What Can We Do with a Law Degree?

By: Katie Nagy

     Right now, there is a huge problem facing many law school graduates. There are not enough law-based jobs for the vast number of young lawyers looking for a job (Sylvestre-Williams para. 4). In this blog post, I’m going to look at the different non-law based jobs graduates can get with a law degree.

     To start, someone with a law degree could get a job in negotiation (Sylvestre-Williams para. 7). You don’t need a law degree to work as a mediator, but the skills you learn as a lawyer apply to the job of a mediator. As a mediator, you try to reach a solution that will make both sides happy, and you often have to act as a referee between parties.

   
    Another job someone could get with a law degree is politics (Sylvestre-Williams para. 9). Part of being a lawyer is arguing with the opposing side in the courtroom, and debating is a huge characteristic of government and politics. If you look at previous presidents in the United States, many presidents have a background in law. President Bill Clinton and Barack Obama both had a history in law before becoming presidents, but there is currently a decline of law graduates entering politics (Sylvestre-Williams para. 9).

     Lastly, someone with a law degree could get a job in banking or finance. Certain areas of finance are very similar to law, for example, estates, tax, and small business (Sylvestre-Williams para. 10).You could practice law in the financial sector, or you could even work in finance since knowledge of law helps with finance and banking

     As a future law student, it is scary that law graduates outnumber jobs in law, so I like that I have different options that I can do with my future law degree. I obviously would rather have a job in law with my law degree, but there are a lot of different pathways my law degree could take me.

    
Sylvestre-Williams, Renee. "Nine Jobs You Can Do With A Law Degree."

   Forbes. Forbes Magazine, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.

Tama, Mario. Bill Clinton Hosts Barack Obama In His

        Harlem Office. Digital image. Zimbio. Zimbio Entertainment, 11 Sept. 2008.

      

         Web. 13 Oct. 2015.

It’s Not Always Rainbows and Butterflies

    As one can imagine being a lawyer is not always a walk in the park. Many people believe that after the stresses of law school you can finally fulfill your dream of practicing the law. Yet, that utopian assumption is simply unattainable for most people.

    According to the the National Association for Law Placement only half of graduated law students in 2011 were able to obtain a job at a law firm (Farrington 3). When you account for the fact that the average law graduate has racked up about 100,000 dollars in debt, it is understandable why people pursuing this profession feel overburdened.

    Hypothetically, let’s say that you were one of the few lucky students that was able to start a legal career right after graduation. Most beginner attorneys work very long tedious hours, so you would have to be prepared to give up many aspects of your social life (Zaretsky 5). Typically, you would be under an immense amount of pressure from clients as well as your employer to creatively solve their problems, with little to no guidance.

    Continuing on this downward spiral, lawyers have the fourth highest suicide rate per capita and are about four times as likely to be depressed than nonlawyers (Weiss 4). While it is unclear how strong data rates taken by profession actually are, it is obvious that the stresses of the legal profession can take a toll on one’s mental and physical health.

    In my opinion, there will be downsides to every job you choose, you just have to make sure you are passionate about your career so you love what you do. Becoming a lawyer isn’t right for everyone, but I still believe it is right for me.

By: Jasmine Shafquat

Farrington, Robert. "Law School And Student Loan Debt: Be Careful."Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 18 Dec. 2014. Web. 09 Oct. 2015.

Rainbow Butterfly Stock Photo. Digital image. Dreams Time. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Oct. 2015.

Weiss, Debra Cassens. "State Bars Battle Lawyer Depression; Legal Profession Ranks Fourth in Suicide Rate." ABA Journal. American Bar Association, 22 Jan. 2014. Web. 09 Oct. 2015.

Zaretsky, Staci. "Being A Lawyer Will Probably Ruin Your Social Life." Above the Law. N.p., 22 Sept. 2014. Web. 09 Oct. 2015.

