The Job Market

The job market has been strained for careers across the board. From the lack of educators in class rooms to the shortage of black engineers, the opportunities for advancement after college has a bleak outlook for recent graduates.

Recently, my mother sent me an article that focused on the job market for fresh-out-of-law-school hopefuls. The article talked about how that even if you graduated from the top of your class from a prestigious law school in the country, you still have room to fret, because a position at a high paying firm (which is where ALL law school graduates want to be) is not guaranteed. This exerpt from a Wall Street Journal article makes it plain.

For graduates of elite law schools, prospects have never been better. Big law firms this year boosted their starting salaries to as high as $160,000. But the majority of law-school graduates are suffering from a supply-and-demand imbalance that's suppressing pay and job growth. The result: Graduates who don't score at the top of their class are struggling to find well-paying jobs to make payments on law-school debts that can exceed $100,000.

The problem is not that the jobs aren't available. The fact is that the market is wide open for attorneys. But that top paying, most lucrative positions may have dried up. How did this happen? I would think that with a graduate degree, especially a law degree, would virtually make one a shoe in for a great paying career. The article touched on the fact that in 2006, a low number (about 14%) are in jobs that pay more that $100,000 per year, while the average starting salary remains at barely above $60,000. While the latter amount sounds absolutely perfect to me, it may not be enough for some of the outrageous student loans that recent graduates have accrued.

Experts attempt to reassure us that actually having a law degree does open doors, many more than with just a bachelor's degree, which makes me feel better. But, after 4 years of undergraduate study and and other 3 years of a graduate program, many people are expecting a handsome payback. And who can blame them?

While some attribute the problem to supply and demand, others, like Bruce MacEwen, believe that it is not that lack of top firms needing young, fresh lawyers, it is the lack of SMALL time firms. I would even go so far as to argue part of the problem is that new lawyers are looking to be the next late Johnnie Cochran, when they should be looking to start from the proverbial bottom and work their way to the top.

The Wall Street Journal even took an interest in this and ran story and looked at what they call the dark side of the job market. The scary part is that many law school graduates are not working in the capacity that they might have wished. The article said that many are taking contract work, and not making enough to make ends meet (and when I say "make ends meet, I mean paying off loans that the article said may top $100,000).

All of this is not enough to stop my determination to proceed into the law field (even after reading about the possible $100,000 i may get into)!