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The legal field is currently suffering from a huge excess of lawyers, and attending a law school outside of the top 10 (arguably top 20 with scholarships) is ge

The legal field is currently suffering from a huge excess of lawyers, and attending a law school outside of the top 10 (arguably top 20 with scholarships) is generally considered a poor investment. It's good for the legal field as a whole to see many of these T-3/T-4 Law Schools slim down and stop churning out so many law students that end up, unfortunately, unemployed (or in a job that doesn't use their JD in a meaningful way).

atwebb 12y ago
Perhaps it's also a pride and expectations issue? I know that in TN there is a lack of available lawyers for certain court case work, especially juvenile court and family cases. The pay isn't stellar for a lawyer but it's a solid 40 out/50 in-court. You go down and sign up for dates and the cases are assigned as they come in to the lawyers signed up for those days. I think there have recently been some changes in one court in one county to limit but mostly, it's sign up, get work. I know a few years ago you could get a degree from a capable, long term in-state institution for ~40k tuition (3 years). You weren't "allowed" to work first year so that could cause an increase.
dccoolgai 12y ago
To compound the problem, every South Middle Tennessee State -type school opened a law school during the glut because it was a huge cash cow for the parent university... so other than a complete collapse of admissions, there is no impetus for these T-3/4 schools to close. It's not uncommon for students to come out of these schools with 200+K in student loan debt and no job prospects to speak of. It's unfortunate, but the Legal Academy was all to happy to get drenched from the firehose of unemployable vague humanities majors that US Higher ed produces - now, at least, some of the students are starting to get a more realistic picture of what that undischargeable debt means for their future - but the damage is done.
- atwebb 12y ago
  It's odd that we would both comment (at the same time) regarding TN, would you mind giving me your opinion of my post below? I'm referencing people who did moderately well at a non-top teir but established institution with a cost of 40-60k total and vacant positions (albeit contract type) at $40/hr minimum.

atwebb 12y ago

Perhaps it's also a pride and expectations issue? I know that in TN there is a lack of available lawyers for certain court case work, especially juvenile court and family cases. The pay isn't stellar for a lawyer but it's a solid 40 out/50 in-court. You go down and sign up for dates and the cases are assigned as they come in to the lawyers signed up for those days. I think there have recently been some changes in one court in one county to limit but mostly, it's sign up, get work. I know a few years ago you could get a degree from a capable, long term in-state institution for ~40k tuition (3 years). You weren't "allowed" to work first year so that could cause an increase.

dccoolgai 12y ago

To compound the problem, every South Middle Tennessee State -type school opened a law school during the glut because it was a huge cash cow for the parent university... so other than a complete collapse of admissions, there is no impetus for these T-3/4 schools to close. It's not uncommon for students to come out of these schools with 200+K in student loan debt and no job prospects to speak of. It's unfortunate, but the Legal Academy was all to happy to get drenched from the firehose of unemployable vague humanities majors that US Higher ed produces - now, at least, some of the students are starting to get a more realistic picture of what that undischargeable debt means for their future - but the damage is done.

atwebb 12y ago
It's odd that we would both comment (at the same time) regarding TN, would you mind giving me your opinion of my post below? I'm referencing people who did moderately well at a non-top teir but established institution with a cost of 40-60k total and vacant positions (albeit contract type) at $40/hr minimum.