Understanding the "Law School is a Scam" Meme

I meet a lot of pre-law students. They think they want to become lawyers. Increasingly my job is to dissuade them, or at least many of them, from attending law school. 

In these advising sessions, I introduce them to the "Law School is a Scam" meme that can be found at a host of websites. Steven Harper has a new book on the topic, Law School Bubble: A Profession in Crisis. Recently, salon.com excerpted portions of his book. While I am not sure if the article's title, "Law School is a Scam,"is Harper or the editors at salon.com, the phrase/sentiment is fairly common and I wanted to analyze the claim, especially for all those pre-law students out there.

First, most students are not aware of the costs associated with attending law school, or any graduate school for that matter, and are equally ignorant about the startling amount of debt many law school students accumulate. The average debt for law graduates is now over $100,000, with the graduates at some schools racking up over $165,000 in debt on average. (Remember that an average means that approximately half the people have more students loans, depending on the distribution!)  To make this real to students, I tell them that most students could purchase a fairly nice 3 bedroom house in Springfield, Missouri for that price and they would have a house after they have paid all that money! Tuition for law school can easily run close to $40,000 per year and that does not include the cost of living. (Remember that you cannot discharge student loans - of any kind - in bankruptcy).

Second, most students do not realize that most attorneys, especially from tier two, three, and four law schools earn less than $70,000 or $80,000 a year. This is especially true for students who want to go into things like criminal law, family law, or legal aid. Many lawyers start their careers with salaries of $30,000, $40,000, or $50,000. That is impossible to do if you have more than $150,000 in student loans.

Third, the unemployment rate has gotten very high for recent law school graduates and trends suggest that those numbers are here to stay because law schools produce more lawyers than jobs and have been doing that for a long time now, meaning that there are a lot of unemployed lawyers looking for work.

Fourth, for too many years, law schools have fostered the illusion that it is a great entry into the professional classes for students who either do not have a professionally-oriented college degree or want to switch fields. This is simply a bad argument and leaves too many people stranded.

Fifth, the bad economy has created even more pressure on college graduates to do something that looks like they are building a career. Attending law school sounds like a good idea, even if they are not that committed to the field.

So far, all the evidence points toward the conclusion that yes, law school is a scam. 

But, I am not willing to go quite that far for a few reasons.

First, I think some law schools are scams. I tell students that right now the question is not if they will get in law school but how much debt they will need to incur to finish. I am particularly leery of third and fourth-tier law schools. They tend to have the least amount of financial resources (e.g. students are forced to rely on loans, not scholarships) and the poorest reputation. Other law schools provide a better return on investment and offer some scholarships. The question here is whether a student is making good choices about taking on debt. Every student should have a plan about how much debt they can stomach, especially during the first year. If students have doubts, I want them to be in a position to leave law school and not be saddled with ridiculous debt for that experience. For many, this means working a few years before going to school or living at home. This also means coming to grips with getting into a law school is not the real goal of the law school admission process. Rather, getting into a good law school that will not cost you too much money.

Second, I think law schools are scams because they do not require students to know anything about law or legal careers before they enter. Traditionally, law schools would tell you that they did not want students to major in pre-law. While this may be great for law schools in their quest for a diverse class, it is a recipe for accepting students who know little, beyond television or film portraits, of what lawyers do. I tell my students to take as many law-related classes as they can. I also demand, yes demand that they complete a legal internship that gets them into contact with lawyers, clients, and courtrooms.  That experience alone persuades quite a few students that law is not the career for them. For others, it builds their resolve and gives them leg up on internships and clerkships. In talking with students, I can tell how much a student knows about law. That really shapes the advice I give them.

Third, I don't think law school is a scam because I learned more during law school than either other time in my life. This is saying something because I also earned a Ph.D. If you read the law school is a scam meme, relatively few folks complain that they did not learn anything. Rather, they are justifiably angry that they cannot find a job putting those skills to work. This, however, is not the same as a saying that law is a scam, like a Ponzi scheme.

Fourth, there are a lot of unmet legal needs out there. One of the paradoxes of our time is that formal legal resolution is beyond the means of most poor, working class, and middle-class people even as we have "too many lawyers." This is not a reason to go into law, but highlights that law is not immune to the current job crisis we have, as a country. 

I don't think that law school is a scam, but way too many people have been attending law school. If you  feel compelled to look into law school, you absolutely be realistic about the costs, the job prospects, and most importantly your reasons for attending and your passion for the law.