Why does every want to go to Law School? Ctd 'Nearly 2/3s of U.S. Parents Want Their Kids to be a Lawyer' (And What About the UK?)

According to research by lawyers.com, two-thirds of parents in America want their kids to become lawyers. This comes in the face of a legal economy that is flat and a labour market for law school graduates that is uncertain to say the least. Read the article by lawyers.com here.

I pointed the research out to Legal Cheek and got a fitting hat tip in return:

Nearly 2/3 of parents want their kids to become lawyers (ht @brianjohnspencr): End of the day round-up bit.ly/Zywc0d
— Legal Cheek (@legalcheek) May 31, 2013

Also got some response and feedback to the news:

@legalcheek @brianjohnspencr FOOLS!
— ditzygirl (@ditzygirl) May 31, 2013

Why? So many are unemployed! RT @legalcheek: Nearly 2/3 of parents want their kids to become lawyers (ht @brianjohnspencr)
— Dianne Walker (@WalkerDianne) May 31, 2013

Jason Wainwright then made a great point:

	Jason Wainwright (@ToonLawyer)
31/05/2013 17:31 @legalcheek @brianjohnspencr an interesting survey would be a UK -based survey of lawyers and whether they want their kids to be lawyers.

On this: yes Jason is very very right. As I noted on the League of Ordinary Gentlemen in an essay called Why does everyone want to go to Law School?, although the fate and misery of UK law graduates is less well reported in the UK as compared to the US, it is nonetheless just as uncertain.

Therefore we need a sensible and sincere audit of the ambitions of parents and young people as to where they reasonably think a young person's future lies. Because it sure as hell isn't law if they just have a vague notion that it could be a well paid and respected career.

To allow people to flock towards Law School like a misguided herd, would be to license the Inefficient Allocation of Human Resources, as I wrote in the Huffington Post. And why do people still perpetuate the Law School 'myth': because their is a disconnect between the world of education and the world of work. What I call, Education's Information Asymmetry.

Above the Law provided great analysis on the news that a great many American parents want their kids to be lawyers and you can read what they had to say here.