joegratz.net

Adam Liptak has this article in today’s New York Times about the unusual number of religious law schools that have opened recently, including St. Thomas here in Minneapolis.

As described in the article, finding a uniquely religious viewpoint on, say, the Erie doctrine seems a bit of a stretch.

The article concludes with a truly classic and appropriately corny instance of the Times’ trope of ending most stories with a telling, lingering quote:

The school is not yet accredited by the American Bar Association, which means its students are taking an enormous risk. If accreditation is not granted by the time they graduate in 2007, they will not be eligible to take the bar examination. Dean Green said the subject kept him awake at night.

Tuition is about $18,000 a year, though several students said they had received generous scholarships.

One student, Dustin Barr, said he had weighed the scholarship against the possibility of three largely wasted years.

“You want to come out of law school debt free,” he said. “On the other hand, what’s a $30,000 debt if you’re making good money as a lawyer?”

“There was,” Mr. Barr concluded, “an element of faith in my decision to come here.”

I suppose this isn’t all that different from any other group of law students on their knees praying for a job after graduation — just a bit more literal.