Applications to law schools nationally and regionally are expected to dip this year, jobs in the legal industry have been dwindling and the internal structure of the profession is changing rapidly.
It may not appear to be the best time to consider starting a law school, which is what is on the table at Indiana Tech. Trustees there have authorized a law school feasibility study that is expected to be completed May 13.
But Robert Wagner, chair of the Indiana Tech board, a member of a committee studying the proposal and a partner at Shambaugh, Kast, Beck & Williams LLP, said he believes the objective is not necessarily to turn out more lawyers but to provide students with an educational opportunity that would be beneficial if applied to other occupations.
Moreover, Wagner, who spoke on a personal level and not as a representative of the university, said there are many students who possess the innate and learned skills to successfully complete law school but who narrowly miss the demanding applicant requirements.
“I’m not talking about making more lawyers,” he said. ”I’m talking about more people obtaining a law school education. Let’s say 100 percent of the applications are considered by a law school and only 10 percent are accepted. What about the next 10 percent? Wouldn’t they also be some very well-qualified, well-intentioned people who could obtain this education and make a big difference in their personal lives, their professions and in their communities?
“The answer is: Absolutely.”
Nell Jessup Newton, Joseph A. Matson Dean of the University of Notre Dame Law School, agreed about the wisdom of starting a law school but on a different front.
“Some say there are too many new lawyers for the current job market,” she said. “But while it is true that the recession has taken its toll on the number of job openings for new graduates at the most elite private firms, it is not the case that there is too much affordable legal representation available to everyone who needs need it. So there well may be room for a good local law school.”
If Indiana Tech developed a law school, it would become the fifth in Indiana. Besides Notre Dame, the others are the Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis, the Indiana University Maurer School of Law in Bloomington and the Valparaiso University School of Law.
Wagner said it is his understanding that a law school at Indiana Tech would not aim to compete with the state’s other law schools but rather complement their efforts.
Nevertheless, the proposal does come at a challenging time for the nation’s law schools and the legal profession.
Wendy Margolis, director of communications for the Law School Admission Council, which administers law school admission tests, said that with roughly 80 percent of 2011 figures counted, the number of people applying to law schools for fall admission is down 12 percent nationally from the same period last year, and the number of applications — which can count multiple submissions from the same applicant — is down 12.6 percent.
In the Great Lakes region, which includes Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin, the number of people applying is down 12.1 percent, and the number of applications is down 9.5 percent.
Margolis said she believes the declines are due to reports that the job market for legal professions has shrunk.
“I just think a lot of people feel they’re going to get into law to get a lot of money and get a big job, and lot of the media is saying it’s not so easy anymore,” she said. “I think the message should be: People should consider why they’re getting into law, what they can afford and what they can expect when they get out (of school.)”
Indeed, the job market for those considering a career in law has changed.
Judy Collins, research director for the National Association of Legal Career Professionals, or NALP, said jobs in the industry dropped in 2008 and 2009, the latest years for which figures were available.
Some law schools continue to report robust job placement rates nine months after graduation. Notre Dame, for instance, had placement rates ranging from 98.7 percent to 99 percent between 2008 and 2010. IU’s Maurer School of Law reported a job placement rate in 2009 of 96.6 percent.
But NALP reported that members of the 2009 graduating class nationally were more likely than previous classes to be working part time, working a temporary job or working in a job that does not require a juris doctor degree.
Further, NALP said, the overall employment rate for the 2009 class was 88.3 percent, down 3.6 percentage points from a historical high of 91.9 percent for the class of 2007.
Jim Leipold, executive director of NALP, said the recession and lingering economic uncertainty has had something to do with the employment swings, but there are many other factors at play these days.
He said technology is replacing some workers at large law firms, the billable-hour standard is being replaced by flat or capped fees and graduates who do find jobs not associated with large firms often encounter relatively low wages, especially considering the debt they incurred attending law school.
Leipold said 34 percent of graduates wind up in small practices of between two and 10 lawyers and make a starting average salary of $42,000 a year. He said the average starting salary for prosecutors is $50,000; public defenders, $45,700; and public-interest organization attorneys, $45,000.
“The industry is going through tremendous structural change, particularly in how large law firms are staffed,” Leipold said. “The law firm business model, in general, is in a period of great change.”
He said the climate makes it a “very risky environment for opening a law school.”
New law schools, as well as established institutions, must re-examine values and expectations, he said, including the school’s mission and what a student’s “realistic prospects are in the local economy.”
“That’s the biggest ethical problem,” Leipold said. “What is our value proposition and how can we sleep at night? (Graduates) are coming out of school with $200,000 worth of debt and they’re going to be starting at $50,000-a-year jobs. What are the realistic job prospects to be able to pay off that debt?”
Notre Dame’s Newton also addressed the debt issue when considering the notion of starting a law school: “The key would be to keep the costs down so as to keep student debt down.
“The monthly student loan payments for some new law graduates is equivalent to a hefty house payment, which makes it very difficult for them to provide low-cost legal services, even though many would like to do so if they could only afford it.
“So,” Newton said, “the real trick would be to create a low-cost law school that offers a high-quality education.”
Even with the challenges, Wagner, a graduate of the IU law school in Bloomington, sees great potential for a local law school, which he said would not only benefit the students, regardless of what occupation they choose, but also enhance the stature of the school and the community.
“Graduates are going to make a world of difference in their own lives and the lives of those with whom they associate,” Wagner said. “I think it would be a wonderful addition, if you will, to what this city has to offer and to people who may be thinking of moving here and settling or those already here who want to stay.”
Daniel McNamara, president of the Allen County Bar Association, sees another advantage to having a local law school: Students would be able to assist local law firms and serve longer internships that would allow the firms to better assess students’ talents in the event positions come open.
“I don’t see a downside,” he said, “to the community or the bar association in having a law school.”