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Not a lawyer but I am shocked! I assumed being a lawyer meant a 6 figure salary!

Yikes! I had no idea.

I'm not a lawyer, but I went through the whole process with my husband, and we would both urge anyone who was considering law school to think very very hard about that decision, and exactly why they're doing it. It is so much harder to find a job now that it used to be, and even if you do end up with a high paying job, most of the people who do it aren't happy and leave to do something else after a few years. SO NOT worth all the debt we took on.

@MrsH: Honestly, I don't think my husband would have listened either if someone had told him. I think law schools are a huge part of the reason for this. They publish ridiculous false statistics about how many of their students get jobs and how much they make, but then when you can't find a job, they do absolutely nothing to help you.

This is true for all my friends who are lawyers. A couple I am friends with both graduated from law school, and collectively they have six figures of debt. After a long search for jobs, they both now teach middle school history.

I intended to go to law school after undergrad, but I took a year off after graduation, and after that year I no longer had any desire... All my friends who already graduated talked me out of it.

urgh I can write a whole novel on this issue. I'm a lawyer and I've been practicing for about 5-6 years. I graduated in 2008 during that huge economic crisis when noone was hiring. Firms either had major layoffs or those who hired were able to offer rock bottom salaries because people were desperate for jobs. As a result, all future raised have been tided to that rock bottom starting salary, (mine wasn't even that bad but still low.)
Being a lawyer involves very long hours, no guaranteed vacation days, (you can take as much time off as you want but you HAVE TO meet your billable hours quota), and very mentally draining work. I think I'm pretty good at what I do so there is definitely satisfaction in that but this is not some emotionally or soul fulfilling job. Most days are fine. Some days are horrid. It's a demanding job that allows my family to have a comfortable life style.

I would suggest that if you're in it for the potential super high income and nothing else, that law school is a mistake.
If you want to go to lawschool I would suggest first working at a lawfirm to understand what the day to day job really entails. If you're still interested after that then you'll be ok.

Oh the other thing I would say is that there is a HUGE difference between Big Firm and Small Firm salaries, culture and hours. People working in big firms do have high salaries but their expected billable hours are OUTRAGEOUS and in my opinion NOT realistic for anyone who wants a family or social life. Most firms across the country are small firms with more reasonable billable hours but also lower salaries.

i work at a small firm in a small city, and i have a fantastic work/life balance - HOWEVER, i don't make anywhere near 6 figures, and doubt that i will ever come close.

i probably would have reconsidered law school if the market in 2006 when i started looked like it does now. there just aren't the same opportunities, and jobs are fewer and farther between, especially the ones where you make the kind of money people expect lawyers to make. the majority of people that i graduated with have been unemployed at some point or another, and its become a tragic part of being an attorney and looking for legal work.

Ok so I just glanced at the numbers in the article. I guess it's a national average but in larger cities these numbers are not accurate. I don't know any lawyers making $40K a year. And while some do start as low as $62K those are working in public interest/legal aide which is a small portion of the legal jobs out there. I can say that in 2008 at the height of the economic crisis I had a starting salary significantly higher than that at a small start up firm. This is not a bad salary. The problem and the reason for the dissatisfaction comes from the HUGE disparity between what law schools promise you and what you realize is reality after graduation.

Like lots of professions there is the potential to make a lot if you're at the top of your class and extremely bright but there are many who struggle to find jobs. And not everyone can get a high paying job out of law school.

I would definitely tell someone to seriously consider what they would enjoy doing 12-14 hours a day. Also they should go shadow some attorneys in various types of areas to get an idea of what their day is like. Working at the public defenders office is very different than working at a huge law firm which is really different than working at a small firm doing something like personal injury work.

There are all kinds of lawyers just like there are all kinds of doctors or engineers. A general practitioner might make $100,000 a year while a skilled surgeon can make two, three or four times that easily...same goes for attorneys.

All I know is it's a lot of money and a lot of time to get law degree so it's a not a decision that should be made without a lot of thought and consideration

ETA: I graduated in 2004 and things were still pretty good at that time. I worked for 7 years following graduation. At the biggest firms first year associates were making about $125,000 the smaller the firm the salary is usually lower unless it's a highly specialized practice area

I'm in BigLaw and like it, but it only works because my spouse has a much lower key job and a ton of schedule autonomy. That said, even with the BigLaw paycheck, paying off two sets of law school loans is rough. We're 3 and 5 years out of school and still saving for a down payment on a house. We both did federal clerkships, and while it was terribly fun and prestigious, looking back I wish I joined my firm sooner just so we'd be further out of debt.

For those thinking about law school, I think the value prop works if you can get into a great school, but it gets very tricky not that deep into the rankings. Scholarships are a gamble because on a curve, there is no way to guarantee that you'll keep the required GPA.

