Competition for jobs as a law clerk making $48,000 in Passaic County, New Jersey has skyrocketed.
State Superior Court judges in New Jersey have seen a substantial jump in law-clerk applicants — many from Ivy League schools all over the country — as big law firms cut back on hiring attorneys fresh out of law school.
“Over the last two years, I would say I’ve had four times as many applicants. And of those applicants, they’re all with superior grade averages of over 3.5 from law schools all over the country,” said McVeigh. “I normally get excellent r[e]sum[e]s. But the volume of excellent r[e]sum[e]s — even the quality — far surpasses anything I’ve ever seen. These are the kinds of applicants that would normally have gone to [state] Supreme Court, or one of the large-starting-salary firms.”
There are no Ivy League law schools in New Jersey, so if he strictly means "Ivy League," that means there are Columbia, Cornell, Penn, Harvard, or Yale grads applying to this place. If "Ivy League" was a misstatement for "top schools," that probably means there are U. of Chicago and Cal-Berkeley kids sending their resumes to the New Jersey State Supreme Court.
And tell me, exactly, how even lower-tier schools can continue to claim 100k+ median starting salaries if their 3.5+ kids are applying en masse for $48k jobs? At most law schools, a 3.5 is a pretty high GPA given the harsh curve. I'd estimate a 3.5 translates to being in the top 15-20% anywhere, and that's with a loose curve (with a tight curve - say, where the 1L median is a 2.5 - maybe only 5% of the 1L class would have a 3.5 or higher).
Out of all law students in the country, kids applying for these jobs are easily in the top 10%. The job pays $48,000 and is not that prestigious. How can anyone at this point believe the other 90% made a sound investment?
I live in the town of Clifton in Passaic County. What I can tell you is that 48,000 will not get you that far anywhere in the county. Besides living expenses and property taxes, which are the highest in the nation, I really can't imagine someone renting a home, living and paying back their loans any quicker than the standard payments maybe not even making the payments. By the way, the city of Paterson has one of the highest crime rates in the whole state. Besides Camden and of course Newark, seems like the student in the article came from Rutgers-Newark so it shouldn't be that hard of a transition for him. Going from Newark to Paterson is like going from a big shithole to a smaller yet equally smelly shithole. Seriously try walking through downtown Paterson at night.
ReplyDeleteI feel sorry for the Law Grad saying, "its good experience".