Law Schools, Student Loans

Law Grad Drowning In Debt Tries To Sell Law Degree On Craigslist

Go on, make this lawyer an offer he can't refuse.

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These days, a lot of attorneys are unhappy with their lives. They’re drowning in student loan debt, and they’ve come to regret their decision to go to law school.

What’s a disappointed lawyer to do?

One attorney in Florida has decided to sell his Juris Doctor on the premier website for turning one man’s trash into another man’s treasure: Craigslist. There’s just one catch — this fellow is trying to recoup his full investment, to the tune of $210,000.

Lawyers have previously performed stunts like this (in 2008 and in 2010, respectively), but the asking prices for their law degrees were much, much lower. That might be because the ads were placed before student loan debt for lawyers had ballooned beyond belief, and before news that law school graduates were struggling to find jobs had become mainstream-media fodder.

Here’s the ad this lawyer placed last night on Craigslist for his “genuine” law degree. If he had instead placed his J.D. on eBay for bidding, he could’ve described its condition as “like new,” since it’s apparently never been used. Check it out in all its glory (click to enlarge):

“Impress [your] friends”? We’re not sure anyone would be impressed by a law degree right now, considering that thanks to the overflooding of the market they’re a dime a dozen.

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A source emailed us to let us know he’d corresponded with this lawyer and obtained a picture of the J.D. degree in question. Which “top tier Florida university” do you think it’s from? If you guessed it might be from the third-best law school in Florida, behind Florida Law and FSU Law, then congratulations, you were right! Here’s a photo of the degree that’s currently for sale (the lawyer’s name and graduation date have been redacted):

The University of Miami School of Law, ranked No. 63 by U.S. News, costs $46,166 per year. The total undiscounted cost for three years of education at Miami Law is $138,498, and per U.S. News, the average indebtedness of 2014 graduates who incurred law school debt was $143,845. Seventy-seven percent of 2014 Miami Law graduates incurred debt. According to Law School Transparency, the full debt-financed cost of attendance at the time loan repayment begins is $275,346. These numbers are terrifying.

The law school’s employment statistics, however, are a little less frightening than its debt numbers. Nine months after graduation, 68.2 percent of the class of 2014 was employed in full-time, long-term jobs where bar passage was required (less school-funded positions). The school is ranked No. 41 in terms of the percentage of its 2014 graduates working in full-time, bar-passage required jobs (less school-funded positions). By those measures, Miami Law is a top-tier institution. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of the class is employed in positions that can service the extraordinary debt they may incur.

This is what it’s come to: indebted lawyers are now trying to sell the degrees that ruined them financially in the hope of starting a new life. We’ve spoken to the fellow who is trying to hawk his law degree on Craigslist, and he’ll be responding to several of our questions about his exciting and entertaining entry into the J.D. resellers market later today. We will update this post as soon as we receive word from this lawyer turned salesman.

In the meantime, why not help this lawyer “work [his] way out of debt slavery”? Make him an offer he can’t refuse. You’ll still be spending more money than this piece of paper from Miami Law is actually worth, but at least you won’t be wasting three years of your life.

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Earlier: Craigslist Post of the Day: Top-Tier Law Degree ($59,250)
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