Thinking about going to law school? Think again

ops logoAs I write, I am sitting at a mock trial tournament: the best and the brightest law school prospects from the tri-state area sit in front of me and argue their cases. The cases are presented, arguably, better than most first-year law students would or even could. The feeling I have right now is something like Tom Friedman expresses in “Hot, Flat and Crowded,” when he witnesses the groups in one of China’s booming industrial sectors going to work. He worries for the future of his children because with globalization, competition increases.

I do not have children. I am not worried about the adverse affects of globalization. I am, however, increasingly worried about the uninformed hoards diving into the legal market. It seems whenever I ask someone what they are going to do after their undergrad, I get the same answer: law school. A person’s major is not indicative of this phenomena, I get it from mostly political science majors, as well as psychology, history, philosophy and the sciences.

The current legal market is overcrowded. If you go to law school aware of the current job market and complain when you do not have a job with a $100,000 of debt; do not cry to me, your woes will fall on deaf ears.

Students are grown-up children, all taught to believe they are unique, special little snowflakes: sheep led a-slaughter. St. Thomas’ median Law School Admission Test (LSAT) score is 156, according to the Law School’s website. A 156 will not result in many, if any scholarship opportunities. The Tommie-Law Early Admission Program (T-LEAP) eliminates this problem: students do not need to take the admission test and receive aid if accepted.

St. Thomas law students graduate with around $97,000 in debt. At the University of Minnesota Law, average debt is around $91,000. Everyone seems to think lawyers get paid the big bucks. Given the fact law students graduate, on average, with around $100,000 in debt, we should hope so. Median salary for St. Thomas law students is about $52,000 a year. The bottom quarter make around $45,000–about what students make after graduating with a bachelor’s–is it even worth it graduating $100,000 in debt?

Worst case scenario, you are in that bottom 25 percent and make $45,000 with $100,000 in debt, pay that off over 10 years–indentured servitude? That is not taking into account costs of mortgage, alimony, DWI, etc. Of course these are assumed premises, not all lawyers get DWI’s and divorces.

The U of M graduates a class with a median salary of $120,000, with the lower end making around $100,000. U of M Law is considered a ‘top-tier’ law school. St. Thomas Law falls under what is known as a ‘third-tier’ law school–at least the school is in this category, as opposed to the new creature: ‘fourth-tier’ law schools. Debt and salary are based on numbers from www.lawschooltransparency.com, www.lawschoolnumbers.com and the schools’ websites. The reason I don’t include top quarter salaries is because quite frankly: you probably don’t fit in this category anyway. Law school is graded on a curve; students compete with classmates to be in the top 10 percent of their class.

These statistics are not being presented to shed negative light on St. Thomas Law. The university is ahead of William Mitchell in the ranks by seven spots; last year the two were neck-and-neck. William Mitchell is currently dead last in the ‘third-tier’ category of law schools, according to figures from www.top-law-schools.com.

Am I saying you should not go to law school? Not necessarily. If you are a motivated student with a good grade point average, study for the LSAT, get a relatively high score and most importantly, genuinely want to go to law school, by all means apply.

I remember the coach of my mock trial team, a prominent Minneapolis attorney, saying,“If you want to be Warren Buffet, go be Warren Buffet.” Her point: if you plan on going into law for reasons other than genuine interest, law is not for you.

The Star Tribune printed a story on September 26 covering a 15-year low in job prospects for attorneys. When people tell me they plan on going to law school, I ask why? The answers kill me: “To make a lot of money.” “I have a friend in law school.” “Nothing else to do.” “I don’t know.”

These are not acceptable answers. Think before flinging yourself into debt over your head that might not pay off.

Patrick Roche can be reached at roch6667@stthomas.edu

4 Replies to “Thinking about going to law school? Think again”

  1. Top-Law-Schools.com lists third- and fourth-tier schools in alphabetical order; it does not rank them individually. Thus, St. Thomas is not seven spots “better” than William Mitchell. There are merely six schools between the two when someone arranges them by the first letter of the school’s name.

  2. Laura, thanks for the correction, I thought the ranking cited was a little off. 

    You would be surprised how many people go to law school because they don’t have anything better to do or don’t know what to do with their lives and think a law degree will automatically solve this problem. Seriously, you’d be surprised. 

    I don’t know too many other situations where someone would devote 3 years and spend $100,000 dollars because they don’t have anything better to do. Law school is not a smart fallback in a recession – if you do manage to get a job you will likely be working 6 days a week and off the clock at a large law firm. Think about it. Law school is a serious decision. 

    Please also consider the low job satisfaction ratings among lawyers and the rates of alcoholism in this profession. A law degree is a good thing, but making the decision to go to law school should not be made lightly. 

    I also think that because St. Thomas is a “new” law school, it is still working to build a reputation against many older law institutions, and this needs to be taken into account with the rankings. A brand new law school is not going to automatically end up with stellar rankings after only 12 years. Reputations take time to build. 

  3. I like how one of “the brightest law students,” plagued by those “uninformed hoards” has trouble distinguishing alphabetical listings from rankings. Brilliant. 

    Also, you are probably shedding a negative light on your school by considering yourself seven rankings above “dead last” in the law school rankings category. St. Thomas is probably higher than that. And, assuming St. Thomas is seven spots ahead of WM, that probably is considered “neck-and-neck,” at least in the third-tier rankings.

    Other than that the article was fine.

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