A righteous anger has lately been seething from the most unlikely and urbane of American institutions. Inside ivy-shaded law schools from Columbia to Berkeley, students facing six-figure debts and zero job prospects are howling that JDs aren't much more than university approved shams. Blogs like Shilling Me Softly have stirred the anger, and last month a Boston College student earned headlines by begging his chancellor to give him back his tuition. "It's really just a Ponzi scheme," a Seton Hall law student and blogger named Scott Bullock told the New Jersey Star-Ledger this summer.
The latest sign of law grads' dire straits comes from Coral Gables, where the University of Miami is trying to bolster the grim market for the 350 or so new lawyers set to graduate next spring by offering their up services -- for free.
The new program, called the Legal Corps, will place graduating students without job offers at public agencies, public interest organizations and judicial chambers for six months. The firms and courts will pay nada, while UM will pick up a $2,500 monthly stipend.
