Does Law School Pay?

 Nilesh Patel is a former law school career counselor at the University of Wisconsin School of Law.

He is currently the principal attorney at the Mahadey Law Group in Madison, WI. 

He writes thoughtfully and realistically about the "new normal" in the current legal hiring climate and the need for law students and young lawyers to make the necessary changes needed to seek employment, and develop business. He also asks whether law schools should look to creating "exit strategies" for law students who no longer wish to pursue their law school degrees. 

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Phil and I connected a few days ago over an article in the Wall Street Journal that said law school is not a good financial investment for most. The way legal education and the legal profession are currently set up, I absolutely agree with that sentiment, if a financial payday is a student’s goal for attending law school. I am sure someone read that line and thought I am about to defend or rationalize the state of legal education or the job prospects for law graduates. Hardly. I simply meant that anyone going to law school for a financial bonanza is in for a rude shock, unless that person lands in the top 20% to 25% of their law school class and is successful in getting an offer from a large firm that pays over six figures. Otherwise, that person just spent anywhere from $70,000 to $150,000 and gave up three years of compensation (including potential retirement benefits) for a salary of about $30,000 to $60,000 (adjust for cost of living differences based on location). The low range of those numbers are in public interest positions while the middle to higher end of salaries are for entry level government or small to mid-sized private firms. The unfortunate reality of the economic downturn since 2008 has been that even graduates who were in the top of their classes saw job offers evaporate, start dates delayed, or the number of opportunities shrink as large firms reduced their hiring by about 30%.

Phil rightly pointed out to me that I was stating an utterly pessimistic viewpoint. So why am I writing this or why did Phil even give me space to write an article about my views? Because the punch line to my comments was not that the sky has fallen and all hope is lost. A law degree may not make a graduate rich, especially right out of the gate. However, the type of work and the type of experiences one can have with a law degree are amazing. Law students and lawyers have a privileged position. They are asked to protect peoples’ civil liberties, personal freedoms, help develop the law, and where need be, challenge the law. They are gifted writers and thinkers, the ones family, neighbors, and clients turn to for eliminating complicated problems. My personal experience has been that I have an amazing wealth of knowledge and experiences to draw upon, none of which would have been possible without a legal education. I will forgo recounting all those experiences, as I expect most of the readers to have already heard how rewarding a legal career can be.

Legal Opportunities In Today’s Market

On to the question that Phil posed to me: what is the viability of a legal education and a law degree in today’s market? I can speak to this topic because until very recently, I was in law school Career Services for over six years.

I take Phil’s question to mean, “What can I do with my degree in these times”? In order to answer the question, and before I can provide any productive options, I need to go through some rather demoralizing data. I believe a law degree is still a very valuable education and preparation for work in a wide array of positions. Law graduates will thrive in many different careers because they are trained as problem solvers who can synthesize large amounts of information and communicate in a crisp and concise manner. In a non-legal setting, the skills gained in law school should provide a distinct advantage in outperforming other colleagues. Why? Again, the answer goes back to three years of training focused on spotting trouble, synthesizing information, communicating clearly, and focusing on problem solving. It also helps that law students have to develop and discuss their non-law interests in order to stand apart, which can make them interesting candidates and colleagues in any setting.

However, the trick in making the most of the law degree depends on the outlet or the career opportunities that are available. Three options are available – legal, legal related, and non-legal positions. In the main part of this post, I will focus on the legal job market, because there are different strategies and different hurdles for the legal related and non-legal sectors. Briefly, however, law graduates have to reassess how to be a cultural fit for a non-legal setting. Second, they have to make it past gatekeepers who will assume that someone with a law degree is over-qualified or not interested in the position long-term. Third, law graduates will be competing against candidates who appear to be better fits because they may have studied and substantively trained for that specific position or industry. Lastly, law graduates have to retrain themselves from being risk-averse naysayers to problem solvers who help clients and colleagues reach goals in spite of the risks.

The Legal Market

If your legal studies involved a healthy mix of substantive courses and practical experiences via clinics, internships, or clerkships, law school will provide a strong foundation for practicing law during the first three to five years after graduation. You will put many of the skills gained in law school to immediate use and you will develop many new skills that can only be learned as you practice.

Of course, you have to be fortunate enough to land a legal position in a job market that has been described as simply “brutal” and “distressed”. In 2011, only 85.6% of about 44,000 law graduates found a position – any position. Stated another way, 15% of the graduates or about 6,800 people from the class of 2011 were unemployed. With large private firms scaling back hiring, there can only be a competitive ripple effect down the class rankings chart. Those higher up in the rankings who cannot find a position will start looking at positions they might not have considered before and crowd out others who might otherwise have been competitive or desirable. Employers are in a buyer’s market and get to be extremely selective in whom they hire based on grades, skill sets, substantive interests, and the ever subjective and elusive cultural fit.

Secondly, you have to find a position that meets your minimum financial needs, which I define as a salary that lets you pay all your bills, have health insurance, and have a decent place to stay. However, during the first three to five years out of school, that salary may not include any type of savings, travel and leisure, or a lifestyle that is much different than if you were a thrifty law student.  A position paying $30,000 or $40,000 might be appropriate for a single person or for a person who can count on family support to get through the first few years. However, for someone with a family, a low paying entry level position will simply not be financially feasible and those graduates will have to consider legal-related or non-law options to meet their family’s needs.

A critical consideration for many law graduates is finding a position in the market or region of their choice. I think after working so hard, people should expect to settle down where they are comfortable or where they have roots. However, geographic preferences are a luxury under the best of economic conditions and if mobility for a legal position is not an option, then you certainly will need to start considering legal related or non-legal options.

