Regulation Of the Law School Loan Market Is Needed

As reported on Above The Law, and the National Law Journal, the ABA is lobbying President Obama to allow law students to convert their private student loans to federal student loans.  As federal student loans, the loans will be eligible for a hardship deferrment of up to three years.  That's a great benefit to law students struggling to find a job, but it doesn't solve the problem and a more extensive reform is needed.  More after the break.

Portrait Of A Recent Law School Grad - Part 2

This is the second part of our series about Lawyer X - a 2009 graduate of a Tier 1 law school who is smart, hardworking law school graduate that is trying to make his way in the worst recruiting market in decades.  The first part of the series appears here.

On The Nature Of Evil: Encouraging Law Students To Go To Law School

I recently posted about the lack of wisdom of going to law school during the present huge bubble in the number of law students - and that the bubble might even get bigger because of application increases, like the 62% application increase at Iowa law school.

However, when I was discussing this matter with a colleague, he made some comments that caused me to contemplate the nature of evil with regard to law school attendance.  Sounds kind of strange, doesn't it?  More after the fold.

Law School Enrollment Bubble: Law School's Applications Up 62%

I previously posted about the relative lack of wisdom of buying a law degree at the height of a bubble in law school attendance.  Frankly, the supply and demand relationship is not in balance and the increased enrollment in law school just makes things worse for law students.  However, a number of people are clearly not getting the message.

Law.com Article On Where Salaries Are Headed

There's a good article today at Law.com about the direction that associate salaries are headed in the near future.  (Update: It's also on ATL.) Interestingly, the article mentions that 55% of the participants in a recent online seminar viewed the salary cuts as only tempory - that might be a ray of hope.  However, the consultants were adamant that even further cuts would be necessary.  See how much and some other interesting nuggets after the fold.

Portrait of a Recent Law School Grad - Part 1

I was recently corresponding with a 2009 graduate of a Tier 1 law school who I will call Lawyer X.  Lawyer X is a smart, hardworking law school graduate that is trying to make his way in the worst recruiting market in decades.  In many ways, Lawyer X is representative of a large portion of current law students.  Lawyer X generously agreed to answer some questions that I posed with regard to his thoughts on law school, the legal profession, and recruiting.  For current lawyers, Lawyer X's experiences can provide insight into the current law school experience.  For prospective law students, reviewing Lawyer X's answers may help you make your decision as to whether to attend law school, or may help you get more out of your law school experience.  This will be the first of a multi-part series.  My questions, Lawyer X's answers, and some comments appear below.

WSJ Article - Americans Feel Increasingly Disheartened

In an absolutely excellent article in today's Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan nails a trend that I have felt growing for some time now, but have not previously been able to but words to.  It's an important trend that impacts lawyers and will impact the amount of legal work available (and thus employment opportunities) in the future.  More after the jump.

Did Starting Lawyer Salaries Really Increase From 2000-2008?

In the year 2000, three trends converged to boost starting salaries at large firms: 1) the economy was booming with the "Internet Revolution" and it seemed like every startup that could get funded was turning ordinary people into millionaires, 2) due to the ability of the internet to quickly and anonymously propagate information, there was an increased  level of salary clarity and openness, and 3) due to the increase in work from startups as compared to a relatively static supply of new lawyers, and the presence of the internet as a new information channel, firms began to publically advertise their starting salaries, and increases in their starting salaries, in order to attract needed new lawyers.