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NYT Discovers Law School Collapse

Ethan Bronner at the NY Times confirms much of what we’ve discussed here before. Law school applications are cratering and a number of schools are probably going to go under. How many? We don’t know. Maybe some will choose a soft collapse and simply cut their class in half and fire everyone they can. That’s always an option.

The NY Times analysis is okay, but Paul Campos over at InsideTheLawSchoolScam makes a cogent argument that it doesn’t go far enough. The piece still clings to the belief that there’s more demand than there really is. The article quotes one professor who continues to dream that there’s a demand for legal services, but Campos effectively smashes that with an axe. Few people have the money to pay for any legal services because eating and health care are more important to them. And he’s right. Even the corporations don’t need as much lawyering as they purchase. It’s not pretty.

I think the law schools are just the canaries. Most degrees are facing the same reality of a bad return on investment. It’s just more glaring with law school. The costs are so much higher and the lack of careers is so much more obvious. But the economics are all the same.

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Related posts:

  1. The Ongoing Collapse: Law School Applications in Free Fall!
  2. More from SmartMoney on why investing in law school is a bad idea
  3. Should we care about the law school collapse?
  4. Law firm collapse continues
  5. The ongoing collapse: law school edition

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This entry was written by admin and posted on January 31, 2013 at 9:53 pm and filed under Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.

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2 Comments so far (Add 1 more)

  1. Internet Billionaire and Dallas Maverick weighs in on colleges:

    “Colleges Are Going To Start Going Out Of Business” by Mark Cuban Jan. 28, 2013
    http://www.businessinsider.com/will-your-college-go-out-of-business-before-you-graduate–2013-1

    * * *

    The question is not whether or not you should go to school, the question for the class of 2014 is what is your college plan and what is the likelihood that your college or university you attend will still be in business by the time you want to graduate.

    * * *

    Before you go to college, or send your child to a 4 year school, you better check their balance sheet. How much debt does the school have? How many administrators making more than 200k do they have? How much are they spending on building new buildings? None of which add value to your child’s education, but as enrollments decline will force the school to increase their tuition and nail you with other costs.

    * * *

    The smart high school grad no longer just picks a school, borrows money and wings it. Your future depends on your ability to assemble an educational plan that gets you on your path of knowledge and discovery without putting you at risk of attending a school that is doomed to fail, and/or saddling you with a debt heavy balance sheet that prevents you from taking the chances, searching for the opportunities or just being a fuck up for a while. We each take our own path, but nothing shortcuts the dreams of a 22 year old more than owing a shitload of money.

    1. Walter Sobchak on February 1st, 2013 at 4:47 am

  2. Not to worry, Walter. Federal subsidies will keep it all afloat until you graduate.

    2. Higby on February 1st, 2013 at 2:31 pm