AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION Law Student Division · As leaders of the American Bar Association’s ... prove that their graduates pass the bar exam at or no more than 10 ... If we can

Judy Perry Martinez, Chair Page 1

AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION

To: Judy Perry Martinez, Chair ABA Commission on the Future of Legal Services From: Aaron Sohaski, Chair; Chloe Woods, Representative to the BOG ABA Law Student Division Date: December 10, 2014 RE: Comments of the Law Student Division Related to ABA Commission on the Future of Legal Services’ Examination of Issues Related to the Delivery of, and the Public’s Access to, Legal Services in the United States

As leaders of the American Bar Association’s Law Student Division (hereinafter “LSD”), we are writing to respond to the November 3, 2014 request for comments on topics related to the delivery of, and the public’s access to, legal services in the United States. The ABA LSD has the distinct privilege of communicating the interests of the law students attending the 204 ABA accredited law schools. We believe our members are not only the future of the ABA as the leading voluntary association for lawyers, but also the future of the legal profession. As such, there are six issues toward which we would appreciate focus by the Commission. I. The number of new law schools being accredited by the ABA Council on Legal

Education. We continue to be alarmed at the rising number of law schools that are accredited by

the number of law schools that continued to be accredited by the ABA Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. With the Lincoln Memorial University John J. Duncan School of Law provisionally approved for accreditation on December 8, 2014, the number of ABA by the American Bar Association. Rubber-stamping additional law schools will not create a greater supply of lawyers to address the access to justice gap, but rather will degrade the quality of legal services and of legal education. The Law Student Division is committed to and supportive of innovative ideas, such as Interpretation 301-6 proposed in 2007, which would have required law schools to prove that their graduates pass the bar exam at or no more than 10 points below the first-time bar passage rates for graduates of ABA-approved law schools taking the bar examination in a given jurisdiction during the relevant year.1

II. Rising Cost of Legal Education

The decision to pursue a legal education is an expensive one– nearly $125,000 worth of education debt for private law schools and $75,700 for public law schools, according to the figures released from the ABA. For historical reference, in 2001-2002 education debt

1 http://www.discourse.net/2007/07/aba_proposes_bar_pass_rate_standard/

Law Student Division 321 North Clark Street Chicago, Illinois 60654-7598 www.americanbar.org


was around $70,000 for private law school grads and $46,500 for public law school grads. The cost of legal education has rose exponentially over the years. Education debt remains an ever-growing threat to law students as the debt load increased 17.6 percent for private law grads and 10 percent for public law grads according to the Daily Journal.2

Due to the astronomical rise of student loans and the debt load that the majority of law students face, many prospective students, who would make great attorneys, are opting out of the decision altogether. The dwindling admission numbers reflect this trend. 3

III. Ratio of Entry Level Salaries Compared to Debt

As referenced in the previous point, many law students graduate with a heavy burden of student loan debt, but the job market does not offer many opportunities for high earning potential to counter this debt. If the student is interested in public service or government, their earning potential is exponentially lower. 4 Selected quotes from the relevant National Association for Law Placement (NALP) report on employment of the class of 2013 include:

• "Jobs paying $160,000 accounted for about 17% of reported salaries, while jobs paying $40,000-65,000 — the left-hand peak — accounted for about half of reported salaries, compared with 16% and 51%, respectively, for the Class of 2012. Nonetheless, just four years ago, for the Class of 2009, the respective percentages were 25% and 34%, with 25% the largest proportion of $160,000 salary jobs recorded for any class to date."

• 86% of 2012 law graduates graduated with an average of $140,616 of combined debt from undergraduate and law school (50th percentile). The average monthly payments are up $427 from 2008 law graduates, at $1,187. This is detrimental when considering 2008 law graduates average monthly payment of $760 increased by only $12 from 2004 law graduates with a monthly payment of $748.5

• "Median salaries in sectors [other than law firms] have remained relatively flat in recent years. The median salary for government jobs has remained unchanged since 2009, at $52,000. The median salary at public interest organizations, which includes legal services providers and public defenders, was $45,000 in 2013, essentially steady since 2011. The median salary for judicial clerkships was $53,000, little changed from $52,600 in 2013 and up just $1,000 from 2010 and 2011." (page 3)

• "Additionally, jobs in the largest firms, those with more than 500 lawyers, continued to rebound from their low point in 2011, and accounted for 20.6% of jobs taken in law firms, compared with only 16.2% in 2011 and 19.1% in 2012. The number of jobs taken in these firms — at almost 4,000 — is up by over 9% over 2012 levels, representing a recovery to just over 2010 levels but to nowhere near the 2009 figure of more than 5,100 jobs." (page 3)

2http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/average_debt_load_of_private_law_rads_is_125k_these_five_schools_lead_to_m/ 3 http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/education/2014/10/14/law-school-applications-plummet-u-l/17219627/ 4 See the bimodal salary distribution of the Class of 2013 available at http://www.nalp.org/salarydistrib 5 Based upon 15 year repayment plan


IV. Fast Track or other 2 year JD programs. The Law Student Division (LSD) appreciates the innovative efforts of the ABA and

individual legal institutions, crafting unique opportunities to advance legal education. In reviewing these programs, the LSD would like to direct the ABA to U.S. News & World Report articles, “Weigh 3 Factors Before Pursuing an Accelerated B.A.-J.D. Program”6 and “Determine if a Two-Year Law School Program is a Good Fit.”7 These two articles discuss the newly offered programs to students for accelerated law programs.

The LSD is interested in “3+3” and 2-year J.D. programs. The 2-year J.D. program is not in reference to discontinuing the third year of a J.D., but is an accelerated J.D. program where summer semesters are used to decrease the years needed to complete all credit hours. The “3+3” and 2-year J.D. program models have gained traction over the past several years. The concern of the LSD is that students participating in these programs are entering only to prevent the need for living expenses during their third year, and are not truly cognizant of the fact that they will not have the same summer opportunities as “traditional” 3-year programs; thereby possibly becoming less marketable to an employer.

The LSD is supportive of requiring applicants to submit, in addition to the personal statement, a second essay which describes the applicants reasoning for pursuing the “3+3” or 2-year J.D. program. Second, all applicants being seriously considered for admission to the “3+3” or 2-year J.D. program must participate in an in-person or telephone evaluation and interview. Third, all students enrolled in the 2-year J.D. program may opt out of the program and decide to complete their degree in 3 years.

The LSD is in favor of the ABA supporting these legal education models, but would like to emphasize the need for additional regulation and oversight in the implementation to prevent degradation of legal education quality.

V. Producing “Practice Ready” Graduates

There is an increased expectation that young lawyers, as millenials, are digital natives and therefore should enter the practice of law with an understanding of how to utilize technology to increase efficiency. This is an unrealistic and flawed expectation when the legal education that we receive does not support the production of practice-ready graduates.

Integral to being practice ready is understanding Legal Project Management, e-discovery lawyering and ethics in the context of social media. Today’s law students must be trained—simply being born in an era of computers does not qualify millenials to have an innate understand of new technologies in the legal field. Technology, operating legal software programs, and related practice management skills should now be part of the legal education program curriculum.8

6 http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/articles/2013/10/31/weigh-3-factors-before-pursuing-an-accelerated-ba-jd-program 7 http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/articles/2013/04/18/determine-if-a-two-year-law-school-program-is-a-good-fit 8 http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2013/08/30/the-practice-ready-law-graduate-is-a-fantasy-says-professor/


VI. Competition in the legal market from JD alternatives Currently, there are 271 ABA approved paralegal education programs nationwide.

These programs are fully accredited and offer educational credentials ranging from post-secondary non-credit certificates through Master level degrees. These programs, approved by the ABA House of Delegates, are developed to provide education to non-lawyers interested in employment in law-related occupations. We take particular notice, therefore, of Part III.3.a.of the Issues Paper as it relates to alternative providers and regulatory innovations where no J.D. /law license is required. The Issues Paper also specifically references Washington State’s Limited License Legal Technicians. While we continue to appreciate the need to expand access to legal services, we do, however, have reservations about creating a category of non-lawyers who do not work under the supervision of attorneys. We believe that limited licensure systems must clearly define the role of non-lawyers and establish credentials for them, in order to protect the public, and to protect the law students who have entered into the potentially $100,000 investment of legal education.

