There are certain careers in America that are staples of success and stability. A shakeup in these standards is occurring within one of these principle professions, the time-honored law degree, which is currently going through a downward transformation. A group of the top law professors in the country called “The Coalition of Concerned Colleagues” met this past March to discuss and publish their concerns over the alarming devaluation of legal education.

As the New York Times noted in a January 30, 2013 article, “Law school applications are headed for a 30-year low, reflecting increased concern over soaring tuition, crushing student debt and diminishing prospects of lucrative employment upon graduation.” Faced with this new reality in the legal field, the coalition met to discuss how the law degree is losing its value and how the current environment has shunned away many prospective enrollees.

Central to this issue is the debt burden carried by outgoing law students. The ABA Journal calculated that, “The average education debt for law grads at private schools last year was nearly $125,000, while the average for grads of public law schools was more than $75,700, according to new figures released by the ABA.”

With tuition and debt reaching all-time highs, the only counterbalance to make the cost worth it is if the presumed convention that a law degree leads to a high-paying job holds true. A six-figure average debt burden across law schools has been a reality for law students. However, what has led to the devalued law degree is that the high-paying job at the end of the road, which will efficiently pay down student debt and provide for comfortable living, is no longer existent. The price of a legal education has increased as the job market for lawyers has severely declined.

The Coalition of Concerned Colleagues noted in particular that, “the median starting salary of the [2011] class, among the less than half of graduates for whom a salary was reported, was $60,000.” This creates a serious economic problem, since at the average salary of $60,000, a law school graduate is unable to afford the monthly payments on the average six-figure debt that their degree cost them. At the same time, it has been estimated by the federal government that if graduation rates remain at present levels over the next decade, the economy will only create about one new legal job for every two law school graduates.

The coalition does not foresee this problem being resolved. “Most knowledgeable observers believe that the situation is unlikely to improve even if the economy fully rebounds. More employers are relying on paralegals, technology and contract attorneys to do work previously performed by recent graduates.” High debt and low wages create a large and expensive problem for thousands of law school graduates and are clear deterrents for prospective students. 

Moreover the coalition found that only two out of every five 2011 graduates were able to obtain a full-time job that required a law degree for the position, further defeating the need for the law degree altogether.

Aside from the financial and economic markers affecting the legal profession, law schools themselves are not helping their own cause to keep the degrees they offer as a sustainable educational path. While there is a sharp decrease in applications, the number of law schools in the United States is at an all-time high and, with decreasing enrollment, comes certain pressures.

Schools work hard to maintain or increase their positions in annual rankings conducted by several organizations like U.S. News and World Report. The coalition explains that there is a certain “perverse incentive to spend more in areas rewarded by the U.S. News formula. Two examples are expenditures per student and faculty-student ratios, which have risen dramatically in the decades since the rankings went into effect.” This signals that law schools are willing to spend more to improve their reputations and increase their standings, but this cost is more likely then not passed on to the students.

One such method is to lower the tuition for applicants with a higher-than-average GPAs and LSAT scores, but these applicants are statistically less likely to need financial help. This creates a system where the median law school applicant and statistically those from more modest social backgrounds are subsidizing more privileged students by paying full tuition to make up the cost. Such habits might help increase a school’s reputation, but it is clear now that these practices harm relations with possible enrollees. The coalition put forth that “the combination of rising costs, declining applicants, and perverse incentives puts the financial survival of some schools in question.” In many cases, it is possible that there is an imminent decline in quality, as well as the actual closure of the lesser wealthy schools.

Altogether the high student debt, poor employment numbers, and faulty law school practices are combining to significantly devalue the law degree, once regarded as a stable and primary educational path for a comfortable life. Proposed solutions for this issue include awarding different categories of law school degrees to students depending on a commitment of two or three years enrolled and completed. Other ideas include altering the federal loan programs to lessen the burden on graduates who are just starting out.

What is certain is that the revered law degree is in jeopardy of losing its esteem and the Coalition of Concerned Colleagues was clear in expressing that “as legal educators, it is our responsibility to grapple with these issues before our institutions are reshaped in ways beyond our control.”

Author Bio:

Alexander Ostrovsky is a contributing writer at Highbrow Magazine.

Photos: Marsmet551, Leslie Byk (Creative Commons).