<p>Yes, it is a dismal profession.</p>
<p>I don’t care how well educated my lawyer may be. I do care how well she games the system on my behalf. Does she exploit the loopholes? Does she find the cheapest way for me to comply with rules I cannot evade entirely? Does she resort to obfuscation when the plain meaning of the law is disadvantageous to her client? Does she manipulate opposing lawyers to her client’s benefit? If so, then she is a good lawyer. Does she build impressive intellectual arguments? Does she understand why there are two tides everyday? Can she comment intelligently on Etruscan poetry? Does she have a profound appreciation for CPE Bach? Who cares? Perhaps this makes for pleasant dinner party conversation, but what does it have to do with practicing law?</p>
<p>LSAT: I thought LSAT was just the SAT, 4 years later. Does getting a rigrous liberal arts education result in higher LSAT scores? Do the Reed, Chicago, and Columbia students do better, after controlling for SAT scores, than the Caltech, MIT, and CMU engineers? Does anyone know of a study like that?</p>