ABA Journal:  “In past economic downturns, the number of law school applicants jumped as students extended their studies rather than look for jobs in a down market.

But this year at least 10 law schools are cutting class sizes in an “unprecedented” nod to the changing legal profession, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. The number of applicants is also down by 14 percent from last year.”

ABA Journal:  “Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law isn’t the first to consider helping new graduates hard-hit by the dismal legal economy establish their own law firms.

But it’s hoping to do so in a bigger way than others than other law schools have previously done.

Dean Douglas Sylvester hopes to create an affiliated program akin to a medical residency for new graduates at what is being billed as the nation’s first large-scale nonprofit law firm for training attorneys, the National Law Journal (reg. req.) reports in an article reprinted in the New York Law Journal.”

New York Times:  “The economics of legal education are broken. The problem is that the cost of a law degree is now vastly out of proportion to the economic opportunities obtained by the majority of graduates. The average debt of law graduates tops $100,000, and most new lawyers do not earn salaries sufficient to make the monthly payments on this debt. More than one-third of law graduates in recent years have failed to obtain lawyer jobs. Thousands of new law graduates will enter a government-sponsored debt relief program, and many will never fully pay off their law school debt.

How did we get into this mess? And how do we get out?

Two factors have combined to produce this situation: the federal loan system and the American Bar Association-imposed accreditation standards for law schools. Both need to be reformed.”

Salon:  “Approximately half of the 45,000 people who will graduate this year from ABA-accredited law schools will never find jobs as lawyers. (The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that over the next decade 21,000 new jobs for lawyers will become available each year, via growth and outflow from the profession.)  Most of those who do find jobs will be making between $30,000 and $60,000 per year.  People currently in law school are going to graduate with an average of $150,000 of educational debt. This debt will have an average interest rate of 7.5 percent, meaning the typical graduate will be accruing nearly $1,000 per month in interest upon graduation”

Tax Prof Blog:  “Approximately half of the 45,000 people who will graduate this year from ABA-accredited law schools will never find jobs as lawyers. (The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that over the next decade 21,000 new jobs for lawyers will become available each year, via growth and outflow from the profession.) 

Most of those who do find jobs will be making between $30,000 and $60,000 per year. 

People currently in law school are going to graduate with an average of $150,000 of educational debt. This debt will have an average interest rate of 7.5%, meaning the typical graduate will be accruing nearly $1,000 per month in interest upon graduation. Unlike almost every other form of debt, these loans cannot be discharged in bankruptcy.”