Today, more and more young people are finding service-oriented careers attractive. Indeed, there is a seismic generational shift underway. Generation Y is breaking with the tradition of paying one’s dues and climbing the corporate ladder; instead, Millennials seek to find work that they are passionate about, that reflects their values, and that brings deep meaning to their lives. Our generation places a greater emphasis on public service.
Unfortunately, the majority of graduates from our nation’s top law schools aren’t jumping on this bandwagon. Many enter law school with the desire to contribute to social change. Bright-eyed and imbued with idealism, they hope to use their legal skills to advocate on behalf of the most vulnerable and marginalized populations in society. But research has indicated that two-thirds of those who enter law school with an interest in the public sector do not end up in that line of work. Instead, most law students are influenced by the competitive environment of law school, and tend to forget the reason they decided to become lawyers in the first place.
The statistics are depressing – but not surprising; the vast majority of law school graduates are not using their incredible talents for social change. In 2008, 74% of law graduates from Northwestern joined corporate law firms, while only 7% entered the field of public interest law. At Stanford, 61% joined law firms, and about 10% joined government and public interest organizations. Even worse, 82% of University of Chicago law graduates began working with private law firms, with only 2% entering the field of government and public interest law!
The reality is that tuition for one year of law school is generally over $40,000 – which is about the same as an entire year’s salary for public defenders or legal aid lawyers. While law schools do have loan repayment programs, they are often very strict in their terms and many public interest lawyers find themselves unable to benefit as much as they had hoped. On the flip side, the average starting salary for corporate lawyers is generally over $130,000. Law firms also recruit aggressively at law schools, and students find themselves with several job offers in hand by fall of their third year; public interest employers face a disadvantage because non-profits hire on an ad-hoc basis and many do not have a strong campus presence during recruitment time. By the end of law school, most students put their idealistic dreams on the backburner for the time being, and decide to take on a stable corporate job for a few years in order to pay off their loans.
Due to skyrocketing tuition costs and the competitive recruitment atmosphere, law schools are practically forcing graduates to join law firms at a time when we need more public interest lawyers than ever. Domestically, we must dramatically reform malfunctioning criminal justice and immigration systems, and narrow the growing gap between rich and poor. A 2009 study by the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) reports that about 50% of individuals seeking help are turned away due to lack of resources. Nationally, only one legal aid attorney is available for almost 6,500 low-income individuals. Abroad, we need international human rights lawyers to combat torture, lack of access to justice, poverty, war crimes, and gender-based violence.
Ultimately, graduates from America’s elite law schools come from the most privileged echelon of society and are equipped with the skills necessary to become leaders in the fight for social justice. Gen Y lawyers need to step up and play a larger role in solving some of the most critical social problems of our time. But in order to bring back the tradition of public interest lawyering, law schools must lead the front lines of the battle by ratcheting up the financial, intellectual, and practical support available for law students interested in public service careers.
Currently, it takes courage and willpower to resist societal norms and give up prestige, respect, wealth, and power to be a public interest lawyer. We need to work towards a world where a public interest legal career does not involve sacrifice – but instead, where serving our fellow citizens is considered the norm, rather than the anomaly.
(Note: This post was actually written for a recent class assignment – but I thought it was relevant enough to include here! Though it may be repetitive in its themes, I hope you still enjoyed it!)
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