We thank the Commission for undertaking this important comprehensive study and hope that our comments will be helpful to its work. If we can answer any questions or assist the Commission in any way, please do not hesitate to contact Aaron Sohaski ([email protected]) or Chloe Woods ([email protected]), or our Division Director, Jill Pena ([email protected]). Respectfully, Aaron Sohaski Chair, Law Student Division Chloe Woods Law Student Representative to the ABA Board of Governors

The Graduate Student Debt Review 1

11+16+4+19+4+15+5+6+A11+16+20+13+4+15+15+6+WNew America Education Policy ProgramMarch 2014

The

Graduate Student Debt ReviewThe State of Graduate Student Borrowing

430=

Policy Brief

Jason Delisle

529=

2 The Graduate Student Debt Review

About the Authors

Jason Delisle is Director of the New America Federal Education Budget Project. He can be reached at [email protected].

Owen Phillips, a graduate student at Georgetown’s Master of Public Policy program, and intern on the New America Education Policy Program, assisted with data compilation for this report.

Ross van der Linde, a communications associate on New America’s Education Policy Program, produced graphics for this report.

About New America

New America is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute that invests in new thinkers and new ideas to address the next generation of challenges facing the United States.

The New America Education Policy Program’s work is made possible through generous grants from the Alliance for Early Success; the Annie E. Casey Foundation; the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund; the Grable Foundation; the Foundation for Child Development; the Joyce Foundation; the Kresge Foundation; Lumina Foundation; the Pritzker Children’s Initiative; the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation; and the W. Clement and Jessie V. Stone Foundation.

© 2014 New America

This report carries a Creative Commons license, which permits non-commercial re-use of New America content when proper attribution is provided. This means you are free to copy, display and distribute New America’s work, or include our content in derivative works, under the following conditions:

Attribution. You must clearly attribute the work to New America, and provide a link back to www.newamerica.org.Noncommercial. You may not use this work for commercial purposes without explicit prior permission from New America.Share Alike. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a license identical to this one.

RISING DEBT in GRADUATE EDUCATIONIs America’s student debt problem due more to expensive graduate degrees than unaffordable undergraduate educations? This New America analysis of U.S. Department of Education data reveals that debt for students who earned a range of master’s and professional degrees has surged in recent years and the trend gained significant momentum in the years between 2008 and 2012.This key finding, among many others in this report, suggests that the largest changes in student borrowing are taking place in graduate education.

Moreover, this trend is not limited to what many already know are high-cost credentials like those in medicine and law. According to the data, in 2004, the median level of indebtedness for a borrower who earned a Master of Arts degree was $38,000. In 2012, that figured jumped to $59,000, after adjusting

for inflation. Debt levels for other master’s degrees, such as a Master of Science or a Master of Education, show similar trends. For borrowers at the 75th percentile of indebtedness, the increases are even larger in absolute terms. For most master’s degrees, debt at the 75th percentile jumps from about $54,000 for degree recipients in 2004 to $85,000 in 2012, after adjusting for inflation.

So how much of the $1 trillion in outstanding student loans financed graduate and professional degrees versus bachelor’s or associate degrees? If the breakdown resembles recent disbursements, it is about 40 percent.1

Despite these trends, most accounts of student debt treat loans from graduate and undergraduate studies as one and the same, distorting how we view issues of college costs, student debt, and what policymakers should do in response. A 2013 Wall Street Journal article about rising costs at four-year colleges and universities is a typical example.2 It profiles twenty-three-year-old Nicole Preucil, a public university student with $60,000 in student loans, who says:

“I think tuition is absolutely too much… I kind of didn’t realize how expensive it was going to be here… I think about my loans, and I try to pay off my interest… I think it will take a long time in my profession to pay it off.”

74+70+9644+46+6225+27+36COMBINED 2012

UNDERGRADUATE/GRADUATE DEBT

MEDIAN Debt: $57,600

(Amount owed by the typical borrower)

75th Percentile Debt: $99,614

(One in four borrowers owe this amount or more)

90th Percentile Debt: $153,000

(One in ten borrowers owe this amount or more)

201220082004

90th Pct:

$118,442 90th Pct:

$112,493

90th Pct:

$153,000

75th Pct:

$70,907

75th Pct:

$72,887

75th Pct:

$99,614

Median:

$40,209

Median:

$43,966

Median:

$57,600

All figures are in 2012 dollars.

The Graduate Student Debt Review2

Given the framing of the article – rising college costs and student debt – careful readers are surprised to learn that Nicole earned her undergraduate degree with a manageable $10,000 in loans, about one-third of what is typical for her peers who borrowed, after she “cobbled together scholarships and grants [and] worked part time” to pay for her education. 3 That is why her comments regarding unaffordable tuition are actually about graduate school and the $50,000 in debt she added to her initial $10,000 to pursue that degree.

In fact, Nicole’s story is about how our system of undergraduate public higher education worked well. It was her decision to borrow $50,000 for graduate school, and a school’s pitch to sell her a degree at that price, that dashed what otherwise would be a success story.

This New America report shows that Nicole’s story is not unusual. Her debt level is now the norm for a master’s degree recipient who borrows to pay for school. Balances for undergraduates, meanwhile, are low on average compared to those of graduate and professional students.4

This report provides many more details about the alarming trends in what students are borrowing to finance graduate and professional degrees and, indirectly, what institutions of higher education are charging for those credentials. It displays a set of statistics on debt levels of students who completed various types of master’s and professional degrees in 2004, 2008, and 2012 using information from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Postsecondary Student Aid Studies.5

This report is meant to encourage policymakers, the media, students, and others to start examining issues of college access, cost, and student debt only after first distinguishing between graduate education and a more limited definition of “college,” a two-year or four-year postsecondary credential.

Confusing undergraduate with graduate debt in discussions of college costs and student loans is problematic because the two categories of credentials are really quite different and warrant different types and levels of public support.

The failure to distinguish between those two very different categories of credentials is a serious flaw in how we think about student debt. Students, families, and taxpayers invest significant resources in financing “college,” in large part because a bachelor’s or associate degree is a must for anyone who wants to secure a middle-class income. If students are taking on unmanageable debt to earn those credentials, then many would argue that the system isn’t working. We should not, however, draw the same conclusions from debt levels of students who attend graduate and professional school. While a graduate or professional degree boosts a student’s earnings prospects and the economy at large, it is not the foundation for economic opportunity and middle-class earnings that a two- or four-year degree now provides.

Moreover, our system of higher education aims to underwrite much of the cost and risk that students take on when they pay for an undergraduate education. It exists to target benefits to students from families with fewer means, and it shields students from the multitude of uncertainties that

they face when they begin their educations and as they repay their loans.

That is not the case when it comes to graduate and professional degrees. Students pursuing these degrees already have an undergraduate degree, and they should be far more informed consumers. Therefore, they shouldn’t need a lot of public support to finance their next credential, which is why there are no Pell Grants for master’s degrees.

The recent spike in debt for graduate degrees should also focus policymakers’ attention on the lack of loan limits for students pursuing graduate degrees and income-based repayment programs that include loan forgiveness benefits.6 The debt statistics in this New America report suggest that graduate and professional students are likely borrowing at levels that will lead to substantial waves of student loan forgiveness in the coming years. Policymakers may wish to reexamine if that is the best way the federal government can support our higher education system or whether these policies themselves are to blame for the marked increase in borrowing for graduate and professional degrees in recent years.

DATA AND METHODOLOGY The U.S. Department of Education conducts the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) every four years to compile a comprehensive research dataset based on student-level records, financial aid provided by the federal government and other sources, student demographic, and enrollment data. It is the primary source of information that the federal government (and others, such as researchers and higher education associations) uses to analyze student financial aid. NPSAS data come from multiple sources, including school records, government databases, and student interviews. The survey data include students who indicated that they expected to or had completed graduate and professional studies in the year the survey was administered.

Using the PowerStats tool from the National Center for Education Statistics, New America analyzed NPSAS data on the debt of students who completed graduate or professional degrees in 2004, 2008, and 2012, by degree program. The data reflect debt levels by percentiles and for this report we display the 50th percentile and the 75th percentile (the tables in the back also include the 90th percentile). While the data are available based on all students who complete degrees, regardless of whether or not they have student loans, this report focuses on the students who leave with debt.

For example, in this report the debt level at the 50th percentile of students who completed a Master’s of Science reflects the median level of debt of all graduate students in a particular program with debt. It is, in other words, the debt of a typical borrower when they completed the degree. Debt at the 75th percentile reflects a debt level at which 25 percent of indebted graduates have more debt and 75 percent have less. Because we focus on the debt levels of those who borrow and not the debt levels of all graduates, we also show the share of graduate and professional students who have debt.

