Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Practice Management Blogs -> Chuck Newton

Practice Management

: Chuck Newton

Does Your Law School And Professors Really Appreciate You Or Are They Just Taking Advantage Of You?

By chucknewton

I have received a number of emails of late in which law students and recent graduates write of the caring nature of their law schools and their professors.  It begs the question of whether law schools and professors truly appreciate their students or do they just appreciate the fact they can borrow seemingly larger amounts of money?

For no apparent reason, other than to keep up with U.S. News rankings, comply with outdated ABA guidelines, and to fund every personal preference, law schools in this country by and large have contrived to either price the average person out of a legal education or to drive them into a lifetime of massive debt to get a law license., which they might not ever be able to pay.  It is shameful

As a result, newly minted lawyers -- especially those in midsize and small firms -- are shouldering life changing debt when they graduate.  This is partly what is leading to higher loan defaults, attrition in the legal field and job dissatisfaction.  You simply cannot enjoy your chosen profession when you are drowning in debt and are always worried if you can earn enough to provide for your family as needed.  It is probably the reason that the number of African-Americans and Mexican-Americans enter law school has been decreasing.

In-state law students at public institutions today are paying 267% more than in 1990. Stranger tuition for nonresidents at state public law schools has soared as well but only by 197%.  This means that in-state law students at public institutions are now disproportionately paying the costs of legal education, as compared to out-of-state students, whose families never paid taxes in the state.  And, although private law school tuition has also substantially increased it has not nearly increased as much as public law schools, having risen by only, yet still eye popping, 130% in this length of time. Tuition in 2004 at public law schools for in-state residents averaged $11,860 and $21,905 for nonresidents, and at private schools, tuition was $26,952, at least as of 2004.  It has increased further now.

About 80% of law school students obtain loans to pay for law school, and the average loan debt is $76,763 for private law school graduates and $48,910 for public school graduates.

And while law school costs has exploded since 1990, associate compensation, in relation to inflation has not.  Salaries for Big Law associates has increased only 60% during this time.  Small and medium size law firms, judiciary and government jobs have increased a lot less.

Between 1990 and 2004, inflation totaled 45%.  By this analysis, for example, the price of a legal education for an in-state resident at a state law school should have increased from $3,236 to $4,700, a sharp contrast to the $11,860 average cost at the same type of school in 2004.

This is a problem because if a law student graduates with the average debt from a law school and earns less upon graduation than a Big Law associate does, which is true for the overwhelming number of law school graduates, the law school graduates are going to find themselves in trouble with debt eventually.  And forget the immediate possibility of the law students being able to stake their own claim in the solo practice of law.

Now, it is true that the reason for this escalation is the inability of law schools to increase revenues in other ways other than by increasing tuition.  You do not have to do anything but walk into most law schools to understand that they have acted with the same responsibility of a high school student with a MasterCard.  Flash.  Larger libraries. Debt.  Nicer space.  Larger salaries.  A sense of entitlement.  No leadership in setting reasonable priorities in spending, thinking they can always raise tuition and the students will pay it somehow.

Dean Raymond Pierce of North Carolina Central University School of Law seems to agree.  He told PreLaw Magazine that "law school in general is so expensive these days and it doesn't have to be.  Our law school clearly demonstrates that a quality legal education can be provided at an affordable price".  Pierce states that the Law School tries to keep its tuition in check by setting spending priorities, and said, "law schools need to resist the costly temptation of spending funds simply for the purpose of improving its rankings.  You can spend a lot of money on classes and other items not related to the creation of lawyers.  I'd rather put my money on the students."

Law schools need to get real.  They do not teach students how to actually practice law, and they charge too much of a premium for the privilege.

Full post as published by Chuck Newton on January 05, 2008 (boomark / email).