2007 Victories, Looking to 2008

2007 was certainly an entertaining year. The Wall Street Journal exposed the reality of the legal job market, Brooklyn Law School and Seton Hall suffered massive public relations damage, and WSJ readers voted 'Loyola 2L' Attorney of the Year.

Here's a link recap for those who missed these events:

Loyola 2L's award:
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/12/19/the-law-blog-lawyer-of-the-year-loyola-2l/

Legal Job Market Reality exposed:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119040786780835602.html

http://www.elsblog.org/the_empirical_legal_studi/2007/09/distribution-of.html


Brooklyn Law School administration criticised:
http://temporaryattorney.blogspot.com/2007/12/2007-beastly-behavior-award-joan-king.html

The public relations battle continues to rage on blogs, jdunderground, and pre-law websites like lawschooldiscussion.org. I predict that the number and quality of applicants to low-ranked private law schools will continue to drop through the 2008 admissions cycle.

The word is out -- these schools have mediore to poor job prospects and cost up to $40,000/year in tuition alone. Don't be fooled by misleading law school publications advertising high "average" starting salaries. Save yourself money. Go Prestigious, Go Public, or Don't Go At All.

Wall Street Jorual Report: Job market poor for most law graduates

The findings of the WSJ speak for themselves.

In a nutshell:

1. Earnings for most law graduates and lawyers have been stagnant or declining since the 1970's.
2. The number of law schools and law graduates has dramatically increased, flooding the market with J.D.'s
3. The Cost of earning a J.D. has skyrocketed.
   
4. Generally, only attorneys at large firms have seen salary increases in recent years.

If you must go to law school, Go Prestigious, Go Public, or DON'T GO AT ALL! Save your finances. Save yourself. Avoid law school if you aren't sure you want to go.

Law school is the wrong choice for most people

In several of my smaller law school classes, professors would ask students to tell the class on the first day something about themselves or why they went to law school. One very common response was: "I was a(n) [English, Literature, History, Sociology, Gender Studies, Philosophy, Political Science, or other Liberal Arts major] and I couldn't do much with that degree." In a nutshell, people went to law school because they didn't know what to do with their Liberal Arts BA, and they thought a law degree was a path to gainful, secure employment. This is a terrible reason to go to law school. Why?

(1) A law degree will generally lock a person into the law profession, at least for a few years. A new law graduate looking for a non-legal job will inevitably observe two types of responses from prospective employers. First, most employers will say the JD holder is overqualified. Why pay for a JD when a kid fresh out of college will work for less? And there's always the lingering fear on the part of the employer that the JD holder will eventually run to a firm. Second, some employers will question the quality of a law graduate seeking non-legal work. A person who went to law school with no clear goals is not a person who thinks ahead. Also, I get the sense that there is some stigma attached to those who want to leave the law. The public perceives this legal "profession" as a surefire path to wealth and power. This leads people to believe that those want to leave just aren't good workers because they were on easy street, and still can't do well.

(2) Law school is expensive. Three years of tuition and living expenses, and three years of lost earnings are not trivial. As I wrote in April, law school expenses can easily add up to $50,000/year. It is foolhardy to spend so much money for no reason other than "I don't know what to do."

(3) Law school is boring. Reading cases and debating policy is fun at first, but the fun wears off quickly. Digging through thousands of pages of cases to glean principles and rules of black letter law is time consuming and monotonous. Debating policy is an endless cycle of weighing values, with no right answer, and often little reasoning. By the end of my 3L year, I didn't know anyone who wasn't tired of the whole rat race.

To sum up: Don't go to law school just because you think you have nothing better to do. It closes doors outside of the law profession because a law degree makes you overqualified. It is horribly expensive. It is also boring. Save your money. Save yourself. Don't go to law school because you lack direction at the moment.