Legal Lies

I was on a conference call yesterday with a business, talking a little bit about the "law student market."  I said that I thought law students were an important market, but that I had some very strong opinions about the boundaries around that market.  I found myself up on a soapbox in the conversation, saying something like this:

We in the legal profession don't treat our young very well.  We lie to them systematically. 

** We tell them "you can do anything you want with a legal degree.  It opens so many doors." 

** We suggest that they go to the very best school that they can.  Even though we know that they won't learn how to practice law there.  (We don't mention that.)

** We don't talk to them, seriously, about what it means to one's life and one's choices to take on a hundred thousand dollars of non-dischargeable student loan debt.  Does a law degree really "open so many doors" to someone if they will never again be free to earn less than $50,000 a year, if servicing their debt burden means that they'll have to choose between buying a house and having a kid?

** We act as though grades have some correlation to the knowledge a student has about a course.

** We act as though grades are a great predictor of the likelihood that a student will be a productive worker and a good lawyer.

** We act as though law reviews mean something to us as a profession, besides as a marker that a student is a decent writer and can follow the rules and buys into the system. 

** We act as though it makes sense to pay law professors very high salaries to teach students, not how to practice law, but about the system of legal thought, and to publish peer-reviewed articles in law journals that clients and practicing lawyers hardly ever read, or even know about.

** We act as though it makes sense to ask young people to incur hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt to get a degree that will force them into a type of practice that, statistics show, will very likely make them unhappy.   

** We act as though it is not outrageous that after these young people have incurred hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt, to pay the salaries of law professors who are not counselling them about the actual practice of law, for the profession to require that they endure two months of misery studying for a test that measures neither what they learned in law school, nor what will really matter when they practice law.

** We act as though it's not outrageous that only one company seems to be offering law students guidance and services in passing the bar exam, which will be required for them to make use of their law degrees and to service their debt.

** We act as though it's not outrageous that that company charges these young people $3000 to play them video lectures and give them worksheets.

** We permit big law firms to recruit on campus and tell young lawyers that the work they do will be satisfying, complex, and intellectually stimulating, when much of it will be tedious, stressful, and mind-numbing.

** We permit young associates to believe that they are somehow worth $125,000 a year, without knowing any law, even though there are smart, experienced, well-trained Indians who can do the same work, better, for far less.

** We do not talk nearly enough about what the billable hour really means.

** We let these young people, with their enormous debt burdens, move into adulthood without real skills in their profession, and with their only hope of servicing their debt the hope that they can command salaries that are way out of sync with what the true value of the services they are able to provide. 

** We act as though it is sensible for the "greatest legal thinkers" to have nothing to do with practicing lawyers. 

** We don't tell students that lawyers do other things besides practice law.  We act like it's not outrageous for a lawyer to conclude that another lawyer might possibly be less capable or professional if he finds time to write. 

** We let the myth of "professionalism" make us afraid to be honest with one another, or with clients, about the limits of what we know, about the fact that we make mistakes, our minds wander, we wonder about paths not taken, we learn on the job, and all of the other ways we're human.

Sorry, getting a little carried away here.  But I think anyone who wants to sell anything to the "law school market" should recognize that our young people look up to the lawyers who have come before them, and we owe it to them to tell the truth whenever possible. 

Comments

[Christopher King]

Yeah but write too many mean letters as a Black Civil Rights attorney and see what happens to you, even if you are "right."

www.christopherkingesq.com

-c

[Christopher King]

Yeah but write too many mean letters as a Black Civil Rights attorney and see what happens to you, even if you are "right."

And when I got to American Tower Corporation things only got worse.

www.christopherkingesq.com

-c

[That Lawyer Dude]

This is a very good post however it overlooks that leaders do not have to practice law this way.
I love being a lawyer. I was a law review editor and a trial team captain. I never sought a big firm, instead I went the public service route for a really short while, then went into solo practice. I live and work in a very affluent area in NY and I own two new cars while still practicing criminal law.
I have spent sometime in small firms and worked with the billable hour issue and I am back on my own and happier than ever.
Here is the truth. Almost anyone could, in their debt in their first year out of law school if they want to sacrifice some of the niceties for a year or two.

