Law Students

Credit: JD Jiver124 of JDUnderground

Its not a question of entitlement, its a question of getting paid what we deserve. We busted our asses to get good grades in college and law school, to get through law school, to pass the bar exam, to find a job - and the disappointing outcome is a salary that someone with a GED can get. The fact is that society tells America that education is the way to succeed in life, and when push comes to shove, being a highly educated citizen of the USA no longers pays!
I have friends who work as hairdressers, auto mechanics, basically blue collar jobs. Most of them were slackers in high school or college dropouts. Most of them earn crap pay. They should have no reason to whine and most of them are content with their 20-35K/year salaries because they have accepted their economic position in life.

However, many lawyers sacrificed many a Saturday night to study for exams and finals, participated in various extracurricular activities in HS, college/law school, worked overtime to land competitive internships, worked hard to meet deadlines at law firm jobs, prepare for trial, etc all because we WANTED TO AVOID that economic situation which our blue collar friends are doing right now - and what is the reward? a market where the incoming entry level attorney earns barely more than a HS teacher with a GED.

Claiming that attorneys "do not add value" to society nor add anything of "market" value belies the point. Investment bankers on the surface do not add value crunching numbers, but these bankers on a larger level, contribute to the Global Economy - which trickles down to the local economy and into your own household. Yet IB'ers and regular finance majors/MBA grads come into the job market where they can command $65K+ salaries even though they too must face a learning curve. What does an average lawyer face if they aren't going into biglaw? A job paying $40K/yr with little or no health benefits and even worse job security because firms unlike large companies, fire people at whim.

Now the fact that the ABA is approving more law schools means the end of the legal profession as we know it. The JD will become simply an extension of a BA or BS, much like an LLM is viewed as an unnecessary extra law degree for lawyers. This is why people are angry and why I, along with many of my lawyer friends, are angry that salaries are not as high as they should be.

Full post as published by Wicked Words on June 03, 2008 (boomark / email).