The College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 [passed by Congress on Sept. 7] aims to help law students and other graduates with high debt through an income-based loan-repayment plan.
Bush has indicated he’d sign the bill.
The market currently reflects a private-public pay gap reflecting the fact that public jobs are generally considered to have better working conditions and that private-sector law firms need to offer substantially higher pay to encourage attorneys to work there. If the government is providing thousands of dollars of loan subsidies to government and non-profit attorneys, the private sector will need to raise its salaries to continue to compete, some of which will be swallowed by the partners, but most will be swallowed by the clients, who, increasingly facing bet-the-company litigation, have inelastic demand for top law firms. Too, as attorney salaries increase, and loans are subsidized by the government, law schools will be empowered to extract some of that surplus by raising tuition. Winners: most attorneys, law school employees, and some clients of non-profits. Losers: taxpayers, clients, partners at non-top-tier firms.
Update: Discussion at Above the Law.
4 Comments
Wil we not need to increase taxes for support of the increase of judges to provide cases for lawyers? I also believe that used cars salesmen should be subsidized so the can be on economic par with lawyers. Social par being already reached.
I think we should take a page from our Federal agricultural policy. There we paid farmers to take land out of production.
Likewise, we should pay lawyers not to practice. Would solve a lot of the country’s problems.
Corky Boyd,
Sounds great, except for one thing: there is a limited and known amount of land. The number of lawyers keeps increasing, and would increase even more undersuch a plan.
First, we need to imply limit how many lawyers are minted each year (preferably none for about a decade).
But really, fix the system that draws the blood-suckers, I mean lawyers (sorry to insult you, blood suckers), and you have a better solution that also costs less.
Corky, I’m a lawyer currently working outside the profession while I try to find a law job. Send me an e-mail and I’ll tell you where to send the checks so I can stop looking.