Why Law School Is for Everyone

This post couldnt be more on the level.

drip feed blasts of AL 5:41PM November 04, 2011

This article needs more post.

Rap of NJ 1:03PM February 17, 2011

I've been wondering why law school admissions offices are mysteriously experiencing unprecedented floods of applicants in the worst legal hiring climate in decades. This article is part of the answer.

Here is a news flash for 0Ls considering applying to law school: the market ain't what it used to be. There is a massive over-supply of lawyers in this country - in fact there are 23,000 LESS attorney jobs in the U.S. today than there were in May 2009. Firms are still laying off associates and no-offering or deferring summer associates; public interest orgs are hiring laid-off attorneys instead of new grads; and entry level government attorney positions are basically non-existent.

You can take it from me- I graduated this year (May 2010) from a "Top 10" law school with good grades, moot court and clinical experience, and solid summer work, and guess what: I'm frantically applying to jobs, even as I attempt to concentrate on studying for the bar exam. Not to mention the pesky $192,000 tab that I will be paying off for decades.

Don't get me wrong - I truly believe I received an excellent legal education. If you are committed to practicing law as a profession then by all means go to law school, because it's important to do what you love. But my advice is don't go to law school with starry eyed dreams of law firm hiring partners fighting over who is going to get to pay you a huge salary the day you graduate. Those days are over. And articles like this are exacerbating the problem.

Josh of CA 2:38AM July 14, 2010

Your argument is absurd, and your mindset is not only alamIST, but alarmING. To say that "the ramifications of everyone being skilled in everything would be frightening" is an absurd reduction, and neither makes sense in the context nor applies to this particular article. The author is merely suggesting that due to the legal climate in which we live, the vast majority of people would benefit greatly from legal training. It's one thing to pay a hair stylist a very marginal portion of your income for a service which, if performed improperly, results in (at worst) the wearing of a hat for an extended period of time. It's quite another thing, however, to pay a lawyer a substantial portion of your income in order to assist you in a legal matter that (again, at worst) could change your entire life forever. Further, in terms of politics very few Americans have any comprehension (let alone a useful level of comprehension) of the legal-political system. Contradictory to your previously-quoted statement, the more individuals who have the training to fully comprehend the laws that their elected government puts forth (not to mention the very complicated world of supreme court decisions), the more conscientious and effective our voting population would be.

ZLH of AR 7:01PM April 29, 2010