jobs that, IF procured after graduation, might pay as little as $10 an hour. That kind of makes it impossible for them to pay back their student loans and not go into further debt. New lawyers might have a tough time finding a job, but if they do, their starting salaries are much, much higher.