The Prestigious Doctorate of Jurisprudence: Horrible Career Prospects & Financial Ruin

Attorneys, Judges, and holders of the Doctorate of Jurisprudence (law degree) have it made. Once you get this degree you are set for life. Sit back and enjoy your $100,000 plus job, bonuses, and your brand new sports car. Wrong. That’s the view many Americans have about the legal community and the one many law schools are trying to convey. The truth is that in reality the legal market is saturated with law degrees and licensed attorneys, and in recent years the market is falling out from under them. It is all about supply and demand.

According to the American Bar Association there are currently 1,180,386 practicing attorneys in the United States. This is a huge number and to make matters worse from 2007-2008 a whooping 141,719 students enrolled in law school. These numbers are fairly constituent year to year meaning 45,000 new law degree holders enter the job market each and every year. (American Bar Association) Just think in three years time the legal profession will witness an additional 10% of the current level of practicing attorneys entering the field. Typically, according to the Department of Labor most occupations only grow 10-15 percent every ten years NOT 10-15 percent every three years.

Not only is the supply and demand of a law degree causing problems but so is the financial burden students much endure in able to obtain such a degree. Tuition even at mediocre law schools can cost anywhere from $38,000 to $45,000 a year. Then figure in cost of living, books, and extra loans while they study for the bar exam, students can easily leave school with debt ranging from $157,000 to $178,000. (Northwestern Law) Now if students think they will be just fine since they are going to land that “Big Law” job right out of law school think again. Unless they are going to a law school ranked in the top 20 and graduate in the top ten percent of their class or plan on graduating in the top three percent of their class from a lower ranked school they are dreaming. The truth is the vast majority of law students do not ever practice big law.

The American Bar Association estimates that with the increasing burden of financial debt on most law school graduates they must find jobs that pay at least $65,000 or more a year just in order to make the minimum payments on their debt. However, finding a job paying this much is no small feat either. Many firms, small, medium, and large sized are cutting back on hiring due to the recession, and many are not even hiring students who interned with them. The reality is many lawyers their first year out of school get paid $45,000-$60,000 a year. That is very hard to pay off those loans when they make that much. Law students might be committing themselves to a life of indentured servitude at least through their twenties and thirties.

That being said hope is not all lost if people know they want to be an attorney. Students don’t have to go to the best law school they can get into in order to be successful and such a decision is not necessarily wise given the current economic situation for the legal market. Several options are available that make legal education more affordable. 1. Go to a law school that has lower tuition, many state schools have relatively low tuition costs. For example, the University of South Dakota, total cost of attendance is only $24,502 for state residents and $34,907 for out of state residents a year. Other state schools that have cheaper costs of attendance include University of North Dakota, University of New Mexico, University of Nebraska, and the University of Kansas.

Another option is instead of attending law schools where they meet the average GPA and LSAT scores attend a lower ranked school where their scores are in the 75th percentile. There are a few benefits of doing this. First of all, many schools give merit-based scholarships to law students in the 75th percentile of the entering class, some of these scholarships are very generous. For example, the Hamline University Law School located in St. Paul Minnesota offers half tuition and full tuition scholarships to well qualified applicants. This allows students to leave law school with little to no debt. Another benefit of choosing this option is since students are attending a school they are more qualified for it might give them the edge over the other students making them more likely to graduate in the top part of their class enhancing career prospects.

The last option that will be mentioned is apply to schools that provide full-rides to public interest students or loan repayment programs. To students who are dedicated to public interest law this is the way to go. Many students who choose this option leave law school with little to no debt allowing them to practice in an area of law they really love and one that will really make a difference. Northeastern School of Law, Boston, Northwestern School of Law: Lewis & Clark, Portland, and American University School of Law, Washington D.C., are some of the best law schools for public interest law.

Warning: Students who want to practice public interest law, or for the government strongly consider these options! Many jobs in these areas of the law pay very little starting out so limiting the amount of debt is key when leaving law school.