Joel Murray (J.D. 2011, UC-Davis) has posted Professional Dishonesty: Do U.S. Law Schools That Report False or Misleading Employment Statistics Violate Consumer Protection Laws? on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

This paper examines the potential legal application of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act) to ABA accredited law schools. In recent years, evidence has emerged indicating that many law schools are misreporting or falsifying employment statistics in marketing materials and to the U.S. News Rankings and World Report law school rankings, the preeminent rankings for U.S. law schools. The reporting of false or misleading employment statistics to prospective students may violate provisions of the FTC Act that prohibit deceptive practices and false advertising. This paper reviews evidence that U.S. law schools are misreporting employment statistics, examines how the FTC Act applies to U.S. law schools, and argues that U.S. law schools that misreport or falsify employment statistics violate multiple provisions of the FTC Act.

Update:

• National Law Journal, Are Law Schools Opening Themselves to Deceptive-Advertising Claims?:

Fudging their graduate employment statistics is more than an ethical matter for law schools — it’s a legal one, according to a paper written by recent University of California, Davis School of Law graduate Joel Murray.

Murray concluded in the paper posted on the Social Science Research Network site that presenting false or misleading employment data violates several consumer protection provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act.

He’s not alone in believing that law schools are treading shaky legal ground. University of Wisconsin Law School professor and advertising law expert Gerald Thain agreed that the agency could take action against law schools that publish false or deceptive employment data.

Paul Campos, a professor at the University of Colorado School of Law who recently wrote an article for The New Republic highly critical of the law school job reporting system, agreed that law schools have opened themselves to litigation.

• ABA Journal, FTC Should Probe Law Schools’ Employment Stats, Recent Grad Asserts:

A recent law grad is getting some support for his assertion that the Federal Trade Commission could investigate whether law schools are violating federal consumer protection law.