Comments about ‘Prospects look bleak for law school grads’

Trickle up recession is in effect and soon we will be in another full blown recessions that even debt and borrowing can't cover up.

My son graduated this last summer from Law school. He did very well and yet opportunites are not out there. He had to move to another state to even try and get a job. He found a job in the legal field, but not as a lawyer. While he is working for this company he is trying to get work on his own, and doing any and everything law wise to keep the money coming in. He has about $40,000 in debt, which is below average, but feels burdened by a degree that now costs more than it is worth. WHen he started school the down turn was just starting, and it is now terrible. Lawyers who have years with a Firm are being let go. People still have needs for a lawyer, they just don't have the money to pay them. My son will make it ok, but the law schools need to put for HONEST facts to all the new students so they can make accurate decisions about their choices. Isn't it interesting that Law schools are fraudulent in their recruiting? Some one might have to sue them!! OH they are!!!

It's interesting that law schools, in response to the worsening market for lawyers, have actually ramped up recruiting efforts and even expanded student head counts. It's simply good business. For, whereas most grad school programs lose money for their schools, law schools are money makers. So, law schools will continue to pump out lawyers regardless of whether they have employment in the field or not.

Grab a phone book and count the pages of ads for Lawyers. This should tell you we are overstocked with Attorneys. 72 pages or about 12% of the Local St. George area phone book is devoted to what the Brits call "Solicitors". Oh and let's not forget the covers of the book are also lawyer ads.

While bad for the graduates, this is great news for our society.

This is actually very, very good news!

There are far too many lawyers in business already, contributing nothing to society other than wealth redistribution, with a disproportionate share of that going to lawyers, not the "victims" they so piously claim to respresent.

These are mostly very smart people, and it is a real tragedy that they do not channel their abilities into more productive, if less lucrative, careers. Medicine is a prime example. However, the earnings for doctors are greatly diminished by the artificial caps imposed by government health schemes, and by the extortionate expenses needed to defend themselves against the hordes of lawyers who claim to know all about medicine.

This country needs to institute "loser pays" which will greatly reduce the demand for lawyers, and force talented people to seek careers where they actually produce a needed good or service.

[Insert your favorite lawyer joke here...]

Other than lawyers and law grads themselves I don't think anyone is all that upset with this development. Less lawyers hardly seems like a negative for the rest of us.

Kudos, to the reporter. This story is well researched and has depth. This is the type of reporting is what the DNews needs to do more of to increase it's sometimes lacking journalistic chops.

This has been going on for decades. The same is true of MBAs. Meanwhile we have a shortage of people in fields like Engineering and Computer Science. Take the hint.

Personally speaking, we probably do need less lawyers.

Many people go to law school because it is the default for "i'm not sure what else I should do". Don't get me wrong, there are plenty that go in with a clear vision of what they want.

Either way, lawyers rarely add value to society, but work on allocated resources from value-generating sources.

Good report. Sadly, I have seen a lot of friends in college and grad school hit this wall. Some went into law because it was the 'practical' thing to do. But for heavens sake, there are other career options out there besides law (or business, or dentistry, or nursing, for that matter). Learn about the world around you, familiarize yourself with the economic trends. Don't jump on the end of an occupational bandwagon. Pursue something useful that you are interested in and passionate about, and you will likely be good at it and make yourself a commodity in the process.

per RShackleford 7:44 a.m. Feb. 5, 2012, Duckhunter 9:18 a.m. Feb. 5, 2012, & Henry Drummond 11:01 a.m. Feb. 5, 2012.

Agreed. Could the free market trying to tell us something?

Be curious to know what effect getting an LLM after law school has on job placement/salary. And, what percent actually go on to get an LLM.

There are way too many lawyers already! As others have already said above, lawyers are a drag on the economy producing nothing....for the most part.

Engineers, chemists, physisists, are contributers, doctors, dentists and other medical types are valuable. But lawyers and shrinks are bottom dwellers in the ocean.

The appraisals are more accurate than the research is thorough. Fifteen or twenty years ago it was recommended there be a buy back program for lawyers such as have been had for loggers and commercial fishermen. It seems the recommended number wass 600,000.

You must understand friends that as we write lawyers are finding every chink in our social armour
in order to discover more avenues to wealth and at any cost. I sure wouldn't want to be in the pharmaceutical business.

RE: Richie
"Engineers, chemists, physisists, are contributers, doctors, dentists and other medical types are valuable. But lawyers and shrinks are bottom dwellers in the ocean."

I'll keep that in mind come April when we are asked to sustain the majority of General Authorities who come from a legal background. I'll have to explain that I can't sustain them because they are "bottom dwellers" that simply looked to make money of all of us and now are taking a living salary from investments the Church has made. Oh wait, they have contributed to society, right? After all, it's only the lawyers that we don't like. The stereotypical ones. Who exactly would that be again? Oh yeah, it's those obnoxious 28-32 year olds. Those first year associates are always trying to milk me for a few extra hundreds. As opposed to my family doctor who never tries to charge me absurd amounts of money for checking my reflexes.

There is nothing wrong with the law profession that can't be found in every other profession. The stereotyping and attacks against a group of people who are trying to make ends meet and raise families just like you and me is ridiculous. Are all lawyers like this? No. But neither are all engineers, chemists, physicists, doctors, dentists, etc.

And if you really want to solve the over-crowding in the law profession, pay decent wages for teachers. These bright individuals would gladly go to the teaching profession if they could make 50-60 grand as a starting wage.

RE: Claudio
I still remember when President Faust first spoke during General Conference and requested our forgiveness for his prior work as a lawyer. We all laughed because he was a very fine man. However this country wasn't built by lawyers. Your comment about school teachers should be disected into good ones such as my supurb first grade teacher (Mrs Roether) and my third grade teacher (Miss Kinkade) who specilized in placing stars on your desk if you smiled. Even the principal told my mother I wasn't going to learn anything from her but tenure kept her there.

Yes there is good and bad in every profession, But I am very greatful for the good ones. Oh what do you think of our current President Obama, a lawyer?

We have too many lawyers and too few people who actually work for a living.

I will not lower myself to bash lawyers as it is childish. But there are too many lawyers. Universities, including BYU, have been building law schools because they are very profitable. Lawyers and students are pushing back with litigation against schools who lie about the prospects of lawyers.

Add to this the rise of paralegals. They are increasing more useful and at a fraction of the cost. They know how to do a lot of the practical things lawyers could do, and many institutions are hiring more paralegals and fewer lawyers. This points to another failure of the legal education establishment. Most new lawyers come out and have no clue how to practice law.

But why did the writer describe the Washington, D.C.-based Center for American Progress, as "a left-leaning think tank"? This is not a political issue. Left or right, it is true that "Those considering law school need to inform themselves about what a legal education entails, both financially in terms of post-graduation employment prospects." Political philosophy has nothing to do with this. If anything, this statement advances the principle of personal responsibility. Yeah, maybe it is a left-wing principle.