A warning to those planning on attending law schook for the $$

[Corbett]

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For those who savor a fairly normal life style and would be content with a solid staring salary, this may be a good route to consider. $60,000 may go a long way in Wheeling W. Va.

It may – unless you are also making payments on $100,000+ worth of law school debt, which is not unusual for new JDs. </p>

<p>There is nothing wrong with working for a middle-class salary in a second-tier city. But if that’s the new economic model for lawyers, then maybe we need a new economic model for law school. It may not make economic sense to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in a JD degree that leads to a $60,000 annual salary. </p>

<p>Even the ABA has [url=<a href=“http://www.abanet.org/legaled/prelaw/The%20Value%20Proposition%20of%20Attending%20Law%20School.doc]acknowledged[/url”>http://www.abanet.org/legaled/prelaw/The%20Value%20Proposition%20of%20Attending%20Law%20School.doc]acknowledged[/url</a>] this point:</p>

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The combination of the rising cost of a legal education and the realities of the legal job market mean that going to law school may not pay off for a large number of law students. Dean David Van Zandt of Northwestern Law School estimates that to make a positive return on the investment of going to law school, given the current costs, the average law student must earn an average annual salary of at least $65,315. As the data above show, however, over 40% of law school graduates have starting salaries below this threshold. Thus, many students start out in a position from which it may be difficult to recoup their investment in legal education. Even students who do ultimately prosper over the course of a career face difficulties from high debt loads during the beginning of their career. High debt can limit career choices, prevent employment in the public service sector, or delay home ownership or marriage. In short, going to law school can bring more financial difficulty than many law students expect.

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