Don't go to law school

A recent article has noted that applications for law school have sharply declined over the last few years. Good, and I am not saying that simply because fewer new attorneys means less competition for me. I say good, because more and more young adults are noting the tectonic shifts going on in the legal field and are finding alternate careers that may actually justify the huge expense in time and money of going to law school.

A big issue is that law schools have spent the last few decades (so it seems) of raising tuition much faster than inflation would explain. I went to law school from 1995-99 (part time at night). My first year's tuition was about $15,000, and most of that was paid by my then employer. According to my school's website, tuition and fees are now over $37,000 per year. What justifies a near tripling of tuition fees?

Considering much of the low level lawyer/paralegal grunt work is now automated or sent overseas meaning less lawyers are needed, job prospects for salaries high enough to justify laying out over $150,000 are becoming fewer and fewer. One of my first jobs was a humongous document review in a warehouse,with several paralegals going through boxes and boxes of documents. The entire initial review took almost 10 weeks. Today, those documents would be scanned in and a computer would search for the terms or phrases we were looking for to help find the relevant documents, replacing an associate and the paralegals. So much of the work that used to be done by many is now automated, there is just no need for so much man/woman power in many firms.

Certainly, young attorneys can strike out on their own and open a small practice. There will always be a need for criminal defense attorneys and family law attorneys for example. And while those attorneys may eke out a decent lifestyle, that is no longer guaranteed. For while legal research is cheaper and more accessible, it is also accessible for the common person who may decide to handle certain matters, such as drafting a will, on their own. I know of many attorneys who are under employed or taking positions where JDs are not required (in my local courthouse, there are now many attorneys doing jobs that were once held by college or even high school graduates not too long ago). Others are in alternate careers where a JD comes in handy, but is also not required.

I am now at an age and position where friends' high school children, who have an interest in law, are asking me for advice. My response is simple, unless you truly have a love of law, don't go to law school. Financially, it does not make sense. Though I enjoy what I do, and there is plenty of work if you don't care about being rich, if I was contemplating law school today, I would find another career path.

So how is your day going?

I hate winter. Not so much for the cold and snow (if we ever get it again here in central NJ -- my kids haven't been sledding in two years), but the darkness. Long ago I realized I am one of those people who get affected by the change in seasons and I can usually deal with it with bright lights and exercise.  But the last few days have been rough.

15 years ago my company was bought by a larger company. Yesterday the powers that be announced that after 125 years they are closing our former main officer and laying everybody there off starting in April (or 90 days). Today I am sitting through a meeting where I am basically learning how some offshore employees are taking their first steps in replacing those of us who remain in a few years. Finally, on a personal note, my wife has become very uncomfortable from the combined effects of radiation for her breast cancer and starting on tamoxifen.

The layoffs and offshoring are not really a surprise. That is where the industry has been headed lately as our world basically has changed completely thanks to technology the last 20 years. But the closing of the former main office really struck a blow for former and current long time employees. Though not at the original site, our company was a major player in the small city our company was headquartered for over a century. And while the office itself has only been half full, if that, for many years and we were absorbed by our new parent many years ago, it is essentially the end of an era.

Actually, my wife was feeling a little better today, at least well enough not to take her pain out on me -- this "for worse" stuff can be really hard some days. But her mood swings from the side effects the last few days are starting to get to me. I feel myself starting to slink back to the bottomless pit I felt I was in back when she started chemotherapy in July. I can't decide if she is in so much discomfort that she either is unaware how much her words are hurting me or is purposefully saying these things so I can feel her pain. Or if this is just the drugs talking again. At least I'll have something to talk to my therapist about next week.

Knee jerk over reaction

Today is the first day back to school after winter break and, in response to the Newton tragedy, the mayor of Marlboro, NJ, an upper middle class neighborhood in central NJ, a little less rural than Newton, but otherwise fairly similar, has decided to spend the money to hire 9 extra police officers to sit in each of the town's schools and do nothing. I live in Manalapan, a town adjacent to Marlboro and there are people here demanding that we match Marlboro's arms race because they have bought into the exploitation by Marlboro's mayor over the fears of the general public for his political gain. They are furious at our mayor and school superintendent for catching their breath, taking the time to decide what is best and then "only" assigning two cadets from the police academy on an extra patrol for all of the town's schools traveling around the town and, coincidentally, are also actually patrolling the neighborhood.

For years we (people in this area) have been demanding an end to higher property taxes to pay for our schools so that teachers are actually being replaced by computer programs. Funny how we don't have the money to pay for a Spanish teacher in our elementary schools, but all of the sudden we can find the money for an armed policeman in all schools that will do nothing (Columbine had a police officer on site, Va Tech had their own police force and Ft Hood was an army installation) except make a few scaredy cats feel better and take money away from more important needs, such as educating our students. And guess what? This will still do nothing if some nut decides to take a shot. All it is is just a big waste of tax money in the very slim chance that one day an armed police officer will be needed. Money we don't have.

I'm not a blind, idealist. I know there are way more assault riffles held by frightened people, convinced the world is about to end thanks to irresponsible news entities, then there used to be. And that thanks to the irresponsibility of some, these lethal weapons are in the wrong hands. But an armed officer in every single building, especially out here is nuts. More importantly it  is a response to yesterday's attack. Who is to say the next attack will be with a gun? An officer at the front door won't do much if the next mental person, for example, decides to drive through a wide door or window unprotected by barricades. Want to add bulletproof glass and other barriers to the building itself? Fine. Like many parents after Newton, I took a look around both my children's schools after picking them up and noticed some easy fixes that would make sense to keep any intruder out.

You can't have police everywhere and I don't think we want to live in a society that does. If a cop is at the door then what about the school yard for recess?  When the same cop is used to sitting at the school all day doing nothing it will be just a matter of time until they become complacent and start reading a newspaper or playing around on their cell phone. And what will happen when, inevitably, a parent walking into the school for legitimate business gets harassed by the officer or, worse, an officer over reacts to a misbehaving pupil and turns a simple disciplinary problem into a legal problem? 

Newton was an aberration. One single nut that, if proper procedures had been followed, should never of even had access to a gun. No one is hunting our children.  I am all for the safety of the children but putting brownshirts in all our public schools is not the answer. Knee jerk reactions like this simply compromise liberty.

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)