Sitting in the Career Services office at SMU’s Dedman School of Law, Amy Sanderson feels optimistic. She is navigating through her third and final year in law school and will soon be released into the raging seas of the current recessionary job market. Yet, Sanderson is relaxed as she discusses her approaching graduation.
“The job market for legal professionals is still out there, you just have to get more creative and perhaps broaden your work horizons,” Sanderson said.
Sanderson believes the economy will improve in a few years.
“You might as well invest your time now to become more marketable, giving yourself a head start when the job market picks back up,” Sanderson said.
The number of students applying to law school is up by 3.8 percent for fall 2009, according to the “American Bar Association Journal.” At certain law schools the numbers are even higher. Washington and Lee University in Virginia showed a 29 percent law application increase this year over 2008. Yale Law School and the University of Texas School of Law both experienced 8 percent increases.
Virginia Keehan, assistant dean of admissions at SMU Dedman School of Law, said SMU has seen an upward trend in law school applications. But as more people head back to school to wait out the recession, that number could spike even more.
“We are expecting to see the biggest increase in the coming year,” Keehan said.
In an article from the “Accepted Admissions Almanac,” Daniel Bernstine, president of the Law School Admissions Council, said that in recessionary periods people tend to go back to school if they are out of work.
Unfortunately, however, the layoffs and budget cuts in the current legal world are making it difficult for recent law school graduates to find jobs, too. Law school may not be the safe-haven in which to wait out times of recession that it was once considered.
The majority of those that graduated from Dedman School of Law in 2009 already had secured jobs prior to the market failure last fall. Since students are aware of the difficult economy, Karen Sargent, assistant dean of Career Services at Dedman School of Law, said they are not only working harder to locate employment opportunities, but they are also starting their searches earlier.
“The problem is that graduates are competing with experienced, older attorneys for the same jobs,” Sargent said.
Sargent believes the profession is more competitive now. While there are job opportunities, graduates have to work harder to find them.
To help law students in their job-hunt, Sargent said the Career and Services department was restructured last summer by adding two additional directors. The new directors specialize in locating more work opportunities in small, private firms around Dallas.
However, landing a job isn’t the only problem facing law school graduates. According to Keehan, it’s common for law students to accumulate $150,000 or more of debt if they take out full loans to cover all of the expenses.
While not every student needs to take out a full loan for school, most cannot make the entire payment without help. Aside from loans and grants, scholarships are available, but they are highly limited.
The average scholarship or grant amount varies depending on the location, school and student eligibility. There are also a few scholarships available online, such as at the “EdFed Scholarship Search Site,” found at edfed.com.
“Debt is definitely a concern,” second year Dedman School of Law student Andrew Ostapko said. “The payment options can be limited and the debt is intimidating, especially if you’re entering the less lucrative public sector of law.”
Ostapko plans to work in the public sector as a civil servant providing legal aid to those who cannot afford it. This type of law may be noble, but it’s not as well-paid as the private sector. Lawyers who practice in government areas, such as civil attorneys, state prosecutors and public defenders, earned between $48,000 and $62,000 at the five-year employment mark in 2008, according to an Association for Legal Career Professionals study. The prevailing starting salary at large private law firms, on the other hand, was nearly $160,000.
Debt can keep you from doing what you want to do, said Sargent. For those who are planning on attending law school, the best thing they can do is adjust their lifestyles and plan now for taking on the heavy loans later.
“Hopefully these students will be able to make up the money they owe in loans through the income they’ll make as lawyers after graduation,” Sargent said.
With her graduation date set for May 2010, Sanderson hopes this is the case for her as she plans to practice corporate law.
