Are There Too Many Lawyers

Today we welcome John Nikolaou  to the blog to discuss an important issue: Are there too many lawyers out there?   There is general sentiment in business communities across the nation that there are too many lawyers. Some even look at lawyers with disdain. This does not bode well for law school hopefuls concerned with the job market awaiting them upon graduation. But should they really be concerned? Are students enrolling in law school at high rates? Is there a glut of lawyers in the market driving down wages? Law school admissions statistics show just the opposite trend in fact, with less and less students enrolling in law school. The quality, price, and perceived value of a legal education remain the strongest factors in decisions to apply to law school. As for the job market, while some structural changes to the legal job market have decreased the availability of legal jobs, there is still an oversupply of law school graduates. These factors have combined to force change the legal education field itself. Enrollment in law school has certainly declined.   The American Bar Association reported that the number of enrolled law students dropped by 9,000 between 2013 and 2014. In addition, close to two-thirds of the 203 accredited law schools reported smaller first-year classes in 2014 compared to their 2013 numbers. These trends are not wholly caused by increasingly difficult admissions criteria, but rather the simple fact that fewer students are applying to law school: approximately 55,000 students applied to law school in 2014 compared to the 88,000 students in 2010. In fact, the decline in applications correlates to an average increase in acceptance rates. According to this data, it is now almost 40% easier to get into law school than it was ten years ago.   With rising admissions rates and decreasing applications, why are students not jumping on the opportunity to attend law school? The traditional path for becoming a lawyer is to attend a good law school, pass the bar exam, work off any debt in a few years through a well-paying job, then continue moving up in one’s career. This path is breaking up in several places, beginning with law school. The decision to attend law school is a complicated one: students now more than ever may have the option to attend a variety of law schools because of the dwindling application numbers. However, just because you get into a law school, doesnt mean it is the right decision to go. Some law schools have terrible bar pass or employment rates. Bar exam preparation and the quality of the education are two top concerns for law school applicants. There is an even greater risk of going to a low ranked law school given the steady rise of law school tuition and thus debt: a year of tuition can cost $44,000, even at schools that are ranked low on the U.S. News World Report list, while a diploma from a top-rated school usually costs an additional $10,000 or more annually. A J.D., however, doesn’t guarantee a bar license or a job after law school. Prospective law students have to make sure that they are attending the right school, managing the debt load, and working on planning their career from day one. While debt loads are on the rise, the traditional notion that a well-paying entry level legal job will help pay off law school debt soon is becoming less of a reality. Statistics from the National Association for Law Placement show that the percentage of class of 2014 law school graduates unemployed and seeking work was three times higher than that of the class of 2010. Alison Monahan  notes that the highly sought jobs at â€Å"big law† firms are becoming scarcer: â€Å"BigLaw is probably hiring fewer incoming associates than they did in the peak years before the recession. But numerically speaking, they never hired all that many young attorneys anyway.† She points out that technology has made lawyers more efficient, further lowering the demand for new lawyers at large law firms. The next best alternative is a position at a smaller law firm, however it is more difficult to get a job out of law school at smaller firms since they typically prefer experienced applicants who can hit the ground running. What are left are public sector legal jobs with average salaries maxing out at around $80K a year. Alison also observed that â€Å"for those who start with a low salary, its not clear that it necessarily increases that much over time. If youre looking at public interest work, for example, youre not going to see a huge salary increase as you gain experience.† Given the waning applications to law school caused by high tuition and questionable job prospects, law schools are making changes to their degree offerings to attract more applicants. According to U.S. News, more than a dozen schools now offer accelerated programs as pioneered by Northwestern Law School. In addition to accelerated programs, law schools are expanding their interdisciplinary tracks like the J.D./MBA combination, with Stanford Law leading the movement by offering 27 joint J.D. degrees. Law schools have also made attempts to ease the cost of attendance by developing part-time programs that spread tuition over more years. Some schools have been even more direct with the cost issue, cutting tuition and offering more financial aid and scholarships to attract top students. Elon Law and Brooklyn Law are two examples of such schools. As for curriculum, law schools have responded to the demand for clinical training programs so their students can gain real-world experience before they