The short story is that a firm calculated the number of bar exam passers versus the estimated number of annual lawyer job openings. New York produces about 7,700 lawyers more per year than the state needs. Nationwide, the total is over 27,000, which includes non-ABA schools. To this, New Jersey and Massachusetts add the unhappy combination of low compensation and high COL.
The stats are actually wrong because Wisconsin doesn't require bar passage if you graduate from a Wisconsin school, and you can waive into DC. Nebraska is hopelessly insular, and in any event I sincerely doubt there's a lawyer shortage there.
So, lemmings, head for Brooklyn Law, Chapman, and Rutgers now! And, ABA, keep up the good work!
2010-15 Est. Annual Openings | 2009 Bar Exam Passers | 2009 Completers (IPEDS) | Surplus/ Shortage | Median Wages | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
New York | 2,100 | 9,787 | 4,771 | 7,687 | $56.57 |
California | 3,307 | 6,258 | 5,042 | 2,951 | $50.61 |
New Jersey | 844 | 3,037 | 787 | 2,193 | $43.84 |
Illinois | 1,394 | 3,073 | 2,166 | 1,679 | $51.54 |
Massachusetts | 715 | 2,165 | 2,520 | 1,450 | $43.89 |
Pennsylvania | 869 | 1,943 | 1,697 | 1,074 | $46.05 |
Texas | 2,155 | 3,052 | 2,402 | 897 | $41.55 |
Florida | 2,027 | 2,782 | 2,781 | 755 | $36.39 |
Maryland | 560 | 1,277 | 548 | 717 | $41.46 |
Missouri | 362 | 943 | 908 | 581 | $39.96 |
Connecticut | 316 | 880 | 510 | 564 | $43.69 |
North Carolina | 503 | 1,032 | 279 | 529 | $37.79 |
Minnesota | 378 | 888 | 948 | 510 | $43.69 |
Ohio | 686 | 1,194 | 1,513 | 508 | $34.69 |
Georgia | 779 | 1,217 | 894 | 438 | $46.11 |
Colorado | 547 | 967 | 509 | 420 | $40.83 |
Virginia | 956 | 1,375 | 1,435 | 419 | $49.34 |
Louisiana | 357 | 731 | 810 | 374 | $33.35 |
Tennessee | 389 | 735 | 446 | 346 | $37.34 |
Washington | 619 | 935 | 678 | 316 | $37.37 |
Oregon | 291 | 594 | 519 | 303 | $34.51 |
Indiana | 339 | 602 | 825 | 263 | $32.48 |
South Carolina | 262 | 506 | 410 | 244 | $33.03 |
Kentucky | 261 | 478 | 389 | 217 | $34.39 |
Nevada | 219 | 392 | 143 | 173 | $40.32 |
Arizona | 440 | 607 | 378 | 167 | $37.51 |
New Mexico | 134 | 298 | 114 | 164 | $29.78 |
Michigan | 862 | 1,024 | 1,993 | 162 | $35.22 |
Kansas | 190 | 351 | 296 | 161 | $31.16 |
Alabama | 295 | 455 | 406 | 160 | $37.98 |
Iowa | 155 | 290 | 556 | 135 | $32.16 |
Rhode Island | 102 | 209 | 184 | 107 | $39.65 |
Hawaii | 76 | 179 | 88 | 103 | $33.70 |
Mississippi | 173 | 268 | 335 | 95 | $28.86 |
Utah | 308 | 401 | 283 | 93 | $37.04 |
W. Virginia | 100 | 191 | 152 | 91 | $32.51 |
Montana | 81 | 163 | 83 | 82 | $24.96 |
Maine | 75 | 153 | 91 | 78 | $29.70 |
Arkansas | 152 | 227 | 243 | 75 | $30.83 |
Wyoming | 40 | 113 | 80 | 73 | $29.86 |
New Hampshire | 92 | 154 | 146 | 62 | $30.84 |
Oklahoma | 326 | 387 | 489 | 61 | $29.56 |
South Dakota | 38 | 83 | 73 | 45 | $29.19 |
North Dakota | 33 | 63 | 80 | 30 | $28.78 |
Idaho | 128 | 157 | 97 | 29 | $30.77 |
Alaska | 41 | 66 | 0 | 25 | $37.80 |
Delaware | 116 | 141 | 235 | 25 | $60.67 |
Vermont | 51 | 55 | 191 | 4 | $30.48 |
Nebraska | 112 | 109 | 279 | -3 | $32.47 |
Wisconsin | 262 | 248 | 691 | -14 | $36.43 |
D.C. | 618 | 273 | 2,109 | -345 | $70.96 |
Nation | 26,239 | 53,508 | 44,159 | 27,269 | $44.22 |
I love how Alaska is overproducing attorneys despite having no law school, and some idiots there want to build one.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Nebaska, it looks like either its bar exam pass rate is really really low, or there's a LOT of Nebraska-school graduates who don' bother taking the bar.
Nebraska is where I believe a damned soul, also known as Warren Buffet, lives.
ReplyDeleteI hope Warren Buffet spends eternity screaming in never ending pain, and in Hell for all of his crimes against Humanity.
And I hope Warren Buffet thinks of JD Painterguy on his deathbed, as he draws his last, rattling breath, and as his miserable old carcass gives up the ghost, someday.
Hopefully sooner than later.
Death comes to us all. To Bartleby, and to kings and to counselors.
Anyway, this is all written in the name of art and satire, so no offense to the miserable asshole known as Warren Buffet. Really.
Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!
Best article ever about the oversupply of lawyers.
ReplyDelete