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Hello,

Hope many TLSers are admitted to the law schools that they want to attend.
As I am searching for up to date job data from LST, I am wondering whether the class of 2012 data in LST is available "before" we pay a seat deposit in April. I want to make an informed decision based on the job prospect. Thank you in advance!

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Regulus wrote:I think most of the ABA data will be made available towards the end of March, so you should be able to access it around the time your seat deposit is due.

Thank you As most seat deposits need to be paid in mid April, it is good news...Thx!

Employment data for the graduating class of 2012 is currently being collected. NALP stats always use employment 9 months after graduation, which is February (specifically Feb. 15, i.e. next week).

The data available now, for the graduating class of 2011, is already as up-to-date as you're going to have before you enroll.

http://employmentsummary.abaquestionnaire.org/

SPerez wrote:Employment data for the graduating class of 2012 is currently being collected. NALP stats always use employment 9 months after graduation, which is February (specifically Feb. 15, i.e. next week).

The data available now, for the graduating class of 2011, is already as up-to-date as you're going to have before you enroll.

http://employmentsummary.abaquestionnaire.org/

How does LST come up with its numbers? Every school I've looked at on here has a number of full time long term JD required jobs than on LST.

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Regulus wrote:LST pulls its data directly from the ABA questionnaire... Have you looked at the questionnaire yet?

Is the questionnaire the link Dean Perez posted above?

Edit: Nevermind, I suck at math.

slawww wrote:

Regulus wrote:LST pulls its data directly from the ABA questionnaire... Have you looked at the questionnaire yet?

Is the questionnaire the link Dean Perez posted above?

That's the publicly available data from the questionnaire. I believe the questionnaire contains additional questions that does not need to be made public

dingbat wrote:

slawww wrote:

Regulus wrote:LST pulls its data directly from the ABA questionnaire... Have you looked at the questionnaire yet?

Is the questionnaire the link Dean Perez posted above?

That's the publicly available data from the questionnaire. I believe the questionnaire contains additional questions that does not need to be made public

Yeah I figured it out. So basically LST's under-employment score comes from jobs that are either not full-time long term or government, etc. Don't you all think that might make the figures seem a little worse than they actually are? I know there is probably a good chunk of law students who are interested in pursuing government jobs that don't necessarily require a JD. I'm sure this is still a small minority, just a thought, though.

slawww wrote:Yeah I figured it out. So basically LST's under-employment score comes from jobs that are either not full-time long term or government, etc. Don't you all think that might make the figures seem a little worse than they actually are? I know there is probably a good chunk of law students who are interested in pursuing government jobs that don't necessarily require a JD. I'm sure this is still a small minority, just a thought, though.

They also include corporate work.
Yes, it makes it seem worse, although how much worse varies by school.
For example, coming out of Touro college, that category includes starbucks barristas, whereas coming out of harvard, that could include consultants and out of Penn ibanking (wharton MBA/JD)

On the other hand, including law firms of 2-10 lawyers make it seem better too.

LST is not perfect, but it's a good tool - especially for people who don't bother looking at the actual ABA data

Regulus wrote:

SPerez wrote:Employment data for the graduating class of 2012 is currently being collected. NALP stats always use employment 9 months after graduation, which is February (specifically Feb. 15, i.e. next week).

The data available now, for the graduating class of 2011, is already as up-to-date as you're going to have before you enroll.

http://employmentsummary.abaquestionnaire.org/

Actually, we should have the 2012 data around the end of March, so if the OP is looking to make up his/her mind in mid-April, I think there will be ample time to see the latest employment information. (Source)

Thanks for that update. Not being in Career Services, I wasn't familiar with their Std. 509 deadline. However, I'll add that, based only with my experience having to submit things by ABA deadlines, I wouldn't bank on the numbers being available mid-April. There could be extensions (I think there's already been one already, I just don't know if Mar. 15 represents the old or new deadline) or a delay in processing the data by schools or the ABA.

Dean Perez

SPerez wrote:

Regulus wrote:

SPerez wrote:Employment data for the graduating class of 2012 is currently being collected. NALP stats always use employment 9 months after graduation, which is February (specifically Feb. 15, i.e. next week).

The data available now, for the graduating class of 2011, is already as up-to-date as you're going to have before you enroll.

http://employmentsummary.abaquestionnaire.org/

Actually, we should have the 2012 data around the end of March, so if the OP is looking to make up his/her mind in mid-April, I think there will be ample time to see the latest employment information. (Source)

Thanks for that update. Not being in Career Services, I wasn't familiar with their Std. 509 deadline. However, I'll add that, based only with my experience having to submit things by ABA deadlines, I wouldn't bank on the numbers being available mid-April. There could be extensions (I think there's already been one already, I just don't know if Mar. 15 represents the old or new deadline) or a delay in processing the data by schools or the ABA.

Dean Perez

March 15 is a hard deadline. ABA is very serious about this. They are likewise serious about getting the numbers up ASAP. I think they'll be up sooner than mid April after a conversation yesterday.

The extension you are talking about is for the Standard 509 information other than the employment chart and scholarship retention chart. Those two charts have been required since August 12, 2012, and the standard explicitly says that the new employment data must be on the school websites by March 31st.