enter the job market. The recent trends in the legal field have also prompted a change in the law school admissions process. There is a nationwide debate about eliminating the requirement that law school applicants submit an LSAT score and allowing applicants to send in a GRE score instead. The GRE or Graduate Record Examination is a broad and flexible exam accepted by many master’s programs and business schools, whereas the LSAT or Law School Admissions Test is specifically tailored to evaluate an applicant’s skills related to law school academics. The acceptance of the GRE would increase the amount of applicants to law school, but I don’t think that would be a necessarily positive change. We have always said here on About.com that the happiest and most successful law students are those who have a specific interest in practicing law and making yourself study for the LSAT is one of the threshold tests of whether or not you are really motivated to apply to and attend law school. But if you have taken the GRE, it is possible you are  looking at a variety of  graduate schools at once and law school is just an option you are considering. Looking past law school, there is a growing movement to change the bar exam as well. Several states and organizations are advocating the adoption of the â€Å"Uniform Bar Exam† or UBE. The idea is that a universal U.S. bar exam would allow lawyers to sit for the bar once and be able to practice in all fifty states instead of today’s system in which lawyers may have to sit for several state bar exams. This change would potentially make law school become more attractive by  opening up a larger pool of job  opportunities since lawyers could practice in every state. With New York adopting the Uniform Bar Exam in July 2017, the idea that there could be one nationwide bar exam is coming closer to a reality. However, it remains to be seen if other large states, such as California, will adopt this exam or keep their own exam as a barrier to entry to a states legal marketplace.   It is expected that the changes in law school curriculum, admissions, and bar exam testing will cause an uptick in applications for the 2015-2016 academic year. The structural changes in law school and the legal job market, however, are expected to have lasting effect on the field. While the traditional path through the legal profession is becoming less realistic, Alison Monahan, however, says â€Å"the [current structure of firms] creates certain opportunities for ambitious grads who want to start a practice and can compete with larger firms using more efficient ways of doing things.† The general sentiment that there are â€Å"too many lawyers† may have some evidence to back it up, but that does not mean the legal field is dead. There are increasingly more opportunities for students to get dynamic legal training through a variety of programs and, with some innovation and determination, successful careers can still be carved out of the difficult legal job market. For more on law school, click here.

A Special Education Math Teacher - 808 Words

For the last three years, I have worked as a special education math teacher in the facility setting, both in residential treatment, and juvenile corrections. I believe that my work has exemplified the advancement of the values of character, diversity, leadership, and commitment to service. My experiences have also been the driving force that has ultimately led me to seek an education in the field of law. To meet the needs of students in the facility setting and prepare them for success, a teacher must emphasize and embody pro-social character values including integrity, compassion, tolerance, and hard work. The vast majority of students in these settings have found themselves there due to a lack of appropriate role models, resulting in anti-social behaviors. I believe that my success in these settings, which is demonstrated by several awards listed on my rà ©sumà © and my promotion to teacher after two months in a paraprofessional position, is due in part to my strength of character and ability to encourage its development in others. Additionally, because character-building is such an integral part of my job, the values that represent a morally responsible adult have become even more engrained into my decision-making process both personally and professionally. As a special educator, my job has been to embrace diversity where the general education curriculum falls short, and to use it as a tool to develop strength-based approaches to learning. I have learned that students whoShow MoreRelatedSpecial Education Students Placement and Performance Outcomes on Math Assessments1508 Words   |  7 Pagespassage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). 