By David Schmoll
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-950463.mp3
Murray, KY – As law school application deadlines approach, applicants are hoping for acceptance. Getting into a strong program gives them a greater chance of signing on with the best firms, which in turn provides a better opportunity for more money.
But the myth of the law school graduate landing the big job immediately after graduation is quickly fading, if it had even been there at all. Students are racking up debt at alarming rates and are unable to find the employment that was once there.
Future law school students from Murray State Keith Waters and Zach Park have followed different tracks to the same goal. Waters is a computer science turned history major while Park entered Murray with the pre-law area in mind and has stuck with it. Park says his reason to go to law school is not funded by the prospect of a large paycheck.
"Exposed to attorneys during legal studies classes because sometimes attorneys in Murray will be the adjunct teachers to teach different fields of the law, wherever their expertise lie, and pretty much spending all my time with Dr. Glover and the mock trial team has pretty much provided a lot of motivation to go to law school."
Students' funding for law school comes from various different places. Waters and Park are avoiding loans on tuition, but Waters won't be able to avoid loans altogether.
"If I took out full cost of living loans without having a job it would probably be around 15 to 20 thousand a year and the interest rate on student loans is about 6.8%, I believe."
That's going to put Keith at close to 90 thousand dollars in student loans if he is unable to get a job during school. But much of society is indifferent to this number, believing students like Keith will graduate and earn six-figure salaries straight out of school. That's not true says Paducah attorney Rick Walter Boehl Stopher, & Graves.
"Middle market has never seen those six-figure starting salaries that you hear about on Wall Street or Michigan Avenue in Chicago, they're just not there."
And those Wall Street and Michigan Avenue jobs are few and far between, something Park has come to grips with.
"They are very scarce, and it's just like any other field," he says. "To get a six-figure job right out of the shoot is really asking a lot out of yourself and you're really setting yourself up for failure."
Walter does offer another option.
"They might have to take a job either in a smaller city or doing public work such as public defender or with a governmental entity as opposed to private practice."
Dr. Tom Glover assistant professor of Legal Studies at Murray State advises his students to accumulate the least amount of debt by going to the best school for your scores allowing the possibility of higher scholarships. This may sound elementary, but while some students may think the Ivy League school is the best route, Dr. Glover urges caution because even though your scores get you in, you may get less than nothing else.
"You're going to come out of those law schools owing a lot of money and, in all likelihood, I don't know if it's possible to ever make up for that," he warns. "I'm not sure if the elite name on a diploma is worth all of that debt."
Waters may not have gone through Glover's legal studies track, but he did get very similar advice on his own time.
"I'm looking toward Alabama or another state public school where I have a large scholarship as opposed to going to higher ranked, more costly schools."
Keith does admit that money is part of why he wants to practice law, but not the only one. While students may come into college envisioning high salaries after law school, Dr. Glover wastes no time giving them the realities of practicing law.
"I quickly dissuade them from that. The truth is that a very small percentage of attorneys in the United States make a quarter of a million a year."
Glover offers a bevy of other advice to his students ranging from attending schools in the state students' have residency to attending schools in the states the students' wish to practice. Glover also wants to know what type of law his students wish to practice. From what Rick Walter says, students should be looking into litigation law during this recession.
"More people will bring claims that they might not have before so sometimes it actually turns out to be a litigation, I'm not going to say boom, but it doesn't necessarily follow the economic down turn we've had."
The openings in law are there, just not at the higher salaries. Public defenders and litigation firms are showing openings. But as Rick Walter says, the myth of lawyers making six-figures straight out of law school is exactly what it is, a myth.