Law School Is Not an Entitlement Program, Dean Says
Law school isn’t an entitlement program, despite critics’ contrary beliefs, according to one law dean.
Writing at the New Jersey Star-Ledger, Rutgers at Newark law dean John Farmer Jr. says law students need to realize the job market is difficult, but a JD does open doors.
“Legal education is not, as the comments of some would suggest, an entitlement program,” he writes. “Legal education gives students what 99.9 percent of humanity yearns for but is denied: control over one’s own life. It is a license to make of your life what you may, to live the American dream to its fullest.”
Farmer does identify problems with legal education. Law schools must prepare students for practice, rather than simply filling their heads with theory, he says. Schools also must think more creatively about career opportunities, both inside and outside law.
He also sees a link between high law firm salaries and law school tuition hikes.
“In retrospect, we were spoiled by the prosperity of the large law firms, and the easy career pipeline and high salaries they offered,” he writes. “Tuitions could be raised without fear of compromising the students’ futures; the debt students were forced to incur would be easy to manage with the high salaries recent graduates were commanding. As a consequence, many law schools became ‘cash cows’ supporting programs in their larger university communities. The focus shifted to revenue; economic issues came to dominate.”
