15 Facts Law Schools Don’t Want You To Know

Thinking about law school?  Or, did you go to law school and learn things the hard way?  OnlineDegreePrograms.com contacted me regarding a recent article they published called “15 Facts Law Schools Don’t Want You To Know.”  For the most part, I completely agree with the points made in the article.

Check out the article here.

Wall Street Journal Reinforces Argument That Student Tuition Is Out Of Control

Only a week after I posted about the dismal job market in the legal sector, over-inflated tuition costs, and bloated student loans, The Wall Street Journal published an article on the very same subject.  Here it is, as provided by Yahoo! Finance:

Fabian Ronisky thought he was on track last summer to become a high-powered corporate lawyer. He was an intern at a leading firm in Los Angeles, earning about $3,000 weekly. But the firm didn’t offer him a permanent job.

So Mr. Ronisky, a 25-year-old student at Chicago’s Northwestern University School of Law, spent the fall sending 50 resumes to law firms and government agencies, to no avail. Now, just days shy of graduation and with $150,000 of student loans, he plans to move back to his parents’ home in San Diego and sell music and movies online

“I wanted to use my education,” he said. “But times change.”

Mr. Ronisky is one of about 40,000 law-school students who will graduate this spring and enter one of the worst job markets for attorneys in decades. This year’s classes have it particularly bad, according to lawyers and industry experts. Though hiring was down last year as well, they said 2009 graduates applied for jobs before law firms had felt the full brunt of the downturn.

Continue reading this article . . . .

As Legal Field Loses Jobs, Lowers Compensation, Student Fees Increase — Things Need to Change.

One of the massively under reported stories throughout this recession is the economic fallout’s impact on the legal profession.  For example, in New York, many of the biggest firms in the country have been continually laying off lawyers  since 2008 to cut costs.  Many of these lawyers are top graduates from Ivy League schools.  More recently, small firms have been forced to lay off lawyers and support staff.

Lawjobs.com recently published an article pointing out that according the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal sector lost another 500 jobs in March, bringing the estimated total of legal jobs lost since March 2009 up to 31, 300.  That doesn’t include the tens of thousands of other legal jobs lost prior to March 2009.  According to The Wall Street Journal, “even if a full-blown economic recovery is under way, the perks that old jobs once bestowed may never return.”

The Pitfalls of Law School & Beyond

I came across this video while perusing LegallyNoted.  It highlights the pitfalls associated with law school and beyond.  This isn’t meant to deter someone from pursuing law school.  It is merely meant to highlight some of the dangers so that you can prepare for them if you decide the legal path.