Great new Article from CNN MONEY!

I recently found a great new article on CNN MONEY: Law School Graduates Sue their Alma Mater

This is a great new article discussing how many students are now suing their schools for fradulent misrepresentation of material facts. It will be interesting to see how all of this is covered more intensely by other media outlets.

On a lighter note, Ramadan has officially ended and I wanted to wish everyone a very HAPPY EID MUBARAK!

 I think my present this year is the peace of mind knowing that more students will read articles like the one above and think twice before going to law school and taking out massive debt. I hope everyone has a happy holiday and I found a great new song on Youtube! To celebrate...enjoy!  Happy Eid and Bayram everyone!

- The Poor Paralegal

Tough Job Market Drives Young People to Suicide

Tough Job Market causes young Koreans to commit suicide

In South Korea, the suicide rate among young people in their 20's has skyrocketed! It is now the highest it has ever been in recent history, and many of these people are young law school graduates. The law school saturation is not just limited to US graduates having problems, but also in other countries. There are too many attorneys and not enough jobs to absorb all the recent graduates.

Suicide is now the # 1 cause of death for young people in South Korea.

As the article goes on to say, "At least 10 of the suicide cases that have been reported so far this year are believed to be linked to a failure to find jobs. A study by an Internet job search portal conducted in April showed that six out of 10 respondents felt tempted to take their own lives due to the increased difficult and related stress of finding work in Korea's overheated job market, which is causing employers to pare down their new hires."

Law School Graduates Face Grim Reality

This article talks about how there are too many law school graduates in South Korea and not enough Jobs for most of them. So many people are unemployed and contemplating suicide, this is horrible! This problem is not limited to just US law school graduates. However, what shocks me is that the ABA is allowing new law schools to open up across the USA!

-The Poor Paralegal

Law School Graduates Sue Law Schools for being Misled about Job Prospects

Law School Graduates sue for being "Scammed" by Law Schools?

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

Joke of the day

So today I was having a super crappy morning at work.

Then, I met with a group of Vice Presidents and Managing Directors to discuss the financial results for the end of the 2nd quarter. Many of them were talking about future projects, profits in the second half of the year and even merging with another financial services firm to expand our office. It was interesting since my boss brought in a corporate finance attorney who worked for a lot of dot.coms in the Silicon Valley back in the late 90's.  His name was Andy* the Attorney, and he was a very enthusiastic guy. He was jumping up and down the halls with his presentation kits, smiling and I am sure he could have used some decaf coffee. He has served in house counsel for many large corporation and successful entrepreneurial ventures. Andy had been working in corporate America for a very long time.

He gave our project team a big lecture on the benefits of merging with XYZ company, and how if we buy them out, then our product diversification mix will grow substantially. We will have more clients, industries and function groups to work with our clients. He was so enthusiastic, our entire staff gave him a standing ovation after his lecture.

After his lecture, I had a lunch meeting with him and 3 guys in my department.

He used to work for one of the biggest coffee house chains in the world. I will give you a hint, the company starts with the letter "S" and is based out of the west coast. This company does NOT franchise its coffee houses anymore, but for a brief time back in the mid 90's, they used to offer some franchises.

He started telling me about the franchise process and how he would get investors to join this GIGANTIC coffee house chain. During lunch, he stood up and started running around our table in circles, moving so fast and telling me about the marketing, products, start up money and so on. He then said "To buy a coffee house franchise with (guess the company name?) back in 1995 , you needed to have  5 million dollars in liquid assets. Then you need to qualify with good credit, and then there is the training.."

Suddenly I started laughing in the middle of lunch. My boss looked at me like I was crazy. The other co workers looked at me like I was out of my mind. Andy the Attorney wouldn't stop talking about this coffee house. Andy started to get bothered by me laughing, and then I looked up at him.

 I said, "Andy, If I had 5 million dollars in liquid assets, I sure as hell wouldn't be buying a coffee shop. I don't know what the hell you are smoking, but if I had 5 million dollars in cash I would be in Hawaii. I'm Sorry. That is wrong, but that is funny!"

Then my boss started laughing.

Ok so it really wasn't that funny of a joke of the day, but it made my day a little better! I guess it was one of those "you had to be there" moments and you weren't there. Oh well, have a great weekend everyone!

- The Poor Paralegal

*name has been changed to protect privacy

Enrollment Drops Drastically at Law School

Good News....

