Saturday, July 31, 2010

Hypothetical Law Student Seeks Advice

A friend of mine is looking for career advice and thought this blog might be able to help. What should s/he do? Take it away, HLS:
-       I’m currently going into my 2L year at Penn Law
-       I’m a joint degree student at Penn’s government school
-       I’m somewhere in the bottom half of my class with a bunch on B-‘s (but also a bunch of high(er) grades (i.e. B+, A-)
-       The career service people tell me that I will probably not get anything during Fall recruiting.
-       The economy is really crappy right now
-       I don’t mind the prospect of being a lawyer and practice law
-       I have a great resume with lots of public interest work (DA’s office, 3 well regarded Hill internships, some policy work, etc…)
-       I’m mostly worried about the debt. I’m currently about $60,000 dollars in debt and will probably spend another $100,000 over the next two years financing my education.
-       I think having a Penn Law degree is great. But I’m worried about not being able to find a job and being $160K in the hole (and living in a box, etc).
-       I’m wondering if I should cut my losses at 60K and quit law school or push through and get the degree.
Should HLS stick around? What jobs should s/he look for?
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