Today’s WSJ had a new article on the brutal job market for law school grads. Bottom line is that it’s horrible.
The article notes:
The numbers suggest the job market for law grads is worse than previously thought. Nationwide, only 55% of the class of 2011 had full-time, long-term jobs that required a law degree nine months after graduation. The ABA defines “long-term” jobs as those that don’t have a term of less than one year.
The digital version of the article also has a chart with statistics for ABA accredited schools. Here are the stats for Mississippi law schools:
Univ. of Miss. School of Law: 151 graduates; 55% in jobs requiring law degrees
M.C. Law School: 166 graduates; 75% in jobs requiring law degrees
Some deans are intent on maintaining the lie:
Several deans say the data paint a bleaker picture of their schools than justified. In a sluggish economy, smaller firms are less likely to take a chance on recent grads, says Penelope Bryan, dean of Whittier Law School in Orange County, Calif. Instead, she says, they may hire graduates on a contract or part-time basis before making offers.
Are you joking? The data is lying and you are telling the truth? Of course the economy makes the data bleak. That’s the whole point! Things are tough all over. Don’t take on $100,000 in debt just to get back in the unemployment line.
The article continues:
You can’t measure the value of a law degree in terms of what your employment number was nine months after graduation,” says Dean Rudy Hasl. A graduate who takes the California bar exam in July, he says, won’t get the results until late November. Many employers won’t even interview a graduate who hasn’t been licensed, Mr. Hasl says, adding that he advises prospective students to consider the law degree a long-term investment. “The law degree is something that allows you to move in so many directions,” he says.
This notion that a law degree is a long-term investment that “allows you to move in so many directions” is complete B.S. The fact that a law degree does not preclude a graduate from going into a non-legal field does not mean that the law degree was a good investment.
For the most part, law school is a terrible investment for anyone who can’t immediately parlay that degree into a job that allows the graduate to service his or her law school debt.
Also, implying that the economy is going to accelerate and save the legal industry is shameful. Even if the economy accelerates (and it’s not going to), most commentators say the legal job market is never coming back.