Question: “How can you tell the difference between a car accident that kills a deer and one that kills a lawyer?” Answer: “The second car doesn’t leave skid marks.” If you don’t know this lawyer joke, you probably know others. Why, then, are the majority of political science majors in my university applying to law school? They know it’s incredibly expensive, and unless their families are rich, the first step will be to take out a $200,000 loan, so they can spend three years struggling to make ends meet while studying, then (best-case scenario) find a job toiling 24/7 in a humongous firm in the hope of paying down their humongous debt.
All this for a chance to get run over by a fellow citizen who hates lawyers? Of course not. These burdens are shouldered by young men and women hoping to achieve the perfect work–life balance in a well-paid, low-stress field such as estate planning, real estate law, transactional IP, tax law, or (until recently) government-agency work. Those with an activist bent, and minimal debt, can join a public interest law firm or a nonprofit. And those who are left, currently calculated at less than 1 percent of law school graduates, can become litigators. Or they can beg for spare change on the street.
Comments