Is this normal salary for law grads?

[Runner-up]

Why is this so shocking? Not every lawyer is rich. I know two attorneys who have made under $40,000 working on personal injury cases in their first year after passing the bar. (Granted, they don't practice in New York; one lives in St. Paul and the other in Houston) For some people, life immediately following graduation is not the cash cow we all expect when we matriculate. Yes, these people still use one credit card to pay for another.

I'm not saying any of you will end up this way.

[TheDudeMan]

Why is this so shocking? Not every lawyer is rich. I know two attorneys who have made under $40,000 working on personal injury cases in their first year after passing the bar. (Granted, they don't practice in New York; one lives in St. Paul and the other in Houston) For some people, life immediately following graduation is not the cash cow we all expect when we matriculate. Yes, these people still use one credit card to pay for another.

I'm not saying any of you will end up this way.

Which is why going to a crap law school is stupid.  Taking out all that debt to chase ambulances and make $40k a year is just plain dumb.

[Runner-up]

"just plain dumb"

LOLOLOL

Yes. All this education is just so "stupid".

[TheDudeMan]

"just plain dumb"

LOLOLOL

Yes. All this education is just so "stupid".

Well generally one would consider a cost/benefit analysis of their education.  If you are spending $150k to earn $40k/year, yes to me it's stupid.

To each his own.  Though, considering you are the guy that curses at their law school staff, it doesn't surprise me that you are going for jobs paying $40k/year.

[Runner-up]

This an anonymous message board, so I can understand why some people would be less disciplined in what they would post, particularly in some of the schoolyard bickering between students from different tiers of law schools.

But, I didn't think I would hear anyone say that it's "stupid" to go to law school, even it was a no-name school or one that is not "ranked" highly. I didn't think I would hear that kind of raw bile.

Then again, it's an anonymous message board. And, I clearly did not lower my expectations enough.

Oh well. Back to work.

[TheDudeMan]

Says the guy that curses out his law school staff........ 

[Dwigt]

I don't think people who go to T4 schools are "stupid," but I would say that they probably aren't doing enough research into their 100k+ investment.  Lots of law schools advertise an average starting salary for graduates of 80k or more, and candidates who don't look into those figures and see that the top 10% heavily skews those numbers are in for a nasty surprise once they start looking for jobs.  I would also imagine that if you aren't doing your homework going in, you also aren't going to be one of the people who does well enough in your classes to get a job paying market (though I'm not as sure about that).

Law schools are guilty here as well.  A lot of high paid administrators/professors rely on the myth that "all lawyers make a lot of money" for their own livelihood. 

[TheDudeMan]

I don't think people who go to T4 schools are "stupid," but I would say that they probably aren't doing enough research into their 100k+ investment.  Lots of law schools advertise an average starting salary for graduates of 80k or more, and candidates who don't look into those figures and see that the top 10% heavily skews those numbers are in for a nasty surprise once they start looking for jobs.  I would also imagine that if you aren't doing your homework going in, you also aren't going to be one of the people who does well enough in your classes to get a job paying market (though I'm not as sure about that).

Law schools are guilty here as well.  A lot of high paid administrators/professors rely on the myth that "all lawyers make a lot of money" for their own livelihood. 

Agreed.  The ABA really needs to regulate law schools the way the AMA regulates medical schools and the number of doctors being churned out each year.

[observationalist]

I don't think people who go to T4 schools are "stupid," but I would say that they probably aren't doing enough research into their 100k+ investment.  Lots of law schools advertise an average starting salary for graduates of 80k or more, and candidates who don't look into those figures and see that the top 10% heavily skews those numbers are in for a nasty surprise once they start looking for jobs.  I would also imagine that if you aren't doing your homework going in, you also aren't going to be one of the people who does well enough in your classes to get a job paying market (though I'm not as sure about that).

Law schools are guilty here as well.  A lot of high paid administrators/professors rely on the myth that "all lawyers make a lot of money" for their own livelihood. 

Agreed.  The ABA really needs to regulate law schools the way the AMA regulates medical schools and the number of doctors being churned out each year.

And until they do, it makes sense for accepted students to request complete employment statistics from the schools they're considering.  It's an investment and there's no reason why every school reporting to NALP can't also publish lists of employers/cities for their most recent graduating class.  If a school refuses to release that information it's probably a good sign that they have something they don't want you to know.  Schools in the T30 are just as prone to spreading misinformation as the lower-ranked schools, but they presumably have better stats to be working with.

[Runner-up]

There's a big reason that the AMA regulates medical schools more tightly than the ABA does law schools.

Because medical schools have the careers of the practioners of the health and physical well-being of the country in their hands.

With law schools, I think they just hold the careers of most bulls--ters in their hands.