Category Archive: Law School Debt

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Student Loan Forgiveness

When I was applying to law school, I ended up having to make some difficult decisions (as we all do). Basically, my options boiled down to School A with some financial assistance, School B with more assistance, or School C with a significant amount of assistance. I distinctly remember discussing those options with a friend/recent graduate. He told me that he’d attended a school with minimal assistance and his loan payments repayments were essentially going to amount to a second mortgage for the foreseeable future. Suffice to say, loans are a significant factor driving many applicants decision to apply to law, and the practical ramifications of taking out significant loans should not be ignored.

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admissions / debt / employment / Law School / scholarships / Student Loans

Does Raising Tuition Increase Enrollments for Law Schools?

No prospective law student likes how expensive law school is. A lot of people take on tons and tons of debt to go to school. Then, when they graduate, the pressure is on those lawyers to chart a career path that lets them have a chance at getting out from under that debt. For graduates of lower-tier schools with lots of debt, it’s often hard to find such a career path.

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admissions / Law School / Legal Debt / Legal Jobs

Good News/Bad News with the Current Legal Job Market

All potential law students should keep themselves apprised of the ever-changing status of the legal job market. After all, the vast majority of students do not begin law school with a job waiting for them on the other side. Recently, there have been a number of important developments, both good and bad, which this post will cover.

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loans / News / student loan debt

Student Loan Servicer Navient Gets Smacked By The Feds

On Wednesday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed suit in federal district court against Evil Corp. — er, Navient — the largest student loan servicer in the nation.

Before we get into all that evil, a little background: Navient is a spinoff of Sallie Mae — a quasi-governmental entity that holds and services student loan debt — and it’s the largest student loan servicer in the nation.

debt / law schools

Big Brother, Spare a Dime?

Going to law school is very risky. The Law School Transparency movement has helped a lot of people make the right decision.

Most law school aspirants are looking at $250,000 to $320,000 in debt and a 30% or more chance that they will not be working as lawyers after they graduate. There are over 100 law schools where your chances of not getting a full-time, JD required job are 30% or greater. Just look at the LST stats for yourself.

law school debt / Legal Jobs

How to nail down a lawyer job before loans come due

The ABA recently released statistics showing which law schools have the highest percentage of unemployed recent graduates. Now, ideally, you’ll score well on the LSAT and have more secure options available to you than any of those schools (I’m not trying to be dismissive of any of the listed institutions…but your odds of getting a return on investment are higher betting $150,000 on a singly hand of blackjack…and that won’t take 3 years of your life). Putting the option of getting a higher LSAT score aside, this post is going to focus on the best ways to maximize your chances of getting a job while you’re actually in law school.

debt / law schools / tuition / two years

Law School: Too Long?

Law school is really expensive. After three years of law school you’ll likely have a mountain of debt—which means about $3,500 in monthly loan payments for 10 years.

Take a very popular refrain you’ll hear from employers, “Law school doesn’t get you ready for actual practice.”

admissions / debt / law schools

Caveat Scolasticus, or, in English, Student Beware

We told you a few weeks ago about the student that was suing her law school for allegedly misrepresenting employment data. She lost.

My property professor is fond of saying that only deviants litigate, since pretty much everyone else figures out how to fix their problems outside of a courtroom. So what can prospective law school students do short of suing after they’ve already taken a $300,000 plunge?

JAG / law school loans / law schools / Legal Jobs / LRAP / Military / PSLF / Public Service Law / student loan debt

Public Service Law: Repaying Law School Loans

The price tag on law school can be overwhelming, and the plan for a lot of potential lawyers is to find a job at a big firm—which comes with a big salary—to pay off those loans. But what if you want to work in public service, which isn’t known for doling out high salaries?

1L / classroom courses / first year / law school diary / law schools

LSAT Instructor: My First Week of Law Classes

Classes – the graded, real kind – started this week at Columbia. Sure, we did go through three weeks of Legal Methods, but that’s a pass-fail class that everyone passes.

Among other things, you’re supposed to get your first cold-calls out of the way in Legal Methods. You see, at law school, professors don’t wait for someone to contribute to the class discussion. They call on people. So you’d better be ready.

Or not.

Class participation usually won’t figure into your final grade, so you can flub all your cold-calls, but you’d better have a high tolerance for public shaming.