Too Many Lawyers. Here's One Solution
The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergA large part of the law business is in crisis. Lawyers and judges bemoan a “justice gap”: millions of Americans who need legal services but can’t afford them. At the same time, many law school graduates can’t find legal jobs paying a decent wage.
Many factors contribute to this apparent breakdown of the law of supply and demand. Huge tuition-debt loads discourage law grads from taking low-paying public interest jobs. There’s also the bizarre reality that most grads don’t know the first thing about drafting a contract, conducting a deposition, or doing any of the other practical tasks a lawyer needs to know to make a go of it. How law schools get away with charging such high fees without imparting basic skills is a topic for another day (or many other days).