37岁法学院高材生被拒150次：将母校告上法庭(双语)

冬咚

　　A jury has ruled against a 37-year-old graduate of the Thomas Jefferson School of Law who claimed that the school defrauded her when she attended nearly a decade ago,The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
　　据《圣地亚哥联合论坛报》报道，美国托马斯杰斐逊法学院（TJLS）的一位37岁的毕业生在毕业近10年后，终于有机会为自己起诉学校欺诈的案件陈词。然而陪审团却并未支持其诉讼请求。

　　A San Diego, California, jury ruled 9-3 in favor of the school, handing a victory to TJSL — since civil cases in that state don’t require a unanimous jury vote.
　　在加州，民事案件并不需要遵循陪审团一致裁决的原则。美国加利福尼亚州圣地亚哥市地方法院的陪审团最终以9:3的投票支持学校一方，宣布了TJLS最终胜诉。

　　During the trial, a lawyer for the TJSL graduate, Anna Alaburda, argued that the school promoted a misleading employment rate for its graduates. That lawyer claimed TJSL neglected to disclose that many graduates it touted as "employed" were actually working in hair salons or bookstores, or even selling tractors, as the Union-Tribune reported.
　　据《圣地亚哥联合论坛报》报道，在审理期间，此次案件的原告——TJSL法学院毕业生安娜·阿拉布尔达状告学校为诱惑学生伪造毕业生的就业率。同时，安娜声称即现如今许多所谓“就业”的学生实际上在美发沙龙、书店工作，有些甚至从事销售拖拉机等与自己专业毫不相干的工作，但这些仍被学校算在了就业率中。

　　The school defended itself by arguing that Alaburda had at one point turned down work and by contending that many of its graduates have successful careers in law.
　　这所学校认为Alaburda的说法毫无法律根据，并称其培养的成功毕业生有迹可循，许多人都在法律方面事业有成。

　　The so-called Alaburda case is noteworthy.
　　事实上，安娜这起控告案非常值得关注。

　　It was the first case to go to trial that accused a law school of using inflated postgraduation-employment figures and salaries to defraud applicants.
　　这是第一起起诉法学院利用虚高的毕业就业数据来欺诈申请者正式进入审理的案件。

　　Graduates of law schools filed more than a dozen proposed class-action lawsuits in 2011 and 2012 alone, according to The Wall Street Journal. These suits claimed that the schools defrauded graduates into thinking employment prospects were rosier than they really were.
　　据《华尔街日报》报道，仅在2011与2012年，就有至少12起法学院学生的集体诉讼，他们大多控告学校虚高的就业率美化了自己的就业前景。

　　When contacted for comment on Thursday, Brian Procel, a lawyer for Alaburda, did not mention whether his client would appeal the jury verdict.
　　为进一步了解后续进展，媒体于周四与安娜的辩护律师布莱恩·布罗基尔取得联系，但布莱恩并没有透露他的原告是否针对陪审团的裁决再次提出上诉。

冬咚

　　"We are proud of the work we did on this case. We called attention to an issue that was not previously discussed," Procel said in an email. "We are optimistic that future students will have access to better information when deciding to attend college or graduate school as a result of this case."
　　布罗基尔在邮件中写道：“我们为自己在这个案子上所作出的所有努力而感到骄傲，因为我们使得这个长久以来被忽视的问题重新给予关注。我们相信，这起案件之后，未来的学生在面临大学或研究生选择的时候，所获得的信息将更加具有参考价值，前景也会更顺利。”

　　Meanwhile, TJSL Dean Thomas Guernsey said the jury affirmed that the school didn’t falsify its postgraduation employment statistics.
　　与此同时，TJSL院长托马斯·格恩西表示，陪审团已经进行证实学校并没有蓄意伪造毕业生就业数据。

　　"Today’s decision by the jury further validates our unwavering commitment to providing our students with the knowledge, skills and tools necessary to excel as law students, pass the bar exam and succeed in their professional careers," the dean said in a prepared statement.
　　院长公开声明：“陪审团所作的决定进一步证实了我们对学生进行优质培养的坚定不移的决心。我们的宗旨就是让学生掌握必备的知识、技能，为他们提供必要的支持，同时令其能够顺利通过律师资格考试，在未来的工作岗位上有所成就。”

　　But for her part, Alaburda claimed that her law school did not give her the tools she needed to succeed in the legal profession, on which she set her sights after graduating from New York University with a bachelor’s degree in 2002.
　　从安娜的角度来看，安娜于2002年从美国纽约大学毕业并获得学士学位，后来她重新定制目标并成功考入TJSL, 计划毕业后进军法律界。然而，求职过程中她发现一切自己并无优势可言，即使毕业名校，就业前景也极度不乐观。

　　She decided on the San Diego-based TJSL after reading about its postgraduation statistics in its marketing brochures and in US News & World Report in 2003, according to the lawsuit.
　　根据该案案情，安娜是在阅读了2003年《美国新闻和世界报道》上关于TJSL（位于圣迭戈）就业情况介绍和该校的招生手册后决定报考该学院的。

　　US News & World Report said that "80.1 percent of students [at TJSL] were employed nine months after graduation," according to the suit.
　　2003年《美国新闻与世界报道》刊登道：“TJSL近80.1%的学生在毕业后九个月内都成功找到了工作。”

　　For comparison, Yale Law School, rated the No. 1 law school in the nation by US News, has a postgraduate employment rate of 88.2%, according to 2016 statistics.
　　比照耶鲁法学院（目前在《美国新闻》中全美排名第一）的2016年就业数据可知，该校的毕业生就业率为88.2%。

　　Alaburda excelled at TJSL, graduating in the top tier of her class, according to a story about her case in The New York Times. She also passed the bar exam on her first attempt. She graduated from the school in 2008.
　　据《纽约时报》报道，安娜在TJSL中学习非常突出，在班级内成绩一直是上游，并且只用了一次就通过了司法考试，于2008年从该学院顺利毕业。

　　But despite her academic successes, she said, Alaburda has been unable to find full-time employment as a lawyer.
　　尽管她专业成绩十分优异，安娜却声称自己一直不能找到一份全职律师的工作。

　　She has sent her résumé to more than 150 law firms and received only one job offer, which "was less favorable than non-law related jobs that were available to her," the suit says.
　　她曾将自己的简历投递给超过150家律所，但是最终仅被其中一所录取，“这样的就业难度远高于她所能选择的非法律工作”，她在诉讼中如是说。

　　In addition, Alaburda said, she graduated with $150,000 in student-loan debt — a figure that has since ballooned to $170,000 when accounting for interest.
　　此外，她在毕业时已承担了15万美元的学生贷款，目前连本带息共计17万美元，以致于她不得不从事兼职和非法律工作以偿还贷款。（爱语吧）