As an in-house lawyer for a major corporation, I work with a lot of top law firms that I hire to represent us. These are mainly top regional firms and not the Wall Street firms. I always ask about the market and their hiring. It has picked up a little since the crash in 2008-2009, but it is still way lower than before the recession. Grads from mid-tier schools barely stand a chance.
If necessary, a school would likely seek to reduce enrollment to levels where an appropriate proportion of their grads can report competitively successful results. U Michigan has recently reduced enrollment, for one.
A school would only be in danger of actually closing if the necessary reduction would be so drastic as to make it financially unsustainable.
There is certainly evidence of stress though: eg significant tuition discounting for high-scoring applicants. Not everyone is necessarily paying the same amount.
Do tippy top law schools give tuition discount?
I know a heck of a lot of lawyers, none of whom seem to be suffering. It is hard to square with recent information.
On the other hand, decades ago as a paralegal from elite schools I had employees who were graduates of fourth rate law schools who really could not get jobs as lawyers.
So is this actually a thing? I haven’t heard of this (among other things 
)
Yes, tippy top medical schools and law schools both give discounts or free tuition to tippy top students.
In the T6, I know for a fact that Chicago, NYU and Columbia offer merit aid. Harvard, Yale, or Stanford do not, only need-based aid. Is that what you mean by a tuition discount Oldfort?
Of course premier federal jobs are highly coveted. But those are jobs at the top and therefore there’s no over- abundance of those jobs. And, some of those jobs are only offered to attorneys whom already have substantial experience in a specific field. For example, I know an attorney who left private practice recently to join the feds; this attorney is an expert in the burgeoning field of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigations, which the feds have dived headfirst into in recent years. A fresh JD graduate, no matter if he or she had a prestigious clerkship under their belt, would never be offered such a job.
By the way, if I had to predict which elite law school will close, I would guess that it would be one of the small privates whom have reputable competitors nearby; Washington & Lee? Emory? Vanderbilt? What about high tuition law schools like NYU? Among the publics, will all of California’s law school survive?
Vanderbilt is not going to close.
Nor is NYU
My daughter ex roommate graduated from UCLA law school, supposedly reputable, but was working some where at the airport at a $20/pay. Some California law schools are much less reputable than UCLA must close.
There are plenty of unaccredited law schools in California that are stealing people’s money and absolutely should be shut down.
But the elite California law schools – Stanford, Boalt (UC Berkeley), UCLA and USC – are doing just fine.
<<<
“It was terrifying not knowing where I was going to land or how I would pay off my student loans,” said Robinson, 27, who owes more than $150,000 in student loans.
She eventually landed a position as a legal analyst at Freddie Mac, which preferred someone with a legal degree for the job, although it wasn’t required.
Once she started working, Robinson enrolled in a federal program that capped her monthly loan payments to a percentage of her earnings and forgives any balance left over after 20 years. The repayment plan brought her payments down from $3,000 a month to $400.
[QUOTE=""]
[/QUOTE]
That’s quite a payment discount. For fed loans, would $150k borrowed have meant a $3000 a month payment? I would have thought that the payment would be about half that…but it’s too early in the morning to do any math. lol
<<<
Nearly 46,000 people have applied so far to go to an accredited U.S. law school in the most recent admissions cycle, a figure that puts applications on track to hit just short of 53,000 total. By comparison, there were a total of 77,000 applicants in 2010 and 90,000 in 2004, according to the Law School Admission Council. Even top-ranked Harvard Law School witnessed a drop in applications before rebounding in the last two years.
<<<
how many first year law school seats are there in total?
NYU is ranked #6, why would it be closed? I personally think this thread is silly, or at least the title is.
I agree that the title isn’t reflective of the current situation in the legal world, nor is it even reflective of the linked article. It’s doubtful that any elite law school is going to close down. However, it isn’t out of the realm of possibility that one or more of the bottom ranked schools will. And it would not be a loss. As I said previously, there are far too many law schools and the number of total seats offered are both numbers that are far too high. When the stats report that only approximately 50% of grads are getting ANY job that is a JD-required job, well, that is appalling when you take into account the debt that many of them will accrue during those extra three years of school. Students, and their families, need to be proactive, and realistic, about researching opportunities for grads of the schools on their list.
Secondly, listen to zoosermom.
I don’t think there is any one view that’s more credible than others, especially over the internet. People need to do their own research on what they can afford and what kind of risk they are willing to take. I personally think it is pretty good if my kid could have 95+% chance of getting paid 160k+ year at age 25.
Both of my sister and her H graduated from one of those tippy top law schools, and I have a lot of friends with law degrees. Not all of them love what they do, but how many of us love what we do by the time we are 50? How many of us have lost our jobs due to downsizing? All of those issues are not isolated to the law profession. My sister is currently unemployed, but it is because she has the luxury of being choosy about where and what she wants to do.
Though some schools post 95%-plus employment rates, the $160K starting salary positions are for grads who are hired at top Biglaw firms. That’s going to be a significantly smaller percentage at any school, including the top 3 (HYS).
Yes, tuition discounting/scholarships are offered at every law school except Harvard, Stanford, and Yale, which are need-only. For most students, parent income is still considered in assessing need at these schools. Law school admissions and finaid/scholarships are pretty transparent, compared to undergrad. The info is out there and you don’t need to look too hard to find it.
The remaining T14 schools offer scholarships in varying amounts. You need stellar credentials to get the major named scholarships at Columbia, Chicago, and NYU. If you’re offered one, you’ve almost certainly been offered admission at the T3 schools as well, so the applicant has tough choices to make. Something to bear in mind is that you won’t necessarily finish at the top of your law school class just because you’re in the top of the applicant pool.
Scholarships at lower-ranked law schools are often contingent on maintaining an unrealistically high GPA or class rank. The T14 schools only require satisfactory academic process for scholarship renewal, which usually means a 2.0. If you don’t score a significantly higher GPA than that in law school, you’re essentially screwed.
Oldfort, I am the last person to have any insight as to whether a particular person should go to law school at a particular time. All I can talk about is what the hiring trends have been over the last 29(!) years. If that information is helpful to someone, great. If not, they should definitely ignore it.
What I would say to someone that I know personally is that if you have no undergrad debt you can definitely consider law school if you get into a T14. If you know that you have a job lined up for you (say your family has a business or a law office), then you can definitely consider law school. If you have an advanced degree in a hard science or have a very compelling professional background (older law school graduates with professional experience seem to be doing best now), or if you are black and get accepted at a decent law school, you should almost definitely go.