Practice Management

As reported in the New York Times, the economic downturn is diminishing the prospects of even the top law students at the top schools as the job market for new law grads is the worse in 50 years.

Of course, I think it should be pointed out, the article centers on law students looking for Big Law careers.  Big Law firms have been plummeting over the last year.  Firms have closed and most have cut way back.  Mainly the Big Law firms have cut associates positions as even partners are sent walking.

For example, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom has slashed its hiring by more than half. Morgan Lewis & Bockius has canceled its associate recruiting entirely. Many Big Law firms such as DLA Piper and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe have postponed recruiting until the market improves.

At Yale students were stunned when Big Law firms canceled interviews in on their campus.  Other top law schools have confirmed that interviews are down by a third to a half compared with a year ago, and the situation is worse at lower-ranked schools.  And, in regard to those still conducting interviews, the law firms are not certain if they will fill those slots.

This is not going over well with students who have mortgage their future on the bet that attending the right law school and the right ranking could buy them a future.  The New York Times reported, for example Derek Fanciullo, a former TV reporter, betting on what he thought was a historically sure thing, took out ?a ferocious amount of debt" in the range of $210,000 and enrolled at School of Law at New York University.

To me, however, the economy is certainly to blame, but the disappointment is more a function of improper emphasis on the part of law school in the hope of rankings.

In reality, most law students, even at the best law schools, do not get Big Law offers.  Yet, this seems to be the goal of most law students in both applying to and attending law school.  This is unfortunate because with the right perspective the nation's law schools would probably recruit students who are more accustom to the private practice of law.

With technology and the downward push on pricing of legal services the argument can be made that Big Law is just dead as we know it.  Regardless, law is an entrepreneurial enterprise in the final analysis.  There are a number of smart people that just are not entrepreneurial at heart and, whereas that is perfectly fine, it seems wrong to actively market services to those that are not.

It might affect rankings, but the truth of the matter is we are quickly becoming a nation and an economy of freelancers.  Law schools need to come to grips with this fact and start marketing the practice of law instead of the potential glory of law that only a select few might experience.  The overwhelming majority of law school graduates will end up in the solo practice of law or small firms.  Therefore, it is just wrong to gear most of the law school objectives and recruitment to Big Law prospects.

Law schools act like they are almost embarrassed by the fact that their graduates might actually go out on their own.  In fact, they are worried that such solo pursuits, although admirable, will drastically hurt their rankings.  The problem is that the image does not meet the reality.  That is sad because the reality is not that bad if you understand it going in.

I think it is time to fess up to the fact that freelancing is the likely goal of most law school students, and strive to change the curriculum to train more practice ready graduates.