Two New York-based law firms followed through with their October claims that they would file class-action lawsuits against law schools that plaintiffs claim offer false post-graduate job placement statistics to lure students.
Jacksonville-based Florida Coastal School of Law was included in the filings Wednesday.
The New York Law Offices of David Anziska and Strauss Law will work with the Coral Gables firm of Concepcion Martinez & Bellido in representing six former Florida Coastal School of Law students who were named in a class action filed Wednesday in 11th Circuit Court of the State of Florida in Miami-Dade County.
“We believe that some in the legal academy have done a disservice to the profession and the nation by saddling tens of thousands of young lawyers with massive debt for a degree worth far less than advertised,” said David Anziska.
“Now that 51 additional recent law school graduates have sued their law schools, it is time for the schools to take responsibility, provide compensation and commit to transparency. These lawsuits are only the beginning,” he said.
Anziska and Strauss will serve as co-counsel. The 11 other law schools named in the suits include Albany Law School; Brooklyn Law School, of which Strauss is a graduate, according to records from the New York State Unified Court System; Maurice A. Dean School of Law at Hofstra University; Widener University School of Law; Chicago-Kent College of Law; DePaul University School of Law; John Marshall School of Law (Chicago); California Western School of Law; Golden State University School of Law, Southwestern Law School and University of San Francisco School of Law.
Florida Coastal Dean and Professor Peter Goplerud issued a statement this morning:
“We have received a copy of the suit and are reviewing the claims. However, as was stated in October when plans to file were announced, we will vigorously defend ourself against any allegations that challenge the integrity of the postgraduate employment statistics we submit annually for publication to the American Bar Association and others. Our information is well researched and thoroughly vetted. We stand behind it,” he said.
“We will remain committed to doing our part to help strengthen the educational system and ensure that we maintain the highest standards of excellence for our students, faculty, staff and alumni,” he said.
The suit against Florida Coastal on behalf of former students Taylor Casey, Audra Awai, Clifford Klein, Joycelyn Stinson, Melissa Shipman and Amy Kisz states:
“This action seeks to remedy a systemic, ongoing fraud that is ubiquitous in the legal education industry and threatens to leave a generation of law students in dire financial straits,” it said.
“Essentially, plaintiffs want to bring an element of ‘sunlight’ or transparency to the way law schools report post-graduate employment data and salary information, by requiring that they make critical, material disclosures that will give both prospective and current students a more accurate picture of their post-graduate financial situation, as opposed to the status quo where law schools are incentivized to engage in all sorts of legerdemain when tabulating employment statistics,” it said.
During a conference call Wednesday hosted by Anziska and Strauss, Awai stated that she joined the U.S. Army in order to receive assistance to pay the $150,000 debt she claims to have accrued in order to attend Florida Coastal.
She said the Army has paid $50,000 toward the cost of her education, but she has $100,000 in deferred debt remaining. After hearing about the troubles her classmates were having finding employment, she decided not to take the Bar exam and found other employment in order to pay off the debt she had amassed, she said.
“I’m living paycheck to paycheck right now,” she said.
The relief sought by the plaintiffs in the suit filed against Florida Coastal includes reimbursement of tuition and the hiring of “independent third parties to audit and verify post-graduate employment data and salary information.”
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