3The Graduate Student Debt Review

Debt Levels

The debt figures in this report reflect a borrower’s total debt at approximately the point they complete their degree. This includes debt incurred for undergraduate and graduate studies; loans from all sources, including federal, state, and private (although the largest share is federal); and accrued interest during in-school and other deferment periods that has been capitalized (i.e. added to the principal balance of the loan). It does not include interest that has accrued but not yet been capitalized and thus slightly understates borrowers’ actual debt burdens. The tables at the end of the report break out undergraduate, graduate, and combined debt levels. However, readers should note that these figures are not perfectly additive because they are percentile distributions of slightly different populations within the survey data.7

Debt levels are all adjusted for inflation to 2012 dollars using the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index. Although borrowers are automatically enrolled in a 10-year repayment plan upon repayment, the monthly payment figures in the report reflect fixed payments on the debt over a 15-year repayment term at a 6 percent interest rate. Borrowers with at least $10,000 in federal student loans can repay over 15 years if they choose, and those with more debt can elect terms that range from 20 to 30 years.8 Borrowers with higher balances tend to use these extended terms.

Degree Programs

The report breaks out the type of degree programs by seven categories based upon classifications provided by the Department of Education: Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Education, Master of Science, Master of Arts, Law (LL.B. or J.D.), Medicine and Other Health Science, and all other master’s degrees (which includes Master of Public Policy, Master of Social Work, Master of Public Health, Master of Fine Arts, and all other master’s degrees not otherwise listed). The Medicine and Other Health Sciences category is a combination of Medicine (MD), Medicine or Osteopathic Medicine, Dentistry (DDS, DMD), Chiropractic (DC, DCM), Pharmacy (PharmD), Optometry (OD), Podiatry (DPM, DP, PodD), and Veterinary Medicine (DVM).

We exclude doctoral and PhD programs, post-baccalaureate certificate programs, and theology programs to better focus the report on master’s degrees and professional degrees, and to exclude categories in which very limited data were reported. In cases where totals for all degree categories are shown in this report, the figures include all of the degree categories as reported in the NPSAS, including those not broken out on an individual basis in this report (i.e. PhD programs, etc.).

NOTES1 Clare McCann. “New Pell Grant, Federal Loan Data Reveal Changing Tides in Financial Aid.” Ed Money Watch, New America Foundation, September 12, 2013: http://edmoney.newamerica.net/blogposts/2013/new_pell_grant_federal_loan_data_reveal_changing_tides_in_financial_aid-92009. Recent disbursal figures for a complete academic year suggest graduate loans comprise approximately 34 percent of federal loans; most recent quarterly reports show the graduate loan share of the entire outstanding federal student loan portfolio is likely closer to 40 percent because those loans are typically larger and borrowers enroll in extended repayment terms.

2 Douglas Belkin and Caroline Porter. “College Tuition Increases Slow, Government Aid Falls,” Wall Street Journal, October 22,

2013: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303672404579152021987960980.

3 The average cumulative borrowing by those who complete a bachelor’s degree in 2012 was $29,384. That figure excludes accrued, unpaid interest. Ben Miller. “The Student Debt Review.” New America, February 2014: http://education.newamerica.net/sites/newamerica.net/files/policydocs/TheStudentDebtReview_2_18_14.pdf.

4 Ibid. Lower undergraduate loan balances may be due in part to caps on borrowing in the federal student loan program. A dependent undergraduate borrower can borrow a maximum of $5,500 in her first year, $6,500 in her second, and $7,500 each year thereafter. The aggregate limit is $31,000. An independent undergraduate can borrow $4,000 more in the first two years and $5,000 more in later years with an aggregate limit of $57,500. Note that borrowers can enter repayment with balances higher than the aggregate limit due to interest accrual. Additionally, a small share of undergraduate borrowers have federal Perkins Loans in addition to Stafford loans. Perkins Loans do not count toward the aggregate loan limit for Stafford loans.

5 Whether a student completed is not verified by transcript data used in the survey. Instead, it is based upon either self-reported information or sometimes institutional records indicating that the student already has or is expected to earn a credential in the NPSAS administration year. As a result, it is possible that students may say they are going to graduate but in fact not end up doing so or that a student ends up graduating who did not indicate that they would.

6 The federal government lets graduate and professional students finance the entire cost of their educations with federal loans, for any degree, for any length of time, including all living expenses, regardless of the total cost. Graduate and professional students may first take out $20,500 per year in Unsubsidized Stafford loans, and after that, they can tap federal Grad PLUS loans for the rest of the costs. A series of programs, Income-Based Repayment, Pay As You Earn, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness, that lawmakers enacted in 2007 and 2010 let borrowers repay those loans based on a small share of their incomes, regardless of their debt loads. After 10 or 20 years, remaining balances are forgiven. Note that undergraduates face relatively low limits in the federal loan program, thereby limiting the benefits of loan forgiveness under these plans. That is because a borrower entering repayment with $30,000 in federal loans could have his debt forgiven under one of the repayment programs only if he earns an unusually low income for an extended period of time. Someone with a master’s degree who has $80,000 in debt, on the other hand, can earn an average income for his peer group for most of his repayment term and his payment will still be too low to fully repay the debt. He will have a balance forgiven.

7 Specifically, the 50th percentile of debt for borrowers who have undergraduate debt when they leave graduate school is not exactly the same population of respondents who are included in the 50th percentile of borrowers who leave graduate school with any type of debt. Thus it is not accurate to back out the undergraduate debt levels from the combined debt levels to arrive at the graduate debt levels, nor is it accurate to add undergraduate debt levels to graduate debt levels to calculate combined debt levels.

8 According to the Department of Education, 63 percent of graduate borrowers that entered repayment in 2012 chose a 10-year repayment plan, with the balance of borrowers repaying over a longer timeframe. See “Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Program Integrity: Gainful Employment,” U.S. Department of Education, March 14, 2014: Page 146. http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2012/notice-proposed-rulemaking-march-14-2014.pdf.; The Department of Education also reports, separately that borrowers who elect to repay over longer periods of time have higher loan balances (about $40,000) which is more consistent with debt levels from a graduate or professional education compared to those in the 10-year repayment plan who have about $15,000 in loans on average. See: “Direct Loan Portfolio by Repayment Plan.” U.S. Department of Education, Office of Federal Student Aid: http://studentaid.ed.gov/about/data-center/student/portfolio.


$50,879

$50,400

$58,539

$140,616$161,772

$55,489

$42,000

Combined Undergraduate and Graduate Debt (2012 COMPLETERS)

11+16+18+8+4+5+15+23+NShare of Graduate Degrees

Typical Debt of BORROWERS

11% 16%

18%

8%

4%5%

15%

Master of Education

PhDs

Debt of All Graduate Borrowers

at the 50th Percentile*

17= 18= 25=2004 2008 2012

$40,209 $43,966 $57,600

*Includes all graduate programs, including PhDs.All figures in 2012 dollars.

Master of SCIENCE

Master of ARTS

OTHER MASTER'S DEGREES

LAWMEDICINE AND HEALTH SCIENCES

M.B.A.


Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.)

Combined Undergraduate and Graduate Debt

100 100 10011+t 12+t 11+t2004 2008 2012

Share of All Graduate Degrees Conferred

11% 12% 11%

100 100 10054+t 61+t 57+tPercent of Graduates with Debt

54% 61% 57%

Debt of Borrowers at the 50th Percentile (Debt of a Typical Borrower)

18= 19= 19=$41,373 $44,496 $42,000

Debt of Borrowers at the 75th Percentile (One in Four Borrowers are More Indebted)

29= 29= 30=$65,855 $66,640 $69,906

Monthly Payment

$349

Monthly Payment

$375 $26

Monthly Payment

$354 $21

Monthly Payment

$556

Monthly Payment

$562

Monthly Payment

$590$6 $28

$42,000 ( $627)

Typical Debt of Graduates who Borrow

$354 ( $5)

Typical Monthly Payment

2012 Summary (Changes from 2004-2012)

Note: Figures use real 2012 dollars. Monthly Payments assume 6 percent interest rate and 15-year repayment term. Information is limited to those who complete degrees.


