New York Law School and the Cooley law school in Michigan are now being sued by their recent graduates in a class action lawsuit. Read the article in the link above! The graduates of these schools feel that they were misled about job prospects, starting salaries and employment prospects when they enrolled in these law schools.
The plaintiffs in this case accuse the law schools for misleading them and are seeking millions in damages for lost tuition money and other damages they incurred while enrolling in law school. As the article in the link above goes on to say,
'The law school industry today is much like a game of three-card monte, with law schools flipping over ace after ace, while a phalanx of non-suspecting players wager mostly borrowed money based on asymmetrical information on a game few of them can win," according to the New York lawsuit.'
Are you listening all you pre law undergrads? These students are smart, hard working and did everything right, but the legal profession simply cannot absorb all the graduates that come into the job market each year.
I recently talked to an investment banker at my company who is a JD/MBA and he said many graduates of lower ranked law schools get duped big time. It all comes down to their glossy brochures! When a naive young liberal arts graduates reads the law school brochures, he gets hypnotized by the "success stories" in the admissions brochure! In a nutshell, this is how many pre law students get scammed by law schools:
Oliver the Overachiever graduated Summa Cum Laude from an Ivy League School with a triple BS in Quantum Physics, Applied Mathematics and Political Science. He then applied to law school and decided to attend ( lower ranked non elite law school) . He had scores of law schools to choose from, and now he is a happy graduate of our school. He was editor of law review and graduated at the top of his class. He now works for a BIG law firm making $160,000 a year and is a successful attorney. He credits his success by attending (lower ranked law school)!
Nearly every law school student thinks that he or she will end up like Oliver the Overachiever and making big bucks! This is not true, and the vast majority will end up underemployed, unemployed or employed in a non legal profession.
In my last post, I wrote about the crazy Attorney who was like a motivational speaker on drugs. I recently met up with him again, after I got off of work. He ended up talking to me about some of his problems and financial hardships he is going through. I began to think about him as a professional and how people assume that just because he is a successful JD/MBA from an ivy league school, that he is super successful. Everyone assumes that if you work in corporate law that you are rich and successful, but you aren't. You still have many problems, MASSIVE student loans, and most of these people don't make as much as you think they do! Most are beyond miserable in their jobs and just try to work to pay back their student debt.
This is the problem with the legal profession: It warps your reality!
All the pre law students think big salaries, see inflated employment statistics, and offices in skyscrapers! They don't realize that when they see people like "Oliver the Overachiever" in the law school admissions brochures, it is just a fantasy! Success stories like that are rare exceptions and not the reality for the vast majority of law school graduates! Most end up doing temp jobs, document review and will struggle to find anything to pay the bills.
It will be interesting to see if more students will sue their law schools for being misled about job prospects!
On a lighter note, Ramadan just started over a week ago and fasting has really screwed up my gym schedule. I am running, lifting and going to the gym during odd hours of the night and still trying to do my best at work. I was cooking food for dinner last night and I found a great recipe on Youtube. I know we are still in a recession, and many people can't afford to eat out, so I found you a great recipe! If you like Indian/Pakistani food, then try this easy chicken curry recipe. It is really easy, tasty and it goes great with rice or naan.
If you want to save some money by not eating out this weekend, then cook at home this weekend! Have a spicy south Asian Saturday night!
-The Poor Paralegal
so true, law school really does warp your reality! the success stores in the law school brochures are not likely for most law students.
ReplyDeleteGood recipe dude. Love it Give up the fasting! as a muslim to muslim I have not fasted a day in my life and I feel great!
ReplyDeleteA JD/MBA program makes me chuckle. Do these advanced degrees really help people out? I don't think so. I guess people get these degrees at online diploma mills (as opposed to going to a brick and mortar institution) in lieu of obtaining any real world working experience.
ReplyDeleteThe market, unfortunately, is saturated with attorneys, and there simply aren't enough jobs to go around. Even in a great economy, to find a decent job as an associate, where moving up the professional ladder was conceivable, you had to graduate from a top school at the top of your class. I've been in this field a long time, and paralegals fair better when it comes to landing jobs than new lawyers do. It's pretty sad when you think about it, because young college students still have this misconception that at a JD guarantees or, at least increases the likelihood of success, and that's just not reality.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your tips!
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