Today’s New York Times contains this engaging story about an antitrust suit against the leading bar review course provider, BAR/BRI. It’s worth a read.
UPDATE 1: Ethan Leib, at Prawfsblawg, makes an intriguing point about a possible upside of the dominance of BAR/BRI test prep materials – namely, that near-universal use of the materials effectively acts as a grading curve. Bar exam takers would no doubt find it virtually impossible to overcome this sort of coordination problem on their own, in a world without today’s BAR/BRI. Is this a benefit for which bar exam takers would pay as high a premium as BAR/BRI charges? Given the benefit of access to lawyer pay levels, one might guess “Yes.” Interesting!
UPDATE 2: And Kaimi Wenger shares some thoughts at Concurring Opinions.
UPDATE 3: Christine Hurt questions the effect of law firm payment of prep course fees here, over at the ‘Glom, and Geoff Manne offers a characteristically smart (and skeptical-of-antitrust-plaintiffs) analysis of the entry barriers that other prep courses face here, at Ideoblog.