100 100 10018+t 20+t 16+t2004 2008 2012

18% 20% 16%

100 100 10060+t 68+t 67+t60% 68% 67%

13= 15= 22=$30,726 $33,910 $50,879

23= 25= 35=$53,264 $58,621 $80,000

Monthly Payment

$259

Monthly Payment

$286 $27

Monthly Payment

$429 $143

Monthly Payment

$449

Monthly Payment

$495

Monthly Payment

$675$46 $180

$50,879 ( $20,153) $429 ( $170)



Percent of Graduates with Debt






Master of EDucATION



100 100 10013+t 14+t 18+t2004 2008 2012

13% 14% 18%

100 100 10047+t 54+t 59+t47% 54% 59%

15= 18= 22=$34,965 $41,904 $50,400

25= 27= 37=$58,055 $61,284 $84,808

Monthly Payment

$295

Monthly Payment

$354 $59

Monthly Payment

$425 $71

Monthly Payment

$490

Monthly Payment

$517

Monthly Payment

$716$27 $199

$50,400 ( $15,435) $425 ( $130)









Master of SCIENCE



100 100 1006+t 7+t 8+t2004 2008 2012

6% 7% 8%

100 100 10063+t 67+t 70+t63% 67% 70%

17= 19= 25=$37,965 $43,247 $58,539

26= 31= 40=$59,860 $70,307 $90,892

Monthly Payment

$320

Monthly Payment

$365 $45

Monthly Payment

$494 $129

Monthly Payment

$505

Monthly Payment

$593

Monthly Payment

$767$88 $174

$58,539 ( $20,574) $494 ( $174)









MasteR of ARTS



100 100 1005+t 4+t 4+t2004 2008 2012

5% 4% 4%

100 100 10087+t 87+t 86+t87% 87% 86%

39= 39= 61=$88,634 $90,052 $140,616

55=

58=

84=$127,632 $132,641 $193,823

Monthly Payment

$748

Monthly Payment

$760 $12

Monthly Payment

$1,187 $427

Monthly Payment

$1,077

Monthly Payment

$1,119

Monthly Payment

$1,636$42 $517

$140,616 ( $51,983) $1,187 ( $439)









LAW (LL.B. or J.D.)



100 100 1006+t 4+t 5+t2004 2008 2012

6% 4% 5%

100 100 10090+t 84+t 87+t90% 84% 87%

54=

55=

70=$123,203 $127,132 $161,772

73=

78=

98=

$168,248 $179,908 $226,203

Monthly Payment

$1,040

Monthly Payment

$1,073 $33

Monthly Payment

$1,365 $292

Monthly Payment

$1,420

Monthly Payment

$1,518

Monthly Payment

$1,909$98 $391

$161,772 ( $38,569) $1,365 ( $325)


Includes: Medicine (MD), Medicine or Osteopathic Medicine, Dentistry (DDS, DMD), Chi-ropractic (DC, DCM), Pharmacy (PharmD), Optometry (OD), Podiatry (DPM, DP, PodD), and Veterinary Medicine (DVM)








MEDICINE AND HEALTH SCIENCECombined Undergraduate and Graduate Debt


100 100 10011+t 12+t 15+t2004 2008 2012

11% 12% 15%

100 100 10074+t 63+t 75+t74% 63% 75%

14= 20= 24=$31,650 $46,085 $55,489

29= 29= 30=$46,668 $71,734 $88,409

Monthly Payment

$267

Monthly Payment

$389 $122

Monthly Payment

$468 $79

Monthly Payment

$394

Monthly Payment

$605

Monthly Payment

$746$211 $141

$55,489 ( $23,839) $468 ( $201)


Includes: Master of Public Policy, Master of Social Work, Master of Fine Arts, Master of Public Health, and other Masters Degrees








ALL OTHER MASTER'S DEGREESCombined Undergraduate and Graduate Debt


Table 1. Undergraduate Debt LevelsAmount Still Owed for Those Who Borrowed on All Undergraduate Loans by Graduate Program, for Completed Degree Program

50th Percentile

75th Percentile

Graduate programs 2004 (+/-) 2008 (+/-) 2012 (+/-)

Business Administration $15,954 $9,103 $22,992 $7,618 $26,486 $6,622

Education Masters $17,657 $4,713 $20,262 $3,960 $25,000† $4,818

Master of Arts $18,125 $4,363 $19,411 $2,764 $24,762 $7,023

Master of Science $18,773 $5,434 $19,346 $3,734 $25,200** $2,329

Other Master’s Degree $18,736 $3,995 $16,933 $3,394 $22,142* $2,425

Medicine (MD) & Other Health Science $21,240 $5,377 $17,931 $4,314 $21,000 $8,389

Law (LLB or JD) $19,647 $5,496 $14,302 $2,859 $16,650 $3,359

Total¹ $17,727 $1,939 $19,070 $1,115 $23,066** $1,950

All values reported in 2012 dollars.(+/-) shows confidence intervals at the p ≤ .05 level.¹ Includes Theology degrees, PhDs, and post-bacalaureate certificates not shown here.* Indicates only the change from the prior period is significant at the p ≤ .05 level.† Indicates only the change from 2004 to 2012 is significant at the p ≤ .05 level.** Indicates the changes from 2004 to 2012 and 2008 to 2012 are significant at the p ≤ .05 level.Data generated with PowerStats tool provided by the National Center for Education StatisticsSource: National Postsecondary Student Aid Study 2004, 2008, and 2012



Education Masters $25,939 $3,763 $28,605 $4,364 $40,000** $7,104

Master of Arts $24,822 $8,682 $31,783 $7,111 $44,917** $9,309


Other Master’s Degree $26,453 $4,335 $25,026 $4,848 $35,000** $4,241

Medicine (MD) & Other Health Science $28,828 $4,808 $36,787 $10,272 $40,731† $9,738

Law (LLB or JD) $29,545 $6,487 $26,486 $3,534 $35,000 $11,171

Total¹ $27,704 $2,158 $28,605 $2,308 $39,550** $3,343


90th Percentile

Percent with Debt




Master of Arts $35,453 $16,031 $44,456 $14,550 $63,000† $20,622



Medicine (MD) & Other Health Science $47,271 $37,754 $47,674 $18,149 $90,000** $27,591

Law (LLB or JD) $47,271 $16,819 $47,674 $20,571 $67,500 $16,539

Total¹ $37,849 $3,876 $42,431 $4,679 $54,000** $6,549


Business Administration 32.5% 8.7 38.3% 7.7 33.0% 8.0

Education Masters 39.3% 6.5 48.4%* 6.8 52.3%† 7.5

Master of Arts 42.1% 9.5 44.6% 8.7 47.2% 7.5

Master of Science 26.7% 5.8 36.8%* 5.8 40.6%† 5.9

Other Master’s Degree 33.9% 10.1 41.1% 5.9 43.9% 5.0

Medicine (MD) & Other Health Science 57.6% 7.4 45.8% 7.6 53.0% 7.8

Law (LLB or JD) 45.8% 7.5 49.5% 6.1 47.5% 7.7

Total¹ 36.0% 3.2 41.2% 2.5 42.4%† 2.6


Table 2. Graduate Debt Levels Amount Still Owed for Those Who Borrowed on All Graduate Loans by Graduate Program

50th Percentile

75th Percentile




Master of Arts $27,942 $7,147 $34,294 $8,983 $43,109† $8,141

Master of Science $32,564 $5,066 $28,143 $5,858 $36,000 $6,212


Medicine (MD) & Other Health Science $103,033 $22,761 $111,304 $21,488 $135,000† $17,465

Law (LLB or JD) $76,816 $12,411 $83,654 $7,404 $128,125** $11,174

Total¹ $33,681 $3,482 $34,146 $3,417 $41,000** $3,098

All values reported in 2012 dollars. (+/-) shows confidence intervals at the p ≤ .05 level.¹ Includes Theology degrees, PhDs, and post-bacalaureate certificates not shown here.* Indicates only the change from the prior period is significant at the p ≤ .05 level.† Indicates only the change from 2004 to 2012 is significant at the p ≤ .05 level.** Indicates the changes from 2004 to 2012 and 2008 to 2012 are significant at the p ≤ .05 level.Data generated with PowerStats tool provided by the National Center for Education StatisticsSource: National Postsecondary Student Aid Study 2004, 2008, and 2012



Education Masters $41,374 $4,615 $44,060 $5,341 $50,000 $7,918

Master of Arts $43,726 $13,500 $50,637 $11,783 $64,258† $11,789




Law (LLB or JD) $118,178 $11,998 $116,042 $8,357 $173,105* $18,653

Total¹ $60,419 $7,417 $62,241 $4,039 $76,405** $4,962


90th Percentile

Percent with Debt




Master of Arts $74,074 $33,039 $73,082 $11,833 $81,953 $23,574




Law (LLB or JD) $141,814 $17,723 $149,440 $8,392 $202,392** $11,836

Total¹ $106,360 $13,898 $97,592 $7,863 $134,000** $9,247



Education Masters 49.4% 6.0 55.2% 6.8 59.7%** 7.0

Master of Arts 57.7% 9.9 60.5% 7.9 62.1% 6.9

Master of Science 40.0% 7.5 45.7% 5.6 53.6%** 4.8

Other Master’s Degree 68.8% 9.0 56.6%* 5.2 71.8%* 5.1


Law (LLB or JD) 86.5% 5.8 87.3% 4.9 85.6% 4.8

Total¹ 54.6% 3.4 54.6% 2.3 58.6% 2.5


Table 3. Combined Undergraduate and Graduate Debt Levels Amount Still Owed for Those Who Borrowed on All Education Loans by Graduate Program, for Completed Degree Program

