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.