Thomas Jefferson School of Law Alumna Loses Lawsuit

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Summary: A jury sided with defendant Thomas Jefferson School of Law in a case where a former student claimed they lied about graduate employment statistics.

A Thomas Jefferson School of Law alumna lost her closely watched case against the school. The jury met yesterday, and in a 9-3 vote, they rejected Anna Alaburda’s claims that it was the school’s fault she had struggled to find full-time legal employment after graduating.

  

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As reported yesterday, Alaburda, 37, filed a lawsuit against Thomas Jefferson School of Law in 2011. Her attorney, Brian Procel, told the jury that although she spent $100,000 on her degree, she was unable to find a full-time job as a lawyer, even though she graduated with honors in 2008. She cited the school’s allegedly false employment figures as the reason for her decision to attend law school, and her lawyer said she went to school “under false pretenses.”

Thomas Jefferson claimed that their data is “accurate,” and their attorney, Mike Sullivan, said Alaburda did not suffer any damages and that she had actually turned down several job offers in the legal field, which included a $60,000 a year law firm job in San Bernardino, California.

After the decision was announced, Alaburda and her lawyer declined to speak to reporters, but Thomas Jefferson dean Thomas Guernsey released the following statement:

“I am pleased that the jury affirmed that Thomas Jefferson School of Law did not falsify its post-graduate employment statistics,” Guernsey said.

This case was closely watched because in the past several years, at least 15 similar lawsuits were dismissed. Judges in the prior cases said students opted to go to law school at their own peril and that employment is not guaranteed.

It looks as if Alaburda’s jury felt the same thing.

Source: National Law Journal