This supplemental information document will serve to provide important context to the data on the two lists. At minimum, we include a space for "total graduates" for the time period (same one as the ABA, NALP, and U.S. News) and also an open area for law schools:
What else do you think would be helpful and reasonable to request from schools? I have entertained a few ideas, like attrition, but want to hear some input from all of you.If your school would like to supplement the data and information provided with an explanation for a particularly high unemployment or unknown rate, or anything else relating to the data and information provided to LST, we encourage you to do so fairly and transparently in the space below. If more space is needed, please clearly label and attach the document. The attachment will appear on your school’s page on our website, http://www.lawschooltransparency.com.
On the note of attrition, we think the associated problems with the numbers weigh against including it. If everybody finished law school in 3 years, or followed predictable patterns (e.g. some go back and forth between FT and PT), it wouldn't be as much of a problem to boil it down to a single number or a couple of numbers. The ABA measures attrition by year, rather than by graduating class, but does not intend it to supplement the employment information. The fact that we intend it to supplement this particular data means we cannot do things that unreasonably risk misleading people, whether they know they're confused or not.