Price and Perils of JD: Is Law School Worth It?, Washington Lawyer (Mar. 2013):

Rocked by a brutal job market and a huge and growing student debt, an
increasing number of young lawyers have been asking themselves the same
question: Is law school worth it?

The case against law school is regularly made in the national media and by Internet bloggers. An article in Forbes
magazine last year went so far as to declare: Why Attending Law
School Is the Worst Career Decision You’ll Ever Make. Even the
ABA has weighed in with concerns. And the
issue has obviously large implications for not only students, but law
schools and the profession in general. 

Based strictly on economics, investing in a
legal education seems increasingly hard to justify. Only a fraction of
graduates these days are finding full–time jobs that require a law
degree, and salaries are declining. While there has been some recent
improvement, the starting salary for a lawyer in private law practice
has fallen 35% since 2009, according to a July 2012 report of the
National Association for Law Placement. A select few graduates
continue to make big money at large firms—as much as $160,000 a
year—but those jobs also are getting scarcer as law firms have cut
back. 

Many more young lawyers work temporary positions
doing document review or other contract work that, aside from lower
pay, provides no job security or benefits. Public sector jobs are
shrinking because of a federal hiring freeze and budget problems at the
state and local level. Nonprofits are too cash–strapped to hire public
interest lawyers. More and more graduates are taking jobs outside the
law, not out of choice but of necessity to pay the bills.

Legal education costs have soared, meanwhile. Average tuition at a
private law school has quadrupled in the lifetime of students
graduating this spring, with even sharper increases at public
institutions. Including living expenses, the cost of law school now
averages between $150,000 and $250,000, much of which is debt-financed.
The average debt for students who graduated from a private law school
in 2011 was $142,565, which does not include loans they may have racked
up as undergraduates. The upshot: Rising costs and declining earnings
have many students approaching their very own fiscal cliff. …

The changing economics of the marketplace is starting to shake a
long–held belief that a law degree is a valuable credential, even for
those not necessarily interested in practicing law. For years a legal
education was touted as a versatile and marketable postgraduate
experience for the undecided. Today, lawyers are finding that a law
degree is closing rather than opening doors, especially in jobs in
business. Employers are skeptical of unemployed lawyers who are not
using their law degree in a traditional way. Some also are concerned
that lawyers will bolt once they find a legal job. …

Besides high fees, law schools have been accused of inflating their
ability to place students in legal jobs after graduation. Even after the
recession hit, many ABA–accredited law schools continued to report
that more than 90% of their graduates were getting jobs soon
after graduation. It turns out that they were including graduates
holding down nonlegal jobs, even temporary ones. … American University reported that more than 80% of its law school
graduates in 2009 and 2010 had found jobs within nine months of
graduation. Despite the recession, the school reported that 76%
of the class of 2011 still found jobs, although the more detailed
reporting required by the new ABA standards painted a much bleaker
picture of the graduates’ experience. Just 167 of the 467 members of
the class of 2011—about 36%—had permanent, full-time jobs where
bar passage was required. Just 23—about 5%—had jobs with the
biggest (and generally top–paying) law firms. …

Employment Summary for 2011 Area Law School Graduates

School	*Employed	Total Graduates	% Employed
GW	421	518	81.2%
Georgetown	403	644	62.5%
George Mason	102	170	60.0%
Howard	75	157	47.7%
Catholic	114	261	43.6%
American	167	467	35.7%
UDC	16	78	20.5%

*Includes only graduates employed in full–time, long–term
positions where bar passage is required within nine months of
graduation. (Source: Law school reports to the ABA Section of Legal
Education and Admissions to the Bar)