Best Graduating Student Sues Former School for Failing to Land a Job After Graduation

A student who graduated at the top of her class, has dragged her former school to the law court after she failed to land a job after graduation.

 

Anna Alaburda

 

A former law student, Anna Alaburda, who graduated at the top of her class, is suing her former school, as she has yet to find a full-time salaried job as a lawyer. It's been nearly a decade since Alaburda, graduated from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law at the top of her class. 

 

Accoridng to Daily Mail, after Alaburda graduated, she went on to pass the state bar exam and set out to use the law degree that cost her about $150,000, according to The New York Times.

 

And like many other law students, Alaburda has yet to pin down a full-time job as a lawyer.

 

But unlike several students who've tried to sue their respective schools for damages, Alaburda is the first former law student whose case against a law school, will go to trial. 

 

The Times reports that her case states that the law school inflated the employment data for its graduates as a way to get students to enroll.

 

Her lawyer, Brian Procel, told The Times that this will be the first time a 'law school will be on trial to defend its public employment figures'.

 

Alaburda, who has debt of about $170,000, has worked in various part-time positions, mostly temporary jobs reviewing documents for law firms.

 

Thomas Jefferson School of Law where Anna Alaburda graduated from

 

She filed the lawsuit in 2011, arguing that she would not have enrolled at Thomas Jefferson if she had known the law school's statistics were misleading, according to The Times.

 

Despite efforts by the school to get Alaburda's case thrown out, San Diego, Judge Joel Pressman ruled against the law school.

 

According to the Times, Dean Thomas Guernsey said in a statement that the school has 'a strong track record of producing successful graduates, with 7,000 alumni working nationally and internationally'. 

 

Alaburda was offered a job after she graduated with a law firm that was willing to give her a $60,000 salary, but she turned it down.

 

She said that she received only the one job offer, that was less favorable than non-law-related jobs that were available, even after she sent her resume to more than 150 law firms. 

 

Alaburda is asking for $125,000 in damages.