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<p>Frankly, I don’t understand much of the doom and gloom, for the question that is simply begging to be answered is: really, what else were they going to do? As I pointed out, the average liberal arts grad is making only $35k a year to start. {Which should put the LRAP opportunities I’ve discussed into perspective: law firms are probably paying a new liberal arts grad $35k a year just to greet visitors, answer the phone and make coffee for 40 hours a week, and you as a HLS grad can’t find a job doing actual law-related work at those law firms for just $40k a year?}</p>
<p>[Law</a> Office Receptionist Job in Boston 02114, Massachusetts US](<a href=“Monster Jobs - Job Search, Career Advice & Hiring Resources | Monster.com | Most popular jobs”>http://jobview.monster.com/Law-Office-Receptionist-Job-Boston-MA-US-90628495.aspx)</p>
<p>The problem is that most jobs available to those holding only bachelor’s degrees in the liberal arts - which is what most law students majored in as undergrads - is that they don’t offer strong opportunities for advancement. Somebody with a liberal arts degree taking a job as a receptionist, after 10 years of working, will probably still be just a receptionist. On the other hand, somebody with an elite law degree, after 10 years of working, will probably be debt-free or close to it, and have a multitude of career opportunities available to him. He might have already made partner, or be close to it. He could choose to take an ‘of counsel’ role. He could choose to work in the legal division of a regular company. He could start his own law firm. No comparable opportunity set is available to those holding only bachelor’s degrees.</p>
<p>The truth of the matter is that a debt level of $100k or even $200k - which some posters have implied - really isn’t that much debt when you’re making biglaw salaries, especially when amortized over a 10 year period. If you make $160k a year from a biglaw job, then even if half of that goes toward taxes and another $60k a year goes toward supporting, frankly, a quite comfortable lifestyle, that leaves $20k to retire your debt. Let’s ignore interest charges as while debt increases with interest, your biglaw salary should also be increasing over time. Having $60k a year to spend on your own personal expenses, even in a high-cost location such as Manhattan, allows for a quite comfortable lifestyle, especially for somebody still in their 20’s, fresh out of law school. To put it in perspective, the average worker in Manhattan made only about $75 k in pretax income. Yet they’re still somehow able to afford living in Manhattan. {Or maybe they just work in Manhattan and live in a cheaper borough, but you could do the same.} </p>
<p>[AVERAGE</a> WEEKLY WAGES IN NEW YORK State](<a href=“http://www.bls.gov/ro2/qcew9350.htm]AVERAGE”>http://www.bls.gov/ro2/qcew9350.htm)</p>
<p>The risk is obviously that you won’t find a biglaw job, or if you do, that you’re laid off from it before paying off your debt. But that’s when the LRAP is invoked, which leaves you no worse off than had you never gone to law school at all but simply taken that receptionist job right after undergrad. You could shelter under the LRAP umbrella during unusually bad economic times (like now) while finding a regular law job when the economy recovers. {Granted, such a job probably wouldn’t be at biglaw, but then that also means that you can avoid the high living costs of a place like Manhattan.} Even in the worst case scenario, you retreat under the LRAP sanctuary for the entire duration to emerge debt-free, with a HLS degree to boot. As I said, the guy who works as a receptionist for 10 years is still just a receptionist with few opportunities to advance. </p>
<p>Perhaps you might argue that other career paths are clearly superior. I wouldn’t be so sure. Becoming a doctor not only requires longer postgraduate school (4 years vs. 3) but also 3-7 years of residency/internship/fellowship for which they’re paid a pittance while working 80 hours a week and while their medical school loan interest continues to compound. Put another way, the best law students have the chance to work in biglaw making $160k a year right out of law school. The best med students right out of med-school might make $50-60k as residents. Be honest - who’s worse off? </p>
<p>Or what of consulting and Ibanking? These careers are also infamous for their long hours; Ibanking being one of the few industries in which 80 hours a week feels like a vacation. Most consultants and Ibankers also find that they need to obtain top MBA degrees to maintain their careers, and MBA’s aren’t cheap. We also live in a society where, for better or worse, we need lawyers, as criminal cases do have to be prosecuted and defended, and legal contracts do have to be drawn up and sometimes litigated. Even in the smallest town, there will be somebody breaking the law, or accused of doing so, or somebody who needs to draw up a will, sign a title deed, or undergo a divorce. Hence, there will always be jobs for lawyers. {They may not be great jobs, but there will be jobs.} It’s far less clear that society really needs Ibankers, and especially not consultants. That is why those professions are characterized by high ‘employment-beta’: when the economy declines, those professions downsize precipitously because clients realize that they don’t really need them. Let’s face it: nobody really needs consulting advice. </p>
<p>[The</a> Incredible Shrinking Consultant To survive, the Big Three strategy firms–McKinsey, Bain, and BCG–need to make big changes. - May 26, 2003](<a href=“http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2003/05/26/343083/index.htm]The”>The Incredible Shrinking Consultant To survive, the Big Three strategy firms--McKinsey, Bain, and BCG--need to make big changes. - May 26, 2003)</p>
<p>So the question remains: what else was somebody with just a liberal arts bachelor’s going to do? Attending law school, even while racking up a 6-figure debt, might be one of the least bad options.</p>