Is there a surplus of lawyers/attorneys?

<p>If so, what is the incentive of a law student in becoming a lawyer?</p>

<p>I’m currently in my undergrad, and my goal is becoming a lawyer.My problem is, that alot of sources on the net has the assertion that law school is a waste.</p>

<p>I really want to become one, and serve the under privilege.</p>

<p>Are there still demands for lawyers?</p>

<p>Is there shortages of attorneys in the public sector?</p>

<p>There is a big surplus of lawyers in general.</p>

<p>In terms of public interest lawyers, it’s kind of a paradox: there aren’t enough of them, BUT there also aren’t enough actual paying jobs to support the amount we need.</p>

<p>So yes, if you go through law school, there will be plenty of poorer people who need your help. But the chances of someone paying you to do that work is very slim.</p>

<p>I would only go to law school if a) you get into a top school where you’re very likely to get a job, or b) you get a full scholarship. Otherwise I don’t think it’s worth it.</p>

<p>Or, if your family has a lot of money and you never will have to actually need to work.</p>

<p>I would agree that in general, there is an oversupply of lawyers. That being said, top law firms hire the best from each annual crop. If you want a career in business law at a top law firm and eventually in a large corporate legal department, then you have to take a realistic look at your credentials. You need top grades from a top law school. Having a CPA or MBA is also a significant asset for business law.</p>

<p>If you graduate within the top ten (or 25) percent in your class, you are guaranteed greater career and financial opportunities at the big law firms, fellowships, clerkships, prestigious organizations and academia.</p>

<p>There has been a glut of lawyers for many years, yet that has not stopped many people from entering the profession. If it is your passion, follow that passion rather than spend the rest of your life wondering if you made the right decision. If you are not sure it is your passion, you can bet you won’t be missed in the profession given the number of others who can take your place.</p>

<p>You should check out abovethelaw.com and read about the layoffs in the legal community.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>The interesting thing about lawyers is there may never be a true surplus of them because they are perhaps the only profession that I know of that actually creates its own demand. By that, I mean that the more lawyers are out there, the more litigation that is filed, which ultimately increases the demand for even more lawyers, if only to defend yourself against litigation. Doctors (hopefully) don’t make people more sick, hence increasing the demand for even more doctors. Engineers don’t make people want new technology more, hence increasing the demand for even more engineers. But the more lawyers there are, the more that lawyers become necessary.</p>

<p>There is a surplus of attorneys. There is also a glut of insurance agents, my current profession,as well. If you are good at what you do and establish a good reputation, I would think you would have as much work as you could possibly handle. The only profession I know of that doesn’t have a surplus is the medical field, however doctors don’t have a life outside their practice, especially surgeons.</p>

<p>How’s corporate tax law looking? I was thinking about what I’m going to do after law school and both bankruptcy and tax came into my head, only because companies go bankrupt all the time and lawyers are needed to handle the Chapter 11s and Chapter 7s, and every transaction a company undertakes involves some tax consequence. Bankruptcy looks good right now if you’re a law school grad now though. I was thinking about possibly getting a JD and M.Acc. at the same time and then trying for a CPA. I mean taxes will always exist, and companies will always try to find ways to avoiding them, and they’ll most likely turn to accountants and/or lawyers to tell them how to do it.</p>

<p>sakky-I don’t know, Pharma seems to be creating its own demand, by virtue of the fact that they never find a cure, they just find ways to make the symptoms go away, and making up illnesses like restless leg syndrome.</p>

<p>Now if only I can find an MAcc program…it’s been impossible to find one. I turned up one at U of M (Michigan). And I don’t think they let you do joint degrees.</p>

<p>@ futurenyustudent </p>

<p>I would contact the Michigan Ross business school to see if they allow a student initiated joint degree for MAcc students. For more information, click here: <a href=“http://www.rackham.umich.edu/downloads/oard/forms/DUAL_JOINT_tip_sheet.pdf[/url]”>http://www.rackham.umich.edu/downloads/oard/forms/DUAL_JOINT_tip_sheet.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>My interest right now is a JD. The MAcc thing popped into my head when I had the idea of practicing tax law. Michigan happens to be the only program that has both a decent MAcc program and JD program…maybe for tax law I’m better off doing a JD someplace where they have a good program in tax law instead (or an LLM in tax).</p>