50th Percentile

75th Percentile




Master of Arts $37,965 $8,899 $43,247 $6,492 $58,539** $13,706

Master of Science $34,965 $6,099 $41,904 $6,782 $50,400† $7,815

Other Master’s Degree $31,650 $9,803 $46,085* $5,301 $55,489** $6,919


Law (LLB or JD) $88,634 $17,014 $90,052 $7,182 $140,616** $17,135

Total¹ $40,209 $5,015 $43,966 $2,739 $57,600** $2,954

All values reported in 2012 dollars. (+/-) shows confidence intervals at the p ≤ .05 level.¹ Includes Theology degrees, PhDs, and post-bacalaureate certificates not shown here.* Indicates only the change from the prior period is significant at the p ≤ .05 level.† Indicates only the change from 2004 to 2012 is significant at the p ≤ .05 level.** Indicates the changes from 2004 to 2012 and 2008 to 2012 are significant at the p ≤ .05 level.Data generated with PowerStats tool provided by the National Center for Education StatisticsSource: National Postsecondary Student Aid Study 2004, 2008, and 2012




Master of Arts $59,860 $13,689 $70,307 $13,440 $90,892** $11,176




Law (LLB or JD) $127,632 $17,060 $132,641 $10,426 $193,823** $18,008

Total¹ $70,907 $5,060 $72,887 $3,001 $99,614** $5,657


90th Percentile

Percent with Debt




Master of Arts $79,807 $11,933 $95,457 $23,428 $131,832† $28,959




Law (LLB or JD) $155,376 $31,452 $171,628 $10,581 $224,061** $25,527

Total¹ $118,442 $7,587 $112,493 $7,607 $153,000** $6,188



Education Masters 60.4% 6.3 68.1% 6.2 67.3% 7.1

Master of Arts 62.6% 9.9 66.6% 7.4 69.5% 6.9

Master of Science 47.1% 8.1 54.0% 5.5 59.3%† 5.0

Other Master’s Degree 74.0% 8.3 62.5%* 5.2 75.0%* 5.0


Law (LLB or JD) 86.5% 5.8 87.3% 4.9 86.3% 5.0

Total¹ 60.7% 3.3 62.9% 2.3 64.1% 2.4


Table 4. Graduate Programs Overview Graduate Programs as Share of Graduate Degrees Conferred, by Year

Graduate programs 2004 2008 2012

Business Administration 11.3% 12.0% 10.9%

Education Masters 18.2% 20.3% 16.2%

Master of Arts 6.2% 6.8% 7.7%

Master of Science 13.0% 13.6% 18.1%

Other Master’s Degree¹ 10.9% 11.6% 14.8%

Medicine (MD) & other health science² 5.6% 3.7% 5.4%

Law (LLB or JD) 5.4% 4.3% 3.5%

Total³ 70.6% 72.3% 76.6%

¹Includes Master of Public Policy, Master of Social Work, Master of Fine Arts, Master of Public Health, and Other. ²Includes Medicine or Osteopathic Medicine, Dentistry (DDS, DMD), Chiropractic (DC, DCM), Pharmacy (PharmD), Optometry (OD), Podiatry (DPM, DP, PodDD), and Veterinary Medicine (DVM).³Includes Theology degrees, PhDs, and post-bacalaureate certificates not shown here.Data generated with PowerStats tool provided by the National Center for Education StatisticsSource: National Postsecondary Student Aid Study

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"Class of 2013 Bimodal Salary Curve

July 2013

The two peaks and deep valley of NALP’s bimodal salary curves that describe the starting salaries of new law graduates are by now familiar to industry observers.Changes in the distribution of jobs continue to change the look of the curve. While the curve for the Class of 2013 still has two humps, the percentage of jobs undereach peak has shifted slightly again, as has the mean or average salary.

Since 2006 NALP has published a graphic illustration of the distribution of starting salaries for new law school graduates, a dramatic bimodal curve illustrating thatsalaries cluster at either side of the average, and that relatively few salaries are near the average. This year’s curve (below) continues this pattern. However, because ofa rebound of jobs in firms of more than 500 lawyers that started with the Class of 2012 and continued with the Class of 2013 (see NALP’s press release on the Class of2013), not only did the average salary for the Class of 2013 shift to the right, but also the bulk under the 2 peaks changed slightly. Jobs paying $160,000 accounted forabout 17% of reported salaries, while jobs paying $40,000-65,000 — the left-hand peak — accounted for about half of reported salaries, compared with 16% and 51%,respectively, for the Class of 2012. Nonetheless, just four years ago, for the Class of 2009, the respective percentages were 25% and 34%, with 25% the largestproportion of $160,000 salary jobs recorded for any class to date.

For a historical perspective, see the salary curves for the previous classes at http://www.nalp.org/salarydistrib, and also an August 2012 NALP Bulletin article,“Salaries for New Lawyers: How Did We Get Here,” that traces the origin of the bimodal curve.

Distribution of Reported Full-Time Salaries — Class of 2013

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Note: Graph is based on 21,545 salaries reported for full-time jobs lasting a year or more. A few salaries above $205,000 are excluded from the graph for clarity, butnot from the percentage calculations. The left-hand peaks of the graph reflect salaries of $40,000 to $65,000, which collectively accounted for about half of reportedsalaries. The right-hand peak shows that salaries of $160,000 accounted for about 17% of reported salaries. However, more complete salary coverage for jobs at largelaw firms heightens this peak and diminishes the left-hand peaks — and shows that the unadjusted mean overstates the average starting salary by just over 5%.Nonetheless, as both the arithmetic mean and the adjusted mean show, relatively few salaries are close to either mean. For purposes of this graph, all reported salarieswere rounded to the nearest $5,000.

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Class of 2013 National Summary ReportNumber

