“What to say to your daughter if she wants to become a lawyer”

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What if your kid (I’m assuming it’s your daughter) graduates from high school or college and tells you she wants to be a lawyer? What should you advise him?

Your first piece of advice should be that even in New Hampshire, tuition and related costs can be, for many people interested in law school enrollment – and perhaps for you and her – incredibly expensive. . Here is some basic financial information about Franklin Pierce Law School at the University of New Hampshire (UNH Law) – a well-regarded law school in New Hampshire. (Costs are likely to be higher for New Hampshire residents attending law schools other than New Hampshire.)

1.For New Hampshire resident students, the annual tuition fee is currently $ 39,000; for non-residents, it’s $ 46,000. However, 94% of UNH law students receive at least modest scholarships: 39% pay less than half the tuition fee; 32% pay more than half; and only 19% pay full tuition fees.

2. Your daughter’s annual cost for books and other study materials will be approximately $ 1,200.

3. If, while a student at UNH Law, your daughter wants to live in an apartment near the law school rather than at home, the annual rent and other living expenses will likely cost around $ 15,000.

So you can tell your daughter that unless she gets a scholarship, her total law debt upon graduation from UNH Law or any other law school may well exceed 170,000. $.

In addition, your daughter will have to cover many types of costs other than the direct law school expenses themselves. These will include, for example, the cost of preparing for and passing the law school admission test and, after graduation, the bar exam that lawyers must pass to practice law. These incidental costs could add up to several thousand additional dollars.

What if she came out of UNH Law with reasonably good grades? Statistics from UNH Law suggest that she will likely be able to get a reasonably good law job in New Hampshire after graduation and, hopefully, in other states. And even in her early days, she can make decent money. For example, if she accepts a job in the state law of New Hampshire, her starting salary may be around $ 57,000; with the federal government, $ 77,000; with a smaller law firm, about $ 55,000; and with a larger company, around $ 70,000. And a job in government law and a job at a larger law firm is likely to provide good benefits; a smaller business may not.

Also, if she has top marks or other special qualities – for example, a solid scientific background and high marks in UNH intellectual property courses such as patent law courses – she may be in able to find employment with a regional or national business and earn substantially over $ 70,000, even in its first year.

However, it is clear from the dollar amounts above that due to tuition fees, a significant portion of New Hampshire residents who want to study law – possibly including your daughter – simply should not. consider taking a law course.

A final note: this is a column on business law and taxation, not politics. However, from the above discussion, it will be clear that law school fees have prohibited and continue to prohibit tens of thousands of highly qualified individuals from attending law schools and therefore providing invaluable services. in New Hampshire and the United States and derive great personal satisfaction from doing so. In other words, law schools, like all other higher education institutions, are a major area of ​​income inequality and white privilege. You shouldn’t have to be an upper-class white man to go to law school. And once you graduate from law school, you shouldn’t have to face overwhelming debt.

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