Some of the messages out there, given the terrible law market (by disgruntled graduates I assume), is that if you are going to go to law school, go only if 1) You are going to a top five (to T-14), OR (2) you go for almost no Cost or (3) You have a guaranteed job when you get out.
Now I am hearing recommendations that NOBODY should waste their time going to law school, no matter what the school, even top of T-1 . . for the following reasons:
1) Even if you go to a top law school and get a job with big law, your days there are almost invariably numbered after a few years, and then you will simply be another unemployed lawyer AND you will be miserable while working there.
2) That a JD degree makes you unemployable in almost all other fields, i.e., is not a very versatile degree, which is contrary to what I heard before I attended law school, i.e., the J.D. degree opened up lots of doors.
3) In other words, there is such a gross oversupply of lawyers, and the changes to the market are structural and will never return to the heady days of yesteryear (fortunately, I graduated in the yesteryear), that law is no longer a viable profession for a young person.
This question is not only academic. I am often asked by young people whether they should attend law school. The question is how do I advise people who ask my opinion? Any other opinions out there?
Now I am hearing recommendations that NOBODY should waste their time going to law school, no matter what the school, even top of T-1 . . for the following reasons:
1) Even if you go to a top law school and get a job with big law, your days there are almost invariably numbered after a few years, and then you will simply be another unemployed lawyer AND you will be miserable while working there.
2) That a JD degree makes you unemployable in almost all other fields, i.e., is not a very versatile degree, which is contrary to what I heard before I attended law school, i.e., the J.D. degree opened up lots of doors.
3) In other words, there is such a gross oversupply of lawyers, and the changes to the market are structural and will never return to the heady days of yesteryear (fortunately, I graduated in the yesteryear), that law is no longer a viable profession for a young person.
This question is not only academic. I am often asked by young people whether they should attend law school. The question is how do I advise people who ask my opinion? Any other opinions out there?