First Covid, now crushing law school debt from loans of new lawyers
First Covid, Now Crushing Law School Debt of Lawyers Causing Mental Health Issues
Lawyers are delaying marriage and having children because of six figures of debt upon graduation. This is heavy debt before even entering the workforce. In 2020, among new and young lawyers, The American Bar Association's Young Lawyers Division and the AccessLex Institute published a report. The results are grim and anxiety of these lawyers loaded down with law school debt is mounting.
Here is a summary of the report:
● More than 75% of respondents had at least $100,000 in student loans at graduation.
● Over half had more than $150,000.
● More than one of every four has $200,000 or more.
● Over 85% of our lawyers had more than $80,000 at graduation.
These lawyers were surveyed and are showing signs of depression. They are stuck. One lawyers states "This means I am forever beholden to law firm work and feel like I will never be able to afford a home or having a family of my own. It's too expensive." https://abovethelaw.com/2020/10/crushing-law-school-debt-is-destroying-lawyers-mental-health/ When caring for sickly parents, this lawyer is feeling the pressure.
For more detailed data, here is the story. https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/young_lawyers/2020-student-loan-survey.pdf
The American Bar Association also reports the stress of lawyers graduating with about $165K in debt. "More than 37% said they chose a job that pays more 'instead of a job I really wanted'". For goodness sakes, practicing law is hard enough.