The weak law job market is hardly news. And it is important news, especially for people thinking of going to law school. Regrettably, newspapers in the business of selling news have had a tendency to sensationalize the market and, Chicken Little-like, proclaim the sky is falling. The resulting crisis atmosphere has not been helped by some law professors, and even law deans, who would rather make headlines (or increase the readership of their blogs) than tackle the problem on behalf of their students. (Those of you who want to read about this seriously might consider Brian Tamanaha’s book, Failing Law Schools, which, while I think perhaps overly alarmist, and I disagree with a number of its conclusions, is, at least, intelligent, analytical, and somewhat balanced).

I have been hoping to write about the situation for a while (you’ll note it’s been a long time since I’ve last blogged), but really struggled with how to approach it and what I could say that might be useful. I think I’m now in a position to do so, having spent a good portion of the summer traveling to New York, DC, Chicago, and LA (which happen to be significant markets for my students here at Case Western Reserve) to visit hiring partners at about 40 law firms to discuss the opportunities that are available, and ways in which I can help my own students become more attractive candidates.

Let’s start with some basic facts about the crisis. We know that available jobs and average salaries are down. But what you might not know, because the newspapers don’t care to report it, is that the current job market is not unprecedented. An even worse market, at least in terms of available jobs, existed in the early 1990s. (There are more law graduates now, but it’s not clear there are so many as completely to offset the differences in decline. You should also note that considerably fewer law students will graduate over the coming years because of the two-year decline in applications. That will help your employment prospects.)

While jobs were hard to find during that period, I’m willing to bet that all members of the law school classes of 1991, ’92,’93, and ’94 found gainful employment and are well-established in their careers. It was tough, yes. But there was no panic, the kind of frustrating, demoralizing panic that has infected law students throughout the country and in some cases impeded their effectiveness in finding work.

Why no panic? Well, for one, the press hadn’t decided that law schools were the new investment banks, an easy institution to try to tear down. Nor were there bloggers (or at least very many), whose unintermediated access to the public allowed them to proclaim as reality whatever they chose to believe and whose ability to draw attention to themselves by creating a crisis atmosphere was as close as their keyboards.

I don’t deny that the job market is difficult. What frustrates me is the way the situation is being reported, not only overlooking the comparison with the early ‘90s, but also leading law students to despair of their own success. For people who claim to be helping and informing law students and applicants, these writers have significantly damaged their initiative and morale.

There is another factor that lends some legitimacy to the jobs concern, and that is the amount of debt that many law students have accumulated. Serious economic analysis, like Tamanaha’s does create a debt/income ratio that is worth considering in the law school calculus. But even that analysis is short-term, in that we don’t know the future. Will the job market ever again be like the middle 2000s? Probably not. But, then again, in 1992, we didn’t think the job market would ever be like it was in the middle 1980s. We were wrong.

One legitimate concern expressed by those writing about the jobs/debt situation is that a heavy debt load limits career choices. Well, this is perhaps true, although what it really limits is early career choices. (You are being educated for a long career, not your first job.) But I do want to note that this is nothing new. When I graduated from law school in 1981, I had borrowed all of my tuition, and felt (subjectively, of course) that I had to take a high-paying Wall Street job to pay it back. That, however, was a choice. I could have chosen perhaps to struggle more in order to work at a lower-paying job of my dreams. (I did that in 1987 when I entered law teaching and, still in debt, and with a new baby, saw my salary plunge by two-thirds).

So I’ll conclude today with several summary points: (1) The job market is bad. There have been worse. (2) Jobs remain, especially for students at any law school who possess the entire set of qualities for which the hiring partners tell me they are looking. (This will be the subject of my next blog). (3) We cannot tell the future. Bad job markets have dramatically improved in the past. It may or may not this time but, as I’ve written before, a legal education still provides you with remarkable skills that are transferable across a wide range of careers and makes success in those careers possible. (4) Debt is high for many students, and will burden you for some time. We all make choices, including the choice of balancing income with job satisfaction – ask any law professor or happy public interest lawyer. Having to make hard choices about your life is nothing new.

So, the job situation is bad. That fact requires some hard thinking, but it doesn’t require panic. What it does demand is that you become strategic in searching for jobs, treating your job search as, in effect, another course.

In my next post, I’ll discuss some of the ways you can be successful in this market, including what I’ve learned from hiring partners around the country. It might surprise you. It might also help you get a good job.

 
There is no question that the cost of law school, and the amount of debt many students must accumulate, seems daunting right now. (I am proud to point out that, on average, Case Western Reserve students graduate with almost 22% less debt than graduates of other private law schools.) It is critically important for your future, however, to evaluate the amount of money you’re going to have to borrow in light of your future career prospects.

U.S News & World Report ranks all law schools as if they had the same mission. And, in one sense, we do -- educating lawyers. But there is a vast difference among law schools, sometimes even of the same rank, in what that simple mission means.

There are, for example, law schools whose purpose is to educate lawyers for the local or regional bar. Many state law schools pursue this mission, as do a number of private law schools. This is an extremely important mission for the well-being of the communities or regions in which these law schools are located. And if you are pretty sure that you want to practice in a particular place, these law schools are very worth considering, especially those state law schools that will save you money.

But most law students don’t know what they will do after graduation, not in their first jobs, and certainly not ten, or twenty, or thirty years out. After all, while we educate lawyers, we educate them for careers. And the arc of your career is critically dependent on the resources and reputation possessed by your law school that can help you capitalize on opportunities you can’t now even imagine.

Again, using the law school I know best, Case Western Reserve, the story is told by the geographical diversity of our alumni and the geographical draw of our students. Over two-thirds of our alumni live and work outside our region and state. (This is what keeps me on the road so much, and they are great people.) Approximately two-thirds of our students come from outside our region and state. Unlike many law schools that surround us in the rankings, we truly are a law school of national scope.

What does this mean for you and why should you pay for it? First, it means jobs. Wherever I travel, whether in LA with our many alumni prominent in the entertainment industry, to New York with our big firm partners and investment bankers, to Washington with our ambassadors, agency heads, and top government and private lawyers, I meet alumni who have gotten their jobs both because they were helped by other alumni and because of the reach of our reputation. Many of these people started their trajectories right out of law school; others began their practice locally, but later felt the urge to branch out. Either way, they have enjoyed careers that they would have found much more difficult to pursue had they attended a more local or regional law school.

It may cost more to go to a school like ours. But our alumni agree -- it’s well worth it.