Money Matters

Re: NY Bar denies admission b/c too much SL debt

rissainthesky — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:19:53 GMT

this is what bothers me:

he graduated from the State University of New York in Albany in 1995.

Ok, thats when he should have gotten a job and begun to pay back his undergrad loans

He enrolled at the University of California Hastings College of Law in San Francisco in 2000.

What the hell did he do for *5* years?

After his third year, he began a masters of law program in London, where he lived with a girlfriend. He graduated in December 2004 with about $230,000 in student loan debt, and she helped support him while he studied, and studied again and again, for the bar exam.

Why would you go for your LLM before taking the bar?? Unless he failed before he went for his LLM... then again, WHY go for your LLM until you PASS the bar??

He is an idiot. Nuff said.

Re: NY Bar denies admission b/c too much SL debt

LaLaLisa — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:18:33 GMT

He was NOT denied admission because of too much SL debt.

He was denied because he had not made a single payment.

I do think the first makes a better headline but too bad it's not true.

Re: NY Bar denies admission b/c too much SL debt

OUKatie — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:15:18 GMT

laura*sean:

I do not agree with this, but to play devil's advocate, do you think it is more about never making a payment in all that time than about the actual amount. I know you can make payments during deferment because Sean did. Did he not have a job at all since 18? He must have made some money at some point to live off of after he was out of law school. I imagine this was a case where a $100 payment here and there, albeit a drop in the pond, may have swayed the judges on his character.

This was my thought, too.

Also, why should the government give a break to people going to law school? I don't get it. There are plenty of lawyers out there. It isn't like this is a field where we don't have enough people pursuing a career and it is necessary for the well-being of our society to have more people, in general, becoming lawyers.

Re: NY Bar denies admission b/c too much SL debt

rissainthesky — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:12:01 GMT

laura*sean:
I do not agree with this, but to play devil's advocate, do you think it is more about never making a payment in all that time than about the actual amount. I know you can make payments during deferment because Sean did. Did he not have a job at all since 18? He must have made some money at some point to live off of after he was out of law school. I imagine this was a case where a $100 payment here and there, albeit a drop in the pond, may have swayed the judges on his character.

I think the fact he never made a payment is exactly why he was denied.

Re: NY Bar denies admission b/c too much SL debt

rissainthesky — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:03:34 GMT

honestly, I agree with the bar. He hasnt made a SINGLE payment in 26 years? give me a break.

Re: NY Bar denies admission b/c too much SL debt

tosababy — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:31:43 GMT

He hasn't made a single payment in 26 years ... that is weird.

However, now he's never going to pay it back (if he can't practice).

Re: NY Bar denies admission b/c too much SL debt

gtown_bride — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:18:32 GMT

Whoa. That is insane. I went to a private undergrad and law school, so I have a lot of SL debt, but I can't fathom having $400k worth. I don't think he should be prevented from getting his license, but it does show a lack of financial sense.

Re: NY Bar denies admission b/c too much SL debt

12/13/2003 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:59:09 GMT

wow

Re: NY Bar denies admission b/c too much SL debt

laura*sean — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:57:43 GMT

I do not agree with this, but to play devil's advocate, do you think it is more about never making a payment in all that time than about the actual amount. I know you can make payments during deferment because Sean did. Did he not have a job at all since 18? He must have made some money at some point to live off of after he was out of law school. I imagine this was a case where a $100 payment here and there, albeit a drop in the pond, may have swayed the judges on his character.

Re: NY Bar denies admission b/c too much SL debt

hoping4septimus — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:45:49 GMT

I can see how having too much debt could make you susceptible to defrauding clients but seriously if law schools are charging so much that bar is claiming they want people from all walks of life/socio economic classes what is the bar's answer? The ABA should be putting pressure on law schools to lower the amount students borrow.

Re: NY Bar denies admission b/c too much SL debt

jillboston — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:43:00 GMT

This really bugs me. This came up in my character interview in 1991 in NY. I only had 90K in debt and the b***tchy attorney who did my interview (we had had a big run -in over a closing just a month prior) brought it up. I was livid.

Re: NY Bar denies admission b/c too much SL debt

womet — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:33:43 GMT

BarefootContess:
Sounds to me like Sallie Mae had something to do with the denial. Yes, he owes a ridiculous amount of money but I am not sure high debt should disqualify him, assuming he has in fact followed all the rules about deferment. These big companies can be big bullies.

I agree. It sounds like Sallie Mae is one reason why he owes so much.

Sallie Mae transferred Mr. Bowman’s private student loans, the ones not guaranteed by the federal government, to a collection agency, which tacked on a 25 percent fee. That agency transferred the loan again, and he said the next collection agency tacked on another 25 percent fee. Sallie Mae denied this, saying he was charged the fee only once. But suddenly, Mr. Bowman found that he owed more than $400,000.

But I also wonder if the NY Bar would fault him if he had $200K in SLs and a $300K mortgage? Probably not.

Re: NY Bar denies admission b/c too much SL debt

grrlygirl — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:31:21 GMT

Perhaps next we should bring back debtor's prison, just for good measure. Or the pillories?

Poor guy. While he clearly made some mistakes, overcoming all he did to get where he is is impressive. And exactly how do they think preventing him from working in his profession will help him make good on the loans?

Re: NY Bar denies admission b/c too much SL debt

BarefootContess — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:23:15 GMT

Sounds to me like Sallie Mae had something to do with the denial. Yes, he owes a ridiculous amount of money but I am not sure high debt should disqualify him, assuming he has in fact followed all the rules about deferment. These big companies can be big bullies.

Re: NY Bar denies admission b/c too much SL debt

cittycat — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:10:51 GMT

it sounds like it was the collection agency fees that made it jump form 270 to 400. that is awful.

seriously, i thought they let anyne practice. It sure seems that way. That is awful. it might be one thing if he defaulted, but he hasn't, right?