Become a lawyer and end up on food stamps

[MillCreek]

http://abovethelaw.com/2014/09/every-law-school-mistake-ever-from-one-lady/?utm_source=Above%20the%20Law&utm_campaign=Above_the_Law_Daily_10_01_2014&utm_medium=email

http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2014/09/30/how-this-lawyer-ended-up-with-350000-in-debt-and-near-poverty-level-income/

So being a solo practitioner in a small Midwest town is not the road to riches.  Who knew?

[Scout26]

Wah!!!  I made several poor decisions, and now they want to hold me responsible.  Wah!!"

Did anyone put a gun to her head to get a masters?  Have children out of wedlock?  Assume $275,000 in debt?   She "crunched the numbers" before deciding on going to law school?   Did she use a calculator or was it either casting runes or simply using extispicy?  

I would be very leery of using an attorney with such poor decision making skills.

[bedlamite]

yep, but if there are two they are the richest people in town...

[Jocassee]

There but for the grace of God go I.

[MechAg94]

Wah!!!  I made several poor decisions, and now they want to hold me responsible.  Wah!!"

Did anyone put a gun to her head to get a masters?  Have children out of wedlock?  Assume $275,000 in debt?   She "crunched the numbers" before deciding on going to law school?   Did she use a calculator or was it either casting runes or simply using extispicy?  

I would be very leery of using an attorney with such poor decision making skills.

She used a hammer and some toy blocks with numbers on them.  I don't think she understood the concept. 

[vaskidmark]

There but for the grace of God go I.

And all this time I thought you were using your brain for something other than keeping your ears from clanging together.

I'm wondering if "Lisa" thinks that by having her plight made public she might somehow be rescued.  Or why she has not tried to crowdsource some money to retire her debt - I'm sure that if just 1% of the 99% donated a dollar each she would be free and clear.

stay safe.

[lee n. field]

Wonder how Bridgewalker's doing.

[Scout26]

If I had to hazard a guess; probably not as well as this lady.   

[Firethorn]

I read the situation as that she was a young idiot in getting an art degree then discovering it wasn't worth anything.  She then buckled down and went into law, which up to that point WAS a expanding well paid field.  During this time she had a kid, but we don't really know the circumstances behind that.  Are we advocating that she should have aborted?  Also, remember that women have limited procreative periods, and she's already spent like 6 years in college.  A husband would have been good.

Then, much like my brother down in Florida, about the time she's graduating the job market that she just spent all that money gaining qualifications for crashes.

Her choices have been sub-optimal, but far from unforeseeable.

[T.O.M.]

I graduated law school in 94 with almost $150K in student loan debt.  First job as a prosecutor paid $23,500 for six months, then a raise to $25K after the six month probation period was up.  20 years later, I'm paid around $85K a year.  I get benefits, and work office hours (more or less), withnpaid vacation, paid sick days, and some other perks.  I knew starting as a .gov lawyer I would not get rich, but it is a consistent pay check better than many others get, and the benefit of not having to defend some dirtball, file a crappy lawsuit, or handle an ugly divorce just to pay the bills.

All that said, it looks like this woman made a few bad choices and is paying the consequences.There are other options than struggling as a sole practitioner...my wife has a law degree and does insurance work.  She needs to explore options.

[wmenorr67]

^^^^^^
This if she is smart enough to get through law school she should be smart enough to put it to use so it supports her and her child.

[Angel Eyes]

I graduated law school in 94 with almost $150K in student loan debt. 

If you don't mind my asking, how long did it take you to pay that off?

[wmenorr67]

My guess he is still paying on it.

[T.O.M.]

My guess he is still paying on it.

Yep.  Still paying.  When I got my first opprtunity, I took out a consolidation loan. Had to go with the 30 year loan to keep payments affordable.  The advice at the time was to later buy a house, take out an equity loan to pay off the student loans, and take a deduction on the equity loan payments.  By dumb luck, we passed up the opportunity to take the equity loan right before the bubble popped, and the value ofnour home dropped by a third.  While I would prefer to not have the loans still, student loans are not viewed as badly on credit reports as a mortgage higher than the home value.

May have a shot at a full judge position in a couple of years, which would double my salary, and I could knock the loans out in time to help my boys pay for their college.

[MechAg94]

^^^^^^
This if she is smart enough to get through law school she should be smart enough to put it to use so it supports her and her child.

I don't automatically grant any college graduate intelligence just because of the paper.  Too many ways to skate through depending on the degree.  Also, not everyone who succeeds academically is necessarily filled with common sense or practical experience.  I think many would say that I wasn't.  The better schools do a better job of weeding out people who don't do the work, but it really comes down to judging the person.