Long ago, I said that the only way to save the legal profession is to cut enrollment. If all law schools cut their incoming classes to 200 students, these students (especially from the top 50) will be more valuable and subsequently, more recruitable and employable. Today, I ran across an
article that states that few law schools that have come to this realization. Bravo to Northwestern and Hastings! I hope that many other law schools re-examine their overly inclusive enrollment and increase the value of their overpriced degrees. Of course, no article is complete without a mention of Cooley--which is single handedly bringing down the legal market with its 3,700 students in Michigan AND in Florida. Of course they aren't considering reducing the size because doing so might adversely affect minorities. I believe "minorities" must be Cooley for "profits." Look, I'm a minority and I am being dead serious when I say that minorities are not better off with a $100,000+ JD and no job. If you think I'm wrong then, feel free to chime in. By the way, nice stat in that article--this is the worst market for lawyers in 18 years. That's pretty intense.
On a side note, I called a car service today that I used to use regularly when I was in big law. I got a driver that remembered me and he asked why I don't call as often as I used to. I said, "Dude, I'm broke." He asked me if I'm still a lawyer, and I said yes--working for myself and it's been a rough ride. He said, "OH, but you are a lawyer--I'm sure you make lots of money." I will officially close down this blog when it is common knowledge that lawyers are broke.
For now, it's Angel--over and out.
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Great post. I firmly believe that one of the most difficult things about exposing the law school scam is that most non-lawyers operate under the assumption that lawyers make excellent money and that there is always work for them. For a great example of how absolutely out of touch some people are about this issue, check out the "ethicsalarms" blogpost regarding the same photo you posted: http://ethicsalarms.com/2011/10/26/the-young-lazy-unimaginative-and-unbelievable-i-wonder-why-would-this-lawyer-have-trouble-finding-a-job/
ReplyDeleteSome people, like this Jack Marshall, apparently just do not want to understand the truth about law school and legal employment. Meanwhile the ABA is now admitting that 1/2 of all law grads don't find permanent, legal work.
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DeleteWell, you can't really admit you're broke usually, because then people will mock and insult you, and who wants to open themselves up to that abuse? So most people learn quickly to hide their trouble. This is also why credit card debt exists and how the entire consumer driven economy even has a chance at working. If most people knew that most people actually don't have much money and it doesn't actually matter, the economy would tank overnight. And by tank I mean really tank.
ReplyDeleteEven on JDU when someone posts articles about some struggling law grad who tries to justify their pathetic careers, everyone jumps on them immediately and says that person is lazy, entitled or has some sort of mental condition. If our own attack how can we expect others not to?
Anyway my life is pretty much ruined and my career is non-existent. I graduated in 2008 and have worked maybe 1 year in the now 4 years after graduation, and that 1 year was document review, which I have trouble getting now. I used to do a lot of volunteer work and I met 2007 grads that told me how bad things were for them, so I imagine it's not isolated to me.
What can you do but to keep plugging? Fortunately there are social support networks in place. Most law grads are too proud to go on welfare and get food stamps, but maybe if enough law grads were driven this far the Federal government would turn around and do something.
I guess I don't have shame because I will be the first person to stand up and say that I am not rich, that I'm lucky to pay my bills--and don't save anything. I bust my hump and operate my practice from my home--which is great since I work from 8:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. to make ends meet. I am not ashamed. I'm making the best out of a horrible situation. I am blessed because I worked for law firms long enough to have the skills necessary to work a case. As for those lawyers who never lawyered--they are up shit's creek without a paddle and a life preserver. I'm LUCKY!
Deletewith all due respect to Hastings (I'm a student there) they are full of it. they increased their enrollment in the years following up to this (2009 a great example up about 25%)which guaranteed in concert with their GPA requirement for graduation and their forced curve that they would not graduate a decent percentage of the classes they were enrolling. they say their move now is a concern for the industry; it is not. the year before last i had it from the head of their new staff union that their applications had dropped 17% (not the 7% the dean quotes)and they expected it to get much worse. they laid off 35 staff members while raising tuition 15% for next year to 46K in-state. a classmate pointed out that if there were an "open bidding" system, a lot of kids from lower ranked schools would just fill their spots. there is an open-bidding system courtesy of federal student loans. why doesn't Hastings simply transfer in these students? ratings wh**es - they can't let their stats drop any lower. so, this had nothing to do with putting students first.
ReplyDeletei'd also add that it makes very little sense to talk about supply/demand in the legal field without talking about the cost of legal services (lots of people need lawyers but cannot afford them), and the factors driving those costs. tuition costs are passed along to clients. if you think there's a lack of demand for legal services, explain LegalZoom's success (120 million dollar IPO). we all immediately recognize that we can't really work for $20.00/hr because we can't afford a life at that wage with our student loan debt; nor is the ROI any good in terms of quality of life and the sacrifice it takes to go to law school - three years with no life and no money. but, absent the huge debt, would any of us really think that making 40-50K a year as a starting point out of law school would be inherently unfair? i wouldn't.
ReplyDeleteThanks for such a wonderful post
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I think examples like your do show that the system is not calculated correctly and even institutions with the "students best interest at heart" can still playing a numbers game for more enrollment.
ReplyDeleteI work with working class people who cannot afford legal services. If lawyers are broke why don't they compete with each other and lower fees for say, divorce?
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