So what IS the outlook for the legal field?

[Anonymous]

Why spend 3 years with missed earnings, no income, no work experience, with ~200k dollar loan for a damn job that pays < 80k a year. Best to attend law school on someone else's dime (i.e. employer) and at least a t14.

[Anonymous]

I graduated undergrad in 2009, and started law school three days after graduation. I'm glad I went straight through, even in a tough economy. I went to a law school ranked in the low 30s. I did internships at the DA's office, graduated without a job since their offer was for me to work for free as a "special ADA," and took my chances moving here. I networked like crazy, and landed a good federal position doing nothing I went to law school to actually do! That being said, I like doing tasks that span the legal spectrum. I had to have an open mind, and look at other areas of law. I'm glad I went straight through, because I was finished with law school at 24, and a GS-14 by 28. There is the federal loan forgiveness program, and I have enough flexibility to learn new skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I graduated undergrad in 2009, and started law school three days after graduation. I'm glad I went straight through, even in a tough economy. I went to a law school ranked in the low 30s. I did internships at the DA's office, graduated without a job since their offer was for me to work for free as a "special ADA," and took my chances moving here. I networked like crazy, and landed a good federal position doing nothing I went to law school to actually do! That being said, I like doing tasks that span the legal spectrum. I had to have an open mind, and look at other areas of law. I'm glad I went straight through, because I was finished with law school at 24, and a GS-14 by 28. There is the federal loan forgiveness program, and I have enough flexibility to learn new skills.

You should realize how rare your situation is. I graduated college the same year you did, took a year off, then went to a law school well in the upper end of the T14. I managed to land in biglaw, but plenty of classmates who set out to work in government got screwed over. Sequestration and budget cuts have made getting an honors program attorney job harder than a federal clerkship. Everyone knows how PSLF works, so everyone is gunning for those jobs.

[Anonymous]

The reality that the "outlook" is very bimodal salaries: Either you are killing yourself for a high income, or making a very modest income (and very possibly still killing yourself) if you can get a JD-required job at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With public loan repayment, loans are fine as long as they are federal loans. If a student is looking to public interest jobs - ie govt, then federal loans aren't as much a problem because you won't have to pay them back. I love my govt attorney job! 40 hour work weeks, doing interesting work, no document review, tons of independent work, and my loan payments are on an income based plan. My agency also does loan repayment that is payed out monthly, so they make almost all of my monthly payments. Most of the attorneys in my office went to law schools I've never heard of before working there, certainly not T14

What agency are you with!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I graduated undergrad in 2009, and started law school three days after graduation. I'm glad I went straight through, even in a tough economy. I went to a law school ranked in the low 30s. I did internships at the DA's office, graduated without a job since their offer was for me to work for free as a "special ADA," and took my chances moving here. I networked like crazy, and landed a good federal position doing nothing I went to law school to actually do! That being said, I like doing tasks that span the legal spectrum. I had to have an open mind, and look at other areas of law. I'm glad I went straight through, because I was finished with law school at 24, and a GS-14 by 28. There is the federal loan forgiveness program, and I have enough flexibility to learn new skills.

I graduated law school at 25, and gunned for government. Locked in a GS-11 position at age 26 and have regretted my decision ever since. I am making significantly less money than my peers, bored out of my mind, unable to save for a house, livid girlfriend. I am desperately trying to go back to the private sector but seeing as biglaw is out, the pay wouldn't be all that great and may not justify the move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The reality that the "outlook" is very bimodal salaries: Either you are killing yourself for a high income, or making a very modest income (and very possibly still killing yourself) if you can get a JD-required job at all.

+1000

If you do not get biglaw, your income will be limited by your law degree, because you are now 3 years behind all of your peers who started their careers at age 22. Sad state of affairs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:T14? That seems very specific. Look, you can either go to a top 5 school and go biglaw or got to lesser school and do public sector or marry well.

If you're not familiar with "T14" as a reference (or are making references to "top 5"), I suspect you don't really understand the legal market enough to comment.

+1

Maybe leave the responses to those who know what they're talking about, m'kay?

[Anonymous]

Also, don't assume that getting into biglaw locks in your career. That business model is going the way of the dinosaur. I know plenty of people who made it into biglaw in the mid-00s, got downsized or pushed out, and now are working at contract attorneys or the like (which is fine, if that's your thing, but frankly is not what most people go to law school hoping to do with their days).

[Anonymous]

It's pretty simple OP: right now there are way too many lawyers and law students and way too few jobs. The supply and demand just isn't there. Top 20 isn't good enough I'm afraid. It's too competitive. There used to be a pretty safe guarantee that if you took out loans for law school, and you worked hard, you would be okay. But that isn't the case any more. I would not advise any young person to take out loans for law school these days - with few exceptions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, don't assume that getting into biglaw locks in your career. That business model is going the way of the dinosaur. I know plenty of people who made it into biglaw in the mid-00s, got downsized or pushed out, and now are working at contract attorneys or the like (which is fine, if that's your thing, but frankly is not what most people go to law school hoping to do with their days).

This was the biggest shock for me when I was in biglaw. I naively assumed that there would be plenty of exit opportunities after I'd worked my butt off in biglaw for a few years but unfortunately that's just not how it is. I got lucky and landed a fed attorney gig but I know a lot of people who were pushed out and are doing contract work.