Reported% of

ReportedFULL-TIME LONG-TERM SALARIES

# with Salary 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile Mean

Total Grads Class of 2013 — 46,776Total Reported to NALP — 45,592

Gender Reported: 45,187 100.0

Women 20,937 46.3 9,877 46,500 60,000 106,000 79,669

Men 24,250 53.7 11,495 50,000 65,000 120,000 84,361

Race Reported: 41,569 100.0

Minority 10,646 25.6 4,522 50,000 65,000 138,000 86,865

Nonminority 30,923 74.4 15,350 49,025 60,000 100,000 78,944

Gender & Race Reported: 41,524 100.0

Minority Women 5,871 14.1 2,506 48,000 62,617 135,000 84,865

Minority Men 4,755 11.5 2,013 50,000 70,000 140,000 89,346

Nonminority Women 13,387 32.2 6,677 46,000 60,000 91,000 76,033

Nonminority Men 17,511 42.2 8,665 50,000 62,500 105,000 81,206

Employment Status Known: 44,637 100.0

Bar Passage Reqd 28,746 64.4 18,364 50,000 63,945 130,000 85,457

JD Advantage 6,154 13.8 2,356 45,000 59,000 75,000 64,899

Other Professional 2,081 4.7 747 41,600 58,000 80,000 67,313

Non-professional 714 1.6 75 22,000 32,000 46,000 37,953

Empl — Job Type Unknown 35 0.1

Pursuing Degree FT 825 1.8

Start date after 2-14-14 306 0.7

Not employed/seeking 4,996 11.2

Not employed/not seeking 780 1.7

Total Employed or Degree: 38,555 86.4

Pursuing Degree FT 825 1.8

Employed 37,730 84.5 21,545 50,000 62,467 115,000 82,408

Employment by Sector: 37,625 99.7

Private Sector 26,207 69.5 14,485 55,000 80,000 160,000 97,179

Public Sector 11,418 30.3 7,052 44,000 50,000 60,000 52,102

FT/PT Jobs: 37,693 100.0

Bar Passage Reqd-FT 27,385 72.7

Bar Passage Reqd-PT 1,342 3.6

JD Advantage-FT 5,128 13.6

JD Advantage-PT 1,018 2.7

Other Professional-FT 1,728 4.6

Other Professional-PT 348 0.9

Non-professional-FT 266 0.7

Non-professional-PT 447 1.2

Empl FT — Job Type Unknown 22 0.1

Empl PT — Job Type Unknown 9 0.0

Employment Categories: 37,730 100.0

Academic 986 2.6 281 40,000 50,000 60,000 52,140

Business 6,935 18.4 2,643 51,000 65,000 85,000 72,934

Judicial Clerk 3,393 9.0 2,891 45,192 53,000 60,000 52,296

Private Practice 19,272 51.1 11,842 58,000 95,000 160,000 102,590

Government 4,341 11.5 2,595 42,500 52,000 61,000 54,641

Public Interest 2,698 7.1 1,285 40,000 45,000 52,000 46,532

Unknown Type 105 0.3 8 37,500 53,560 66,250 51,953

Academic Jobs: 986 100.0

Bar Passage Reqd 188 19.1 53 38,900 48,000 52,500 47,808

JD Advantage 540 54.8 150 40,000 49,000 60,000 52,745

Other Professional 238 24.1 74 40,000 50,000 66,690 55,148

Non-professional 20 2.0

Business Jobs: 6,935 100.0

Bar Passage Reqd 1,967 28.4 847 52,500 65,000 80,000 71,264

JD Advantage 2,936 42.3 1,278 55,000 65,250 85,000 75,615

Other Professional 1,385 20.0 460 45,000 64,254 86,800 72,915


Empl— Job Type Unknown 9 0.1

Private Practice Jobs: 19,272 100.0

Bar Passage Reqd 17,968 93.2 11,569 60,000 100,000 160,000 103,967

JD Advantage 1,211 6.3 241 31,200 40,000 52,000 44,666




Government Jobs: 4,341 100.0

Bar Passage Reqd 3,117 71.8 1,934 43,350 52,000 60,000 53,414

JD Advantage 936 21.6 509 40,000 51,264 65,000 56,309




(continued)

Class of 2013 National Summary ReportJob Characteristics by Employer Type

Employer Type % Short-term % Part-time

Academic 36.9 38.7

Business 14.0 14.1

Judicial Clerk 2.1 1.1

Private Practice 3.8 6.1

Government 8.5 5.4

Public Interest 19.5 11.7

Total 8.1 8.4

Percentages are based on jobs for which the information was pro-

vided and thus the number of jobs for each employer type is less than

the number shown on the first page. The unknown employer category

is not shown separately but is included in the total. Short-term jobs

last less than a year.

Class of 2013 National Summary Report

Number Reported % of Reported

Source of Job 29,774 100.0

Fall OCI 4,364 14.7

Job fair/consortia 784 2.6

Job Posting 4,507 15.1

Job posted online or in print 1,842 6.2

Return to Prior Job 1,945 6.5

Referral 5,794 19.5

Start own practice 1,378 4.6

Self-initiated/letter 5,609 18.8

Spring OCI 366 1.2

Temp Agency 274 0.9

Other 2,911 9.8

Timing of Job Offer 35,228 100.0

After Bar Results 8,999 25.5

Before Graduation 18,921 53.7

Before Bar Results 7,308 20.7

Search Status of Employed Grads 32,829 100.0

Seeking a Different Job 7,111 21.7

Not Seeking a Different Job 25,718 78.3

Note: Figures are based on jobs for which the item was reported, and thus

counts do not add to the total number of jobs.

NumberReported

% ofReported

FULL-TIME LONG-TERM SALARIES

# with Salary 25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile Mean

Judicial Clerkships: 3,393 100.0

Federal Clerkships 1,281 37.8 1,127 57,408 60,000 63,000 59,846

Local Clerkships 312 9.2 195 34,800 42,000 45,178 40,690

State Clerkships 1,782 52.5 1,558 45,000 46,096 53,000 48,296

Other/unknown Clerkships 18 0.5 11 40,350 50,000 56,157 51,075

Public Interest Jobs: 2,698 100.0

Bar Passage Reqd 2,088 77.4 1,068 40,000 45,000 51,000 45,889

JD Advantage 510 18.9 177 40,000 46,000 58,000 50,154




Size of Firm: 19,272 100.0

2-10 8,087 42.0 3,484 42,000 50,000 60,000 53,979

11-25 1,921 10.0 1,188 52,000 65,000 75,000 67,707

26-50 1,083 5.6 755 60,000 72,000 90,000 79,142

51-100 868 4.5 643 70,000 85,000 110,000 93,003

101-250 1,043 5.4 890 90,000 111,000 145,000 116,248

251-500 1,067 5.5 971 110,000 150,000 160,000 135,002

501+ 3,980 20.7 3,846 160,000 160,000 160,000 152,660

Unknown Size 290 1.5

Solo 933 4.8

Type of Law Firm Job: 18,570 100.0

Attorney 16,672 89.8 11,143 60,000 100,000 160,000 105,098

Law Clerk 1,560 8.4 315 33,000 41,600 55,000 46,447

Paralegal 204 1.1 70 30,000 40,000 52,000 43,691

Administrative 134 0.7 43 35,000 52,500 70,000 56,521

Jobs Taken by Region: 37,485 100.0

New England 1,970 5.3 1,106 46,000 60,000 110,000 79,864

Mid-Atlantic 7,464 19.9 4,798 52,500 80,000 160,000 99,936

E North Central 4,912 13.1 2,662 48,000 60,000 100,000 75,706

W North Central 1,983 5.3 1,105 45,000 55,000 70,000 62,632

South Atlantic 8,507 22.7 4,802 45,000 60,000 95,000 76,099

E South Central 1,264 3.4 676 42,000 54,000 70,000 60,157

W South Central 3,488 9.3 1,830 50,000 65,000 100,000 82,693

Mountain 2,140 5.7 1,234 49,000 55,608 66,865 62,129

Pacific 5,302 14.1 3,100 54,000 72,010 150,000 91,429

US Territories 39 0.1 30 50,790 57,000 59,000 54,583

Foreign 416 1.1 150 45,000 80,000 160,000 96,548

Location of Jobs: 37,485 100.0

In-State 24,928 66.5 14,008 48,000 60,000 99,920 77,635

Out of State 12,557 33.5 7,485 51,000 67,000 160,000 91,475

Note: Private sector includes jobs in law firms and business. All other jobs are considered public. Jobs with employer type reported as unknown are not included in

either sector. Private practice includes 108 jobs with public interest law firms. The total number of graduates as reported by the ABA includes schools in Puerto Rico.

Census regions are:

New England = CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT Mid-Atlantic = NJ, NY, PA E North Central = IL, IN, MI, OH, WI

W North Central = IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD South Atlantic = DE, DE, FL, GA, MD, NC, CS, VA, WV E South Central = AL, KY, MS, TN

W South Central = AR, LA, OK, TX Mountain = AZ, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, UT, WY Pacific = AK, CA, HI, OR, WA

© 2014 NALP Class of 2013 Selected Findings 1

www.nalp.org

EMPLOYMENT FOR THE CLASS OF 2013 — SELECTED FINDINGS

For Second Year in a Row New Grads Find More Jobs, Starting Salaries Rise —

But Overall Unemployment Rate Rises with Historically Large Graduating Class

Despite two years of growth in the

number of jobs obtained by law school

graduates, the overall employment rate for

new law school graduates fell for the sixth

year in a row, to 84.5%. Even though the

total number of jobs obtained by this class

was somewhat higher than the number of

jobs obtained by the previous class, and

the number of employment opportuni-

ties funded by law schools increased, the

Class of 2013 was also bigger, resulting in

the employment rate for the Class of 2013

falling, but by just 0.2 percentage points

from the 84.7% rate for the Class of 2012.

NALP measures the employment rate

of law graduates as of February 15, or nine

months after a typical May graduation.

Analyses of these data for the Class of

2013 (measured in February of 2014) re-

veal an employment rate that has fallen

7.4 percentage points since reaching a

24-year high of 91.9% in 2007 and that

marks the lowest employment rate since

the aftermath of the last significant reces-

sion to affect the U.S. legal economy.

Since 1985 there have only been two

classes with an overall employment rate

below 84.5%, and both of those occurred

in the aftermath of the 1990-1991 reces-

sion: 83.5% for 1992 and 83.4% for 1993.

(For information on trends in graduate

employment going back to 1985, see

www.nalp.org/trends.)

Despite signs of modest improvement,

as evidenced by more law firm jobs as

described below, there are still signs of

weakness in the entry-level job market, as

some of the improvements that started in

2012 continued in 2013, but not always at

a similar rate. For instance, of those grad-

uates for whom employment status was

known, only 64.4% obtained a job for

which bar passage is required, unchanged

from 2012. From 2008 to 2012 this figure

fell over 10 percentage points — from

74.7% to 64.4% — and for the second year

in a row is the lowest percentage NALP

has measured. An additional 13.8% of

graduates obtained jobs for which a JD

provides an advantage in obtaining the

job, or may even be required, but for

which bar passage is not required (these

are often described as law-related jobs).

