Since the events of 2001, the intersection of law and terrorism has become one of the most volatile zones in the public square—a place where qualities of life and manners of death are deliberated against 225 years of the U.S. Constitution.
Commanding the American warship the USS Constitution in the waning days of the 18th century, Capt. Silas Talbot steered the massive 44-gun frigate into the path of a little vessel called the Amelia. Talbot knew what he was after. An experienced naval officer since the American Revolution whose prowess prompted…
In ordering the U.S. Air Force to attack Libyan targets on the ground and impose a no-fly zone in the air, President Barack Obama sent the U.S. military into combat without Congress’ blessing. This was not always President Obama’s view. Anti-war Democrats vigorously challenged President George W. Bush’s conduct of…
John Yoo and I agree that the framers rejected the British system of royal prerogative. In his Commentaries, William Blackstone placed all of foreign policy and the war power with the executive. Clearly the framers repudiated that model, which is obvious simply by looking at the text of the U.S.…
If you believe Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David T. Prosser Jr., he just wanted to get out a press release. It was June 13, and the justice wanted to announce a decision involving Gov. Scott Walker’s controversial 2011 budget bill eliminating most government employee collective bargaining rights. What followed was…
Searching for the proper understanding of a refined issue of bankruptcy law, Judge Thomas L. Ambro discovered his saving grace in a 1998 law review article. “I felt I had found my Rosetta Stone,” wrote Ambro of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Philadelphia, referring to an article…
Asked in 2002 whether there was any evidence that Iraq had supplied terrorists with weapons of mass destruction, then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld famously opined: “As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say, we…
If workers’ compensation law “can put the value on a [human] toe, how do you quantify how much the loss of a marriage means to somebody?” asks Atlanta lawyer Randall Kessler. “Divorce law is one of the most discretion-filled areas of law there is,” says Kessler, chair of the Family…
For Andrea, a past decision to ensure her future in law has left her in a stressed and distressful present. Concerned over how it might affect her job prospects, she would not allow use of her real name. And there is reason for concern: She’s been laid off twice since her 2009 law school graduation, including from a position where she earned $20 an hour at a small firm practicing as a licensed attorney. For the 29-year-old, who’s supported herself since college, the financial repercussions of law school may amount to the worst investment of her life, despite a degree from a second-tier school and a resumé that boasts a position on law review and coveted summer associate positions.
“I deferred my loans because of economic hardship the first time,” says Andrea, who borrowed nearly $110,000 to finance her education. “After that,” she falters, “they might be in forbearance ... accruing interest ... I just don’t know.”
Andrea’s situation is far from unique. In 2010, 85 percent of law graduates from ABA-accredited schools boasted an average debt load of $98,500, according to data collected from law schools by U.S. News & World Report. At 29 schools, that amount exceeded $120,000. In contrast, only 68 percent of those grads reported employment in positions that require a JD nine months after commencement. Less than 51 percent found employment in private law firms.
The influx of so many law school graduates—44,258 in 2010 alone, according to the ABA—into a declining job market creates serious repercussions that will reverberate for decades to come.
Last spring Monica Kim, a Northwestern University journalism student, ventured into some of Chicago’s roughest and most impoverished neighborhoods as part of a class project to investigate whether a man was wrongfully convicted of murder. Kim was a little nervous at first as she knocked on doors to locate witnesses…
