Do law schools mislead students on how much money they’ll make?
April 3, 2012
Being a lawyer is often thought of as a prestigious, high-paying profession. In fact, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in 2010 lawyers made an average of $54.21 per hour or $112,760 per year.
But this high salary doesn't come without a lot of work. Many lawyers often clock long hours, and in addition to four years of college, they must complete a three-year professional program at a law school and take a rigorous written bar examination in order to practice law.
The good news for moms who want to pursue a law career is that they can help offset the cost of their education by utilizing grants for parents, scholarships for mothers, single mother scholarships and other financial aid.
While many who pursue a law degree look forward to reaping the financial benefits of their hard work by earning a high salary, some graduates are angered that they're not making as much as they believed they would.
According to CBS News, there are at least 15 lawsuits underway in which former students are suing their law schools because they say they were misled about their job prospects and how much money they would make upon graduation.
ABAJournal.com reports that a judge in New York recently ruled in favor of the school in one of these lawsuits. Nine graduates of New York Law School sued for $225 million in damages, alleging that they were misled about the value of a degree from the school.
"The court does not view these post-graduate employment statistics to be misleading in a material way for a consumer acting reasonably," the judge wrote, according to ABAJournal.com. "By anyone's definition, reasonable consumers - college graduates - seriously considering law schools are a sophisticated subset of education consumers, capable of sifting through data and weighing alternatives before making a decision regarding their post-college options, such as applying for professional school. These reasonable consumers have available to them any number of sources of information to review when making their decisions."
Apparently, the difficult economy has made finding a job difficult for individuals in every industry. The BLS reports that although the job outlook for lawyers is expected to be average over the next eight years, competition will be strong because more students are graduating from law school each year than there are jobs available.
