Why law school is still worth it

Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. With many law school graduates somewhat regretting their decision to attend, it makes sense to examine whether going to law school is still worth it.

Keeping in mind the high tuition costs, interest rates, and potential salaries, another good metric to consider would be its return on investment ROI , calculated as its salary-to-debt ratio in a study by online lender SoFi. Going to law school full-time requires a three-year commitment, and the average tuition and fees for just one of those years at an American Bar Association-accredited institution are already high.

This cost does not include rent, food, transportation, and other living expenses. As the law school workload does not permit most students to hold jobs, student loans represent the most common method of paying these costs.

For many students, student loan debt accumulates on top of debt they already carry from undergraduate school. While most lenders allow the deferment of undergraduate loan payments while attending law school, any unsubsidized portion of such debt continues to accrue interest. All told, it is not uncommon for a law school graduate to enter the working world with a sizable negative net worth.

Taking on such debt might be a smart investment if a law degree provided reasonable assurance of a high-paying job. Ideally, recent graduates should earn yearly salaries equal to or greater than their total student debt. This level of pay usually allows for paying off student loans within 10 years without materially affecting a person's lifestyle. Stories abound, however, of law school graduates struggling to find any sort of legal job, much less one that enables the repayment of student debt in a timely manner.

The remainder operated solo practices, with varying degrees of success, or performed contract work. The SoFi study , the latest which incorporates data from student-loan refinancing applications between and , shows that some schools do better than others when it comes to both job placements and salaries. For the class of , Columbia University saw Graduates of second-tier programs often settle for work outside of top law firms, where the pay is much lower.

Even new lawyers who land good jobs rarely receive paychecks commensurate with their debt levels. The SoFi analysis also ranks law schools based on which offer the best value defined by their salary-to-debt ratio.

That figure is an indication of how much more your potential salary could exceed your potential debt and help make a more informed decision about whether law school is worth it.

Brigham Young University takes the number-one spot. The University of Texas at Austin comes with the ratio at 1. The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us.

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And if you wear glasses, that only increases your smarts quotient. Law school admittance requirements are hard: It takes three years to complete, the books are really thick and the bar exam is no joke. Non-lawyers view having a law degree and license as requiring discipline and dependability. In a world of non-lawyers, having a law degree means we can do a number of important things well that others cannot.

Lawyers have the ability to negotiate agreements. Lawyers have the knack for handling sensitive and confidential matters. We are looked to as a source of rational, objective advice. Lawyers can interact with people of all kinds. We put out fires. Lawyers can understand complicated situations. It takes work and patience to show non-law hiring managers that we can do other things. We need to train ourselves to understand that life is messy and work is always changing.

For those of us who have stopped practicing or are thinking about leaving the law, the value of a law degree can at first be questioned. It just means its value and the perception of its value is identified in more nuanced ways.

Casey Berman is a tech executive, investment banker and former in-house counsel based in San Francisco. Casey is also the founder of Leave Law Behind , a blog, and a community that focuses on helping unhappy attorneys leave the law. He received his J. My law degree and professional experience as a lawyer were incredibly valuable to me in leaving law behind.

Experience taking depositions helped me ask the right questions during the many informational interviews that helped me evaluate potential next careers. My legal training then helped me advocate first for other people and then eventually for myself.

When I decided to leave my law partnership and change professions, I had to convince someone else to hire me. The persuasive skills I had developed as a litigator helped me make the arguments, for example, that what I had done as a lawyer would be relevant and useful in my next role. I did this twice — first to become the executive director of an angel investor group and then to become a tenure-track professor, which is my dream job.

As a professor, I use my legal training all the time. The rigor and precision I developed in my writing as a law student helps me develop the publishing record my academic job requires.

Experience arguing motions before judges trained me to speak engagingly before a potentially intimidating audience.

That is helpful every time I step up in front of a class of undergraduates or MBA students, or when I talk about career transitions to other groups.

While my J. I am just grateful that my patient husband did not also train as a litigator. Before changing careers, Liz practiced law at international firms in San Francisco, London, and Boston. She tweets lizafterlaw. Long before I started JD Careers Out There and long before I became an attorney recruiter, I graduated from law school with the goal of working in the music industry.

As a young law grad, I had no doubt that thanks to my J. Needless to say, it was quite humbling to discover that nobody cared about my law degree. In fact, I was often treated like a crazy person. But once I had paid my dues, built a foundation of knowledge in the industry, worked for reputable companies and developed both contacts and experience, I was hired for a music job because of my J.

Just a few years out of school, I was hired to run a new, one-person department for a music company that required experience with and an understanding of contracts and intellectual property law as well as skills in sales, negotiation, organizations, and management.

But once you can combine some professional experience with your special skillset from law school and let people know what you bring to the table, doors will open and you will excel. Marc is a graduate of the Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Far from it. If anything, these personal accounts highlight how closely the value of a law degree is tied to legal practice, previous work-life experience, and a whole hell of a lot of hard work.

Annie Little is a lawyer career coach dedicated to helping attorneys articulate their transferable skills since founding JD Nation in Was Law School Worth It? Keith Lee — Outlet for Creativity. Vivia Chen — Intellectual Prowess. Alison Monahan — Keen Discernment. Lee Burgess — Nimble Intellect. Shannon Forchheimer — Immutable Skill and Moxie.

Or was I? What makes a lawyer? Susan Cartier Liebel — Professional Freedom. Casey Berman — Inter-Industry Cachet The value of a law degree is often determined in relation to what it can get practicing lawyers. Or more intangible: Stature. Liz Brown — Effective Self-Advocacy My law degree and professional experience as a lawyer were incredibly valuable to me in leaving law behind. Is Being a Lawyer Worth It?

Annie Little Annie Little is a lawyer career coach dedicated to helping attorneys articulate their transferable skills since founding JD Nation in More Posts By This Author. First impressions are everything in life, and onboarding your new clients is no exception.

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