If you've got an undergrad or recent grad contemplating law school, you might want to put those thoughts on hold - or at least point him or her to the recent piece in Slate on the Washington Post website. News stories keep popping up about law student remorse - recent JDs or current law students who are suddenly screaming that law school is nothing but a scam, that with few exceptions, newly minted lawyers cannot find work that pays enough to put a dent in their student loans.
One third-year at Boston College Law posted an open letter to the dean, saying, "I go to bed every night terrified of the thought of trying to provide for my child AND paying off my J.D, and resentful at the thought that I was convinced to go to law school by empty promises of a fulfilling and remunerative career... In all of this, we have had very little help from career services, who all seem to be as confounded as we are by this job market... (They have) shrugged their shoulders at us and asked if we have tried using Linkedin." The anonymous student goes on to say that he's willing to leave without a degree if the college will return his 2.5 years worth of tuition. Yeah, good luck with that.
One unemployed lawyer declared a hunger strike - a story that faded away when it turned out she was not so unemployed after all. (She was working as an independent contractor for a law firm and prepping to take the bar exam.) Another named his law school in his bankruptcy filing. (Declaring bankruptcy does not work on student loans. Any lawyer should know that.) But the number of, for want of a better phrase, lawyer's remorse blogs is growing, growing, growing. Among them: Shilling Me Softly and Third Tier Reality, whose aim is to enlighten wanna-be JDs that unless they're aiming for a Top 8 law school, their future employment outlook is bleak. One post is titled, "The Law School Pigs Know That The Legal Market is Shrinking - But They Are Happy to Take in More Students! "
But the story to read is the recent Washington Post piece that points out that those average salary statistics for new lawyers are misleading because there is no mid-range. Top-of-their-class lawyers from top tier schools land $160,000 jobs. Everyone else earns between $45,000 and $60,000, with law school debt that ranges from $71,436 to $91,506, depending on whether they went public or private. (Those are 2008 numbers, by the way.) You do the math. Despite all that, there are more law schools and lawyers than ever: 200 law schools in the U.S. now, a 9% increase since 2000, and 11.5% more JDs, at a time when the demand for lawyers has plummeted 7.8%. And the big firms whose associate programs - entry-level law jobs - keep the whole enterprise afloat have made major cuts to those programs over the last two years.
It's one thing to go to law school because you have a blinding passion for it and stellar LSATs. I'm all for following one's passion. I've got musicians in my family, for heaven's sake. But a friend just mentioned that her daughter was applying to law school because, she said, "It's just kinda what you do." Really?
Finally, the story seems to be getting out there. I went to a top 20 law school and scored 171 on the LSAT. The legal profession is crap. The ABA is the most inept membership organization, they are beyond stupid. Some of the issues facing law students are crushing student debt, sky high tuition increases to support bloated faculty and administrators’ salaries, limited opportunities, little practical skills training, legal education that has no relationship to being a lawyer, and much more.
The problem with the system is that the law schools make it difficult to research the issue; they intentionally publish misleading statistics. As in, there are career services personnel at the law school, actual people, who will do everything they can think of to maximize the employment rate even when they know the maximized number is not accurate. And they are never held accountable.
I agree with the above comments. For more discussion see jdunderground.com and the various “scam blogs.”
Going to law school, for most people, will be the most physically, emotionally, and financially decision you will make in your life. It is not worth it.
Before law school: One test, the LSAT, is the primary factor determining what school you go to (which in turn is the primary factor determining what job to get when you graduate.) If you have a great LSAT and average grades, you can get into a great school; if you have great grades and an average LSAT, you will go to an average school. What makes this test even worse is that it has no relationship to law school or legal practice. To top it off, it’s the one test I have ever taken that you actually have to learn to take. I would recommend spending a few grand to hire a private tutor; if you don’t, you are behind the curve.
About me: I joined the Marine Corps after high school. When I got out, I went to a top 30 university and majored in economics. I did not do well on the LSAT so I took a partial scholarship to a top 60 school. I was a dean’s list student and graduated with honors. I missed law review by one grade. Since I graduated, I passed the bar and mailed 1000s of resumes. I have had 6 interviews and no offers. I tried non-law jobs with similar luck. I am 29 and live with my parents. I recently started a part-time job. I make minimum wage. My supervisor is a highschool drop-out and only 2 of my co-workers have ever gone to college. My little brother who barely graduated highschool has 3 cars and a house. Most of my friends from highschool did not go to college but they all make more than me. I cannot afford interest payments on my loans and have been on 1 date this year.
