Is Law School a Good Investment? Analysis Part 1

This is the first in a three-part look at law school as an experience and as an investment. Recent trends in lawyers' quality of life, coupled with a faltering economy, seem to have gotten a lot of people thinking about whether or not a law degree is really all it's cracked up to be.

Law students toil away for three years in dusty law library carrels across the United States in hopes of receiving their law school diploma and their juris doctor, a golden ticket to a rewarding career and a handsome paycheck.  Unfortunately, that plan did not work out for at least one Georgetown University Law Center graduate.  Arguing that his law degree "has the amazing ability to keep [him] from doing what [he] really want[s] to do in life, all in the name of purported prestige and financial success," he placed his law degree up for sale on Craigslist.[1]  Though he paid over $100,000 for the degree, he was willing to part with the paper for only $59,250-his remaining student loan balance.[2]  He later put the degree up for sale on eBay with a starting bid of $0.99, and received over 300 e-mails and several offers for drinks.[3]  The highest offers for his six-figure investment?  An iPod Nano or $222.50.[4]

His regret about attending law school and investing so much time and money into it is becoming a widely held sentiment.  He argues, "The student loan industry is killing us. Law schools aren't even teaching marketable skills. Lower ranked schools are selling a product that has no value. The supply of lawyers far exceeds demand. And if you do get a large law firm job, you likely will leave within 2-5 years" because of the poor working conditions.[5]  Despite warnings like these, there are more law schools and law students than ever before, law school is more expensive than it has ever been before, and there are fewer jobs for attorneys-let alone high-paying jobs-available.  The law school community has long acted in unsustainable ways such as by adding more schools, accepting more students, and raising tuition prices.  In the past, the legal profession rapidly grew in tandem to absorb that influx and to allow students to pay off their debt.  The current economic decline marked the end of that relationship as the legal profession can no longer sustain the constant growth and is, in fact, offering fewer jobs and at lower salaries.  In short, the combination of the surplus in the supply of recent law school graduates and the dearth of demand for them makes the decision to attend law school a poor economic decision for many students.

[1] Kashmir Hill, "Craigslist Post of the Day: Top-Tier Law Degree ($59,250)," Above the Law, February 26, 2010, http://abovethelaw.com/2010/02/lawyer_sells_law_degree_on_craigslist.php.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Kashmir Hill, "The Resale Value of a Georgetown Law Degree," Above the Law, March 1, 2010, http://abovethelaw.com/2010/03/georgetown_law_degree_on_craigslist.php.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

Building a Better Legal Profession (BBLP) is an organization based at Stanford Law School.   BBLP is a national grassroots movement that seeks market-based workplace reforms in large private law firms. For more information, visit BBLP's Web site at www.betterlegalprofession.org.