http://www.money.cnn.com/2014/07/15/pf/jobs/lawyer-salaries
Monstrous Debt, Low Pay: On July 15, 2014, CNN Money posted a Ben Brody article labeled “Go to law school. Rack up debt. Make $62,000.” Read the following segment:
“Leslie Thompson earns $40,000 a year working two jobs, but her Albuquerque, N.M., house almost went into foreclosure twice this year.
Thompson's trade? She's a lawyer.
Lawyers have been struggling for a while now, but it's gotten even worse: Half of lawyers are now starting at a salary of less than $62,000 a year, according to the National Association for Law Placement.
Not only that, but starting salaries have fallen 13% over the past six years, down from $72,000 in 2008. At the same time, lawyers' student debts are piling up. Thompson is carrying over $150,000 in student loans.
The law profession took a big hit in the recession: Firms saw profits decline, and stiff competition for jobs dragged salaries down.
"The third quarter of 2008 [it] was just like the spigot got turned off," says James Leipold, executive director of the law association.” [Emphasis mine]
James Leipold is a vile worm. In the past, he helped the law schools lure in more victims – by allowing them to claim 98% employment placement rates. At any rate, this reporter does not understand that LPOs, automation, outsourcing, predictive coding, and legal software programs have had a devastating effect on recent law graduates. When given a choice, do you think that broke-ass potential clients are going to hire a lawyer to do a will, or do suppose that they’ll go with Legal Zoom?
Hell, you also go with Quicken software, Rocket Lawyer, LawDepot.com, and Total Legal for self-help and legal forms. Lay people can now access statutes and case law online. Many defendants are now representing themselves and entering their own plea bargains. They have figured out that they don’t need to shell out $3,000 for a DUI lawyer to get them a lesser conviction. These technological developments have likewise lessened the need for firms to hire associates. This is simple economics, people.
The author then continued:
“Back in 2008, associates at big firms made $125,000 straight out of school. But by last year, that had dropped to $95,000. And the vast majority of lawyers actually work at small firms for much less money. Local prosecutors, for instance, make about $50,000 in their first year, while those with 15 years of experience only earn $80,000.
"In American culture, our sense of being a lawyer is so much driven by television," Leipold says. "Sure, there are a handful of people making a lot of money, but it's not the rule."
James Leipold, why weren’t you making these statements five or ten years ago, bitch?!?! Did you feel that students back then did not deserve to be better informed about the job market?
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/07/the-only-job-with-an-industry-devoted-to-helping-people-quit/375199/#disqus_thread
Even the Winners Want Out of the “Profession”:The Atlantic published an epic Leigh McMullan Abramson piece, on July 29, 2014. The article was entitled “The Only Job With an Industry Devoted to Helping People Quit.” Look at this brutal opening:
“I went to law school because I didn’t know what to do after college and I'm bad at math. Law school seemed like a safe, respectable path and gave me an easy answer to what I was going to do with my life. And, as part of the millennial generation obsessed with test scores and academic achievement, I relished the spoils of a high LSAT score, admission to an Ivy League law school, and a job offer from a fancy corporate law firm.
I spent my first year as lawyer holed up in a conference room sorting piles of documents wearing rubber covers on my fingertips that looked like tiny condoms. Eventually, I was trusted with more substantive tasks, writing briefs and taking depositions. But I had no appetite for conflict and found it hard to care about the interests I was serving. I realized I had never seriously considered whether I was cut out to be a lawyer, much less a corporate litigator. After a few years, I just wanted out, but I had no idea where to begin.
I knew that I was not alone. Law-firm associate consistently ranks at the top of unhappy-professions lists and despite starting salaries of $160,000, law firms experience significant yearly associate attrition. What I didn’t realize was that the plight of burnt-out attorneys, particularly those at law firms, has recently spawned an industry of experts devoted to helping lawyers leave law. Attorneys now have their choice of specialized career counselors, blogs, books, and websites offering comfort and guidance to wannabe ex-Esqs.
“Law is the only career I know that has a sub-profession dedicated to helping people get out of it,” says Liz Brown, author of the help manual, Life After Law: Finding Work You Love with the J.D. You Have, published last year.” [Emphasis mine]
Do…you…understand…that, Lemmings?!?! Or do I need to draw you a diagram on posterboard with Crayola, so that it can penetrate your gray matter? This article points out that successful law graduates cannot wait to leave this filth behind and move on with their lives. Could you imagine - for one damn second - if such a sub-industry existed helping physicians who want to leave the practice of medicine?!?!
Conclusion: Sadly, the CNN Money piece may inadvertently cause a few more waterheads to apply to law school. These morons might see a median starting salary of $62K, and completely ignore the staggering amount of NON-DISCHARGEABLE debt. What these fools should realize by now is that they are likely to earn $35K-$45K upon graduation. Try making rent, providing food and essentials, and repaying your student loans, on that income. Now, imagine if you had to support a family on that measly salary. In the final analysis, YOU need to look at law school solely as A FINANCIAL DECISION. After all, this will impact you for the rest of your life.