A Dean’s Warning for Optimistic Law Students: Big Pay Goes to Small Number
Incoming University of Miami law dean thinks some law students need a dose of reality.
Partly toward that end, she sent letters to incoming law students encouraging them to defer admission for a year. White told the Daily Business Review she wanted to encourage students to carefully consider the kinds of jobs that will be available at graduation. She also acted because a larger-than-expected number of students indicated they plan to attend the school in the fall.
“Students graduate with a large amount of debt and sometimes unrealistic expectations of what the job market is going to be,” she told the publication. “They think that everyone is going to earn a lot of money. When you look at the statistics, a relatively small percentage of people make the large salaries.”
White said there may be more opportunities for new lawyers in areas such as the public sector where pay is lower. “If you want to come to law school to help the underserved and you don’t care about making a lot of money, that’s great,” she said. “Make that decision with your eyes open, and decide how much you can afford to borrow to do that.”
White thinks cuts in pay and layoffs that have been affecting the profession are permanent changes affecting the legal business model, according to the story. She recently attended a private caucus with ABA leaders to discuss the future of the legal industry.
ABA President-elect Nominee Stephen N. Zack told the Daily Business Review that the meeting was “a general review of the economic status of the legal profession.”
“The ultimate question asked is ‘Are we going back to the way things were?’ and the belief is that we have a sea-change in the way the legal profession is practiced that will not change once things do right themselves,” Zack told the publication. “There will be long-lasting and profound changes in the profession from the merger of law firms to the importance of making sure that you do not over-hire.”
He said median lawyer income is $72,000 and average debt of law graduates is $150,000. Those making less money will have a hard time justifying the cost of their legal education. “This is a real problem for the profession on a number of different levels,” he said.
