Poke Holes in a Dean's Argument
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2012 12:57 pm
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/29/opini ... ml?hp&_r=0&
I'll start:
1. Debt, too, is a problem. The average student at a private law school graduates with $125,000 in debt.
2. But the average lawyer’s annual salary exceeds that number. The mean salary for all practicing lawyers was $130,490.
3. But, in 1998, (only) 55 percent of law graduates started in law firms. In 2011, that number was 50 percent. A 9 percent decline from a previous low during the worst economic conditions in decades hardly seems catastrophic.
So, law school's cost is not a recent, catastrophic problem, its a long-term, systemic problem, because half of the people who go to law school won't get the kind of jobs that give them a fighting chance to repay their debt.
I'll start:
1. Debt, too, is a problem. The average student at a private law school graduates with $125,000 in debt.
2. But the average lawyer’s annual salary exceeds that number. The mean salary for all practicing lawyers was $130,490.
3. But, in 1998, (only) 55 percent of law graduates started in law firms. In 2011, that number was 50 percent. A 9 percent decline from a previous low during the worst economic conditions in decades hardly seems catastrophic.
So, law school's cost is not a recent, catastrophic problem, its a long-term, systemic problem, because half of the people who go to law school won't get the kind of jobs that give them a fighting chance to repay their debt.