New York Times: To Place Graduates, Law Schools Are Opening Firms:
Arizona State is setting up [a nonprofit law firm] this summer for
some of its graduates. Over the next few years, 30 graduates will work
under seasoned lawyers and be paid for a wide range of services provided
at relatively low cost to the people of Phoenix.The plan is one of a dozen efforts across the country to address two acute — and seemingly contradictory — problems: heavily indebted law graduates with no clients and a vast number of Americans unable to afford a lawyer.
This paradox, fed by the growth of Internet-based legal research and
services, is at the heart of a crisis looming over the legal profession
after decades of relentless growth and accumulated wealth. It is evident
in the sharp drop in law school applications and the increasing numbers of Americans showing up in court without a lawyer….A dozen law schools, including City University of New York and Thomas
Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, have set up incubators to train
future solo practitioners in their first year out of school, offering
office space and mentors. …[T]he incoming president of the ABA, James R.
Silkenat, of New York, said his top priority next fall would be to
establish a “legal job corps” to match lawyers who need jobs with
clients who need legal assistance. “We have these two issues running in opposite directions,” Mr. Silkenat
said in an interview. “There are unmet legal needs because of money and
geography that seem to be growing, and the question of how to make use
of unemployed recent graduates.”All law schools, including the elites, are increasing skills training by adding clinics
and externships. …Critics [of Arizona State's program] say that $125 an hour is too high to serve those in need and too
low to break even. Others say that Phoenix, a city of intense growth
and few law students, could support such an operation but that others
could not and that local law firms would resent the competition. “We charge $50 an hour, and I don’t take any pay,” said Dennis A.
Gladwell, who runs a smaller firm at the University of Utah with a staff
of five graduates started 16 months ago. “If you are going to charge
$125, you are not going to serve an underserved population.” Mr.
Gladwell, who retired as a partner from the big firm of Gibson Dunn
& Crutcher, also said that despite having asked top local firms to
send along cases they considered too small for themselves, none
responded.
Update:
- ABA Journal, ‘Teaching Hospital for Law School Graduates’ Is Launching at Arizona State
- Business Insider, Law Schools Are Resorting To A New Strategy To Make Sure Grads Get Jobs
- JD Journal, Law Schools Starting Firms to Help Graduates Get Jobs
- Matt Leichter (Law School Tuition Bubble), Poor People Being Poor Is Not a Paradox
- Kyle McEntee (Law School Transparency), Describing “Law School Firm” Jobs
- Deborah Jones Merritt (Ohio State), Law School Firms
- Kevin Outterson (Boston University), Letter to ABA Section on Legal Education on 'Captive Clinics' (Mar. 8, 2013)
- Matthew Yglesias (Slate), ASU Launching a Law Firm to Employ Unemployable Law School Graduates