@LindsayInNY: Well that's depressing. I'm in LA and here those number are not accurate. When all my friends and I graduated from law school, starting salaries at small and medium firms were in the 70 and 80 thousand dollar range. Much more for big firms, (although those were not hiring as much.)

Like I said above, the only people I know with the sort of starting salaries mentioned in the article are those in public interest. And I would HOPE that attorneys going into public interest are not practicing law for the money.

In any event, this is certainly a tough field to be in regardless of the specific salary in question.

I could go on and on about this forever, but to keep it short- I regret law school (and the loans) so much. I enjoyed the school part so totally thought I would love being a practicing attorney. Nope. Hated it, hated it, hated it.

I quit to be a sahm. I'll prob go back to work when my daughter is older, but it won't be law.

Eta: I graduated in 07. Those numbers seem very, very (sadly) accurate to me

Yes, I'd recommend anyone interested in law go to law school! I love my job, I love the challenges, I love what I do. And i love being a professional, and having some control over my hours and stuff. But if your question is would I encourage anyone looking for a lucrative salary to go to law school? No. I wouldn't encourage someone to get a graduate degree just for financial gain, especially if it meant loans.

I started my job before the market crash and then got a series of pay cuts and salary freezes over the first few years. But I make a decent salary and have a job I love, so it has worked out well for me. I don't make as much as I could be making, but that's a lifestyle choice. Most of my friends who went to big law have long transferred out of firm life.

It would depend on the person and what their undergrad degree was in. I didn't grow up dreaming of going to law school. I got my undergrad degree in Psychology, and a BA in Psyc is pretty useless. So I knew I needed a graduate degree. I originally planned on going into school counseling, but chose law school because school counselors are typically paid poorly.

I knew going into law school that I did not want a traditional job at a firm. I think expectations are key. If someone is going to law school purely to be like a lawyer they saw on tv, I would not recommend it (a vast majority of cases settle outside of court).

I went to a third tier law school with a scholarship that paid over half of my tuition. The scholarship was key. I still have loans but it could be much worse. DH went to law school on a full ride (they actually paid him a stipend). I would not advise someone to pay $30K+/year for law school unless they've got some serious connections.

I also think a lot of people think all JDs are created equal. Not true. You still have to work hard to make good grades. If you slack off and are at the middle/bottom of your class, then yeah, you're going to have a hard time finding a job (unless you have connections). I do have one friend from law school that was at the top and had a hard time, but everyone else at the top found a job easily (I also live in a big city, though).

I worked hard, did well, was on law review, and was able to find a great job. It's a non-traditional job, but you do have to be a licensed attorney to work where I do, so I wouldn't have had the opportunity if not for law school. I could make more working at a firm, but I like the work-life balance that my job affords.

I don't make six figures, but I make a hell of a lot more than I would in most other jobs that only require a BA in Psychhology.

Don't have time to read the article but I'd never tell anyone to go to law school. I graduated in 2008 so most of my friends were lucky to get jobs, but we're at the point where a lot of people are looking to move and it is haaaaard. The job market sucks. The hours suck. Being a lawyer sucks. The pay either sucks or is so not worth it because the only jobs that pay well suck your soul in a thousand different ways. And yea. The loans. SUCK.

@MrsH: There was nothing about it that I enjoyed. I tried several different types of law - admin, criminal, litigation, etc, and I just wasn't happy. I think the biggest thing was that the adversarial nature of the field really got to me after awhile. It was exhausting constantly having to defend or fight... I don't know if that makes any sense, but after awhile, I found myself craving a job where I could just *be*.

I think it just depends. A lot of career fields require you to go to grad school and people don't expect big salaries (social work, masters of public health, masters of library science, masters in planning, etc). Law school is an extra year, which is probably unnecessary and adds to the extra debt. I am an attorney and worked in a firm for awhile when I was younger and it appealed to me, but was able to get a well paying in house transactional job with normal hours that I have been able to take part time after kids. I feel fortunate, but I also have worked hard and am good at my job. I know lots of friends in other fields who have the same issues finding jobs as lawyers. I do have debt, but my rate is so low that my monthly payment is comparable with our monthly contributions to our kids college funds.

If you goal is to make a lot of money, law is not the field though. Partners in big firms still make no where near hedge fund/private equity and in my experience the hours do not level off for law partners like they do for finance partners. My husband works in finance, has no graduate degree and makes more than big firm lawyers in my area. Even still, I don't regret that I went!

I am rambling, but I would never discourage law school if that is your interest. I think pop culture can be misleading regarding lawyers, but with any sort of grad school having a goal when you start can help you to land on your feet and not just a pool of debt.