How Bankruptcy Can Save the Legal Profession

[bobbyw24]

Allowing law school debt to be discharged in bankruptcy would thin the ranks of lawyers and law schools while freeing the hopelessly indebted from their document review nightmares

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I will never forget this quote delivered by the commencement speaker at my law school graduation: “live within your means or you’ll be living by someone else’s rules.” The rest of the speech was predictably forgettable, however, this quote in particular killed with my conservative family, gaining heartfelt dinner table praise from my trial lawyer Father. “Live within your means, or you’ll be living by someone else’s rules.” A solid piece of advice meant to be implemented on a going forward basis: don’t buy a house or car you can’t afford, save money, shop at Costco, don’t borrow money to go to law school etc. Wait what? Who would have guessed that more than half of my class had unknowingly violated the speaker’s Poor Richard like principles on the day of their graduation simply because they had chosen to pursue a career in law?

http://www.nationalbankruptcyforum.com/uncategorized/how-bankruptcy-can-save-the-legal-profession/

[HOLLYWOOD]

ObamaCare / HHS has been granting waivers to Law Firms... WTF?


Yes the waiver exemption on ObamaCare now over 920+... Help the poor indebted lawyers!

Just get a Job at the US Government and have Uncle Sam Dismiss your educational Debt! Thanks Teddy Kennedy

PS: Line up a fat public pension too!

[madengr]

Well boo f'ing hoo!

[jmdrake]

LOL. I thought this was going to be a thread about lawyers making money doing bankruptcy and divorce work. Every cloud has a silver lining. And every silver lining has a touch of grey.

[bobbyw24]

BTW-I went to law school with the guy in the OP. He is a Libertarian

[bobbyw24]

LOL. I thought this was going to be a thread about lawyers making money doing bankruptcy and divorce work. Every cloud has a silver lining. And every silver lining has a touch of grey.

Nope-it's a continuation of the Facebook message thread that Collins, I and others are involved in. You had a great response to that thread by the way.

[Koz]

All of the lawyers I know are doing pretty well. I don't see it.

[cbc58]

not going to feel bad for lawyers. the legal profession is one of the most protected and politically connected systems which actively works to keep out free market competition.

open up law firms so that they can be co-owned by non-lawyers and you will see atty fees drop for the consumer. this is a big part of why our country and financial system is the shape it's in, and changing the laws to allow more competition for legal services would reduce costs and the debt burden on consumers and the government.

real eye opener when you research it and see how active they are at keeping competition out.

[bobbyw24]

All of the lawyers I know are doing pretty well. I don't see it.

We have a For-Profit Law School here in N. Fla. which is very expensive and the graduates from ths school are doing very poorly. I wonder why the hell they choose to go to law school in this economy. Why they incur over $100K in debt in order to land a $50K job if they are lucky enough to find work.

The Fed Govt enables this crap by giving large loans to these students while the schools rake in the cash and the students become debt slaves

[stu2002]

As an alum of the law school to which bobbyw24 refers, I can attest that going to law school or that school was a huge mistake. I owe $95,000 in student loans. The school is overpriced and many students attend it since they could not get into a good school like Univ of Florida or FSU--or they came from the North like me to get warmer weather and a law degree.

During the admissions process a dean told me that the school is "up and coming." It is more like down and falling. Most of the people in my class cannot find jobs and some go to legal aid on contract where the school pays legal aid to pay us so it can inflate its employment numbers. And every year the incoming classes get bigger.

I love the free market and wish people would ignore this school so that it would just shut down.

[bobbyw24]

The ABA's Young Lawyers Division on Saturday voted to press for greater transparency for would-be lawyers considering law school to give them a greater understanding of the risks of assuming the sometimes staggering debt required to obtain a J.D.

The division's assembly adopted a multipoint policy resolution dubbed "Truth in Law School Education" urging law schools to improve post-graduate employment information provided to prospective students and ensure that information is prominently featured in communications. The division is next expected to bring the resolution, which has had the support of ABA President Stephen N. Zack, to the ABA's policymaking House of Delegates at its annual meeting in August.

“The Young Lawyers Division of the American Bar Association is proud to be at the forefront of the law school transparency movement,” division chair David Wolfe said in a release about the vote. “It is essential that all prospective law school students have access to accurate and straightforward information regarding the real earning potential and cost of every law school. ”

http://www.abajournal.com/weekly/article/aba_young_lawyers_seek_transparency_in_law_school_ employment_info?utm_source=maestro&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly_email