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Dean Matasar of NYLS is at it again

Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2011 7:07 pm
by Unemployed
http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/PubArticleN ... to_Outputs

I nearly vomited while reading this. As the head of not one, but two, institutions which financially rape thousands of young lawyers and lawyers-to-be, Dean Matasar has hardly earned the moral and ethical high-ground from which he can preach this sanctimonious, self-serving drivel. Of course, he fails to mention that in a properly-regulated, efficient legal market, institutions such as his would have been wiped out long time ago.

Some of these ideas may have merit, and yet, they sound so hollow and disgustingly hypocritical coming from him. Whatever progress he may have made in "redesign[ing] and implement[ing] a program geared to the needs of those who employ" law students, such experimentation should not be financed by the future of so many young people.

I recognize that I am in no position to make judgments about legal education reform, but even a six-year-old should be able to see the hypocrisy in Dean Matasar's false crusade. I hope to see him at a public forum some day, so I can make these accusations in person. And no, I am not a bitter unemployed NYLS graduate.

Re: Dean Matasar of NYLS is at it again

Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2011 9:33 pm
by Master Tofu
Why exactly are you so mad? We can fault NYLS for the tuition it charges viz a viz the employment outcomes that it produces, but I don't think there is anything wrong with him penning marketing articles to persuade employers to hire NYLS graduates.

Re: Dean Matasar of NYLS is at it again

Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2011 9:50 pm
by CanadianWolf
The article started off in a strong & reasonable fashion but evolved into a repetitive & wordy advertisement. Initially, I thought of Northwestern & Harvard law schools' concern for client needs & Northwestern's focus on teamwork, but then the article degenerated into drivel designed to impress the author with his own writing & thoughts while plugging NYLS graduates.

Re: Dean Matasar of NYLS is at it again

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 9:37 am
by Unemployed
My beef with Dean Matasar's false crusade is that he is sanctimoniously criticizing the very thing that has kept him and his ilk in business for so long - making millions in the process, I might add. Is the legal hiring model outdated and inefficient? Yes. Are law schools doing an inadequate job training young lawyers-to-be? Yes. Are shitty law schools getting away with highway robbery because of the status quo? Yes. Is NYLS---its profitability and indeed, its very existence---a poster child for everything that is wrong with legal education and hiring? Absolutely.

He may appear to be plugging NYLS graduates, but it's disingenuous at best... and downright malicious, if you think about it. Not only is he using them as cash-cows, he also has the gall to use them as a vehicle for his reformist message (assuming for the moment that he genuinely holds such views). Will anyone care that NYLS is spearheading this reform? Not at all. One may even argue that he is hurting his own cause (again, if it's indeed his cause) by penning self-serving pieces like this all the while profiting off of NYLS and Access Group.

Re: Dean Matasar of NYLS is at it again

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 9:51 am
by Stanislaw Carter
Law schools scamming people is a fact at life. Getting mad or frustrated about it is just like getting mad or frustrated about the world. Nothing we can do about it for now, so let's move along.

Re: Dean Matasar of NYLS is at it again

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 9:58 am
by Unemployed
Stanislaw Carter wrote:Law schools scamming people is a fact at life. Getting mad or frustrated about it is just like getting mad or frustrated about the world. Nothing we can do about it for now, so let's move along.
This goes beyond simple scamming though. This guy shouldn't get away with acting like he's making any contribution to our ailing profession.

Re: Dean Matasar of NYLS is at it again

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 10:39 am
by czelede
Stan, why are you so mad?

Yeah, this is kind of a shameless "Why You Should Hire Our Students Over T14 Kids" plug by the Dean, but I mean, I don't think any 0Ls are going to attend NYLS based on this so the scamming thing is kind of a non issue (and if they do, well...I doubt they would've been wildly successful either way). And I doubt Wachtell and Skadden are reading this and suddenly having epiphanies about how NYLS grads are better qualified than everyone else, so really, it's just one sad guy pontificating to nobody. (And then one angry guy pontificating to TLS, I guess).

Re: Dean Matasar of NYLS is at it again

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 10:43 am
by vanwinkle
Moved. Stuff like this doesn't belong in Legal Employment.