Muckraking for the 21st Century: Scam Blogging

07/01/11

At first glance, one might dismiss these scam bloggers as disgruntled crybabies who didn't get what they felt was due them. However, upon further examination, it appears these bloggers, despite their largely sensationalist tactics, are getting law schools, lawyers and the legal profession as a whole to sit up and take notice.

In the June 29^th law.com article, ''Unruly 'scam bloggers' are changing legal education, researcher argues'', Lucille Jewel, an associate professor at Atlanta's John Marshall Law School, purports that scam bloggers are bringing to light legitimate concerns about the law school system.

In the law.com article, Jewel was quoted as saying: ''I think they make a compelling argument. Most law schools continue to spin this story of, ‘Come to law school. Sure, you'll take out loans, but it will all be worth it in the end when you enter this noble profession.' But here you have a large percentage of recent graduates who are disgruntled and questioning the value of their law degree.''

Jewel put forth her research into scam blogging in her article, ''You're Doing It Wrong: How the Anti-Law School Scam Blogging Movement Can Shape the Legal Profession,'' which was published by the Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology.

''With the scam blogging movement, a small set of underemployed or unemployed attorneys - not the type of lawyers who would normally be listened to with respect to ideas for reforming an aspect of the profession - harness the power of the Internet to argue for changes in the way that law schools market themselves,'' Jewel wrote.

Despite the ‘shock' value many of these scam blogs use to reach audiences, such as Third Tier Toilet, which features a commode full of feces on its landing page, Jewel feels scam blogging will be beneficial to the profession as a whole.

As per the thirdtierraility.com website: ''My goal is to inform potential law school students and applicants of the ugly realities of attending law school. DO NOT ATTEND UNLESS: (1) YOU GET INTO A TOP 8 LAW SCHOOL; (2) YOU GET A FULL-TUITION SCHOLARSHIP TO ATTEND; (3) YOU HAVE EMPLOYMENT AS AN ATTORNEY SECURED THROUGH A RELATIVE OR CLOSE FRIEND; OR (4) YOU ARE FULLY AWARE BEFOREHAND THAT YOUR HUGE INVESTMENT IN TIME, ENERGY, AND MONEY DOES NOT, IN ANY WAY, GUARANTEE A JOB AS AN ATTORNEY OR IN THE LEGAL INDUSTRY.''

Here's to freedom of speech.

Scam blogging first appeared on the scene about two years ago. And while many deem the content to be anywhere from plain controversial to flat out heretical, there's no doubt the practice has taken firm root in virtual mainstream: currently, about two dozen blogs interlink with one another.

In her research, Jewel wrote: ''...we should, to a certain extent, relax our professional norms and allow these arguments to take shape. Despite its nontraditional approach, the scam blogging movement has had a palpable effect on the debate of an important issue facing the legal profession.''

Hear hear! And one can't help but think what type of reform famed muckrakers such as Upton Sinclair and John Spargo might have effected with the aid of the internet.

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