According to this piece in yesterday’s WSJ, the job outlook for many recent law school graduates is rather dismal. Sure, those who finish well at prestige schools will make lots of money, but for many others, the JD and $4 will get you a coffee at Starbucks.
This situation is relevant to the more general situation of higher education. Students are drawn in by the allure of big money. After all, the average lawyer earns well up in six figures, right? But that’s irrelevant to the situation facing the newly-minted JD. The story mentions a fellow who recently graduated from Seton Hall Law School who calls his degree a waste and says that some of his old high school classmates are making more as plumbers than he is as a lawyer. Furthermore, they don’t have $100,000 plus in educational debts, debts that had to be incurred to buy the law school credential.
A Seton Hall dean tries to defend the fort by saying, “a legal education is a tremendous asset for a variety of professional paths.” Well, it may somewhat impress prospective employers that you spent three years and more than $100,000 studying legal matters that you’ll probably never encounter, but is it worth the high cost?
Law school has been oversold.
