Cooley Law Dean Decries 'Apocalyptic' View of Legal Market, Cites Employment Stats
The dean of Cooley law school is defending legal education in an editorial that says lawyers fared better than others in the recession.
The dean, Nelson Miller, contacted the Careerist and said he thought some of the “apocalyptic” views of the legal market are overblown. The blog ran his editorial, which cites facts and figures in support of his case.
Miller cites information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing lawyers’ unemployment rate was 1.5 percent last year, the fourth lowest among 53 management and professional occupations. Only dentists, doctors and veterinarians had lower unemployment rates. For recent law grads, the unemployment rate was 6.2 percent in 2010.
That compares to a national unemployment rate of 9.6 percent. “Try making it as an artist, author, journalist, entertainer, athlete, musician, designer, decorator, restaurateur, entrepreneur, or even public administrator, software engineer or day laborer, where employment rates are significantly higher and risks far greater,” Miller writes.
He also addresses critics’ claims that law grads are working in nonprofessional jobs or working part-time. Only 1.9 percent of 2010 graduates who reported employment ended up in nonprofessional jobs. Of those recent grads working in jobs requiring bar passage, 92.9 percent were working full-time. Of those working in all professional jobs, 90.4 percent were working full-time.
“Negative media has discouraged applicants from pursuing a law career path that holds good employment prospects,” Miller writes. “So, let’s stop killing all the lawyers. I strongly suspect that we will continue to need them in a world that every day grows more complex, sophisticated, challenging, and uncertain.”
Miller’s editorial is running at the same time as a Bloomberg News story that chronicles graduates with advanced degrees, including lawyers, who have high debt and low-paying jobs. The story cites ABA figures showing tuition and fees for private law schools increased 73 percent between 1999 and 2009.
