Most Impressive JD Students At Harvard

Is Law School Worth The Cost?

43,000 law school graduates. 23,000 job openings. Those are the depressing statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor. And it gets worse. Many students can expect to come out of law with a six figure debt between tuition and expenses. No wonder applications and class sizes are dropping!
Of course, there is another side to the equation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the mean annual wage for attorney is $130,880 annually. Add to that a 2013 study conducted by Seton Hall University’s law school, showing individuals holding law degrees earn over a million dollars more over their lives than those who attained Bachelor’s degrees.

Sure, Seton Hall’s research didn’t factor in taxes or law school tuition, but it does make a key point: Law school is a long-term investment whose value exponentially appreciates over time.
To gain perspective, look no further than a 2011 New York Times essay by Lawrence E. Mitchell, Dean of Case Western Reserve University’s law school. Here, Mitchell strikes an optimistic tone about the state of the legal industry, noting that students, professors, and practicing attorney must take the long view:
“We educate students for a career likely to span 40 to 50 years. The world is guaranteed to change in unpredictable ways, but that reality doesn’t keep us from planning our lives. Moreover, the career for which we educate students, done through the medium of the law, is a career in leadership and creative problem solving. Many graduates will find that their legal educations give them the skills to find rich and rewarding lives in business, politics, government, finance, the nonprofit sector, the arts, education and more.”
What’s more, sluggish employment and a disrupted legal model signals emerging opportunities in law:
“The graying of baby-boom lawyers creates opportunities. As more senior lawyers retire, jobs will open, even in the unlikely case that the law business doesn’t expand with an improving economy. More opportunity will open to women and minorities, too. As with any industry in transition, changes in the delivery of legal services create opportunities as well as challenges. Creative, innovative and entrepreneurial lawyers will find ways to capitalize on this.”
The question is, will students and institutions shy from these disruptions…or adapt and re-define them”?
Source: Business Insider, New York Times