50,000 people are taking the LSAT tomorrow

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Friday, September 30. 2011

50,000 people are taking the LSAT tomorrow

Why the remarkable proliferation of law schools? Because schools make a lot of money from them. In my youth, in the 1800s, we learned law from books and apprenticeship. Law school was not a requirement for joining the bar until 1906, which is long after I was admitted to the bar. Why they jumped from 0 years to 3 years of formal education, I do not know.

Paul Campos posts: There are a lot of bad reasons to go to law school. Here are some of the most common...

I happen to believe that legal training is good training for all sorts of things that a person might want to accomplish. However, the legal field is looking a little shaky these days unless you want to chase ambulances and have strange hair like John Edwards. The Obama recession is hurting everybody, dentists and lawyers, plumbers and electricians, doctors and churches, handymen and builders.

Posted by The Barrister in Education, Our Essays at 14:06 | Comments (6) | Trackbacks (0)

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"In my youth, in the 1800s, we learned law from books and apprenticeship."

Wow! That's amazing! Does that put you in the running for the oldest human being currently alive? ;)

#1 Old Buzzard on 2011-09-30 14:37 (Reply)

I've always felt that while law school is expensive, and potentially a great waste of time and resources, it never hurts to understand the legal rules of the games our alleged "authorities and betters" always try to cheat at and manipulate us through.

Frankly, a good 8th grade civics class co-taught by a criminal defense attorney, a state ADA, and a couple retired military combat vets would suffice for that purpose. But they don't teach civics anymore, do they?

The real trouble with law school is that it isn't taught like a trade school (intended to make you a good practitioner), but it takes on some rather high falutin' airs and pretends to be more about the philosophy of law and "social/environmental justice" (intended to make you a law school professor/scholar or a Left wing hack). But that may because fewer and fewer law professors ever practiced law.

#2 ruralcounsel on 2011-09-30 16:59 (Reply)

The real trouble with law school is that it isn't taught like a trade school (intended to make you a good practitioner), but it takes on some rather high falutin' airs and pretends to be more about the philosophy of law and "social/environmental justice" (intended to make you a law school professor/scholar or a Left wing hack). But that may because fewer and fewer law professors ever practiced law.

That is precisely what has been the problem with the Schools of Education. They spend more time on unproven theories which they treat as fact than on turning out good practitioners. In focusing on unproven theories, they ignore two thousand years of evidence of what works and what doesn't work in formal instruction.

While Ed School professors have nearly always taught at the primary or secondary level, in most cases it is only for a few years. So there is also a comparison here with law school, though law school comes off worse here.

#2.1 Gringo on 2011-10-01 10:12 (Reply)

A warning that the job market is brutal out there, even for "top 10" law school grads. We recently picked up a second year associate, U. Michigan Law School graduate, top references, as a part-time hire. We are paying him on an hourly rate, with no benefits, because that is all we can afford to do with the Depression worsening. We can't commit to hire anyone on a full-time basis. All the associate attorneys at his old firm had been laid off because of economic problems at that firm, and he's happy to be getting at least something in terms of work from us.

Unfortunately, things are just going to keep getting worse and worse with the present folks running the country into the ground. So I don't see any turnaround in this situation. Even partners are just living pay-check to pay-check and hoping we bring in enough each month to make payroll and cover overhead.

#3 Jim on 2011-09-30 17:22 (Reply)

I took the LSAT at the advice of my boss when I worked for Texaco. Then I thought - wait a minute - I'm going to law school in Louisiana - what the hell good is that gonna do for me?

I never did go to law school. :>)

#4 Tom Francis on 2011-09-30 21:14 (Reply)

I believe in Virginia you can still apprentice and become a lawyer. There is a lawyer in my hometown that choose that route -- I think she may have gotten her law license in the 1970's or 1980's.

As of a few years ago, in Virginia, you had to be under a broker to become a real estate agent (and stay under him for X number of years). I almost did that -- with the housing market cratering, I think I'm glad that I missed that career (mis)step.

#5 SEM on 2011-10-01 02:01 (Reply)

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Friday, September 30. 2011

50,000 people are taking the LSAT tomorrow