Law Schools Opening Firms to Help Their Unemployed Graduates

Job market has left with no clients, lots of debt

With job offers for law school graduates dropping, applications to law school hitting a 30-year low, the number of heavily indebted grads with no clients on the rise, and a vast number of Americans unable to afford a lawyer, Douglas J. Sylvester, dean of the law school at Arizona State University, recognized that the job market for his students was shifting. There was also a new demand for graduates already able to draft documents and interact with clients. So, Sylvester realized that what was needed were 'teaching' firms. The result? The University is now setting up a nonprofit law firm this summer in which 30 graduates will work under seasoned lawyers and be paid for a wide range of services at a relatively low cost. Other schools are making efforts to address the crisis, as well. The University of California Hastings College of the Law will place some third-year students into offices like the public defender’s for full-time training on the understanding that the next year those students will be employed there for small salaries. And City University of New York and Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego have set up incubators to train future solo practitioners in their first year out of school, offering office space and mentors. (NY Times)

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