Law Schools

Yes, Going To Law School During The Great Recession Turned Out To Be A Terrible Idea

New report confirms 2009-2017 grads screwed themselves/were themselves screwed.

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We’re going to quibble about what “good job” means, but the upshot from an AccessLex Institute long-term study on law graduates is that going to law school was a bad call for most people over the past 10 years. Here it is from the ABA Journal:

For respondents who graduated from law school during the Great Recession—which the report describes as being from 2009 and 2017—only 44 percent indicated that they had a “good job” waiting for them when they graduated. Of the post-recession graduates, 26 percent said that it took them more than one year to find a good job. Comparatively, only 10 percent pre-recession law graduates said that it took them more than a year to find a good job.

That is a pathetic rate, given the money required to get a law degree. And, speaking of money, the report has some data on that too:

[T]he report notes that for people who graduated from law school between 2010 and 2017, 60 percent borrowed more than $100,000 to pursue their law degree. Among those who graduated between 1990 and 1999, only 26 percent borrowed more than $100,000 for law school. And for those who graduated from law school between 1980 and 1989, 4 percent borrowed more than $100,000 for law school.

That’s where the market for legal education is so out of whack. The problem is not just that the “good” jobs are harder to come by, it’s that law school is wildly more expensive than it used to be. There are maybe 20 schools that are worth paying full price for. There are maybe another 20 schools that are worth it if you are getting reduced, in-state tuition. And that’s being extremely generous.

After that, borrowing over $100,000 to go to law school is just stupid. It’s been demonstrably stupid for going on 10 years now — unless you are going to one of the best schools, or getting a significant discount, or BOTH.

There’s not really anything surprising from the report, but apparently 53 percent of people who graduated during the Great Recession would recommend law school to somebody else. Which, essentially, is why Angie’s List can’t be trusted.

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“Hey, this painter charged me twice the estimate and only painted three quarters of the house.”

“Yeah, but 53% of his customers said 75% of their house looks great!”

Less than half of recent law grads had good jobs waiting for them after graduation, report says [ABA Journal]

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