This compares with 13.3% for the Class of

Job Market Recovery Continues with Class of 2013, But Growth Is Slow and

Employment Rates, Salaries, Remain Far Off of Pre-Recession Highs

— Commentary and Analysis by James Leipold, Executive Director —

For the second year in a row, we have

seen the number of jobs obtained by the

graduating class and the overall quality

of those jobs both improve, and yet at the

same time the overall employment rate

fell for the sixth year in a row and the

number of graduates who were unem-

ployed and still seeking work nine

months after graduation from law school

was the highest since the mid-1990s.

NALP’s more detailed employment

and salary findings closely mirror the

limited findings released by the ABA in

April. That is, the graduates of the Class

of 2013 found more jobs overall than

graduates from previous classes, and in

fact the overall jobs number is higher

than the number of jobs obtained by

graduates immediately prior to the re-

cession. Additionally, graduates of the

Class of 2013 found more jobs in private

practice, and more of those jobs were

with the largest law firms, and as a result,

aggregate salaries also rose for the sec-

ond year in a row. There were also more

jobs for which bar passage is required

(the industry’s best proxy for jobs prac-

ticing law), and more jobs that can be de-

scribed as JD Advantage or law-related.

The number of jobs in business also rose

to an all-time historic high, after falling

back slightly last year.

There are other signs of growing

strength in the entry-level market.

The number of jobs that are catego-

rized as part-time and short-term

continues to fall. Also, the number of

graduates who hold jobs but say they

are already looking for another job is

coming down, as are the number of

graduates who report that they are

working as solo practitioners imme-

diately after graduation.

What does all of this mean? The

entry-level legal employment market

is a complex labor market that defies

continued on page 2

continued on page 4

2 Class of 2013 Selected Findings © 2014 NALP

www.nalp.org

Employment Status

Class of 2013 — As of February 15, 2014 # of graduates = 44,637

Employer Types

Class of 2013 — As of February 15, 2014 # of jobs = 37,730

Note: Figures in this chart reflect all job types — both legal and other. For clarity, the

category for unknown employer type, representing 0.3% of jobs, is not shown. Overall,

91.6% of jobs were reported as full-time.

Note: Jobs for which an offer has been accepted but for which the start date is deferred,

and jobs for which type, e.g., bar passage required, was not specified, account for 0.7%

and 0.1% of graduates, respectively, but are not shown on the chart.

2012 and is the highest since NALP began

comparable tracking in 2001. The percent-

age of graduates employed in other capaci-

ties was 6.3%. The unemployment rate

also edged up for this class, and stood at

12.9%, compared with 12.8% for the Class

of 2012. Of the remaining graduates for

whom employment status was known,

0.7% had accepted a job as of February 15,

2014 but had not yet started that job, and

just under 2% of the 2013 graduates were

continuing their academic studies full-

time. The percentage of jobs reported as

part-time declined for the second year in a

row and was 8.4%, compared with 9.8% in

2012 and over 11% in 2011. The figure

nonetheless contrasts with 6.5% for 2008

and about 5% in the years immediately

prior to that. About 3.6% of jobs were both

temporary (defined as lasting less than a

year) and part-time, a figure that is also

down from 2012 — when it was 4.6% —

and that has been cut in half since 2011

when it was over 7%.

Of the 64.4% of graduates for whom

employment status was known who ob-

tained a job for which bar passage was re-

quired, less than 5% of these jobs were re-

ported as part-time — so the percentage

employed in a full-time job requiring bar

passage is 61.3%. Because some of these

jobs will last less than one year, the per-

centage employed full-time in jobs requir-

ing bar passage that will last at least a year

is just 59%. Both of these figures represent

small improvements over the 2012 figures,

which were 60.7% and 58.3%, respectively.

Over Half of Employed Grads

Found Jobs in Private Practice

Additional analyses of the jobs data for

the Class of 2013 reveal that just over half

(51.1%) of employed graduates obtained a

job in private practice, up from 50.7% for

the Class of 2012 and the highest since

2010. However, that figure for the Class of

2010 represented a full 5 percentage point

decline from 2009. For most of the 40 years

for which NALP has collected employ-

ment information, the percentage of jobs

in law firms has been in the 55-58% range

(continued from page 1)


www.nalp.org

and has been below 55% only before 1981

and since 2010. The combination of a

slightly larger number of jobs overall and

a higher percentage of jobs in law firms

means that the number of law firm jobs is

up, but by just over 1%, compared with an

almost 8% increase from 2011 to 2012,

and is the largest number since 2009.

Additionally, jobs in the largest firms,

those with more than 500 lawyers, contin-

ued to rebound from their low point in

2011, and accounted for 20.6% of jobs

taken in law firms, compared with only

16.2% in 2011 and 19.1% in 2012. The

number of jobs taken in these firms — at

almost 4,000 — is up by over 9% over 2012

levels, representing a recovery to just over

2010 levels but to nowhere near the 2009

figure of more than 5,100 jobs. Moreover,

the lion’s share of the increase occurred

from 2011 to 2012, with 2013 contribut-

ing only about one-third of the increase.

At the other end of the spectrum, jobs in

the smallest firms of 2-10 lawyers ac-

counted for 42% of law firm jobs, down

from 43% in 2012, and declined in raw

numbers from almost 8,200 to not quite

8,100. Nonetheless, the number of jobs in

small firms has generally been increasing

in recent years, and for every job in a large

firm taken by a Class of 2013 graduate,

two were taken in a small firm.

Median Starting Salaries

Rise Slightly

Salary information was reported for

two-thirds of the jobs reported as full-

time and lasting at least a year. The na-

tional median salary for the Class of 2013

based on these reported salaries was

$62,467, compared with $61,245 for the

Class of 2012, and is just the second year-

over-year increase in the overall median

since 2008, when the median increased to

$72,000. The national mean for the Class

of 2013 was $82,408, compared with

$80,798 for the Class of 2012. In each of

the two most recent years, the overall me-

dian has increased by 2% while the law

firm median has increased by 6%, reflect-

ing the increase in law firm jobs, particu-

larly at large firms. Nonetheless the over-

all salary median and the median for law

firm jobs specifically remain below those

of 2008-2010.

The national median salary at law

firms based on reported salaries was

$95,000, compared with $90,000 the prior

year. With salary medians by firm size re-

maining essentially unchanged, the mod-

est increase in the overall median is

largely attributable to the increase in the

number of large firm jobs, with salaries of

$160,000 now accounting for 31% of re-

ported law firm salaries. At the same time,

although salaries of $160,000 still prevail

at the largest firms, their share has

dropped since 2010. And though still a

tiny minority — just about 4% — salaries

of $50,000 to $99,000 for bar passage re-

quired jobs at large firms are more com-

mon than just a few years ago, as more

graduates are taking staff attorney or sim-

ilar positions at lower salaries. (See Table

1 below.)

Median salaries in other sectors have

remained relatively flat in recent years.

The median salary for government jobs

has remained unchanged since 2009, at

$52,000. The median salary at public in-

terest organizations, which includes legal

services providers and public defenders,

was $45,000 in 2013, essentially steady

since 2011. The median salary for judicial

clerkships was $53,000, little changed

from $52,600 in 2013 and up just $1,000

from 2010 and 2011.

Other key findings from Jobs & JDs:

Employment and Salaries of New Law

School Graduates — Class of 2013:

� Part-time jobs were found in all em-

ployment sectors, but were especially

prevalent in academic settings, at 39%

(unchanged from 2012), followed by

business at 14%. About 12% of public

interest jobs were reported as part-time,

compared with 18% in 2012.

� Information collected on funding for

jobs with a fixed duration reveals that

both the number and percentage of jobs

reported as funded by the graduate’s

law school were up compared with the

Class of 2012, at 4.5% and over 1,700

jobs, compared with less than 1,600 jobs

and 4.2% of jobs for the Class of 2012.

Although 77% of these jobs were re-

ported as bar passage required, almost

one-third were reported as part-time,

and half were reported as lasting less

than a year. Most of these jobs were in

public interest, government, and aca-

demic settings. The total number of

public interest jobs, which includes jobs

in public defender and legal services of-

fices, has grown by over 700 since 2008;

the number of academic jobs is up by

over 150, in no small part because of the

presence of law school funded jobs in

these sectors. Over one-third of the aca-

demic jobs taken by the Class of 2013

Table 1 — Median Starting Salaries 2008-2013

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Change

2012-2013

Overall Median $72,000 $72,000 $63,000 $60,000 $61,245 $62,467 + 2%

Law Firm Median $125,000 $130,000 $104,000 $85,000 $90,000 $95,000 + 6%



www.nalp.org

easy analysis or simple summation.

