Recession Proof Profession

We have noted already that there is a recession free industry:  Graduate School.  With the economy in full recession, the WSJ reports that one strategy is to go to law school.  As the Journal notes:

• In seeming defiance of logic, many law schools are surging in popularity. At Washington and Lee University in Virginia, for example, law-school applications are up 29% this year over 2008, while Yale Law School and the University of Texas School of Law both enjoyed an 8% increase in applications. Nationwide, the total number of applicants is up by 2% over last year, with the deadline to submit applications having passed at most schools.

This is taking place despite the lay offs at large firms that seem to occur almost daily.  It seems that applicants are nonetheless looking for a refuge and law school is high on the list.

The advise from the law blog on the right law school strategy?  "For those hellbent on the paper chase, Koppel provides a couple nuggets of advice: try hard to go to an elite school. Once you’re there, focus on a specialty well-poised for growth, like intellectual-property."  Perhaps we might add securities, which is a growth area, and corporate governance, which will continue to grow given the current compensation scandals still plaguing the markets.

Comments

[Law Student]

Because of the Dot Com insanity in 2001 I decided to go back and finish my undergrad. by 2005 the economy still sucked thanks to our genius president and his band of merry morons. So I decided to go to law school. Now in 2009 I'm $250k in debt after it's all said and done and the situation is worse than ever. Higher education is a scam people.