Letter: Is Law School a Good Investment?

Oliver Munday and Jason Bamford

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Re "Law School Is Worth the Money" (Op-Ed, Nov. 29):

I have no doubt that Lawrence E. Mitchell, dean of Case Western Reserve University's law school, sincerely believes in the value of law school, but his arguments do not match the reality of the world as this lawyer for 17 years sees it. The job market for new lawyers remains abysmal, and that will not change for several years. There are far too many lawyers chasing too few jobs.

Yes, the top 10 percent from good schools will always find work, but that excludes the vast majority of law school graduates. While a very small number of people with J.D.'s flourish in other fields, I have yet to hear any significant number of them credit their legal education for that success. Three years of legal education and $125,000 of debt hardly makes sense if you want to become a banker, art director or nonprofit director.

Law schools continue to raise tuition considerably in excess of inflation, paying deans and professors very nicely along the way. In large part, the schools are not providing the training that benefits law firms, so we begin with new graduates who largely lack useful skills. I'd prefer to hear how law schools will fix the problems rather than a full-throated defense of the indefensible.

JAMES D. SMITH
Phoenix, Nov. 29, 2012

To the Editor:

Lawrence E. Mitchell trots out salary means and medians to justify an investment in law school. But let's cross-examine him on the risk.

Isn't it true that the expense and debt of law school exceeds $150,000 at many schools? Isn't it true that repayments are often insensitive to future income and seldom dischargeable in bankruptcy? Isn't it true that the future income to repay those loans depends greatly on geography and grades?

And so, won't many with reasonable doubt about their ability to end up atop their class or who want to work in less lucrative geographic or practice areas or who can't get into a school quite as good as yours now rationally treat law school as very risky?

And so, Dean Mitchell, won't you admit that until legal educators come to grips with this reality, many smart people will do something else with their talents?

SETH J. CHANDLER
Houston, Nov. 29, 2012

The writer is a professor at the University of Houston Law Center.

To the Editor:

Whether law school is worth the money is debatable. But it's the wrong question. Instead, would-be law students should ask themselves what they hope to accomplish in life.

I went to law school because I wanted to make a difference in the world through politics. After graduating and passing the bar exam, I spent a month sitting on a sofa in a Congressional office answering constituent calls. Eventually I found a calling in criminal justice advocacy. Though I live in a studio apartment and expect to be paying down school loans until middle age, I love what my legal education allows me to do.

For those who want to get rich, there are more efficient means than law school. But for those who want to do a lot of good, there are worse places to start.

JEREMY HAILE
Washington, Nov. 29, 2012

To the Editor:

The legal market was in trouble before the financial crisis, and its growth rate over the next decade is never going to be great enough to accommodate the annual number of graduates from law schools.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that about 73,600 new lawyer jobs will be created between 2010 and 2020. According to the American Bar Association, American law schools graduated an annual average of 44,252 students between 2010 and 2012.

If that rate holds until 2020, then there would be about 370,000 more law graduates than new law jobs. In other words, there will be five new law graduates for each new law job created between 2010 and 2020.

People do not need to spend more than $100,000 studying law for other "problem solving" careers. Their money and time would be better spent learning skills more directly relevant to their future occupations.