Making It In the “New Normal”

So how can law graduates successfully land a legal position in today’s market? At a minimum, and setting aside grades or position specific coursework, you must have the personality, professionalism, and good judgment expected of a law student. However, in this competitive economic market, you also need to show you have the ability and aptitude for business development, be multi-dimensional in planning your job search, and tenacious.

Business Development: The economic recession has turned what once was a relatively stable job market into a shaky one. Job offers get rescinded, start dates are delayed, layoffs occur, or a firm may even close down. While the legal profession has escaped the downsizing seen rather regularly in the business sector, securing a legal job no longer means being able to keep it. Even securing a position has become more difficult because employers have fewer openings and they can be more discriminating in who they select. To be competitive for a private practice setting, you have to demonstrate that you have the ability to be a rainmaker in the future. You have to have the work ethic, energy, charisma, desire, and appetite for developing business. That means openness to networking during non-billable time, joining community organizations, giving presentations or writing articles, networking with other attorneys, and looking for opportunities to develop business.

Rather than seeking to simply have a job, you have to demonstrate that you are ready to be an excellent practitioner and a businessperson. How do you demonstrate the latter? Take advantage of your State Bar Association or local CLE provider and attend sessions on practice development. Talk to alumni and local practitioners on how they develop business, what skills help them succeed at practice development, and what skills should you or could you develop while in law school. Develop a mindset that in order to practice law, you are going to have to know how to work for yourself, even if employed by someone else. Do not prepare to be just a legal workhorse. Prepare to be the rainmaker. Developing that mindset will help you land a legal position, protect you during a downsizing, and help you land on your feet if circumstances necessitate a job loss. On a related note, I wish that prior to starting law school, students would prepare by reading books on succeeding in practice, rather than reading 1L or other books focused on success IN law school. Learning how to meet all the demands of the job search should be more pressing for entering students because there are so many new skills and so many expectations to meet.

Multi-layered job search: You have to plan a job search that covers multiple markets, multiple practice settings (private practice, large/medium/small employers, government, and public interest). You have to plan your job search in the same zealous way you would represent  your clients – thoroughly, catering the facts to the situation in front of you, and in a way your audience is expecting. Employers expect students to know why they want their particular job and why they are a great candidate for that job. There is not the time or money to hire candidates who are still exploring their options. They also want to know that their new hire will make their life easier. That means you are there to make your senior attorneys look good and to be responsible, professional, resourceful, and self-sufficient enough to handle assignments with limited guidance. If you do not know how to prepare to meet such expectations, a visit to your CSO will go a long way in figuring it out. 

Tenacity: You have to be fiercely determined to find a position. Be ready to just get up and repeat the cycle of finding, planning, drafting, and applying for opportunities. Be ready for interviews, second interviews, waiting time, written rejections or rejections that never make it to the post office or your inbox. Until you have an offer and you have accepted it, you need to think of your job search as an assembly line. As soon as one application goes out, start the process over again with the next one. It would help to make a (non-alcoholic) game out of the process. Assign points to each step of the process, making sure to include rejection letters, non-responses, interviews, second-interviews, and waiting time. Like frequent flyer miles, redeem your points for fabulous prizes (go for a run, take a night off, see a movie, or have a nice dinner out). 

If success in law school requires preparing for a marathon, success in your job search requires preparing for an ultra-marathon. Pace yourself and steel yourself because you are going to need to keep going and going and going. As a lawyer, you would have to be this tenacious for a client and you need to be similarly tenacious for yourself, so you can have the privilege of working with legal clients.

Conclusion – Can’t Put Your Head In The Sand

I have tried to provide a realistic outlook for the legal job market. I wish I could have painted a rosy picture but that would be disingenuous. Instead, I have tried to outline what skills and attributes are needed to make the most with your law degree. It is challenging to be sure. However, if you are going to become a lawyer, you need to tackle these issues as early on as possible when you start law school.

In addition, legal education and the legal profession need to address the over-supply of law graduates. The problem of unemployed law graduates in not the fault of any one school or employer, but the profession and legal academia need to take responsible steps to address the situation.

A law school is not well served when a large percentage of graduates believe they were simply used for their tuition dollars. The availability of career services counseling, short term financial assistance, or low paying entry level fellowships for graduates may provide some relief and assistance, but they do not help resolve unemployment for those affected the hardest by the trend of ever increasing law graduates.

The legal profession and its clients are also not well served when more and more new graduates hang up their shingle out of necessity. Instead of focusing on learning how to practice law properly with an experience attorney, more graduates are taking on complicated matters on their own for some of the most vulnerable members of society. While the representation may be competent, that does not address whether it is effective or to the level a client, opposing counsel, or the judicial system deserve.

Perhaps there should be a way out for students who believe a law degree will be financially or professionally untenable. Students who opt out of law school after the first or second year could get a legal certificate, similar to when graduate students start a PhD program but then leave after two years with a Master’s degree. This way, those students get a tangible credential out of their experience, the number of law graduates is reduced, and the profession does not end up with solo practitioners who would gladly do something else but could not because their law degree boxed them in and prevented them from getting hired for a non-legal position.

Nilesh P. Patel was a J.D. Advisor at the University of Wisconsin Law School for over six years. He is currently the Principal Attorney at the Mahadev Law Group, LLC in Madison, WI, focusing on Employment Law and Human Resources issues for businesses. Prior to law school, he worked in Human Resources in California and New York.