I've read that there are no jobs in the legal profession left, and yet all the lawyers in my town are over 60?

Question

I was having a conversation with the judge that lives down the street from me earlier today. He asked what I would like to do when I grow up, and I said I am sort of interested in the legal profession. We talked about college and law school after that, and he happened to mention that all the lawyers in our town are in their late 50s or older. We live in a town (it's the county seat) of about 15,000 -- the county has about 35,000. People always say that there are no "lawyer jobs" left, but is that just because law school grads only want to go to big firms or what?

Post Script: In citing the fact that all the lawyers in my town are old, I am assuming that they will all retire "soon."

Answer 1

"People always say" a lot of things that turn not to be true.

If the judge was encouraging you, I'd take it as a pretty good sign. After all, who would know more about the legal profession in your local area than a sitting judge?

Answer 2

I highly disagree with that.

The legal profession is honestly two extremes: either you hit it big and rich or you live a very mediocre middle class life.

The big law firms continue to increase the salaries of the first year associates and so that suggests that the legal profession is becoming very hot lately. In 1998, the starting salary for an attorney was $85,000 but today in 2008, the salary has doubled to as high as $160,000 or $170,000. These jobs mostly exist in very big cities such as NYC, Chicago, DC, and San Francisco. To get these really big law firm high paying jobs, one must enter a top-notch law school and graduate in the top half of one's class or go to a local state law school and graduate in the top 10% of the class.

However, many people do not go to prestigious law schools and hence go to the more mediocre paying jobs of around $50,000.