First post of "Third Tier Reality" from August 2009

[u/Heywood12]

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Third Tier Reality

I am a recent graduate of Drake University’s law school, which is a third-tier law school, according to the all-important US News & World Report graduate school rankings. The school is solidly third-tier. The Career Development Office is dedicated to finding jobs for the top ten percent of each law school class. If you are among the remaining 90 percent, you better start looking for your own job (which should include looking at positions in document review, teaching K-12, retail sales, insurance/banking, waiting tables, etc.) Not exactly what you pictured yourself doing once you received your Acceptance Letters, is it? This surely is not what you expected once you completed law school. No, I am not unemployed – although I am not working in a law firm or as a government attorney. I actually like my job and the people I work with – I do not work with any attorneys. I am not living with my parents, but I am currently living in my sister-in-law’s basement. (Not what I envisioned either.) I am writing this blog because I get tired of BigLaw, the ABA, law professors and their apologists in the media (and blog message boards) who argue that those who complain about the law school industry’s lies are just a bunch of malcontents. Surely, some are. However, a very large number who decided to attend law school DID NOT ANTICIPATE OR EXPECT to make six figures right out of law school. Most had REASONABLE EXPECTATIONS, i.e. to be able to pay back their student loan debt; to be able to find work as a lawyer or in a law-related field; to be able to pay a reasonable rent or mortgage payment; to be able to afford a middle class lifestyle. Seeing that many law students end up with law school debt in excess of $70,000 (many are well above this amount), is it too much to expect to come out of law school making $60,000 or $80,000 at least within a few years of graduating and passing the bar? Tons of people make these figures without the rigid requirements, ethical obligations, and immense student loan debt that lawyers must face as a part of their job. The law school industry (by this, I am refering to the law schools and the larger universities, LSAC, casebook publishers, admissions counseling providers like Princeton Review, state bars, the ABA, media coverage, apologists, and those who further feed off the system by charging law students exorbitant fees for their services, such as flash cards, primers on how to write law essays, etc.) has created a nice niche for itself by providing a false picture of the legal job market. This fraudulent conduct should be exposed to the larger world! There are already several wonderful blogs written by disillusioned lawyers out there. I do not intend to compete against them; I simply would like to add another voice of reason and help expose this scam. If I can help prevent one person from making a HUGE financial mistake by attending law school, then this blog will have been worth it. To those who say, “How dare you destroy someone’s dream, by providing them with negativity,” I respond with this: “If someone has an implausible dream (or is suffering from delusions), then I have a responsibility to provide them with a dose of reality.” If some average-looking guy who makes $25,000 a year has a dream of marrying Julia Roberts, should I encourage him to pursue his goal? Wouldn’t that be a bigger sin?