<p>The only way to be $250K in debt would be to have $100k in debt from undergrad. Even Harvard only charges $52k per year. Even adding in living expenses would likely only take you to $180k or so, once you figure in summer work.</p>
<p>If you have $100k in debt from undergrad, which would be stupid, work a few years before going back to law school. Pay some of that down. Often times, the most interesting lawyers for getting hired purposes are those who have some work experience.</p>
<p>It’s not like law firms aren’t profitable, very few go out of business. The “new normal” may be that equity partners have to adjust to making less money, right now they’re still squeezing everyone and pulling in mid-six to seven figure bonuses while poor mouthing the financial situation of their firms. The work still needs to get done and you can only make people work so hard before they start to bolt to firms that treat and pay them better. Eventually the dam will break and they will hire the new people they need, and/or students will adjust and they’ll go in-house instead of to firms.</p>
<p>Would you advise students not go to medical school also because of the potential situation with Obamacare? (Doctors being forced to accept patients at low reimbursement rates - right now only a theoretical possibility.) Plenty of doctors are also complaining about that, and they incur much more debt than law students.</p>