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In Special Education there is a 10 step process t hat is put in place to make sure that students that need that extra help can receive it and have the opportunity to become their best self. The process covers from the beginning of the process which includes identifying if a child qualifies for special education or related services to the end of the process which is the student being evaluated. The processRead MoreDescriptive Essay : Walking Down And The New Adventure 946 Words   |  4 Pagesexcitement to me getting to interview a teacher that I’ve seen through the years but never had more than just a casual exchange of greetings with. As I am buzzed through the door stating my reason for the visit, I sign in, hand over my state issued ID and I am told where the teacher is located†¦second door on the left. I am buzzed through another set of doors and the new adventure begins. As I enter Miss Stralow’s classroom she is teaching the students in math. Miss Strawlow introduces me to theRead MoreLearning Math And The Classroom807 Words   |  4 PagesThe teacher began her lesson by stating the objective. She also had the â€Å"I can† statement listed on a sentence strip. She did a nice job referring to the objectives throughout the lesson and closed her lesson with restating the â€Å"I can† statement again. The SPED teacher did not state the objectives, have it posted or refer to the objectives at all during her lesson. Both the main lesson and the intervention lesson had a concept development lesson, the guided practice and the independent practiceRead MoreThe Importance Of Instruction For Students With Or Without Disabilities1106 Words   |  5 Pages2000). Tomlinson (2008) stated that differentiating instruction calls for teachers to have â€Å"clear learning goals†¦ [that are] crafted to ensure students engagement and understanding† (pg. 27). 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Friendship Essay Free Essays

What Makes a Good Friend? Friendships are vital to a person’s life. Although, people have quality requirements that they look for in the â€Å"perfect† friend. There really isn’t the one â€Å"perfect† friend out there that everyone is looking for. We will write a custom essay sample on Friendship Essay or any similar topic only for you Order Now They come in all shapes and sizes and each and everyone of them have a different personality with their own faults and imperfections. They are people we associate to having a good time with and, or being sad with. But what makes a true good friend? Qualities that make a good friend are loyalty, trust, and reliability. A quality that makes a good friend is their degree of loyalty to you. A loyal friend will want to be around you. They will make an effort to be with you, and calls you to say hello when you can’t be together. For instance, if your friend is meeting other people at the movie theater, they will call and invite you to go along as well. If you go away for a vacation, your friend will tell you how much they are excited for you to return home. A loyal friend will pull their own weight in your relationship. Leaving everything up to one person in a friendship isn’t fair. They will help you plan times when you will get together, or events so other people can join as well. They will contribute to sharing phone calls between the two of you, instead of making you do all the calling. Another attribute that makes a friend loyal is a possible understanding of an event you have gone through. Having a friend that relates to events in your life is very comforting because they know how you feel or had felt. For example, if you lost a grandparent that was very close to you and your friend did as well, they can relate to your feelings which will make them feel more attached and loyal to you, and you to them. Another quality found in a good friend is their reliability. A trait of a reliable friend is how honest they are with you. If they are completely honest with you, then you can count on them in the future. Honesty is a key quality in a true friendship. A reliable friend keeps their promises. They do what they tell you they were going to do instead of doing something else. For example, when they tell you that they are going home and that they don’t want to hang out, they actually go home instead of going out with other friends. Another trait of a reliable friend is how encouraging they are for you. When you doubt yourself about your greatest dreams, they encourage you not to give up on them and remind you that you can do anything you want to. They tell you to shoot for the skies, and that the sky is the limit to what you are able to do in your life. They remind you of who you are and what you stand for when you forget, or when you are going through a rough time. They continuously let you know that you are special in their life and that they would miss you if you weren’t in it. A very important quality to look for in a friend is trust. Some people can seem very trustworthy but turn out not to be as you get to know them. A trustworthy friend tells you just about anything. If they trust you, they will confide in you their deepest secrets. For example, they will tell you who they have a crush on, or possibly dangerous things that you might be able to help them with such as substance addictions or other fatal problems. A trustworthy friend will tell you about relationship problems and ask advice that they wouldn’t with their parents or even another friend. They might even give you relationship advice if you need it. In other words, if your friend is in an abusive relationship, they would share as much as they wanted with you and possibly ask your advise about what they should do even if it is hard to hear. Another trait that makes a trustworthy friend compassionate they are. If your friend does something to hurt you, they own up to it and apologize. With all of this being said, a true friend is someone to count on in times of need, someone to have a good time with whenever, and someone to talk to about absolutely anything without being judged or misunderstood. Loyalty, trust, and reliability are three major qualities to look for in a true friend. Once you have found that one â€Å"perfect† friend for yourself, they will be around forever and always have your back. How to cite Friendship Essay, Essays