Lawyer = 18th 'Best Job in America'

According to CNN Money, being a lawyer is one of the Best Jobs in America. Attorneys rank eighteenth on CNN’s list, just behind IT business analysts, and just ahead of doctors.
Congratulations?
If you look at the list, you can make a very cogent argument that lawyers should have ranked much higher. Some of the jobs that did better than lawyers are: CPA (more at Going Concern), nurse, and something called physician assistant, which sounds a lot like doing routine medical work with none of the glory (or pay) of specialists.
Ranked below lawyers (but still in the top 50) are such plum jobs as: human resource manager, hotel general manager, and corporate paralegal.
You know, when you put it like that, maybe we are not “devoting too many of our very best minds” to the practice of law. No offense to hoteliers and all of the challenging work they do, but it’s not like we need more snooty concierges.
All that said, I’m not entirely sure CNN Money knows a whole lot about what it is like to be a lawyer these days.
Let’s take a look at the profile after the jump.


CNN Money reports that the median attorney salary is $115,000. Okay. But they also report that the “top” salary is $262,000. Umm … WTF?
UPDATE: As noted by a commenter, “[t]op pay represents the 90th percentile.”
Anyway, the publication projects 11% job growth for attorneys by 2016. I think they might be talking about attorney job growth in India, but whatever.
The strangest thing about CNN’s interpretation is that lawyers are listed #10 in terms of job security. I’m skeptical of that ranking because the incorrect salary information kind of undermines the list’s credibility.
But what if it is true? What if, despite all of the layoffs and stealth layoffs and everything else happening that is threatening the job security of lawyers, it still is the 10th most secure job in the entire country?
It’s always good to have a little bit of perspective. If lawyers are really that comparatively secure in their jobs, then the American economy is really, really crappy.
Maybe next year Obama can win the Nobel Prize in Aspirational Economics and help us out.
BEST JOBS IN AMERICA [CNN Money]
Earlier: Justice Antonin Scalia Says Some of the Best Minds May Be Wasted on Law

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