ALT-3 Choosing a Law Career Reasons to Reconsider
The legal profession is intriguing. Law comes with a wealth of history and modern trends. Stories of lawyers winning crucial cases in trials or appeals abound. Television programs such as Law & Order make law appear fascinating and practiced with ease. Lawyers thrust into the spotlight with national cases make the legal profession that much more appealing. Therefore, law schools open their wide doors to interested students every new school year. However, these eager students fail to understand certain aspects that will sadly hit them upon their graduation. This article details the realities of law school and paralegal studies in my former institution, Loyola University Chicago.
Loyola University Chicago School of Law
I did not attend Loyola's School of Law. However, I did share classroom and library space with law students. I often overheard their trials and tribulations of law school and aspects they never expected on entrance. Tuition costs rise every school year. Full time and part time costs are nearly the same and both are incredibly expensive. Loyola University Chicago is a private institution and serves well for students and graduates, but is not of Ivy League status. I can only imagine, then, what Ivy League law school costs are. Full time and part time course loads are virtually the same and equally intense. Full time loads are roughly five courses per semester. Part time loads require no less than four courses per semester. Therefore, devotion is essentially the same. I often witnessed first-hand the man hours law students put in for studying and researching. A law student's devotion and determination to course work is truly awe-inspiring and one that an average undergraduate could never match. Yet, this devotion and willingness to completely turn off free time does not guarantee a lucrative career upon graduation. National salary trends show downward spirals. The legal profession, then, is not immune from the failing job market.
Loyola University Chicago's Institute for Paralegal Studies
I did attend Loyola's Institute for Paralegal Studies and have personal knowledge of this facet of the legal profession. Unlike Loyola's School of Law, tuition costs are reasonable. The course load is far more reasonable as well, at three courses per eight-week session. A variety of concentrations are offered, ranging from Civil Litigation with appropriate practice areas to choose from in studies, to Corporate Law with appropriate practice areas to choose from in studies to, to Estates, Wills, & Trusts with its own areas to study. In essence, any area of law a student wishes to focus on can be had. Students can focus on more than concentration as well. The typical duration of paralegal studies depends on the student. Loyola's School of Law typically runs three to four years. However, students in the Institute for Paralegal Studies often take months-long breaks to work. Therefore, most students attend school from August to May, August to August, August to December, or longer. In other words, the duration is incredibly flexible. However, similar to law school graduation, employment as a paralegal is not guaranteed. In fact, paralegal employment is incredibly difficult in this legal market as more experienced paralegals and higher-billing lawyers always get the job first.
I attended Loyola's Institute for Paralegal Studies from August 2008 to October 2009. My course load was average, generally two to three courses per session. I maintained a strong 3.4 GPA upon completion. I concentrated on Civil Litigation with hopes of finding employment in a Family Law or Medical Malpractice firm in Chicago. I have been unemployed and actively searching for a position since October. I am closing in on eight months unemployment and have long since given up on paralegal jobs. I cannot even find file clerk positions in law firms. Simply put, no one is hiring.
Law is intriguing, without a doubt. However, the realities stated above may give one reason to reconsider. Hopefully, with time, the legal market will settle upwards and law school and paralegal program graduates will find gainful employment in their chosen careers. Until then, perhaps law is not the way to go.
