Warning to Future Lawyers

Applying to College
21

<p>I also believe that this type of post quoting some anecdotal evidence and suggesting a whole field should be avoided is really unproductive and of little help to college graduates.</p>

<p>There are have been similar threads bashing the engineering, finance and medical professions. If we were to follow the advice, there would soon be no profession worth pursuing. I don’t know of any profession these days that pays high salaries for little work. </p>

<p>The fact remains that law is the single most popular destination for virtually all top colleges (with the exception of technology institutes). Between one in 4 and one in 5 graduates at top 50 universities and LACs eventually attend law school. We can either take the position that they are all sheep and have no clue about the profession or accept the fact that law may still offer some of the best ROI on education, especially for non-STEM majors. Three years of grad school after college before you can practice is nothing compared to many other professions. In medicine with residency you are easily talking ten years or more before you can practice. In the biotech field you need a PhD which will take at least 5-6 years and possibly a post-doc. If you want to go to business school you will have to work at least 2-3 years before getting your MBA. </p>

<p>As a parent, I would be hard pressed to suggest a better career path to my second D, a bright political economy major. She may or may not get into a top 14 law school but that is largely irrelevant to her prospects. Law careers involve much more than the associate path at typical big law firms. There are many career opportunities in government, politics, non-profits, international law, venture capital, M&A, technology and media licensing, the list goes on and on…Around half of all attorneys run solo practices, with total control of their time and billing practices. If you are minimally entrepreneurial the opportunities for lawyers are virtually limitless. For good or for bad, nothing functions without lawyers in the US. Unlike consultants, lawyers are licensed and the supply is artificially controlled by each state’s bar association. Online law schools are not accredited so there is no easy way to increase the supply of lawyers short of starting a new law school. </p>

<p>The suggestion that there are no opportunities for lawyers older than 35 is ludicrous. I personally worked as an engineer/entrepreneur for over 25 years before going back to law school to study intellectual property law in my late 40s. Now, I am a patent attorney running my own firm. The demand for skilled attorneys in my field vastly exceeds the supply. The law is constantly changing. How much I make in this field is directly tied to how much effort I put in. I don’t bill by the hour and I can charge much more than most patent attorneys in large part because of my industry background. </p>

<p>My advice to any college graduate looking at law school would be to explore the field, possibly intern in the summer with a firm, talk with prior law graduates and experienced lawyers in different specialties. Law schools attached to state flagships are often great financial bargains. They also provide excellent placement with local law firms, corporations and state agencies.</p>

22

<p>While there may not be much of a market for mediocre lawyers, there’s always room for good ones.</p>

<p>A top graduate from a top law school will get a job.</p>

23

<p>I’m not a lawyer & I have no first-hand experience with the field. However there have been a slew of articles in the press lately that say law is not a good choice for many. For example [Law</a> schools are manufacturing more lawyers than America need](<a href=“http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2010/10/a_case_of_supply_v_demand.html]Law”>Law schools are manufacturing more lawyers than America needs, and law students aren't happy about it.) and <a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/business/09law.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/business/09law.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all&lt;/a&gt;

[quote]
“This idea of exceptionalism — I don’t know if it’s a thing with millennials, or what,” she says, referring to the generation now in its 20s. “Even if you tell them the bottom has fallen out of the legal market, they’re all convinced that none of the bad stuff will happen to them. It’s a serious, life-altering decision, going to law school, and you’re dealing with a lot of na</p>

24

<p>Both of my parents are attorneys, and both graduated from regional schools (after UIllinois). The sentiment I’ve gotten from them is that now, if one doesn’t attend a T14 school, it will be near-impossible to get an entry-level job salaried even close to circa-2007 levels; the exceptions are those that graduate from schools with small, strong alumni bases (Washington & Lee, etc.) or, like my parents’ alma maters, regionally-popular schools (Loyola or DePaul in Chicago, Brooklyn or Fordham in NY, etc.). Besides those… good luck, mediocre law school bros, because you’ll surely need it.</p>