There Are Two Law School Grads for Every Lawyer Job
Law school enrollment has been plunging over the past two years, and with good reason. As law school deans desperately seek to assure future customers that everything is okay, one real live indebted recent law school graduate is standing up to remind his potential successors: theirs is a path towards doom.
Chris Fletcher, 2011 law school grad, uses that dearly-acquired rhetorical expertise to put this about as simply as anyone can:
Nationally there are twice as many graduates as there are jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the economy will provide 21,880 new jobs for lawyers annually between 2010 and 2020; law schools since 2010, however, have produced more than 44,000 graduates each year. Yet schools continue to enroll more students than the market demands and to raise tuition faster than inflation. The result is exploding debt loads for current students and graduates whose employment prospects are appalling.
Law school tuitions are up. Lawyer salaries are down. And there are only enough jobs for half of you, anyhow. IT'S A SUCKER'S BET. A CLEAR SUCKER'S BET.
The majesty of the law, human rights, Erin Brockovich, etc.
