Sunday, June 24, 2012

Law Grads Face Brutal Job Market


"Members of the law-school class of 2011 had little better than a 50-50 shot of landing a job as a lawyer within nine months of receiving a degree, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of new data that provides the most detailed picture yet of the grim market for law jobs.

Under pressure from disillusioned graduates and some professors, the American Bar Association for the first time released a tally of the previous year's graduates who have secured full-time, permanent jobs as lawyers. Until recently, the ABA required law schools to report only general data about how their graduates fared, such as how many were employed full-time or part-time in any kind of job, whether or not it required a law degree.

The numbers suggest the job market for law grads is worse than previously thought. Nationwide, only 55% of the class of 2011 had full-time, long-term jobs that required a law degree nine months after graduation. The ABA defines "long-term" jobs as those that don't have a term of less than one year."

MP: An interactive graphic accompanies the article, and reveals that graduates of even some of the top law schools are having a hard time finding full-time work in jobs that require a law degree: less than 66% of the graduates from Georgetown Law (tuition of $50,000 per year) and only about 75% of the graduates from University of Michigan are employed in jobs that require a J.D. degree.  

Interestingly, the word must be getting out that law school graduates can't find work - the number of students taking the LSAT this year fell to an 11-year low, see chart below. 



22 Comments:

At 6/24/2012 11:20 PM, Blogger Cabodog said...

With supply going up, rates charged for legal services should drop, right?

 
At 6/24/2012 11:41 PM, Blogger bix1951 said...

it is not that difficult to avoid lawsuits if you behave reasonably

 
At 6/24/2012 11:50 PM, Blogger Cabodog said...

I do behave reasonably. It's the other guy that doesn't.

 
At 6/25/2012 12:07 AM, Blogger OBloodyHell said...

>>> require a J.D. degree.

They graduated from Reform School?

:^D

>>>> it is not that difficult to avoid lawsuits if you behave reasonably

Cabodog: I think we should get a lawyer to initiate a class-action lawsuit against bix for posting on this blog... who's with me?

:^D

 
At 6/25/2012 5:33 AM, Blogger The Drill SGT said...

bix1951 said...
it is not that difficult to avoid lawsuits if you behave reasonably


it is possible to avoid losing too lawsuits if you behave reasonably.

as for avoiding getting sued? ask any ladder manufacturer...

PS: My bride says the legal market in 80-81 was pretty grim as well. That's how we ended up meeting and marrying She had become a JAG Officer...

 
At 6/25/2012 6:27 AM, Blogger Jon Murphy said...

Deflating of the law bubble?

 
At 6/25/2012 7:44 AM, Blogger Aiken_Bob said...

I wonder it there are similar tracking for other professions, I know several for the technical fields but what about history majors, women studies, etc. The ABA numbers shine a spotlight on this bubble -- it would be interesting to see others.

 
At 6/25/2012 8:38 AM, Blogger morganovich said...

bix-

"it is not that difficult to avoid lawsuits if you behave reasonably"

not if you are a public company.

try missing a quarter as a small company and watch the pig pile of lawsuits from scummy lawyers trying to shake you down.

what we really need is to move to a standard of "loser pays" legal costs if a suit is deemed frivolous.

this would allow companies to defend themselves vigorously against such outrages instead of finding it cheaper to just pay off the attack dogs.

 
At 6/25/2012 8:50 AM, Blogger juandos said...

"Law Grads Face Brutal Job Market"...

Good!

Screw the ambulance chasers...

 
At 6/25/2012 8:58 AM, Blogger Jon Murphy said...

"it is not that difficult to avoid lawsuits if you behave reasonably"

not if you are a public company.


People face frivolous lawsuits all the time, regardless of how they behave. And it's not just companies, either. Anyone remember the case where a robber sued the man he was robbing because the robber fell through the roof?

 
At 6/25/2012 9:27 AM, Blogger morganovich said...

jon-

well, compared to suing mcdonalds for serving hot coffee that you spilled in your lap because you chose to drive with it in between your legs, that roof suit seems downright reasonable.

what ever happened to tar and feathers? it seems like we could benefit from a comeback of that oldie but a goodie.

 
At 6/25/2012 9:47 AM, Blogger juandos said...

"it is not that difficult to avoid lawsuits if you behave reasonably"...

bix consider perusing the site Overlawyered...
Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

 
At 6/25/2012 2:18 PM, Blogger Pulverized Concepts said...

It would be nice if law school grads had the same employment opportunities as puppeteers and dancers.

 
At 6/25/2012 5:53 PM, Blogger Ron H. said...

Jon M:

"Anyone remember the case where a robber sued the man he was robbing because the robber fell through the roof?"

Yes, I remember that, but I don't remember the outcome.

That example just reinforced my belief that people who break into someone's home shouldn't be allowed to live to cause further mischief.

 
At 6/25/2012 7:30 PM, Blogger MikeK said...

it is not that difficult to avoid lawsuits if you behave reasonably

There is someone obviously not married to an OB/GYN

 
At 6/25/2012 7:48 PM, Blogger Benjamin Cole said...

Let's eliminate the licensing of the legal profession, and let the field wide open.

Time for lawyers to be paid like what they are or should be: high-class clerks.

Simplify law, contracts, everything.

 
At 6/25/2012 10:15 PM, Blogger arbitrage789 said...

juandos said... "Law Grads Face Brutal Job Market"... Good! Screw the ambulance chasers...
____________________

More or less my sentiment.

Although I don't hate ALL lawyers... just the ones who go around suing corporations, government agencies and wealthy individuals.

The rest of them aren't so bad.

 
At 6/25/2012 10:17 PM, Blogger arbitrage789 said...

"it is not that difficult to avoid lawsuits if you behave reasonably"

____________

If you run a restaurant, just don't serve coffee that is hotter than 100 degrees (Farenheit).

 
At 6/25/2012 11:45 PM, Blogger OBloodyHell said...

>>> It would be nice if law school grads had the same employment opportunities as puppeteers and dancers.

LOL, they do. In all cases, the individual has to MAKE work for themselves.

Unfortunately, for lawyers, that's not a feature, it's a bug.

 
At 6/25/2012 11:46 PM, Blogger OBloodyHell said...

>>>> Although I don't hate ALL lawyers... just the ones who go around suing corporations, government agencies and wealthy individuals.

The rest//// other three of them aren't so bad...


Corrected it for ya. Glad to help.

 
At 6/26/2012 2:39 PM, Blogger juandos said...

"It would be nice if law school grads had the same employment opportunities as puppeteers and dancers"...

They can courtesy of the Kenyan Kommie Klown...

Obama prepping thousands of lawyers for election

'Obama's campaign says it is particularly concerned about the implementation of new voter ID laws across the country, the possibility of anti-fraud activists challenging legitimate voters and the handling of voter registrations in the most competitive states'....

 
At 6/27/2012 1:50 AM, Blogger Ron H. said...

juandos

"They can courtesy of the Kenyan Kommie Klown...

Obama prepping thousands of lawyers for election
"

That's excellent news! Perhaps that will keep them occupied so they won't have time to pester productive people.

 

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