Law
school is famously difficult, placing incredible strain on its students and
quickly whittling down those who just can’t make it through the program. It is also expensively prohibitive for most
potential lawyers. But for years that work has had a huge payback, those who
made it through law programs expected steady employment and high income as a
reward.
But that
no longer seems to be the case.
According to the Baltimore
Sun, the paradigm has shifted. Now with
rising tuition, fewer available lawyer positions, and lower employment rates
many students have to ask themselves whether law school is worth it.
The legal
sector lost roughly 2,500 jobs in 2011, last month it lost some 1,300
positions. The overall employment rate
for law graduates hovers around 87.6 percent, the lowest since 1996. And of
those who are employed only about 50 percent worked at law firms.
Some of
the problem is a trickle-down
effect. As top firms took on less
applicants those top-performing students competed for positions at mid-level
firms, causing students who would usually work at those firms to congest
traffic further down the latter. And as
practicing law professionals lose their own jobs they enter further into the
competition.
The key, everyone agrees, is to figure out why you’re in school and whether you can handle the average debt. With the market being how it is Tamanaha says, "You better really want to be a lawyer, or you shouldn't be in law school at all.”
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