Have you dreamed of being a lawyer? After you read The Lawyer Bubble, you'll be running the other way. Successful big-law attorney Steven Harper argues that the process of creating lawyers is broken and a crisis (the titular "lawyer bubble") is imminent. While he brings up extremely important points, he fails to make convincing arguments to fix the system.

First, I must disclose I work at a law school, so I'm a small part of the machinery that pumps out some 45,000 lawyers into the American economy each year. Most observers (and, quietly, even a few law school deans) have wondered whether that's a sustainable number, considering many law schools have reported only about half their graduates working in legal positions (where a JD is required). The recession and the tightening of student loans has actually helped get this number down; over the last few years, law school admissions have dropped.

Harper thinks there's a number of other things wrong with law schools, and he's correct in calling them out. He spends a whole chapter on the frivolity that is the US News and World Report rankings, which is a formula more arcane than the BCS rankings. Yet the schools themselves can't be relied on to provide seemingly neutral information like job placement and salary (Harper spends some time pointing out how some -- even top-name -- schools game the system). And, of course, there's the crushing law school debt, no matter what school one attends.

Half the book is spent on discussing "big law," the top 100 firms where the pay is astronomical (while the quality of life may be questionable). Harper admits several times that big law is only applicable to some 10-15% of any year's graduates. (In fact, students who attend a school outside the "Top 25" may never hear about job opportunities in big law.) Yet he has too many stories to share about the collapse of several big name firms. Harper is one of the lucky ones: he worked in big law (successfully) for many years, and had, based on his comments, great mentoring in a nurturing firm. So when he criticizes other firms for not hitting that high standard, he sounds like grandpa reminiscing about the "good old days."

Harper finishes the book with some ideas for reform. Unfortunately, they're not as well-reasoned as the rest of the book. One idea is to allow student loans to be discharged in bankruptcy. While this certainly helps financially-disadvantaged law school graduates, he makes no effort to explain how this might impact the economy, especially when it's not likely to be applied only to law school loans. Another idea is to "[p]rovide prospective students with reality therapy" -- offering classes in law school on the perils of big law life, even though it applies to very few graduates, and many schools already have a very full first-year curriculum. (It also seems incongruous that law students -- most of whom would be called "smart" on general measures of intelligence -- would need a class on how to apply their degree to the real world.)

Potential law school students might want to read at least the first few chapters before they make the big decision to apply to law school. It's a long journey that usually ends with a large amount of debt and dicey odds for a job that will make the trip worthwhile. (Harper hand-waves away those who work for a non-profit or Legal Aid, as they won't make enough money to pay off their loans without a significant impact on their lifestyle. I, for one, disagree, having done so.) For better or worse, the legal profession is very resistant to change. Harper's ideas -- no matter how well-reasoned -- require too many interconnected parts to move at the same time.

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LT Haiku:
The "lawyer bubble,"
Caused by law schools and law firms:
Grim future ahead. ( )