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When paying upwards of $150,000 and graduating with a degree most would expect to know what they needed to perform the job they studied for. This is not true in the case of many law schools. While they are top notch schools it seems that many of the professors have never practiced law. They have only taught the facts and written legal articles such as “A Future Foretold:Neo-Aristoelian Praise of Postmodern Legal Theory.”
Practical training is lacking in many aspects in the law schools around the country. The schools have for many years put more emphasis on the theoretical over the practical and useful. The classes are often time stuffed with varieties of law that do not prepare the student for the real world cases they will face.
When the economy was booming clients would often pay for the students to learn on the job. This gave them great experience and they learned how to properly handle the cases while doing the cases. The clients have paid close to $300 per hour for those who are learning in the job force. Because of the recent downturn in the economy and all the problems with the legal-fees they are essentially telling firms to train them on their own time and dollar.
Due to this turn in client funding and willingness to pay for the on the job training, hiring as seen a dramatic decrease the past three years. They have lost close to 10,000 jobs just since 2008. They are not hiring the fresh out of school graduates anymore because they do not have the funds or the time to train someone.
Law schools are taking note of this decline and are adding more programs to their schedules to help their students gain the experience needed to land the jobs. This helps to give them the valuable experience in the real world that is needed to succeed. The problem is almost all of the funding goes to those professors writing the legal review articles and this can cause problems. The practical experience is just not there. This goes back to the professors never practicing law in an actual setting a day in their life. For medical schools it would be like filling those professor spots who have never sat foot inside of a hospital.
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Some firms are allowing first year associates to spend around four months on corporate law. This is done at a reduced salary and they are not able to bill the client yet. They find it is a great opportunity to learn the ins and outs of corporate law and get real hands on experience in how it works. While you would think it comes from the school itself, the firms are where today’s lawyers are learning what it means to be a lawyer.
