Abuse in Hiring: Michigan Law School?

Many law schools are under fire today for lying about the number of students who find jobs after graduation. This appears to be an intentional ploy  to lure unsuspecting wallets  to enroll and pay outrageous tuition and fees. As an attorney, it is  discouraging to see the low level of ethical and moral behavior demonstrated by many supposed leaders of this profession.  Law school professors have tenure, which means they have protection from dismissal. They often stand on soap boxes decrying problems in our society. Perhaps they should look in their own backyard? Is it surprising that the public views our legal system as a “have” and “have not” system where the rich and powerful are held to different standards?  PGB

Equal Employment Opportunity …  for Everyone Else

July 30, 2011:  When one thinks of workplace abuse, one doesn’t immediately think of abuse in hiring.  Maybe we should!

Click here to read a complaint filed in U.S. District Court last week by Nicholas Spaeth, 60, the former state attorney general for North Dakota,  that describes a scenario so egregious that, if true, one can only hope the perpetrators find themselves on the job market soon (very soon) facing employers just like themselves.

The defendant is the Michigan State University College of Law, East Lansing, Michigan, though it appears that many others will join Michigan in the defendant’s box.

Spaeth, a magna cum laude graduate of Stanford Law School, says he couldn’t even get an interview for several advertised teaching position at the law school. He has served as general counsel at three publicly held companies with billions in assets, argued a groundbreaking tax case before the U.S. Supreme Court, and was a partner at three law firms. He also taught for four years at the University of Missouri School of Law, three years as an adjunct and one year as a visiting professor.

Let’s just say the guy has stellar qualifications.

The complaint states the law school ended up hiring three attorneys for the 2011-2012 school year who graduated in 2006, 2005 and 2001, respectively. All three allegedly had far less experience both qualitatively and quantitatively than Spaeth. In fact, the complaint states that one of the new hires had no experience as a legal practitioner.

The applicant who was hired by Michigan to teach in Spaeth’s area of speciality, corporate taxation, had three years of practical experience as an associate in a law firm.  Spaeth, who served two four-year terms as North Dakota’s Attorney General,  is a former general counsel of H & R Block.

Going through an experience like the one described by Spaeth would make any job applicant feel like he was whacked upside the head with a two-by-four plank.

And it is always worse when a law school  discriminates because a law school educates students who will one day be the attorneys and judges who are enforcing our nation’s anti-discrimination laws. Don’t these guys teach employment law?  One shouldn’t jump to conclusions though.  We’ve only heard Spaeth’s side of the story. It will be interesting to see Michigan’s answer to Spaeth’s complaint.  (Right now, I suspect they’re sweating!)

[According to Wikipedia, Spaeth does not go with the flow. He  is the only statewide, elected official in North Dakota's history not to be endorsed by the National Rifle Association.  He is a life-long advocate of gun control.]

The dean of Michigan State University College of Law is Joan W. Horwath, who is described as an expert on gender and the death penalty and a leader in legal education through work with the Association of American Law Schools, the American Bar Association, and the Society of American Law Teachers.  She is quoted by the Blog of the Legal Times as stating the school has not yet received notice of Spaeth’s complaint.  She added: “When or if one comes our way it will be a false accusation because we do not and have not discriminated on the basis of age.”  (FYI – I am old enough to remember a time when women could not attend many prestigious universities and law schools in this country because they were women. That was just 30 years ago. People like Joan have reaped the benefits of a struggle undertaken by generations of victims of sex discrimination. As an expert in gender, one would certainly hope that Joan would insure that her own law school didn’t engage in discriminatory practices.)

Attorneys Lynne Bernabei and Alan Kabat of Washington’s Bernabei & Wachtel represent Spaeth, who previously filed complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against more than 100 law schools that also did not offer him an interview at the Association of American Law Schools’  Faculty Recruitment Conference.