Law Degree Losing Its Luster?

[Kevin]

I think the issue with law schools is so apparent because the situation is a little more aggravated than with most other fields. We're talking about a 90 hour professional degree, which means 90 units of whatever the most expensive credit hour that school sells. My law alma mater, which is a 4th tier, charges $1,300/hour now. Almost double what it cost when I started there. These schools, while giving overall good legal educations are not much more than cash cows for their universities. My circumstances were such that a 4th tier made sense. I already had a job in my father's firm lined up after school and wanted to intern there in the day while going to school in the evenings. Also, it was 45 minutes closer to home than Oklahoma U, the second-tier which I could have attended for a lot less money.

I received a good paycheck while in school and had a job lined up. Also, in Oklahoma, employers don't really care whether you come from OU, OCU or Tulsa or out of state. They're more interested in your experience, clerkships, internships, etc. After that, unless you went to a Tier 1 school, which is pretty much unheard of in this market as Tier 1 associates typically don't send resumes to places like OKC, it's your experience and qualifications, not your school which are going to land you a job.

I graduated from a Tier 4 in '09. Very few of my classmates are not working in jobs which require a J.D. Quite a few have successful solo practices running. Others work in state jobs and there are even a few in the local ivory tower firms.

I'll admit though, our job market, at least right now is kind of an aberration. We only have 4.5% unemployment and unless Icahn dismantles Chesapeake Energy, we should be improving on that.

So I paid a lot for my degree. That's fine. I'm still getting the ROI I expected. Was I overcharged? I guess. That's why I'll never donate a dime to the school. I see them as a for-profit operation meant to subsidize an undergraduate school. I will and do donate regularly to my undergrad where I graduated from (because of scholarships), debt free.

It worked out for me because I was lucky enough to have been born on third base as far as the legal field is concerned. For students going through right now, my advice is to get as much out-of-school legal experience as possible. If that means taking unpaid internships, DO IT.