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| The "Lost Generation" of law school graduates is still lost, according to the latest studies. Image: Shutterstock |
The financial crash of 2008 was difficult for everyone, but
nowhere was this more evident than in the field of law, where recent graduates
struggled to find jobs, some even having their job offers rescinded as
companies cut back on legal expenditures.
Several years out from the worst of this downturn, analysts in the field
are asking: Is the lost generation of
law school graduates still lost?
“Ironically, while thousands of new law graduates fret
about the chronic joblessness that awaits them, tens of millions of Americans
need attorneys but cannot afford them,” wrote former US attorney Kendall Coffey
in a Law.com article.
A recent study conducted by Deborah Merritt, a professor
at Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law, found that many from this
“lost generation” are still struggling to find work—not to mention pay off
massive student debt. Based on public
sources such as court records, law firm websites, and LinkedIn, Merritt
determined that, of the students who passed the Ohio Bar Examination in 2010,
68% were working in a related field by February 2011. By December 2014, that number had only
increased to 75%. In addition, only 40%
of Ohio’s class of 2010 is now employed at law firms.
While Merritt’s
research is fairly area specific, it does indicate that legal activity in the
US is still struggling post-recession, with many new lawyers not finding the
jobs they were hoping for.
On the other
hand, Michael Simkovic, a law professor at Seton Hall, joined Rutgers Business
School economist Frank McIntyre for a study with a slightly more positive
outcome. Their previous work has shown
that even low-paid JDs earn more than those who only have a Bachelor’s,
indicating that earning a law degree can be of great financial benefit—even in
times of recession. But their data
doesn’t include those who graduated after 2008, which means the jury’s still
out on the “lost generation” and its job prospects.
Meanwhile, as in other educational areas, law student debt
has become astronomical, further exasperating the problem of finding a
profitable legal career. Nearly 85% of
all law school graduates took out student loans, and in 2010 their average debt
was $77,364 for public school attendees and $112,007 for private school
graduates.
In fact, some graduates were so embarrassed to not have found a job in the legal area, they wouldn’t let their names be used in the research. They even refuse to put their degree on their resumes. “It makes you look instantly non-prestigious and unemployable,” said one study participant.
Though they
continue to face the economic downturn as best they can, the “lost generation”
certainly appears to still be very lost, indeed.
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