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                <p>The American Bar Association's Subcommittee on Consumer Information  has issued a proposal, "Revised Standard Regarding Employment Data," on  how law schools should report employment and salary data for new  graduates. The proposed <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/usnews/ts_usnews/storytext/abamayreviselawschooljobreporting/40714263/SIG=1539rdg8r/*http://apps.americanbar.org/legaled/committees/Standards%20Review%20documents/April%202011%20Meeting/Report%20of%20Subcommittee%20on%20Consumer%20Information.pdf">new  reporting standards can be seen here</a>. The proposal calls for law  schools to calculate their nine-month after graduation rates based on  the entire graduating class--something that <i>U.S. News</i> is now  doing in our <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/usnews/ts_usnews/storytext/abamayreviselawschooljobreporting/40714263/SIG=12pd8m39j/*http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools">Best  Law Schools</a> rankings.</p>
                <p>The new standards  would also require law schools to report many different employment rates  based on disaggregated data that would separate out full-time and  part-time jobs where bar passage is required and a J.D. is preferred;  other professional and non-professional jobs; and whether the job is  law-school funded. This would be in sharp contrast to the one aggregated  employment rate for both full and part-time legal and non-legal jobs  that is currently used. It would also require schools to report salary  data by many job types, which would be more detailed than the one  overall salary figure for private and public sector jobs that is  currently available.</p>
                <p>Dean David Yellen of the Loyola University Chicago <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/usnews/ts_usnews/storytext/abamayreviselawschooljobreporting/40714263/SIG=13pkgp7eu/*http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/loyola-university-chicago-03048">School  of Law</a>, one the members of the standards committee, told <i>U.S.  News</i> that there were still a few more procedural steps that need to  happen before this proposal can be adopted. However, Yellen thought  there was a good chance that at least some  of the new standards would  be implemented by fall 2011 for reporting on 2010 J.D. graduates.</p>
                <p>[See how <i>U.S. News</i> is <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/usnews/ts_usnews/storytext/abamayreviselawschooljobreporting/40714263/SIG=142dni27r/*http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/college-rankings-blog/2011/03/09/us-news-urges-law-school-deans-to-improve-employment-data">urging  law deans to improve job data</a>.]</p>
                <p>If any of  the new employment standards are implemented in fall 2011, <i>U.S.  News</i> would collect the more detailed employment and salary data and  incorporate it in the next edition of our law school rankings  methodology. <i>U.S. News </i>believes that while this proposal does  not solve all employment data issues, it would make significant   improvements to the current rules. <i>U.S. News</i> urges the ABA to  take action.</p>
                <p>In the most recently published new  Best Law Schools rankings, <i>U.S. News</i> <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/usnews/ts_usnews/storytext/abamayreviselawschooljobreporting/40714263/SIG=13ggj86ir/*http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/articles/2011/03/14/law-school-rankings-methodology-2012">changed  the methodology</a> for how we compute J.D. employment rates for 2009  graduates, in an initial effort to publish employment data that is more  reflective of the job market for new J.D. graduates compared to our  previous calculation method. In the past, new J.D.s counted as employed  at graduation and at nine months out if they were working full or part  time in a legal or non-legal job or pursuing additional graduate school  education after their J.D.; so did 25 percent of those whose status was  "unknown."</p>
                <p>Now, both the at-graduation and  nine months after employment rates are figured solely based on the  number of grads working full or part time in a legal or non-legal job  divided by the total number of J.D. graduates. Also, those who are not  seeking employment are now counted in the calculation as part of the  total number of J.D. graduates; previously, they were excluded from the  size of the graduating class and the calculation. Those in graduate  school don't count as employed in this year's calculation.</p>
                <p><i>U.S. News</i> believes that this calculation is a more  realistic presentation of the employment data that is currently  available to us.</p>
                <p><i>Searching for a  law firm? Get our <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/usnews/ts_usnews/storytext/abamayreviselawschooljobreporting/40714263/SIG=111hmv6gh/*http://bestlawfirms.usnews.com/">complete rankings</a> of  Best Law Firms.</i></p>
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            </p></div></div><p><strong>Read more:</strong> <a class="rssreadon" rel="external" title="ABA May Revise Law School Job Reporting   (U.S. News   World Report)" href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/education/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/20110317/ts_usnews/abamayreviselawschooljobreporting" target="_blank">http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/education/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/20110317/ts_usnews/abamayreviselawschooljobreporting</a></p>