Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Merritt: 'There’s Something Deeply Sad' About The AALS Hiring Unpaid Law Student Interns
Deborah Jones Merritt (Ohio State), AALS Internships:
The Association of American Law Schools wants to employ several law students, who will “work on research and writing projects related to [the Association’s] mission of improving legal education.” In particular, students will have the opportunity to work on projects related to “the value of a U.S. legal education” and “financial aid for law students.” There’s just one catch: These are unpaid internships.
There’s something deeply sad about unpaid student interns working to showcase the value of their education. Even law schools pay their research assistants.
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2016/01/merritttheres-something-deeply-sad-about-the-aals-hiring-unpaid-law-student-interns.html
Comments
I have no problems with the "voluntary" aspect of the position. The problem is that this sounds like something Herb Tarlic or Willy Lowman would do: SALES. This is a SALES gig. Like moving the iron at a used car lot. "We Have a mile of cars with ICE COLD AIR!" Shouldn't the value of a law school education speak for itself? Perhaps it can't because income, work, jobs, clients, cases are too thinly spread among a herd of attorneys.
Posted by: Captain Hruska Carswell, Continuance King | Jan 19, 2016 8:12:35 PM
The latest Form 990 available online through Guidestar for AALS, fiscal year ending 6/30/14, reports that compensation paid to Executive Director Susan Westerberg Prager “thru 10/31/13" was $381,271 (W-2/1099-MISC) along with $77,950 (estimated amount of other compensation from the organization and related organizations).
Posted by: Bob Kamman | Jan 19, 2016 3:54:05 PM
From a recent proposal:
"A few thousand dollars extra per year per AALS member school—the equivalent of a few hundred dollars per faculty member and administrator—could fund several highly qualified fulltime communications professionals. ...
Providing more accurate information to the public could benefit law schools, but the greatest beneficiaries would be the students whose lives law school can change for the better. "
AALS really mishandled this, like it has mishandled just about everything else over the last 10 years. A full time PR staff might make some sense given this mess.
Posted by: Jojo | Jan 19, 2016 7:02:16 AM
Conclusive proof that the world has too many lawyers.
Posted by: The Goat | Jan 20, 2016 11:39:14 AM