The Law Firm Hiring Oxymoron

As I look for a job as an attorney, it is hard not to be discouraged with all the news. While the national news highlights the fact that the economy may be turning the corner at every speck of positive news they get, the news for law firm hiring gets worse and worse, even in light of the positive (perhaps false) news.

The New York Times has an article detailing the debt and the problems law students are having securing employment while in law school. It details the amount of debt some students took to enter law school, and how they are full of regret and wish they had gone to a less expensive school. However, many seem to go to law school to make money, with the law secondary:

“It was thought to be this green pasture of stability, a more comfortable life,” said Mr. Fanciullo, who had heard that 90 percent of N.Y.U. law graduates land jobs at firms, and counted on that to repay his loans. “It was almost written in stone that you’ll end up in a law firm, almost like a birthright.”

It is easy to attack them as misguided because they should have known the debt load they were going to accumulate. I knew the debt I was going to take on going to law school, and I do not regret doing so, as hard as it seems to pay off now. I'll pay it off somehow.

It also seems as if most who complain about their decision to the press went to law school for the wrong reasons. You go to law school because you want to be a lawyer, or are interested in law, not because you want to make a lot of money. Law is like any other trade, hard work will get you money with a little luck, regardless of where you work after law school. It is not, however, the license to print money that a lot of students think it is.

I just hope the opportunities to work hard start showing up soon.