The State Of Legal Salaries

Law Schools Are Losing Their Relevance – And How They’re Trying To Win It Back

 
Law schools seem to be living the Chines Curse, “May you live in interesting times.” So far, about 46,000 people have applied to enter into an accredited law school this fall. Based on that number, the Law School Admissions Council projects the total number of applications to be around 53,000 this spring. In 2004, there were around 90,000 applicants and in 2010, there were about 77,000. In a silver lining, applicants are down just 2.8 percent from this time last year.
Meantime, some lower-ranked law schools continue to struggle. Last summer, Thomas M. Cooley Law School cut their faculty and staff by about half. Washington and Lee School of Law announced recently they are going to cut 12 positions. The job market continues to be terrifying as well. Just last month, one of Washington’s most prolific law firms, Wiley Rein, cut 48 of their lawyers and staff members.
This week, Blake Morant, dean of the George Washington University Law School, told the Washington Post the “stark realities of the legal industry have been a wake-up call to law schools.” Wake-up call or not, law schools have two options—doggy-paddle through an era of decreased applicants and hope for the best or figure out how to make themselves more attractive to potential applicants.
The main switch in legal education seems to happening at the curricular level. Schools are ditching theory and replacing it with more practical education. Morant says himself and deans from other schools are increasing practical courses that include a focus on legal writing and externships. Villanova University School of Law is now requiring every student to take a course on the economics of a law firm to better prepare them to start their own firm.
Still, all of the practical training in the world won’t magically create jobs or reduce the mountains of debt from student loans many law graduates are strapped with. About half of the class of 2013 had jobs requiring a J.D. nine months after graduation—down from 77 percent in 2007. What’s more, the average salary for the class of 2013 was 8 percent less than the class of 2009, at $78,205.
But the news isn’t all doom-and-gloom. Many believe the J.D. is still a valuable degree to have, regardless if it is used for a legal job or not. Additionally, the government offers some very generous loan forgiveness programs. If law grads spend 10 years in a public service job, they will be forgiven of all debt. The long-term investment of a J.D. seems to be positive, but the short-term is pretty terrifying. Law schools should continue to find ways to alleviate that initial fear.
Source: The Washington Post
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