“Worthless” Law School Graduates?

Listen to this article

In a world neutered by political correctness, it’s refreshing when someone has the stones to be painfully honest. Simon Cowell has become a multi-millionaire by doing just that. He’s also doing a service to wannabe professional singers by finally telling them the truth: singing is not your thing and you should pursue other efforts to make a living.

Recently, during the Future of Education Conference in New York City (sponsored by Harvard Law School and NYU Law School), a corporate general counsel took the same tack and sent shock waves through the legal education community. According to the legal blog Above the Law, United Technologies general counsel Chester Paul Beach addressed about 75 law school deans/legal educators and promptly told them that graduating 3Ls and first and second year associates are “worthless. It’s awful, it’s really really awful.”

The essence of Beach’s complaint was that corporations that hire law firms should not have to pay for young attorneys’ on-the-job training and that the current big firm business model and billable hours structure is unsustainable. The diatribe was also a direct shot at law schools for not teaching students practical, transferable skills.

Before I go any further, let me say that, for the most part, I had a positive law school experience. Most of my professors were caring, intelligent individuals. Some were even nationally recognized in their fields and are worth every penny the school pays them. Most of my classmates were also caring, intelligent people, some of whom remain close friends.

That said, I’m not sure I learned a tremendous amount of practical, transferable skills, aside from the work done in clinic. In fact, a common refrain during the bar exam prep class was, “Why are we just learning this stuff now?”

I also had a bad experience with visiting professors. My civil procedure prof was a bitter ex-big law firm attorney whose disdain for the profession was palpable and occasionally vocalized. She even let a 21-year-old 1L teach the class on collateral estoppel, then got angry when students questioned whether that’s what their tuition money was paying for.

My visiting evidence professor was a nice enough guy, but his credibility became suspect when he essentially admitted he had never actually tried a case. Upon that admission, half the class laughed out loud in exasperation and some headed for the door.

Simply put, there’s a declining “value proposition” in going to law school. Too many students get saddled with debt they can’t repay because there are not enough high paying jobs to go around – and it’s non-dischargeable debt at that. What’s worse, there’s a growing concern that law schools aren’t preparing their students well enough for real-world employment. That’s a double whammy to wide-eyed law school applicants who have bought into the myth that becoming a lawyer leads one to automatic wealth, prosperity and happiness.

Law schools, however, don’t have an interest in decreasing enrollment because that tuition is needed to help pay for things like new facilities and professors’ and administrators’ salaries. Who cares if most graduates fall into the law school debt trap? We make six figures, get summers off, and don’t have to respond to written discovery! Yippee!

At a minimum, Mr. Beach’s blunt appraisal should be viewed as a Simon Cowell-type assessment of the current state of legal education. Are there exceptions? Of course.  But, generally speaking, law schools should require significant clinic credits to graduate and use adjunct professors with practical, up to date knowledge to teach some courses. Law schools should also begin a dialogue with corporations, in-house counsel and managing partners to determine common weaknesses of young associates, then supplement the curriculum to address those concerns.

If these changes are made, everybody wins. Law schools provide better value to the students, students obtain practical/transferable skills and companies save time and money by not having to train young associates to do tasks they should already know how to do.

The second part of the equation may be more difficult – destroying the myth that a J.D. equals automatic wealth, prosperity, and happiness. Maybe we can start by telling prospective law school students they’re really good singers.