After years of growth in salary and job opportunities,
lawyers have found themselves in an unfortunate Catch-22: There are now fewer
jobs and more graduates than ever. And even while new law graduates find
themselves unable to find clients, Americans find themselves showing up to
court alone. Why? They can’t afford proper legal counsel and are turning to the
Internet for research and services.
“It’s a perfect storm,” said Stacy
Caplow, who is a professor at Brooklyn Law School. “The longstanding
concerns over access to justice for most Americans and a lack of skills among
law graduates are now combined with the problems faced by all law schools. It’s
creating conditions for change.”
Others would agree with Caplow’s assessment. Former U.S. District Attorney Kendall
Coffey recently wrote a piece urging seasoned lawyers and law schools to
develop programs to help students develop skills and work up to better jobs.
“Law grads do not become competent lawyers simply by
receiving a diploma. Nor does attendance in practical courses or even clinic
participation equate to readiness for significant professional responsibility,”
he wrote. “The most important learning begins after school ends. As a result, a
critical need is to provide the mentoring and training that private and public
law firms traditionally have provided. Volunteer lawyers are needed to fill the
gap.”
And indeed, people seem to be listening. Schools like
Arizona State University, the University of California Hastings College of the
Law, City University of New York, and the Drexel
University Earle Mack School of Law are beginning work on programs that
would pair experienced lawyers with one or more law students or recent
graduates. The experienced lawyer would act as a mentor to the younger lawyers,
helping them to learn the skills needed for a career as a lawyer.
In fact, the Earle Mack School of Law just raised $22,000 in
support of students that take summer positions to provide legal counsel to
members of the community that might not otherwise be able to afford it.
Programs like these could not only help bridge the gap between underserved
Americans and lawyers, but it will also provide recent grads the opportunity to
learn the ropes. It may not be as glamorous an industry as it used to be, but
there’s still plenty of need in the world for lawyers—and this might just help
fill it.
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