In the best of times law school gradu-

ates have entered the labor force by

taking many different kinds of jobs,

not all of which can be described as

actually practicing law or even law-

related. As the legal services market

continues to change at a rapid pace

following the dramatic downsizing

during the recession, the variety and

diversity of jobs that law grads take

now is greater than ever. In general,

the picture that emerges is one of

slow growth, and growth that is a

blend of continued shrinkage and

downsizing in some areas offset by

growth in other areas. In general, the

legal sector is best described as

mostly flat in the Spring of 2014, with

overall sector headcount still off by

more than 40,000 jobs from its

pre-recession high according to data

from the U.S. Bureau of Labor

Statistics. The entry-level job market

reflects that mostly flat business envi-

ronment for the legal sector generally.

Despite two years of growing job

opportunities, however, the overall

employment rate is hobbled by the

size of the graduating class — the

Class of 2013 was the largest to ever

come through the American legal

education pipeline. With the Class of

2014, we will begin to see smaller

graduating classes, and by the time

the Class of 2017 graduates, the size

of the graduating class nationally is

expected to have shrunk by more

than 30% from the high-water mark

of the Class of 2013. This contraction

in law school enrollment, along with

gradual continued improvement in

the number and kind of opportuni-

ties available to new law school grad-

uates, will certainly contribute to

what we expect to be an improved

overall employment rate going for-

ward. Historically, it is likely that the

Commentary by James Leipold,

Executive Director

continued from page 1

continued on page 5

were reported as being funded by the

law school, with the vast majority be-

ing research assistant/fellow posi-

tions. Over one-quarter of public

interest jobs were law-school funded.

� Employment in business reached a

historic high of 18.4% in 2013, and has

exceeded 15% since 2010. The per-

centage of jobs in business had been in

the 10-14% range for most of the two

decades prior to 2010, except in the

late 1980s and early 1990s, when it

dipped below 10%. About 28% of

these jobs were reported as requiring

bar passage, and about 42% were re-

ported as jobs for which a JD was an

advantage.

� About 7% of these business jobs repre-

sent graduates working for agencies

that place individuals in temporary le-

gal, law clerk, or paralegal jobs, This

compares with over 8% in 2012. The

number of graduates taking these

kinds of jobs has varied considerably

since NALP began tracking this kind

of job in 2006. The percentage for

2013 translates to just over 500 jobs,

far below the 700 reached in 2011, but

higher than the 400-plus jobs in 2009

and 2010.

� Public service jobs, including military

and other government jobs, judicial

clerkships, and public interest posi-

tions, accounted for 27.6% of jobs

taken by employed graduates, com-

pared with 28.2% in 2012. The higher

percentages in recent years notwith-

standing, this percentage has re-

mained relatively stable for more than

30 years, at 26-29%. Public interest or-

ganizations, including public defend-

ers, accounted for 7.1% of jobs,

compared with 7.2% in 2012, 7.5% in

2011, 6.7% in 2010, and 5.6% in 2009.

The increases are partly attributable to

school programs that provide fellow-

ship and grant opportunities in a vari-

ety of settings, including public

interest. Although the percentage of

jobs accounted for by judicial clerk-

ships has fluctuated somewhat, the

number of clerkship opportunities

has remained relatively steady since

2010 at just over 3,300.

� Government jobs including those in

the military fell from 12.1% of jobs in

2012 to 11.5% in 2013, a drop that

translated to about 200 fewer jobs.

� Of employed graduates from the Class

of 2013, about 22% were seeking a dif-

ferent job, a second year of decline

from the record high of 24.6% for the

Class of 2011 but still a much higher

percentage than the 15.9% figure re-

ported for the Class of 2008. The ex-

tent to which employed graduates are

seeking a different job varies by the

kind of job held. For example, about

41% of graduates with a job for which

a JD was an advantage were seeking a

different job, compared to 14% of

those with a job requiring bar passage.

� Although slightly fewer graduates

from the Class of 2013 are setting up

their own solo law practice after law

school compared with 2012, they ac-

counted for 4.8% of law firm jobs and

2.5% of all jobs, still high in compari-

son to 2007 and 2008.

There is much more to discover

about the most recent developments in

law school graduate employment. How

did women and minorities from the

Class of 2013 fare? What cities and states

offer the most employment opportuni-

ties, and where should graduates look

for the best paying jobs? NALP's com-

prehensive Jobs & JDs: Employment and

Salaries of New Law School Graduates —

Class of 2013 will answer these questions

and more about the employment experi-

ences of new law graduates and serve as

a valuable resource and planning tool.

This report is the only resource of its

kind. To order a copy of the full Jobs &

JDs — Class of 2013 report, to be pub-

lished in August 2014, fax, mail, or email

a copy of the form on page 6 of these

Findings to the NALP office.



www.nalp.org

Class of 2011 will stand as the Class that

had the weakest jobs picture following

graduation, with less than half of the

employed members of the class finding

jobs in private practice, but the Class of

2013 will likely stand as the class with

the lowest overall employment rate

since the recession of 2008-2009, due in

part to its size.

And, while the jobs picture for law

grads is improving, it is important to be

cautious about describing those im-

provements. The overall rate of im-

provement in the quality of the jobs

pool slowed a bit from the Class of 2012

to the Class of 2013 after making some

fairly robust gains from the Class of

2011 to the Class of 2012. And, despite

two years of an improving jobs market,

the percentage of graduates who found

full-time, long-term employment in

jobs requiring bar passage remains be-

low 60%.

Adding to the complexity of the jobs

picture this year the data show that law

schools funded more jobs for this class

than they did for the previous class, af-

ter a slight drop in the funding levels for

the Class of 2012. In addition, it seems

that many more of the law school-

funded jobs are full-time.and are last-

ing at least a year, thus meeting the defi-

nition of long-term, even though the

vast majority are indeed jobs of a fixed

duration in that it is known that they are

temporary and will end at some point. It

is clear from the data that law schools

are continuing to fund an enormous

number of employment opportunities

for their graduates, not only in on-cam-

pus work but also in other sectors, nota-

bly the public interest arena, where

schools are funding a quarter of all new

grad jobs. Law schools are facing enor-

mous pressures to convince more stu-

dents to consider attending law school,

and as a result, there is enormous pres-

sure to look to the new jobs numbers for

good news. There is indeed good news

in the jobs data from the Class of 2013.

It is clear that the overall jobs profile for

the Class of 2013 has improved consid-

erably from that for the Class of 2011,

despite the further edging down of the

overall employment rate. We fully ex-

pect that even the overall employment

rate for the Class of 2014 will finally

turn to positive ground, and as enroll-

ment comes down and the jobs picture

continues to improve, we expect to see

continuing gradual improvement for

the classes ahead.

Nonetheless the changes facing the

industry are enormous, and it is all but

certain that the job market will con-

tinue to change for new law school

graduates in the years ahead. Already

we see more law firm jobs that are non-

equity track staff attorney positions,

and we see a growing number of jobs

with legal technology companies and

legal process outsourcing companies —

jobs that were not on anyone’s radar

screen prior to the recession. Law grad-

uates must enter law school with the un-

derstanding that the jobs picture, while

strengthening, is one that will continue

to evolve, and in the course of that evo-

lution it is almost certain that new op-

portunities will present themselves, just

as it is certain that some traditional op-

portunities that law school graduates

have long counted on will continue to

erode. It is not true that there are too

many lawyers — indeed even today

most Americans do not have adequate

access to affordable legal services — but

the traditional market for large num-

bers of law graduates by large law firms

seeking equity-track new associates is

not likely to ever return to what it was in

2006 or 2007, and thus aggregate earn-

ing opportunities for the class as a

whole are not likely to return to what

they were before the recession.

Commentary by James Leipold, Executive Director

continued from page 4

NALP is an association of over 2,500 legal career professionals who advise law students,

lawyers, law offices, and law schools in North America and beyond. NALP believes in

fairness, facts and the power of a diverse community. We work every day to be the best

career services, recruitment, and professional development organization in the world

because we want the lawyers and law students we serve to have an ethical recruiting

system, employment data they can trust, and expert advisers to guide and support

them in every stage of their careers.

For information on NALP, visit www.nalp.org, call 202- 835-1001, or write to the National

Association for Law Placement, 1220 19th Street, NW, Suite 401, Washington, DC

20036-2405.


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� Back up decisions with facts and statistics about the current legal

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� Become the expert source of information within your organization

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