Prospects look bleak for law school grads

SALT LAKE CITY — Law school seems like a good option for Matthew Skanchy.

With top grades and a strong LSAT score, the 24-year-old BYU English major has already been accepted to several prominent law schools, including the University of Virginia. "I feel lucky in the sense that I have lots of options," he says. With a juris doctorate from a top school, Skanchy is confident he will find a good job when he graduates.

But new numbers released in 2011 by the National Association for Legal Career Professionals (NALP) show the difficult circumstances for many law grads. Only 68 percent of graduates from the class of 2010 are actually working in the profession. The study also found that students borrow about S90,000 on average to finance legal degrees against the expectation of a good paying job when they graduate. And in an economy where jobs are hard to find, at least 20 percent of newly minted law grads are taking low-paying contract work to scrape by.

This is all happening at a time in which more students are enrolling at law schools than ever before. Between October 2008 and October 2009 the number of students sitting for the Law Admissions Test went up 20 percent, according to LSAC, the organization that administers the test.

In the coming weeks students who have applied for law school will start hearing back from their prospective schools. Before making any commitments, Kris Tina Carlston, a prelaw advisor at BYU, suggests students recognize the financial realities for most graduating law students. Julie Margietta Morgan, a policy analyst with the Washington, D.C.-based Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank, agrees. "Those considering law school need to inform themselves about what a legal education entails, both financially in terms of post-graduation employment prospects."

Scarce Law Jobs

In June of 2007 the number of people employed in legal services reached an all-time high of 1.2 million. Today that number is just more than 1 million, an 8 percent drop. According to the National Association for Legal Career Professionals (NALP), only 88 percent of law graduates from the class of 2010 are employed, down from a high of 92 percent in 2007. While 88 percent seems solid, it conceals several negative trends in the legal job market. Only 68 percent of 2010 law school graduates are employed in jobs that require bar passage, and 11 percent of new JDs work part-time because they are unable to find full-time work. Another 20 percent are working in temporary or contract positions.