The whole legal blog world is linking to the Wall St. Journal article Hard Case: Job Market Wanes for U.S. Lawyers and this WSJ blog discussion of it, WSJ.com : The Dark Side of the Legal Job Market, so why buck the trend.
For what little it's worth, the anecdotal evidence I have from former students is that while things can be pretty rough, they're not as bad as this article makes out unless you either did very poorly in law school, or (this is my interpretation) interview very badly.
There's no question that a law degree from U.M., or indeed any but a tiny number of law schools, does not guarantee you a job, much less a very high-paid job: as I noted previously (Starting Salaries For Law Students are BiModal — If Not Bipolar), the evidence is that the legal market has become segmented into two parts, with the lower tier getting starting — starting — salaries in the $40-$55 thousand range. A good wage…but not so great if you are carrying a huge load of debt.
