[addendum 2 to part 2 and, partially, part 1: a letter from a 1L]

This is yet another great post by LawProf (reminder: he's tenured professor Paul Campos of the University of Colorado Law School, T1, #40 something). This morning he posted (with the author's permission) a letter written to him by a 1L seeking advice on whether she should drop out of law school, as well as a thorough response that neatly summarizes the problems of law school today.

These are excerpts from the 1L's letter, with my bolded emphases that tie to me and my concerns about grad school as well:

"I'm a 1L at [top 15ish law school].  I'm 30...Before law school, I [had a real job] and made quite a good salary.  I went back to law school for a few (potentially poor) reasons . . . I also have an insatiable love for learning.  My happiest days were spent writing my thesis in undergrad.  Back then, I dreamed of a PhD, but the job prospects scared me off.

So, I went to law school...completely freaked out by the debt load (which I will carry by myself, as my mother is a part-time [academic] and has no retirement plan)...I told myself that the degree would pay for the opportunity and actual costs.  The placement statistics on the school's website gave me comfort and I took the plunge.

But now I'm fearing I've made a huge mistake.  As an older student, I can't read for 20 hours a day like my peers...  I have a wonderful relationship with a live-in partner, an amazing (though impoverished) family and a gang of swell friends.  I refuse to give up these relationships for law school...though I do enjoy the classes and the readings, I don't expect to be in the top 10% of my class and probably not even in the top 40%.

So here is my dilemma - I want a career that will fulfill my desire to serve.  I'm a people person to the core, and I love feeling like I'm making a positive difference in people's lives. I also want to be able to provide for my mom as she ages and maybe start a family of my own in the next decade.  I don't want to work myself to death (been there, done that), but I do want to be able to live semi-comfortably.

I recently discovered that the stats up on [my law school’s] site are basically lies.  I've met 10 (!) totally unemployed recent alums, all who passed the bar first try and...top 50% of class...more who took the public interest route and are making way less than half of my previous salary.  All these folks are 25 and miserable and staring at almost 200K in debt with no way to pay it.  I'm afraid I'll be right there with them, except I'll be in my mid-30's, which I fear will make me even less employable..."

His response:

"...you don't strike me as the kind of person who would find being a big firm lawyer anything other than a truly miserable experience.  You want to serve people, but that kind of job is all about servicing the needs of big corporate clients...Much of it will be utterly routine paper pushing that you won't be able to believe someone is being billed $400 for you to perform. Meanwhile you will be paid about one-tenth of that per hour actually worked.

...About 35% of [your school's] grads are currently getting such jobs.  But only about half those people, at best, will still be in them five years down the road.  So the odds of an average grad [from your school] getting and keeping a big law job for long enough to get rid of most of their debt load are not good -- maybe 15%.

....in any case you would, I think, be truly unhappy if you "won" the big firm lottery, and based on your email you don't strike me as the kind of person who would be OK with being miserable for the sake of a high paying high status but basically wretched job.

What about alternatives to big law? The problem, as you probably know, is that the kinds of jobs people such as yourself are actually suited for -- cause lawyering, broadly defined -- are if anything even more difficult to get than big firm jobs, and on top of that pay ridiculous salaries that will keep you in a state of indentured servitude to the government for a decade (That's a best case scenario. IBR could be eliminated next year if Romney is president).  If you went to law school in part to have a decent level of economic security while helping to support your mother, these jobs aren't viable choices...

What else is there between Big Law and cause lawyering, i.e., public interest/government?  Not much these days.  Working for a small firm basically combines many of the disadvantages of Big Law with those of public interest work, without most of the advantages of either..."

See the rest here. 


Also, as one commenter noted, the woman cited she had a desire for learning, but not a desire to be a lawyer. Oh gawd, we're not as unique as we think we are sometimes.

[Also, let me know if I just did something bad by reposting more than 30% of someone's blog post without his permission even if I cited it.]