Jobs are getting harder to find for new lawyers
The ABA Journal has a story on how it is getting harder and harder for recent law school grads to find jobs, and the jobs that they do find are not paying what they had hoped. "The nearly 44,000 law students set to graduate in 2009 will have at an average of $73,000 in loan debt and face a grim hiring market."
It's not just a result of a down economy, although certainly that contributes, but is likely also a product of more and more law schools turning out more and more lawyers. South Carolina has only two law schools, and until recently had one law school, but the job search for recent graduates is as dire here as it is anywhere. Nationwide, there is no doubt that we have a surplus of persons with law degrees who would like to be attorneys, and the bottom line is there are not enough attorney jobs to go around.
I considered why we do not regulate the number of attorneys entering the legal profession in the same way as physicians, keeping up the demand for lawyers (and thereby the compensation as well). Possibly, each state could regulate the number of persons admitted to practice as attorneys, but I do not think there should ever be a limit on the number of persons admitted to study law. I believe that, given the motive and opportunity, every person should have a legal education. It is invaluable not just for the practice of law, but in any business-oriented job and for life in general.
By the way, can you imagine a state and federal government where every employee is required to actually understand what government is and why we have it? Where legislators are required to learn what law is before they start drafting them? Or a president who is actually qualified to interpret and uphold the Constitution?
At any rate, I believe that less and less people who graduate from law school in this day and age are going to be practicing attorneys. Banks, stockbrokers, law enforcement, all kinds of other businesses need/ look for persons with a legal education and there are high paying jobs available, even if it is not the "dream job" that the person thought they would land with some big firm. (Not my idea of a dream job, by the way. From where I sit, corporate lawyers look pretty damn miserable, extra money or no).
I wish all the recent and upcoming graduates the best in their job searches. And, you're welcome to keep sending resumes for my file, but I am not hiring right now either.
