It's been a painful process... getting the word out there. Telling people law school is not worth a quarter of a million dollar investment. Explaining the mortgage on your life. Begging, pleading, and sometimes crying to complete strangers not to go to law school. It has led to embarrassing tirades, inappropriate Facebook reactions, and general feelings of defeat every time a friend or acquaintance thinks it won't happen to her, quits her perfectly respectable job and signs on the dotted line to incur a lifelong financial obligation for a career she thinks will complete her. After a couple years of personal defeat... finally, a glimmer of hope (straight from the mouth of the ABA):
Law School Apps Drop 11
11.5% YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's a small victory, but a victory nonetheless.
Like everything else, it takes a village. Not just a village of recent, disgruntled law grads whose light at the end of the tunnel is, very likely, an oncoming train, but everyone else in the legal profession too. It takes lawyers who have been practicing for ten years and still can't afford to buy a house because of their law school debt. It takes partners at national firms with "cushy" six figure jobs and no relationship with their spouses to say they would choose a different path if life gave them a "do-over." It takes lawyers who waited to have kids until their debt was paid off... and maybe ended up waiting a little too long. It takes a group effort to change the antiquated misconception that has been ingrained in our minds since we were children: Education, education and more education (no matter the cost) is always a worthwhile investment. Finally, people are beginning to understand...
Next post: The Ebay of Lawyering and why I might be for it (so sue me).
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