August 11, 2026

Thinking about law school? Better check the ROI.

June 22, 2011 by

(Gavel Bang: TheBestColleges via Above the Law)

Filed Under: Law School Tagged With: , , ,
About Daniel Burton

Daniel Burton lives in Salt Lake County, Utah, where he practices law by day and everything else by night. You can follow him on his blog PubliusOnline.com where he muses on politics, the law, books and ideas. He is active on social media, Republican politics, and has been named to PoliticIt’s list of the “Top-50 Utah Political Opinion Leaders” on Twitter. You can reach him directly at dan.burton@gmail.com

Comments

  1. Whitney Thomas says
    June 22, 2011 at 10:07 pm

    So, you regretting? Glad you went to law school?

    • Daniel B. says
      June 22, 2011 at 10:20 pm

      I’m glad I did it, but I don’t think law schools, including mine, are necessarily upfront about the realities of employment. If you aren’t in the top third, or even the top 10 percent, it’s a much more difficult, and expensive, proposition. Even for those few who land the high paying jobs, it means long hours and not a lot of control of your future.

  2. Joshua Baron says
    June 23, 2011 at 3:57 pm

    Why do you think so many people choose law school given those facts? They can’t all be duped, right?

    • Daniel B. says
      June 23, 2011 at 5:36 pm

      Do we all have the facts? Do all of us go for pecuniary reasons? And don’t we all believe we will be in the top third?

      What this graph does not show is that there is, largely, a higher level of stability in the legal industry than there is outside of it. I am glad that I went to law school, and I would have gone even if I had known this in advance. However, I do believe that law schools do a great job of obscuring the facts and failing to support those that aren’t part of the elite. My main gripe is that law schools and law school career offices don’t do enough to help prepare for practice. Professors are geared towards academia, and career guidance counselors are little more than university bureaucrats with little experience in the competitive world.

      IMHO…

Trackbacks

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