<p>That’s a little harsh, if not downright incivil; I was only offering an anecdote. Said friend also was a former staffer for Congressman David Wu before the mass resignations; following disillusionment, she left for said law firm. 20 dollars per hour corresponds to roughly the same wage rate that many law graduates get, if not sometimes better, furthermore, the work is similar (analytical).</p>
<p>She was not hired as an economist, if that’s what you were saying. She was hired to help the law firm with consulting work – e.g. in one case, she advises AIG what legal options or loopholes it could pursue to avoid having to pay out a Chinese business who was an insurance claimant.</p>
<p>That seems like law work to me.</p>
<p>I also offer the view that law degree or not, many people who work in law firms might be underpaid anyway, despite the value of the work they do.</p>
<p>Speaking of irrelevance, the state of the economy has nothing to do with the real difficulties of obtaining a job as a lawyer. That difficulty has always been there, boom or bust.</p>