Is law unemployment over exaggerated?

[zaprowsdower]

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@Fly The Helo

a good JD program will make you qualified for writing work among other things

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<p>The JD program itself doesn’t really make you qualified for anything, except maybe a job as a law professor. For most law classes, your grade depends entirely on a final exam where good writing counts for nothing. </p>

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but the sense I’m getting from people around here is that 3 years spent learning how to learn, be flexible and write would make me less likely to get a job that I would have been both qualified (though less qualified) for and likely to get 3 years prior?

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<p>Right. The “training” you get from law school is basically useless to any prospective employer, and now you don’t fit the profile of the person they’re looking for, which is probably going to get your resume tossed. You can’t spin the JD or three-year gap in a way that helps your chances. </p>

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@sakky

It isn’t?

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<p>No, it isn’t. For the year I’ve seen data for, they made all of six offers at HLS. That was less than just about every V100 firm, including Wachtell.</p>

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I am convinced that, except during trying economic times, a Harvard Law grad can obtain some job in consulting or finance.

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<p>What convinced you of this? Was it more or less compelling than the wikipedia archives and the businessweek.com forums? And more importantly, why are you talking about HLS?</p>

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But we’re not talking about ‘most companies’. We’re talking specifically about the consulting and finance firms that swarm around the campuses of Harvard and other elite schools.

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<p>Since when? I’m pretty sure the question was about getting an entry-level job generally. </p>

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But that is exactly what I’m talking about. I’m talking specifically about the most prestigious universities - i.e. the Harvards, Yales, Stanfords of the world - where the most elite recruiters, including non-law recruiters, are present.

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<p>Notwithstanding the fact that you seem to have limited knowledge of how recruting actually works at those schools, why are you talking only about HYS?</p>