As this website has covered at length, COVID-19 has had a substantial impact on the legal profession. Economic conditions and practical concerns have especially impacted law students and individuals who will soon graduate from law school. Because of the depressed job market and economic conditions, many people have compared the situation of current law students to the circumstances faced by law students during the Great Recession. As an attorney who entered law school in 2009, I can attest to some similarities between these two periods. However, the plight of current law students is far worse than the situation of law students during the Great Recession in a number of ways.
Summer Programs
Many people remember how summer programs were impacted by the Great Recession. During that time, numerous firms canceled or reduced the number of associates in summer programs, and some shortened the time summer associates spent at a firm. In addition, the extracurricular offerings of summer programs were reduced from the high-flying times of the earlier aughts.
Many of these cuts are also being experienced by current law students as firms cancel or shorten summer programs to contend with COVID-19. However, some firms seem poised to make their summer programs mostly virtual, since numerous attorneys are working from home in the current environment. No one can blame firms for instituting more virtual summer programs, but this will make it harder for summer associates to socialize, build relationships, and yes, have fun before they begin the grueling experience of working as a full-time associate at a firm. Of course, these restrictions only apply to law students lucky enough to score a coveted summer associate position, but the truncated summer associate experience will impact these students in ways not experienced during the Great Recession.
Campus Closures
Anyone who went to law school during the Great Recession can relate how the situation on campus was sometimes unpleasant. People were extremely jealous of those who had interviews and job offers because of the depressed employment market, and this made some social interactions difficult. In addition, there was a sense of impending dread about what people will do after graduation, especially if they did not have interviews or job offers.
Nevertheless, at least my classmates and I were able to be on campus. Law students during the Great Recession attended bar reviews (happy hours, which were tons of fun at my alma mater Georgetown Law!), got to participate in campus clubs, and were able to experience the full on-campus experience. However, law students are unable to be physically present on campus, and must get by with virtual classes. At the same time, they still likely have the same sense of dread and uncertainty that law students experienced during the Great Recession, and this must be an extremely difficult situation.
Bar Exam Issues
As detailed in prior articles on this website, there is much uncertainty about the summer bar exam. Some states have pushed the bar exam to September, while other states have allowed for emergency diploma privileges to contend with the current environment. A few commentators have suggested that if the situation with COVID-19 does not improve, the summer bar exam may be postponed even further or canceled altogether in some states, forcing students to wait until the winter of 2021 to take the bar exam.
No law student during the Great Recession had to worry about whether the bar exam would occur within a few months after graduation or contend with the uncertainty the current situation creates. In addition, delays in receiving law licenses can affect when law school graduates are able to start their careers. Bar exam challenges is a unique set of issues faced by recent graduates, and veterans of the Great Recession cannot comprehend the trepidation of current law students because of this environment.
Job Search Fairness
Even though the job search was tough for law students during the Great Recession, we all knew the rules of the game. Everyone would take set courses during our first two semesters of law school, which would be graded on a curve. These grades would be used to determine who would be offered summer associate positions, which would impact the firm we ended up at after graduation. As a result, all students had a fair opportunity to compete for jobs under an established set of rules.
However, for current law students, the established rules are being rewritten in the middle of the game. Many law schools have switched to pass/fail options in the middle of the semester to deal with issues posed by COVID-19. In addition, some law schools have delayed on-campus recruiting to later in the next academic year, presumably to give students the chance to show two semesters of full grades before being evaluated by employers. While we can understand why law schools have implemented these measures, such initiatives are not necessarily fair to students who have worked hard to set the curve this semester. In any case, unfairness in how students will apply for jobs differentiates current law students from those a decade ago.
All told, the legal industry has seen economic downturns in the past, and it is easy to compare the current plight of law students to the Great Recession. However, current law students are not merely struggling with economic troubles, but many practical issues and uncertainty as well. As a result, current law students face challenges not experienced by any crop of students in recent memory.
Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothmanlawyer.com.