Debt: The Silent Killer

[sakky]

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And what I am saying is that “not that bad” is relative. Compared to a starving Ethiopian child, a homeless man in NYC lives like a king. Compared to the average HLS grad, somebody making $40K for some ambulance chaser is doing really poorly.

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<p>But he’s still living quite well compared to the average American. That’s the point. </p>

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Link?

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<p>See my past posts. </p>

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In other words, it’s not really anything like “picking up some basic IT skills” and simply being handed a $40K job.

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<p>Of course it’s not a matter of just picking up some basic IT skills and then being handed a $40k a year job on the spot. It might then take a few years of experience to be making that sort of salary as an IT worker. </p>

<p>On the other hand, you just spent 3 years in law school. Somebody with basic IT skills and 3 years of experience probably does indeed make $40k a year, and often times far more than that. </p>

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Except there’s no proof that it actually does.

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<p>It doesn’t matter whether it actually works or not…it only matters whether some law firms think it works. Plenty of companies waste plenty of money on failed marketing expenditures, and the advertisers aren’t giving any of that money back. </p>

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Are any of those firms using the “marketing” arrangement you proposed? It sure doesn’t look like it.

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<p>Uh, well, those firms aren’t doing so because they don’t have to; as they already have the YLS/HLS lawyer on staff. On the other hand, most law firms don’t. Some of them would surely pay to do so. </p>

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I doubt that touting HLS credentials they already have would hurt them, but I see no proof that it’s doing much for them, either.

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<p>Again, it doesn’t matter whether it actually works or not, only that they think it works. Otherwise, why would they promote their credentials so prominently? </p>

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Here are five small firms with HLS (and some YLS) partners that don’t use their credentials as a major selling point:</p>

<p>GCG | Attorneys</p>

<p>About Us : SAMS LLP : Sheresky, Aronson, Mayefsky and Sloan, LLP</p>

<p>Kantor, Davidoff, Wolfe, Mandelker, Twomey & Gallanty, P.C.</p>

<p>[SYLVOR</a> AND RICHMAN LLP](<a href=“http://www.sylvorandrichman.com/]SYLVOR”>http://www.sylvorandrichman.com/)</p>

<p>New York Medical Malpractice Lawyer | Personal Injury Attorney New York City | NY</p>

<p>Are they just too stupid to realize that they’re sitting on a gold mine?

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<p>That doesn’t matter, for all you need to do is find one law firm who believes that such marketing might work. What the other law firms do doesn’t matter to you. </p>

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I thought they were paying for the marketing benefit and any work you did would be a bonus? That’s what you said in post 189. Which is it?

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<p>They are receiving the marketing bonus, and also receiving whatever work you would do. That package could be easily sold for more than $40k a year. </p>

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What’s more defeatist than suggesting somebody with an HLS JD should be perfectly content to make $40K doing menial work?

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<p>What’s more defeatist? How about the attitude that somebody at HLS can’t even find such a job at all? Otherwise, you must concede that such a grad could in fact find such a job. Would it be an optimal outcome? No, and I never said it was. What I am saying is that he could do it. </p>

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These stats are almost certainly inaccurate. With no indication how many students reported salary data, the numbers don’t mean anything. Considering the majority of SMU grads who end up at firms end up at very small ones, I’m about 100% confident some are making less than $45K. And, obviously, the less-successful grads are less likely to report salary data.

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it is widely thought that MANY of these lower tier law schools simply lie about their employment prospects, and at best they are misleading. Your naivety with employment prospects is a little surprising sakky.

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<p>I agree that there are problems with missing data, probably on the lower-end of the salary spectrum. </p>

<p>But on the other hand, we are talking about low-tier law schools. The notion that a HLS/YLS grad can’t even match what the salaries of the graduates of a low-tier law school, even if the official salary figures are skewed - that is what I would call naive. </p>

<p>Let me pose the question simply: how many of you would continue to argue that a HLS/YLS grad is truly unable to find a laid-back law job that pays only $40k a year? If nobody is arguing this point, then my point is proven. Everything else is window dressing.</p>