Unemployment

    

This week I would like to discuss about the causes of unemployment. The definition of unemployment is people who are at the working age but not getting a job and actively seeking for a job. Without our concern, a lot of people out there are unemployed because of three reasons:

·        Frictional unemployment

·        Structural unemployment

·        Cyclical unemployment

     Frictional unemployment or search unemployment happens when someone who want to find a better job that suit his interest and it relates to the time taken to search for new employment. It especially happens towards graduate students and people who want to change jobs. Eventually, frictional unemployment will happen continuously because people would like to find job that suit their interest and also higher wages. In addition, it takes a lot of time finding job since they have to compete with other people who maybe have better qualification and do well in interview session. Frictional unemployment is not necessarily inefficient because it is better to wait in order to find the right job rather than a PhD student to work as a clerk.

     Structural unemployment or skills gap occurs when mismatch between the skills that workers in the economy can offer and the skills demanded of workers by the firms. Technological advances is one of the factors structural unemployment to happen. When the firms buy the capital like robot to be the labor which means the firms use capital intensive rather than labor intensive, the demand for workers fall and thus unemployment rate will rise. Other than that, when a firm offer job and the workplace is far from our hometown, it will cause the people uninterested in taking that jobs. Thus, unemployment rate will increase.

     Cyclical unemployment or demand deficient unemployment happens when the economy is below full capacity. Workers lose their jobs because demand for the goods and services fall and only less output would be produce. Firms will care about the profits. If the profits less than cost of productions, the employers will fired the workers. The firms may shut down if they do not fired their workers since they cannot afford to pay wages to the workers. In order to achieve equilibrium, the firms need to demand less workers. Thus, the unemployment rate would rise again.

     I hope this post can help you to figure out the causes of unemployment. Hence, you can create a better future and avoid being unemployed.

Thank you.

By : Syarah Alya

Sources: 

http://www.economicshelp.org/macroeconomics/unemployment/causes/

Prompt #7- Contemplating Controversy

By: Katie Nagy

     In courtrooms, defense lawyers can claim that their clients cannot be found guilty of a crime due to insanity. The reasoning behind the insanity defense is if the accused was not in their right mind when they committed a crime, then they cannot be held responsible. A mental disease is not the reason for someone being acquitted of a crime, the mental disease had to of caused the crime. The rule for the insanity defense states, “A defendant may be excused from criminal responsibility if at the time of the commission of the act, the party accused was laboring under such a defect of reason, from a disease of mind, as not to know the nature and the quality of the act he was doing.."("Insanity Defense" para. 1). 

      Forty-eight out of the fifty states in America have some version of an insanity defense, but the insanity defense is not used often. It is rare for someone to be found not guilty of a crime because of an insanity defense, and if found guilty of a crime, a person who pled insanity could be sentenced harsher than someone who did not try to use the insanity defense ("Insanity Defense" para. 4).

                                                       

      People that support the insanity defense claim that it protects citizens from harsh and unfair punishment. if they cannot be held responsible for their actions. In America, there are laws against using the death penalty on people with intellectual disabilities, so people believe that the insanity defense will keep mentally disabled people from being wrongly executed. A plea of mental insanity is also viewed as a positive in some people’s eyes because instead of sending a mentally disabled person to a prison where they would most likely not be able to adjust, they would be sent to a psychiatric hospital to receive the help they need ("7 major pros and cons" para. 5). 

      People that disagree with the insanity plea often worry that the defense will be misused. People in America believe in fair punishment for a crime, so it is a common worry among people that criminals will walk away freely after committing a crime due to an insanity defense, even if the criminal is not mentally disabled. Another common argument against the insanity plea is that it is hard to prove. The insanity plea states that the person committing a crime was not aware of their terrible actions and had no control over it, but there is no way to know if a person was aware of their actions during a crime, or if they were committing a crime with their own free will ("7 major pros and cons" para. 7).

      Lawyers’ main focus is to get their client acquitted of a crime, but what do you think? Should the insanity defense be allowed in courtrooms in America?

"Insanity Defense - Is There A Need For The Insanity Defense?" - Person, Criminal, Defendant, and     
       Moral. Net Industries, n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2015.

Justice is Blind. Digital image. Jrfibonacci. Wordpress, 2 May 2014. Web. 6 Oct. 2015.

