Inside the Law School Scam: JD not needed

Why are there so few jobs for new lawyers, when our country has so many laws? Legal educators seem perplexed by this. ?Some of them periodically assert that the legal job market will recover, simply because it must: ?With so many laws, how can businesses get by without lawyers to advise them?

It turns out that businesses are doing quite nicely without armies of lawyers. While law schools have been raising tuition and fighting for US News?fame, the rest of the country has moved on. Businesses still need some lawyers, but they don't need nearly as many as law schools hope.

Companies have discovered that college-educated workers can read and apply legal regulations without first earning a law degree. With on-the-job training, supportive software, and a few lawyers at the helm, BAs can also interview people and draft legal documents. Those BA workers can even conduct legal research and advise their companies on relevant legal changes.

This isn't the unauthorized practice of law: The BAs aren't appearing in court, nor are they charging third parties for legal advice. These workers are helping their own employers understand and apply the law. That's perfectly legit, and it has created a rapidly expanding category of workers who perform legal tasks without a JD.

To see the scope of this trend, consider these recent job postings. ?I pulled these yesterday from dozens of similar listings--all in response to a single google search:

1. ?The Nestle Company is looking for a?legal specialist. Responsibilities include analyzing, drafting, and coordinating the processing of agreements related to real estate transactions, including preparing and filing a variety of documents such as deeds, mortgages, and memoranda of leases; coordinating due diligence, preparing and coordinating the preparation of short term leases, estoppel certificates, and subordination agreements; analyzing, drafting and coordinating the completion of other commercial agreements, including marketing services agreements, distribution agreements and other agreements with retailers an suppliers; acting as initial contact with clients on matters; conducting legal and/or business research; and?responding to legal inquiries.

Sounds like an amazing job for a new JD, doesn't it? Practical experience creating real estate documents and commercial contracts, contact with clients, legal research, and responding to inquiries about the law. Not to mention the possibility of free chocolate.?

Except Nestle is looking for a paralegal with 5-7 years experience in a corporate legal department or law firm. They prefer an undergraduate degree, and strongly prefer national accreditation as a Certified Paralegal Specialist, but make no mention of a law degree. Nor could a recent law graduate qualify for this job--unless he had spent most of college and law school working as a paralegal. 2. ?How about a job as a Compliance Consultant?for UnitedHealth group? The person holding this job is "responsible for monitoring changes with laws and regulations to ensure compliance with State and Federal guidelines." The consultant will conduct state-specific legal research; participate in the development of business strategy; establish standard policies, procedures and best practices across the company to promote compliance with applicable laws and contractual obligations; and then implement those policies and procedures. Surely all of that requires a JD.

UnitedHealth doesn't think so. They're requiring an undergraduate degree or "equivalent work experience." They also want five or more years experience working in government or healthcare with experience in compliance; two or more years experience with regulatory filings; and two or more years experience performing data analysis and Market Conduct Exams (bet you didn't learn about those in law school). Even more intriguing, this is a telecommuting job advertised as especially attractive for retirees.

3. ?What about this one: BP needs a Coordinator of Intellectual Property?at its Naperville, Illinois complex. The Coordinator will manage the IP portfolio, advise on all IP related issues, develop IP strategies, help negotiate consulting, confidentiality, services and collaboration agreements, coordinate IP training of staff, and so on. ? Once again, BP doesn't think a JD is necessary for this job. Instead, the company is particularly interested in hiring "project analysts or project managers." For educational background, BP wants only a "bachelor's degree in a technical or business discipline." 4. Finally, the Kiewit Company (a major construction and engineering firm) is looking for a District Compliance Manager. This job requires a ?working knowledge of all applicable local, state and federal compliance regulations; to include, but not limited to, Antitrust/Competition, Foreign Corrupt Practices, Small Business/Disadvantaged Business Enterprises, Transportation, Contract Payments and Claims, Safety, Environmental, and all Employment regulations.?

Few JDs would claim a working of knowledge of that many specialized practice areas. That's fine with Kiewit, because they're not looking for a JD. Instead, they're seeking someone with "a?baccalaureate degree in a construction-related field or equivalent experience and education and a minimum of 3-8 year?s experience in the compliance field.? You also have to be able to lift and carry heavy items weighing approximately 20 pounds.

* ? * ? *

Nestle, UnitedHealth, BP, and Kiewit still employ lawyers; so do other businesses. But these businesses do not need nearly as many lawyers as our heavily regulated economy suggests. I draw three lessons from job postings like the ones listed here.

First, law schools need to learn much more about the job market for legal services--including the many ways in which nonlawyers perform those services. Rather than dismiss declining job outcomes as a symptom of the recession or the low point in a cycle, law schools need to explore the profound changes sweeping our economy. Computers, off-shoring, out-sourcing, unbundling, and the assignment of legal tasks to nonlawyers: these are real forces, not figments of a few fertile imaginations.

Second, law schools need to rethink the type and cost of the education they offer. We have been producing the same product for at least thirty years. We've updated the look and improved a few features, but legal education in 2012 is not very different from legal education in 1982--except that it costs much, much more. The jobs described above tell us that many consumers are no longer interested in our product: They have found cheaper, better ways to obtain legal services. We can continue to ignore that part of our market, producing only the type of legal service providers we want to produce, but consumers are going to continue falling away.

Finally, these jobs cast doubt on the easy assertions many law schools make about "alternative careers." I found these jobs because I was researching some of those careers. When companies advertise for compliance officers, contract managers, and IP managers, do they show any preference for JDs? I hope there are some who do, but I did not find evidence of that in the postings I read. ?Instead, all of the postings I saw resembled the ones above: The employers wanted very specific workplace experience handling legal documents, rules, and issues of interest to them. I have no sense that any of the above employers would pick up a resume from a recent law graduate and say "What was I thinking? We need a real lawyer in here. This one doesn't have any practical experience but she's from a top tier school and competed in moot court. I'm sure she'll learn all the other stuff on the job."

Source: http://insidethelawschoolscam.blogspot.com/2012/08/jd-not-needed.html

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