Law school: I’m not sure where to start… Many psychological studies have shown that the law school method of teaching is horrible and damaging to mental health. Law professors, for the most part, do not care about you. They will go out of their way to make your life miserable. Their job is to prove that they are smarter than you at all cost. I have only ever seen one person cry in class, but I have seen dozens break down after leaving. (I enlisted in the Marine Corps after highschool and can say without a doubt law school is worse than bootcamp- drill instructors actually care for your well being because they know that one day you can save their lives- a law professor has his cozy job and will never see you again) Secondly, law school is graded on a strict curve meaning if 2 people get a 99 on a test and you get a 98, you will receive a B. Law Review, which is the admission ticket to a 6 figure salary, is also decided by this curve meaning 1 grade is usually the difference between Law Review and 6 figures and unemployment. Finally, you take one exam per semester. If you have a bad day, your dog dies that morning, or the professor decides he is looking for more creative answers today, you pay the price. (My personal favorite was a girl that had surgery the week before and she was give the option of taking the exam as scheduled or dropping out.)This adds an element of uncontrolled luck.
This emphasis on the curve does one thing: make people scumbags. People will lie, cheat and steal to get ahead. If a professor puts a book on reserve in the library, someone will steal it. If someone tells you they got notes from an upperclassman, they will make “changes” before they give it to you. The old saying “if a bear is chasing you and me, I don’t have to run faster than the bear, I just have to run faster than you,” creates an environment where people learn to trip each other. The absolute worst thing about law school is that many law professors have never been lawyers. Many would not know how to practice to save their lives. The result is a school that does not teach you how to do what you came there to learn: practice law. To add one more thing about the curve… you may be thinking that if you have a scholarship, you will be ahead of the curve. This is not true as many schools place all the scholarship students in the same section (on a separate curve from the non-scholarship students) this insures that at least half of the scholarships are lost at the end of the year because they are on the bottom half of the curve
After law school: A recent article by a law and economics professor stated that a person needs to start out at $65,000 to break even by going to law school. (I assume that this number will rise as law school tuition is increasing as we speak.) When you graduate, you have 4 paths (only one will get you to the magic number) Big law: you will make around $150k but you will work non-stop. How long do you think your relationships will last if your gf/wife wants you to go to dinner for her dad’s birthday on Sunday night but your boss calls you at 4:30 that afternoon and wants a project done by Monday morning? This happens all the time. Other law firms/ solo: see big law but now you are working for $45k while still getting calls on Sunday afternoon. Ok, so you will go solo and be your own boss and set you own hours. Did I forget to mention that you never actually learn how to be a lawyer while you are in law school? When was the last time you opened the phone book? There are thousands of lawyers also going solo, many have more experience and are willing to work on Sundays as well.
Government/ Public interest: The government has completive salaries, great benefits, vacation and a manageable schedule. Where do you think all the Harvard grads who don’t want to work on Sundays apply to? As for public interest, you will never come close to the $65K number. But, you say that public interest is about justice and not money. That is you naivety is talking. The only thing missing from a courthouse is a recording of Jerry McGuire “show me the money!” Talk to a public defender or someone from legal aid about their case load then question how they can become competent attorney on any case. Try handling 1 felony and several misdemeanors a day and doing a good job. Public interest law is vastly underfunded and their clients have no hope getting justice. Your fourth option is to not get a paying legal job ever. You are now 28 with 200k in loans and you have to move back in with the parents. (Try getting a date with that.) You send out 100s or even 1000s of legal resumes and you don’t even get rejections. Now you try to get a non-legal job because a law degree is versatile. Good luck. Most employers think you are overqualified or a failure because you couldn’t hack it (Like you who is reading this post most employers think that lawyers are rich so it is odd when you ask for a job) When you finally get a job in non-law, you will from day one to the day you retire work for someone who has less education, less drive, and five years younger than you. While your 18-20 coworkers are buying cars you are paying off a loan for a school that never did a thing for you.
I wonder if it would make any difference to you to know that student lenders hook kids up with student loans to create the raw materials needed to fabricate derivative financial products. I wonder if you would then understand why you have students attending places like the University of Phoenix who have been lied to about the programs they are then going to enter and why law schools – as a standard practice – intentionally misrepresent employment figures for graduates. I wonder if it would make any difference to you to know that until the health care bill, student lenders (of federally-guaranteed loans) were using a two-year cohort default rate to intentionally misrepresent the percentage of students who default and therefore get a greater percentage of their portfolios guaranteed by the federal government, thereby making their derivative products “safer” and more marketable. It’s a massive fraud. The whole of it. Why don’t you do something useful? Jesus. Pathetic.
I graduated from law school in 2007 and starting a solo practice soon thereafter. I was making barely enough to get by at my former firm, and figured I could not do any worse by going on my own. I was right, and I have made decent living since hanging a shingle. I will say I probably would not go to law school if I could erase the last seven years, however it has enabled me to have my own business and easily get paying clients. I recently launched a blog describing my successes and failures to hopefully enlighten any disenchanted law students out there possibly considering starting a solo practice.