what the hell... most undergrads start off in the $40k range out of school if they go to work
niccaz spending $100k on school and having debt but landing $40k jobs...
damn that means you have to go to harvard, yale, columbia, ect
It's the numbers at the top that get all the attention: At the largest law firms, median starting salaries were $145,000 last fall, according to NALP, an organization that tracks law placement.
But many students don't realize at first that the high-paying law firms recruit almost exclusively at institutions ranked in the top 15 or so. Overall, the median salary for new lawyers is $62,000. For public interest law jobs, new lawyers can expect about $40,000.
Meanwhile, the average amount students borrow to attend a private law school surged 25% between 2002 and 2007 to $87,906, ABA figures show. For public law schools, borrowing averages $57,170.
"I think we have this fundamental disconnect between images of lawyers in the popular media, in the courtroom dispensing justice, where everyone seems prosperous and well paid," said William Henderson, an Indiana University-Bloomington law professor who studies the job market. "The reality is for a lot of people, law school is a route to trying to start your own private practice, and that's a very crowded business right now."
Vichet Chan, who received his law degree from Catholic University in Washington, D.C., in 2007 has been looking for work ever since. He recently moved back in with his parents in West Virginia to save money. He owes about $250 a month in interest on student loans. If he gets a job, he will lose his hardship deferral and will owe about $1,000 a month.
