Top Law Schools

Here's the deal. A huge expansion in law jobs and law schools occurred in the '80s and '90s during a period of massive economic growth (computer revolution, biotech, semiconductors, real estate, internet) - many start-ups, venture capital, and stock market boom - and this resulted in a massive wad of lawyers from the tail of the Baby Boom into the first decade or so of Gen X occupying the large number of law jobs available. Now we sit in these jobs and have no belief that our retirements will be secure, so we're not retiring nor planning to. We are going to sit in these jobs until we either die or we physically cannot work anymore even via Interwebs from the old folks home. We know the future holds no good for us in MediScare, SociallyBankruptSecurity, and TAXES - let alone our investments or the Holy Dollar that is crumbling. We know that our only security is to keep working. So we will. This fact and a stagflationary statist economy of crony pseudocapitalism means there are not going to be many new jobs for you young people and your climb up the ladder will be painfully slow.

You will accumulate more and more degrees and more and more debt to chase the limited openings that are available. You will be overeducated and overindebted for your jobs and you will advance only slowly by attrition of the old hangers-on.

I know several - well more than several, a whole lot - of retired lawyers who are coming back to work as Of Counsels or opening their own solo practices or consultancies because their retirements were based on financial and political assumptions that were valid in the 90s and early 00's but are not valid anymore. The only security is work and having a diversified group of stable clients. The average age of a working lawyer is increasing and it will increase further for the next couple of decades. The length of partnership track will continue to get longer, a lower percentage will make partner, there will be more non-equity partners, more Special Counsel, Senior Associate, Of Counsel and contract lawyer positions as firms (and corporations) need flexibility to adjust their teams to changing conditions and skill requirements. There will be a boatload of lawyers who do 2-7 years in BigLaw and are then unemployable in law unless they know enough and have a book to open a solo practice or get into a SmallLaw group with an eat-what-you-kill comp system.

This is the reality you face. I'm sorry. Heck, I wish we could retire like the folks in the 80s but that model is gone for the foreseeable future. It's musical chairs and the seats are mostly filled already.

thesealocust wrote:Holy shit, the job market is bad? WHY WEREN'T WE TOLD?!

It's musical chairs and the seats are mostly filled already.

sbalive wrote:The simultaneous blame placed on both the supposedly "statist" economy and fear of cuts to the social safety net probably diminishes the credibility of this inchoate rant. But I guess the author was desperate to cling to a semblance of right wing identity for personal reasons?

sbalive wrote:The simultaneous blame placed on both the supposedly "statist" economy and fear of cuts to the social safety net probably diminishes the credibility of this inchoate rant. But I guess the author was desperate to cling to a semblance of right wing identity for personal reasons?

sbalive wrote:The simultaneous blame placed on both the supposedly "statist" economy and fear of cuts to the social safety net probably diminishes the credibility of this inchoate rant. But I guess the author was desperate to cling to a semblance of right wing identity for personal reasons?