I wound having the "is law school" worth it discussion yesterday. Mainly because my original post was ruminating in my noggin. The question arose from my friend if I would advise people not to go to law school, no matter what. I would not make a blanket statement that no one should go to law school, but would say it is more of an individual case by case basis. Let us break it down, eh?
1) Once upon a time, if you went to a Tier One or Top 25 law school, you were pretty much guaranteed a job upon graduation. And from the lower tiers, if you were top 10-25% of your class you could be reasonably assured of finding gainful employment. That is no longer true. With a poor economy and electronic research, there is a need for fewer lawyer. Ten years ago, the job market for Tier II and III sucked, now people are noticing more because Tier I grads cannot find jobs. So, standard economics, less need for lawyers, more lawyers available, lower wages.
2) Cost vs. Reward. Let us look at the University of Virginia School of Law. UVA is @$40,000 a year for tuition alone. That means, if you are funding that totally via loans, you are graduating with a $120,000 debt from tuition alone. That works out to be around, depending on the payment plan, @$600 - $1250 a month in loan repayment. For 30 years. Now, given the glut of attorneys, many new grads can only find contract work, which is not bad work, per se. Contract work is honorable work and it is work that can teach you the ins and outs of law firms, doc review and discovery. It usually pays about $20 an hour. Now, this is not a bad wage. But when you are paying $750 a month in student loan payments, you simply cannot survive.
SO my general advice is, if you can go to law school on the cheap, meaning as close to free as possible, then yes, go. Not having crushing student loan payments will make your ability to choose work and options about your future that much more flexible. If you plan on taking out loans for the full amount of three years of law school, then no, don't go. Unless it is Yale (or similar) and you are sure you can graduate in the top 10%. Otherwise, I would advise taking your student loan money to Vegas and trying to beat the house.
1) Once upon a time, if you went to a Tier One or Top 25 law school, you were pretty much guaranteed a job upon graduation. And from the lower tiers, if you were top 10-25% of your class you could be reasonably assured of finding gainful employment. That is no longer true. With a poor economy and electronic research, there is a need for fewer lawyer. Ten years ago, the job market for Tier II and III sucked, now people are noticing more because Tier I grads cannot find jobs. So, standard economics, less need for lawyers, more lawyers available, lower wages.
2) Cost vs. Reward. Let us look at the University of Virginia School of Law. UVA is @$40,000 a year for tuition alone. That means, if you are funding that totally via loans, you are graduating with a $120,000 debt from tuition alone. That works out to be around, depending on the payment plan, @$600 - $1250 a month in loan repayment. For 30 years. Now, given the glut of attorneys, many new grads can only find contract work, which is not bad work, per se. Contract work is honorable work and it is work that can teach you the ins and outs of law firms, doc review and discovery. It usually pays about $20 an hour. Now, this is not a bad wage. But when you are paying $750 a month in student loan payments, you simply cannot survive.
SO my general advice is, if you can go to law school on the cheap, meaning as close to free as possible, then yes, go. Not having crushing student loan payments will make your ability to choose work and options about your future that much more flexible. If you plan on taking out loans for the full amount of three years of law school, then no, don't go. Unless it is Yale (or similar) and you are sure you can graduate in the top 10%. Otherwise, I would advise taking your student loan money to Vegas and trying to beat the house.