The New York Legal News Round Up

It's time for the weekly round up of New York law-related news headlines:

• Judge pressures Yankees to show stadium documents (Newsday)

• NY Won’t Admit Would-Be Lawyer Due to $430K in Unpaid Student Loans (ABA Journal)

• Police say mom ordered daughters out, drove off (AP) ("Mom" is a partner in a Manhattan law firm)

• Pirate Suspect Charged as Adult in New York (New York Times)

• 2nd Circuit Reverses Reprimand of Dorsey & Whitney (Law.com)

• New York judge frees up money for Cole victims’ kin (AP)

Comments

[Scott J. Kreppein]

Re: New York Won't Admit Would-Be Lawyer

The law should not protect education lenders as they pressure students to accrue exorbitant amounts of non-dischargeable debt, protect law schools as they over-state the return on investment in legal education, and then fail to protect consumers who fall prey to these practices. It is fundamentally unfair; and what is the Law, after all, other than institutionalized fairness. That said, however, a person cannot fall prey to these practices without taking some level of personal responsibility.

This guy's "character and fitness" mistake was that he couldn't afford to go to law school; or he should have gone part-time to a public school and worked a full time job to off-set the expenses. How many recent law graduates, however, are now looking at their student loans and, in retrospect, saying the same thing? How many are falling behind? Are lenders going to start making disciplinary complaints as part of their collection efforts?

If student loans continue to be a factor in determining whether someone is fit to be a member of the bar, there needs to be a solid articulable standard that prevents abuse, as well as greater oversight of the student loan industry.