tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618663158161665199.post3625634048220572077..comments2024-01-09T21:43:06.916-05:00Comments on Esq. Never: I Was Once Like YouEsq. Neverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18248019550876835145noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618663158161665199.post-76729223814844731092010-02-08T12:50:02.250-05:002010-02-08T12:50:02.250-05:00Esq. Never - Thanks for the great comments about t...Esq. Never - Thanks for the great comments about the post! <br /><br />With regard to the students, I have to admit that I also was a believer in the law school statistics at first, but then I also checked out NALP and spoke to some attorneys in the field. My recollection was that the law schools seemed to be sugar-coating it or "spinning" it by about 10-15% at that time. Thus, it seemed the information that they gave was generally accurate, just a little on the high side - this was in the early 1990s. <br /><br />However, now the information being set out by the law schools seems to be almost decoupled from reality - spins of 30-50% seems pretty common - and that's just not right. The ABA is failing in its duty to monitor the law firms by allowing them to misrepresent the value proposition to prospective students to such a great degree. The ABA and law schools also pupport to teach "legal ethics" - unfortunately, their example leaves a lot to be desired.Managing Partnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05130017520583425490noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618663158161665199.post-89837647826191571042010-02-07T11:22:43.781-05:002010-02-07T11:22:43.781-05:00Thank you, esq. never. I just found your site and ...Thank you, esq. never. I just found your site and you cannot believe how good it feels to know there are other law school grads out there having the same problems I've gone through for the last year. You are doing a great service for college students deciding whether they should attend law school in the fall because at least it would be something to do in this economy. People who are deciding to go back to school and wait it out until the economy gets better are fooling themselves. Things won't get much better and by the time they graduate there will only be more people unemployed or underemployed searching for the same entry level jobs they'll be too "overqualified" for. I am certain the JD has ruined my chances of finding an entry level job right now. College grads have a better chance of getting an entry level $40k/year job than I do. It's very difficult to spin the JD and the three year gap, trust me. I've tried to do it and my classmates have tried to do it. The only thing I can hope for is that someone will be nice enough to give me a chance so I can start my career in a new field even if I have to make $10/hour to do it. At least it will be a stepping stone to something better in a few years. The JD does nothing but help you get a law firm job for those who graduated from a top school or in the top 1% of their TT school. Everyone else is pretty much screwed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618663158161665199.post-63336087504591923862010-02-04T02:43:16.194-05:002010-02-04T02:43:16.194-05:00I'm a 2008 grad and I'm still unemployed. ...I'm a 2008 grad and I'm still unemployed. People like to call me underemployed but that seems like the same thing to me. I knew I didn't want to be a lawyer so I initially searched for non-legal jobs myself, but that didn't work out. So now I am sort of a lawyer--I barely make any money and certainly not enough to pay back my loans, and I don't see this changing anytime soon.<br /><br />Your story is almost exactly the same as mine a year ago. Hopefully for you it starts turning out better and quicker than it has for me. Most people I know from 2008 did get jobs though, although people tell me they are all miserable that's gotta be at least something. If I had skipped law school I'd probably be working a government job with a very short schedule and very solid pay right now, without any debt at all. Or I'd be at a managerial level in the corporate world. The law degree has ruined me entirely, and in fact each successive year obviously made it worse. Fortunately I don't have any work tomorrow, so I'm sitting here reading these blogs even though I wanted to go to sleep hours ago.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618663158161665199.post-66170993715876055962010-01-29T16:15:53.090-05:002010-01-29T16:15:53.090-05:00I'm in the exact same situation as you, Esq. N...I'm in the exact same situation as you, Esq. Never. I feel like you're writing my life story.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618663158161665199.post-35776718842705103382010-01-28T23:22:57.601-05:002010-01-28T23:22:57.601-05:00Law school is like the The Matrix. And the blogger...Law school is like the The Matrix. And the bloggers are like Morpheus trying to open people's eyes to the truth. Unfortunately, a lot of kids don't want to listen. Until it's too late.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618663158161665199.post-27205824537889059052010-01-28T19:36:20.921-05:002010-01-28T19:36:20.921-05:00Sounds all too familiar, Esq. Never. I was once t...Sounds all too familiar, Esq. Never. I was once that naive kid, too. But boy do I see things clearly now.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618663158161665199.post-45186976857248552392010-01-28T19:09:34.834-05:002010-01-28T19:09:34.834-05:00Great post, EN. You are clearly intelligent and I...Great post, EN. You are clearly intelligent and I think that eventually, you will land on your feet.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618663158161665199.post-696673201386717662010-01-28T18:03:53.736-05:002010-01-28T18:03:53.736-05:00great post.
As for the idea that some of the scam...great post.<br /><br />As for the idea that some of the scam blogs are too hyperbolic and angry, you may be right. But each to his or her own. We need a spectrum of blogs and a variety of approaches.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618663158161665199.post-67992997447782398832010-01-28T16:41:13.697-05:002010-01-28T16:41:13.697-05:00I went to a job fair today and was told that even ...I went to a job fair today and was told that even Army JAG is so flooded with applicants that they can barely keep up. <br />Just so you know, in Army JAG, they put the lawyer in a Hummer in Iraq and have them ride around with the troops. There is no cushy desk job in the states or the ability to hole up in the fortress that is Saddam's former palace. They are at risk of being the victims of IEDs.<br />That's right: people who probably went to law school without the slightest thought of being a moving target and who probably skipped right over their table during career day at high school because they were going to be big shots in a high rise are now thinking that this is a pretty good gig.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618663158161665199.post-89543966485516303002010-01-28T13:40:56.947-05:002010-01-28T13:40:56.947-05:00EN, thanks for writing this! I was on a CLE podca...EN, thanks for writing this! I was on a CLE podcast yesterday, and the moderator was a semi-retired lawyer. He said that law students should view law school PRIMARILY as a financial decision. And from his standpoint, most pre-law students do not do so. They only look at the potential upside of the degree. <br /><br />They don't take into account opportunity costs, the business side of practice, marketing themselves to clients and firms, and the schools gladly take advantage of this situation. Law is a big industry, and law school clearly does not prepare students to hit the ground running. <br /><br />EN, law schools take advantage of young people's idealism and then, worse, they supply incomplete, false, and inaccurate employment and salary figures. This makes the decision to go that much easier. <br /><br />To be fair, a non-monetary factor is the "prestige" element. If only the public had a better understanding of this system. THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO GRADUATED IN THE TOP TEN PERCENT OF THEIR TTT/TTTT WHO ARE UNEMPLOYED OR UNEMPLOYABLE.Nandohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06423524039657355134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618663158161665199.post-21250960205112266182010-01-28T02:15:21.147-05:002010-01-28T02:15:21.147-05:00Esq. Never you have the ability to express yoursel...Esq. Never you have the ability to express yourself in words that few posess.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618663158161665199.post-63546424255014605712010-01-27T21:56:48.749-05:002010-01-27T21:56:48.749-05:00Probably around the time the student loan pipeline...Probably around the time the student loan pipeline is shut downEsq. Neverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18248019550876835145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618663158161665199.post-34915673181731240392010-01-27T20:13:28.818-05:002010-01-27T20:13:28.818-05:00When are people going to wake and realize that law...When are people going to wake and realize that law school is for the vast vast vast vast majority simply a safety valve for CHILDREN without marketable skills and who aren't good at anything. Law School is for a small percentage of adults, not kids who spend their formative years most likely getting wasted and hooking up on the weekends during undergrad.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com