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The Wall Street Journal reports that the job market for most new lawyers is quite bad. Does this mean that you should not go to law school? Well, if you really want to be a lawyer, off you go. “Follow your heart,” I always tell my students.

But if you are planning to take the law route because you think that it is a safe, secure career, and you don’t know what else to do, read this article and think again. . . .

Hard Case: Job Market Wanes for U.S. Lawyers
Growth of Legal Sector
Lags Broader Economy;
Law Schools Proliferate

By AMIR EFRATI (Wall Street Journal)
September 24, 2007; Page A1

A law degree isn’t necessarily a license to print money these days.

For graduates of elite law schools, prospects have never been better. Big law firms this year boosted their starting salaries to as high as $160,000. But the majority of law-school graduates are suffering from a supply-and-demand imbalance that’s suppressing pay and job growth. The result: Graduates who don’t score at the top of their class are struggling to find well-paying jobs to make payments on law-school debts that can exceed $100,000. Some are taking temporary contract work, reviewing documents for as little as $20 an hour, without benefits. And many are blaming their law schools for failing to warn them about the dark side of the job market. (more…)