<p>thanks for the info :smiley: I’ll definitely look into it.</p>

<p>It doesn’t really matter where you get your JD for tax, but many, if not most, large firms want the LL.M. </p>

<p>With regard to numbers of lawyers, there are never enough for the disadvantaged. The trick is to figure out a way to make a living while serving them. If you are willing to go anywhere in the country, there are areas where there are shortages. </p>

<p>It makes no sense to me that an increased number of lawyers creates a demand for more lawyers, but perhaps that comment was a sarcastic one.</p>

<p>Futurenystudent…FYI…restless leg syndrome does exist…I know…I have it. Came from my damn birth control pills. I quit taking them for a while…and the symptoms never went away.</p>

<p>Crap. I’ll be in school forever :frowning: JD, LLM, MAcc. Yup. I’ll be in school until I’m 40. Minimum. :cry:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>It is not sarcastic - it is completely serious and makes perfect sense. Let’s be perfectly honest. Many (probably most) lawyers work in litigation. Hence, the more lawyers there are, the more lawsuits and legal actions that will be initiated, which means that companies will have to hire/retain more lawyers if only to protect themselves. And of course, the more lawyers that a company has, the more lawyers you will need to have if you want to successfully sue them, which then spurs the company to retain even more lawyers, etc. An apt analogy would be an arms race, where the more weapons your enemy has, the more weapons you will want to have, which then spurs your enemy to get still more weapons. Hence, more lawyers spurs the demand for even more lawyers. I don’t think this is a particularly difficult point to grasp. </p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Ok, I agree that that may be a possible example. </p>

<p>More generally, I think that marketing in general (and not just pharma marketing) is subject to self-generating employment demand: the more marketing people there are in the world, the harder it is for any one company to have customers remember their advertising message - for if you’re being constantly barraged with advertising, you probably aren’t going to remember a particular ad - which then spurs each company to hire even more marketers. For example, back in the old days of the Internet, there were so few Internet ads that the few that did exist were highly efficient in promoting their message (as many people would willingly click on ads just for the novelty), but now that the Internet is inundated with ads, companies have to spend a lot on marketing just to their your message out. </p>

<p>Litigation lawyers create their own demand because there is effectively no limit for their services, as litigation lawyers can generate their own demand. You can always find something to sue over. There is always going to be some vagary in the law that lawyers can then fight over. {Heck, lawyers want laws to be vague as that means more work opportunities for them.}</p>

<p>Litigation lawyers don’t just create more demand for litigators. When the company goes bankrupt defending and initiating too many lawsuits, they need to retain bankruptcy, ERISA, restructuring, securities, tax, etc. lawyers.</p>

<p>Ah, security through obscurity…:D</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>I very much doubt that the majority of lawyers work in litigation, or at least that it’s a large component of their practice.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>This still makes no more sense than claiming that hiring more firemen will result in more fires. If litigators really have this magical ability to generate work out of the ether, maybe struggling biglaw firms should start hiring them by the hundreds instead of laying people off. How exactly do litigators persuade people to pay them to pursue claims they otherwise wouldn’t?</p>

<p>I have been a litigator for 18 years and there are probably too many lawyers in general here in California. But the one thing I don’t think there are enough of is women litigators. I know that over half of the people entering the profession are women. But I don’t know where they are going. Everytime I sit in a courtroom waiting to argue a case I am in a room with 30 other attorneys and there are maybe two attorneys who are women. The rest are all men. I read an article in the California Bar Journal about this problem. Women are entering the profession in droves, and leaving it in equal droves around year five to eight. So, I think if you are a woman and willing to find a way to stick with it, even if you plan to have a family (I did it… it is possible) then this is a good profession to be in. There is always room for women litigators. There are not enough of us.</p>

<p>From what I’ve read, 70% of women lawyers quit the profession. I wish they do more research ahead of time before spending all that time and energy.</p>