What's Insanity Defense? Perf. Laurence Miller. Youtube. N.p., 1 Apr. 2012. Web. 06 Oct. 2015.

"7 Major Pros and Cons of an Insanity Defense | NLCATP.org." NLCATPorg. N.p., 7 July 2015. Web. 06  
       Oct. 2015.

Women in the Legal Profession

 

   
    Although we have made significant strides to close the gender gap in the last decade many women are still at a disadvantage and subjected to sexism in the legal profession. Personally, I find it a little ironic that the occupation notorious for being fair is still suffering from equality issues between both sexes.

    Statistically, men and women are entering and graduating law school at the same rate (O'brien). Yet, a recent study by the National Association for Law Placement reported that women only account for seventeen percent of partners at major law firms. Furthermore, only one third of judges are women and just four have been nominated to serve the Supreme Court (Lowen). These statistics and facts only get worse for women of color.

    I was not necessarily shocked to find this information out since I have always been aware of the fact that gender stereotypes prevent women from obtaining positions of power. What annoyed me during my research was reading several articles claiming that the reason women are not making partner is because they are starting families. I bet that a good majority of the men making partner at these large firms probably have kids and that has not stopped them from achieving their career goals.

    Not to go on a feminist rant, but I feel like this patriarchal society puts so much pressure on women to choose between their career and family when men are allowed to have the best of both worlds. It is disheartening for me to actually take a step back and analyze the inequality between men and women in the legal field; however this just motivates me to beat the odds and make partner or be a judge as a minority woman.

 

By: Jasmine Shafquat

Lowen, Linda. "History of Women on the Supreme Court." N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2015.

O'brien, Timothy L. "Up the Down Staircase." Why Do So Few Women Reach the Top of Big Law Firms. The New York Times, 18 Mar. 2006. Web. 02 Oct. 2015.

Prompt #6 : Evaluating Sources

              

           Is trade good? Some people keep arguing that trade is not good for the economics. They said that trade can make the economics of a country worse off. If trade happens, domestic product would have rival in selling their product. People will have a lot of choices and thus they will pick the products that give the best price. Besides, unemployment will increase because domestic businesses would not require too much employers since they do not need to produce more output. Other than that, trade would require the country to have trade restrictions like tariffs and quotas that would be a threat. It is because tariffs and quotas can be used as bargaining chips in International negotiations.  

       They also said that is it unfair to have competition with other nations because they do not apply the same rules and same cost of production. As an example, China products must be cheaper than US products because the cost of production is much lower and thus people would willing to spend their money on China products. US businesses would feel unfair since the currency in US is higher than China’s currency. Plus, China is labor intensive country so they do not need to invest more money for buying capital in order to produce output. In contrast, US is capital intensive country so they need to invest more money than China to buy all sort of capital in order to produce goods.

                                                            Labor intensive in China

   

 Based on my thoughts, I think that trade is good. I don’t say that all the points above are wrong but I support trade to happen between the countries. It is because trade can fueling economic growth, supporting good jobs at home, raising living standards and helping people provide for their families with affordable goods and services (Benefits of trade). People could choose any products that they want depending on their needs because trade encourage every businesses to make diversity in terms of products that they sell. Competition between the products also can helps each country to be better.

Besides, trade encourages businesses to invest and in the long run, they can get the best outcome. Simply, by participating in international markets, countries are exposed to other countries's techniques, and have an incentive to copy and improve on them (Why trade is good for you?). In conclusion, I really encourage trade to happen between countries because we can find a lot of advantages as I mentioned above. Hopefully people could recognized the power of trade in order to achieve the developed countries. 

By: Syarah Alya

Sources: 

"The Arguments Against Free Trade", by Jodi Beggs.
http://economics.about.com/od/international-trade/a/The-Arguments-Against-Free-Trade.htm

"Why trade is good for you?" The Economists, Oct 1st,1998, From the print edition.
http://www.economist.com/node/605144

"Benefits of trade" Office of the United States Trade Representative , Executive Office of President.
https://ustr.gov/about-us/benefits-trade