Today’s NY Times has an article about a pending class-action suit against BAR/BRI (registration req’d) for possible antitrust violations. BAR/BRI is the only game in town for most law students who want to take a review course for the bar exam. And nearly every law student takes a bar review course after graduation. The bar exam, at least in Minnesota, is a grueling affair. It spans two days and covers roughly a half-dozen subject areas. If you don’t take a review course, you’re on your own as far as figuring out what material will be on the exam and how to prepare for it. For eight weeks in the summer of 1998, I dutifully attended BAR/BRI classes, listening to professors who were either quite engaging or duller than Soviet architecture. This privilege cost me $1,000 that I didn’t really have at the time, but I also didn’t have much of a choice. To the best of my recollection, there wasn’t an alternative available. Now, I’m toying with the idea of joining in on the suit as a class-action member. I don’t have a problem with this company making money on bar review classes, but I do have a problem with them positioning themselves as the only choice for students who are already heavily in debt.
Hmm a place that teaches people how to be lawyers had to see this coming.