Comments on: Lawyer Layoffs – What It Means To You

By: Law Firm 2.0 – The End (for now) and Recap and Downloading the Entire Series. | Mendelson's Musings

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:24:55 +0000

[...] Lawyer Layoffs – What It Means To You; and [...]

By: Are the Cultures of Law Firms Dying? | Mendelson's Musings

Are the Cultures of Law Firms Dying? | Mendelson's Musings — Mon, 04 May 2009 01:39:05 +0000

[...] the layoffs that are occurring are only speeding up this [...]

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:18:13 +0000

If your friend wants to do public interest/environmental work, I’d recommend she consider focusing on a law school that will allow her to graduate with little or no debt—whether a quality state school or a private school with scholarships and tuition forgiveness programs—and should really focus on minimizing debt. In law school, there are a lot of people who want to work at a large firm for a “few years” to pay down debt then move on. For any number of reasons it rarely happens. Among them—(1) debt loads end up higher than anticipated, so $50K becomes $100K becomes $150K easier than law students think; (2) high paying legal jobs are hard to find and the salary distribution is brutal so the averages are deceptive because the drop from high paying to the next tier is very high; and (3) even when you have a high paying legal job paying down debt is harder than you think–coming up with $30-50K after tax free cash to pay down debt is hard even if you make $150K, expenses in big cities are high, big firm lawyers work long hours so seem to end up paying a premium for basic services to get some free time back, life intervenes with marriage, kids, mortgage, etc. I'd also echo Jason that you should only go to law school if you want to be a lawyer. That is a longer, separate discussion topic though.

By: Jason Mendelson

Jason Mendelson — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:55:04 +0000

In this economy I wouldn't bet on that.

----------------------
Jason Mendelson

Sent from my iPhone
- please forgive iTypos.

By: Aziz Grieser

Aziz Grieser — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:28:36 +0000

how about: "will have to work for a law firm/company for 3 years to pay for law school debt, but will definitely leave within 3 years". Is this something you think she could really count on?

By: Jason Mendelson

Jason Mendelson — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:19:05 +0000

I don’t know if a law degree is a good fall back. My only advice is to not go to law school unless you really want to be a lawyer. It’s very tough and expensive.

By: Aziz Grieser

Aziz Grieser — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:05:29 +0000

Hey there Jason, nice post, though not very hopeful for the young attorney ranks.

I have a friend who is very smart and contemplating law school for a career related to environmental policy. She's deeply passionate about it and has great work experience already, (only 26/27 I think). This is what she told me when I asked her why she needed a law degree:

- would be happy working her own farm and taking on private clients
- will have to work for a law firm/company for 3 years to pay for law school debt, but will definitely leave within 3 years
- thinks a law degree is a great fall-back (parents talking here), and a prerequisite for most jobs
- hates current job with environmental San Francisco government for a bunch of reasons, mainly the attitudes of her colleagues, and ineffectual reality of their work.

What advice would you give her? Go to law school? Go to a particular law school? Talk to someone?

By: Doug

Doug — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:46:50 +0000

Part of the problem is that too many people go to law school because they think first years making $150K right out of law school *ever* was the norm…. The VAST majority of private practice lawyers are solos or in small firms (10 lawyers or less) – not in mega firms that pay $150K+ to first years. Even in boom times the BigLaw $150K jobs were very few and far between. If I could have 5% of the law school tuition I’ve saved people over the years by hammering that fact home I could lower my billing rates .

By: dgmandell

dgmandell — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:19:53 +0000

Jason,

Great perspective. I think it's also an easy extrapolation to other professional services firms as well. Industries like Professional Consulting, Public Relations, Audit (although they might last a bit longer since someone has to handle the write-offs), will no doubt experience the exact same dynamic. Based on previous downturns, the world of Independent Professional Services Consulting is about to get much bigger however so clients do have an options – look to the newly "independent" professionals to fill the gap and cut reliance and fees on larger firms.