Is it worth it?
That's the question asked on nearly every law-related online forum and blog, in The New York Times, and even in the corridors of law schools in recent months. With the downturn in the economy and less certainty about high-paying jobs, is it worth it for students to accumulate huge law school debt?
The answer for many observers depends on whether the law school in question is a top-tier law school or not. Of the 200 ABA-approved law schools in the United States, not all are equal in quality and value.
"Different schools have different missions," Dean Evan Caminker points out. "Some, like ours, have fairly broad and general educational goals, such as analytical thinking and leadership, in addition to vocational goals. Other schools, with primarily a local or regional clientele and focus, are more like purely vocational schools in that nearly everyone there is simply trying to get a better job.
"For the latter schools, the negative impact on earning potential of the economic downturn might give students considering attending those schools some pause. I could imagine an appreciable number of law applicants determining, upon careful reflection, that the kinds of law jobs they are likely to secure upon graduation are neither so intrinsically interesting or fulfilling, nor so remunerative, that going into significant debt for law school really makes sense."
The answer to the question of "is it worth it," suggests Kent D. Syverud, '81, depends on one's motivation for attending law school. "What's going to happen now, because law school is so expensive, is people are going to have to think a lot harder about law school and what they want to get out of it. There's a lot of speculation about whether there is a bubble in which people are not willing to pay the current tuition in order to get a legal education," says Syverud, a former Michigan Law professor and associate dean, and current dean of the Washington University in St. Louis School of Law.
"A law degree is a great thing to get if you have a passion for law, and some graduates will do very well with it and earn high salaries. Others will be quite happy. Not everyone will become wealthy.
"The past 25 years have been a particularly successful time for law schools and lawyers from top law schools, but that period was not constitutionally guaranteed to last forever," says Syverud.
Richard Matasar, dean of New York Law School and president of the board of the American Law Deans Association, seconds the notion that students should be asked about their motivation for attending law school. "You want to solve problems, help people—that's great. If your primary motivation is wealth, I'll tell you this isn't the right field."
Matasar—whose school was used as a focal point for The New York Times in an article about the economics of law school, and whose school was in the news even more recently as one of several involved in a class-action lawsuit by its alumni—has pushed for reforms in the ways that law schools educate students, while also explaining the value of a law school education beyond a new graduate's starting salary. He points out that he tells every student "that going to law school is among the most important financial decisions they will ever make, that the job market for students outside the top 10 percent of their graduating class is tough, and that 90 percent of them are guaranteed not to be in the top 10 percent of their class."
For those who make the decision to attend, law schools need to prove the value of the education and the degree. That could—and should—mean adding to the scope of a law student's education, Matasar points out. Teaching theory is still vital, but so is real-world, practice-based instruction.
"We're all worried about the same thing: the value of the education against its cost. Whether we're delivering the best quality we can in order for them to be professionals when they graduate. Adding value to society," he says.
Law schools are very good at producing scholarly research and contributing to the justice system, he notes, and graduates of schools such as Michigan Law undeniably have added great value to society, Matasar adds.