Law School is Silly, Largely Unnecessary, and Highly Inefficient
I know, tell you something you don’t know, right?
There is finally some attention being paid to the ridiculousness of the legal education system, particularly on the cost:benefit front.
There are many ways in which the legal industry is threatened and declining. While much of this stems from global economic and technological changes, there is also much blame to be placed at the feet of the law school education system.
I thought the case method was a useless waste of time from day one and the amount of practical knowledge you get in 3 years, particularly for transactional lawyers, is shockingly little (as the article makes note). There is no reason that law schools should be as expensive as they are, last three years, and remain stuck in a 150-year old educational model. What are we, the imperial Chinese?
It appears that the news is finally trickling down to undergraduates who, unsurprisingly, don’t want to be saddled with $150,000 in nondischargeable debt, a less than 50% chance of legal employment, and an annual average salary around $80,000 (with a lower median).
I’m lucky for a number of reasons, but were I to start my higher learning search today, I would not be selecting law school.