It is possible to learn to practice law and learn how to think like a lawyer both at the same time... DO A CLINIC. Law does open many doors but it doesn't necessarily turn on many lights in the room you enter. You have to make your bones no matter what and that means starting at square one. That may mean working on your big idea while working in a traditional legal setting.
Being realistic means that you have the dicipline to do the things that will make you successful.

Some life advice for the new or soon to be newly minted lawyer. Be diciplined, and put your career first (for at least the first 10 years after graduation.) That means even if you are allowed to go home at 6 get home and read advance sheets or take a home study course on the net (at least one a month.)Make time to network and market yourself and your firm.
You are better off bringing in the firms largest client than billing the most hours, that goes for the Smith firm on Main street and THE BIG FIRM on Wall street.
Eat with someone who can refer you business at least one meal a week.

Now home life. Again it doesn't matter if you work at a big firm or a small firm. If you have a bad home life it will affect your work. Set aside time to be with your partner and some for your kids and finally those people who fed you while you were trying to get into college. Work will be there till you die. Family and friends will die without you.

What is a fair time breakdown for a new lawyer (one to three years out? 9-10 hours of work a day 4 days a week 8 -9 on a friday and another 4-6 over the weekend.( that will yield almost 2000 billed hours a year.) Sundays for God and family emergencies excepted (emergency does not mean too much work to still accomplish it's when somebody gets busted or the like)Friday or Saturday is date night use it or lose it. 3-8 hours a week should be spent marketing yourself and your practice or improving your skills (CLE or Bar activities.) YOu will adjust this as you go. As you get higher up and become a partner more time will go into business development and less into the grunt work. As you earn more money if you have been frugal you can spend more in your late 30's and 40's and it will mean more to you. If I am out of line on this so be it, but the reality is, any firm that does not allow time to have a balanced life is not one I would want to work for or have work for me. I want to work in a place where the boss doesn't earn more than 5x the lowest paid lawyer. You want to be Bill Gates, invent something. You want professional satisfaction do something you love. The rewards will come to you without you even asking.

[mk]

Well, perhaps I have heard the lies. So, my Firm hired someone with ok grades (right below top 50%) to work this summer.

Right now in our less than 12 lawyer PI firm she has worked on files right away and helped craft a court Motion. Meanwhile her friend has spent the week rearranging a big firm library

[Marshall R. Isaacs]

Ms. Fowler, your article "Legal Lies" is well-intended but we know what Samuel Johnson said about good intentions....

One of the the repugnant elements of blawging is unproductive, under-edited soapbox preaching. Actions speak louder than words. Why not target the source and submit this very insightful article to the newspapers of universities which generate large numbers of law school applications.

Respectfully,

Marshall R. Isaacs

[Renee]

Actually those laws that are told to law students are lies toldto any university student. How many times have kids been told "If you go to college, then you will earn hundreds and own a great big house and playthings?"

[Traverse Legal]

Isn’t that enough? I agree that we need to do better educating law students and new associates about what to expect when they enter the practice. I also believe that we need to create legitimate alternatives for our young bright lawyers beyond the big firm practice. Of course, most lawyers out of law school take the highest paying jobs in order to pay down their debt or in order to achieve a level of financial success. In effect we suck all the best talent out of the pool so they can toil away in the dungeons of big firm practice learning all about turning one hour worth of work into two hours of billable time. What a waste.

Enrico Schaefer, Traverse City Lawyer

[Current3LStudent]

You are amazing. I write this to you as I sit in my top 30 ranked school's classroom, watching a Professor (whom I must admit I love) teach me the theorys of Employment Law. I only wish I had read this two years ago . . .