It looks like more and more law school administrators, faculty and staff are now accepting the facts about the legal profession. There are so many unemployed lawyers and not enough jobs. I do applaud Vermont Law School for addressing this issue by lowering their class size by nearly 25%! You read about the article here:  Law School Enrollment down 23.8 %

The article discusses how the school is coming ot terms with the fact that we simply have too many attorneys chasing too few jobs in the United States. One of the staff members at VLS even said, "With the recession and tough legal job market there are more lawyers and fewer legal jobs”

VLS is known for having one of the best environmental law programs in the country, and it is a very well respected school. I have a lot of respect for the administration of this school for actually coming to terms with the changing legal job market. I wonder what made them decide to lower enrollment? Was it all these scamblogs? I will never know, but I just hope more schools follow and start lowering enrollments.

If you are a law school faculty member or administrator, please keep reading these blogs. Listen to the sad stories you hear about graduates drowning in debt, with no job prospects and working dead end jobs. Don't dismiss us as whiners, actually take the time to listen to what we have to say. It reminds me of a scene I once saw on Ally McBeal on youtube. You can watch the video on Youtube yourself.

- The Poor Paralegal

Would you go to law school to become a Paralegal?

It's about that time of year again...

ARE..

YOU....

READY....

FOR ....

MORE PROBLEMS IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION THIS YEAR???

Just when you thought the legal profession would not hit a new low, you are wrong:

The University of Texas at Austin has now launched a 5 month paralegal program and sent brochures to its law school alumni, telling them of this wonderful new program!

WOW! Imagine, spending 3 years of your life, tuition, room and board and lost wages only to get an invitation to a paralegal program after you graduate!

If you want to learn more about this debt for diploma program read about it here:

Go to Law School to Become a Paralegal!

I have a friend who is working in document review, graduated from UC Hastings school of law and we both were talking about this hilarious new article in Above the Law. UTA is a very well respected school, but if a top 15 law school is telling its graduates to become paralegals, what does that tell you about the legal profession? UNDERGRADUATES BEWARE!

My friend said "Lawyers working as paralegals, what’s next ..lawyers working as cops?" It reminded me of a funny video I once saw a while back. I uploaded the video below for your viewing pleasure. Usually the Bailiff/Sheriff keeps order in the court and protects civilians from violence, but in Pakistan a group of lawyers started to beat the police. The world is changing...

-The Poor Paralegal

Middle Class Jobs are Vanishing

Most of America's middle class works making between $40,000-70,000 a year salaries as middle managers will see dramatic shifts in their future opportunities. Due to outsourcing, globalization, streamlining and changes in the US economy, there is no need for many of these jobs. India produces over 800,000 engineers a year, whereas the US only creates about 60,000 engineers. I am part south asian, and many students who grow up in India, Pakistan, etc. end up becoming very well educated. I had one friend from Arabic school who told me in India he grew up learning Hindi/Urdu, Panjabi, English, Arabic and one western language (French, Spanish, etc.)  Keep in mind, that this is in PUBLIC school, not some fancy private school.

Many of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are rapidly growing and outsourcing is taking those jobs away from the US and sending them to overseas. Globalization is  killing the legal profession, as many document review and legal research jobs are being sent abroad.  Read this article in the Wall Street Journal, to learn more about these changes, http://www.marketwatch.com/story/your-well-paid-middle-class-job-is-in-danger-2011-06-16

Even many well paid workers are now seeing their jobs vanish, and the odds of getting very high paying jobs will be very difficult for years to come. Since I work in investment banking, and I met quite a few survivors from the  Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns collapse when the "Great Recession" started.

Just last week I met one guy who was at BS and worked as an Associates in the Fixed Income Group division of corporate banking. He was well educated, out of a top 20 MBA school for 3 years and was making around 250-300k a year. He was on his way to becoming a VP, but the mortgage meltdown and recession made him lose his job. He now works for my boutique company, and I know he makes like barely 100k a year. He even told me that the odds of getting one of those really high paying jobs on wall street will be rare for many years to come. He even thought about taking his CPA exam and doing accounting, since he has friends who are controllers, CFO's, and such who make more than him.

Even for someone who was making so much money on wall street, he gave me some great insight. You have to constantly adapt to the changing job market. You can't always just keep looking for a job in your industry. If you are in a profession where there are no jobs, then go out and figure out a way to find another job. Don't just sit around moping and being depressed. I couldn't find a legal job as a paralegal, so I went back to corporate America. I recently met one M&A attorney who needs a paralegal on contract basis, so I may work for him on the side while I work my full time job. I need to constantly figure out ways to make money, find part time work, learn new skills and figure out how to survive.

The point is that while a lot of these middle class jobs are vanishing, we all need to figure out how to survive. Yes, law school is a scam, there are no legal jobs and I can constantly bitch about it..or..

We can all go out, find out where the jobs are, learn new skills, figure out ways to make ends meet  and work hard at adapting to the changing job market.

To all you underemployed and unemployed lawyers and paralegals: be an active learner and try to make your own way, there is hope in this terrible economy!

- The Poor Paralegal