My law school screwed me!!!

[TimMitchell]

Wow, I looked up your school on LSN... how can the bar passage rate be so low? The LSAT and GPA range aren't horrible. Was the quality of education bad or does CA just have a very difficult bar (I heard that they do)

[Pacavelli]

going back to read this. tag.

[PSUDSL08]

I know you're retaking the courses and I hope you ace them and complete your degree. If you decide to make a noisy withdrawal, or even to make some noise after you finish school...aside from contacting the ABA, here's what I'd do.

1. Look up your school's practicing alumni and send out a mass email/letter discussing what happened to you. Since these alumni were not subject to the same rigid ex-post facto curriculum changes, it might be enough to get them fired up too. Many of them who were in your academic position who are now fine practicing attorneys might go to bat for you with the administration. If the administration gets the feel that the alumni are disgusted with what is going on, the threat of bad publicity and/or withdrawn alumni donations might be enough for them to make the new rules applicable only to students starting in 2009.

2. Find any type of academic complaint/grievance website, newsletter or whatever and tell them your story. You might just be saving someone like yourself 3 more years of expense and frustration.

I'm a vindictive SOB, so if I were you, I'd try to screw your school (or at least the current administration) over whether or not you end up graduating. I wish you the best of luck man..

[Lampshade Punk]

I go to a top teir school and I get screwed on a regular basis.  hi.

[Ninja1]

OP: Haven't read the rest of the thread besides your post and I don't care to.

Appeal to the ABA and sue your school.

[florida357]

To the OP, it seems as if you have at least a decent cause of action, though I don't know what theory off the top of my head.  Bad faith business practices?  Possibly even fraud.

Those may be plausible causes of action. Interestingly, the attorneys I spoke with all believed that this was essentially a breach of contract, even though the student handbook states that the student handbook is NOT a contract. I'm going to play this game on their terms for the summer by taking 2 classes that I already took and passed. If I get screwed on this, someone else is going to feel my pain. Thanks for the comment.

Good luck.  Let us know how it turns out.

[StrictlyLiable]

the student handbook states that the student handbook is NOT a contract.

Then how is it enforceable?

Its not. Though many courts have come around in the past decade to declare that student handbooks can be enforceable contracts if the right language is present, the fact that the school specifically said that the handbook is not a contract makes it unenforceable as a K for the simple fact that there was no manifestation of assent.

That said, there MUST be some sort of paperwork that defines and binds both the institution and the student's obligations in their relationship. Usually the handbook does just that. Since that is not the case here, the OP needs to find another document that meets this criteria before he can go any further.

Even if the handbook was deemed to be a contract, I still don't think the OP has a leg to stand on becuase the school effectively notified him of the change during 2L and OP still enrolled for 3L. This could be perceived by the court as assent to modification of the original handbook.

As to the OP being "screwed", I think he actually screwed himself. The ABA mandates that schools put minimum GPA requirements (cumulative and core credits) on their students as a pre-requisite to graduate. My school's minimimum was a 2.0 CUM and 2.5 in core. If the OP failed to meet even that, he has no business being a law school graduate anyway.He should count himself lucky that he was going to the school he was. Most others schools would have probably bounced him out prior. At least there he can take some of those classes over in the summer and graduate next winter.

[Argive]

Did anyone else have to read McDonald v. Mobil Coal for contracts class?  It said that a disclaimer in an employee handbook stating that the handbook did not constitute a contract must be conspicuous.  I don't know what the law is in CA, but it's at least possible that the courts wouldn't recognize the disclaimer, unless it's in sufficiently bold typeset.

As a previous poster mentioned, I'd be worried that signing up for more classes would constitute assent to modification of the previous policy.  You should ask a lawyer about that point.

[rangerbat]

the student handbook states that the student handbook is NOT a contract.

Then how is it enforceable?

Even if the handbook was deemed to be a contract, I still don't think the OP has a leg to stand on becuase the school effectively notified him of the change during 2L and OP still enrolled for 3L. This could be perceived by the court as assent to modification of the original handbook.

I don't think my actions in continuing on with my education qualify as assent to the change in the policy. After $60,000 in the hole, WSU did not leave me much choice. I believed (and the administration assured us) that every student can graduate. The administration did not give the student body any reason to believe that for some students it may be in their best interest to call it a day. It is very easy for a school to rely on the assent argument. But if this assent, then it was forced out of me through fear of losing 2 years of my life and 2 years of tuition. It may not have been a gun to my head, but I certainly did not have much choice.

[rangerbat]

I know you're retaking the courses and I hope you ace them and complete your degree. If you decide to make a noisy withdrawal, or even to make some noise after you finish school...aside from contacting the ABA, here's what I'd do.

1. Look up your school's practicing alumni and send out a mass email/letter discussing what happened to you. Since these alumni were not subject to the same rigid ex-post facto curriculum changes, it might be enough to get them fired up too. Many of them who were in your academic position who are now fine practicing attorneys might go to bat for you with the administration. If the administration gets the feel that the alumni are disgusted with what is going on, the threat of bad publicity and/or withdrawn alumni donations might be enough for them to make the new rules applicable only to students starting in 2009.

2. Find any type of academic complaint/grievance website, newsletter or whatever and tell them your story. You might just be saving someone like yourself 3 more years of expense and frustration.

I'm a vindictive SOB, so if I were you, I'd try to screw your school (or at least the current administration) over whether or not you end up graduating. I wish you the best of luck man..

I'll tell you what. If I get out of this mess, I will make it my mission to make sure prospective law students do not go to this school. What is more, if they ever ask for money I'll send them something besides money. Thanks for the comment.