Law school graduates in Michigan and New York who believe they were duped into making poor investments in their degrees have used their skills to take their alma maters to court in a pair of class-action suits. The grads say the schools misled them about their post-graduation job prospects, as well as their potential salaries.

Reuters reports the plaintiffs accuse the schools of manufacturing programs to hire their own grads, counting alumni with part-time jobs as full-timers, and dismissing data from students who didn’t respond to surveys.

A law firm representing the students said the suits are indicative of a widespread problem:

“We are bringing these lawsuits because thousands of young lawyers, like the plaintiffs, struggle to purchase a home, raise a family and make investments because they leveraged their future to a law school based on inaccurate information. It is time for the legal academy to own up to this problem.”

Representatives of the schools being sued called the suits “baseless” and “without merit.”

Graduates accuse law schools of scamming students [Reuters via MSNBC, Newsvine]

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