More startling statistics from Brian Tamanah. So many law students obtaining jobs–if at all–that do not even require JDs.

Thus it is sobering to learn that, for the class of 2009 (nine months after graduation), at 30 law schools, only 50 percent or fewer of the graduates obtained jobs as lawyers. At nearly 90 law schools, one-third or more of graduates did not land jobs as lawyers nine months after graduation. 2009 was not a good year for legal employment, but 2010 was even worse (numbers are still unavailable), and 2011 will not be much better. Many of these schools, I should add, had poor success rates even before the current legal recession….Few law schools plainly disclose this information to prospective students. One can only guess how many students would attend a given law school if they were fully aware that their chance of being employed as a lawyer, after investing all that time and money, amounts to a coin flip (or worse).

I was thinking about how I would bring this information to the attention of my first year class. Rather than doing it at the beginning of the first class for 1Ls, I would do it at the end. Let them have fun with the law, and enjoy it, then hit them with the negatives. Ask them if its worth it. Maybe that would work.