Some alarming news related to the LSAT just surfaced. Well, it may be
alarming depending on your point of view. As you may know, the LSAT is
the exam given as a minimum requirement by colleges and universities for
entry into their law graduate program. In other words, you don't pass
the LSAT, you don't have a chance at law school in America. It is a
screening mechanism; a filter. It is the gatekeeper; the border patrol
of the law industry.
I learned today that, allegedly, fewer people
are wanting to be lawyers. Okay, so maybe it's not that exactly. But
the report was that at least one university received fewer applications
to law school this year and that it was the first time in four years
that the number went down instead of up. And then the other statistic
was reported by an industry organization. And it was that the numbers
were down either 12 or 16 per cent from the previous year.
In any
case it was in the teens for the drop. It was either for law school
applications nationally or it was for number of students taking the
LSAT. The news report speculated on reasons for the fewer numbers. They
guessed that maybe one reason is that fewer young students believe that a
law degree will ensure a high paying job. They are probably right. Not
that the salaries in general have gone down suddenly, because they
probably haven't. I think that it has always been the case that law
school graduates must first take low paying jobs and spend years to
decades before they work their way up in a large firm to make the big
bucks, or get enough experience and clients to start their own little
company.
