The Practical Lawyer
July 25-31, 2016
UA, UALR alumni among law students with lowest debt load
By Ethan C. Nobles
US News and World Report had some good news for Arkansas law school graduates in its latest annual survey – they have some of the least student debt in the nation.
The survey – using 2015 data – found that graduates of the 183 law schools surveyed carried an average of $112,748 in student loan debt. Graduates of the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, Calif., had the most debt with an average of $172,726. Graduates with the lightest average debt load -- $54,988 – graduated from the University of Hawaii-Manoa (Richardson).
While the Hawaii law school topped the list, the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville came in sixth with an average debt load of $64,901 while the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Bowen Law School came in 10th with an average debt load of $68,960.
While no one will claim that carrying over $60,000 in student loans is comfortable, there is another bit of information that should encourage Arkansans considering going to law school – there aren’t a whole lot of attorneys here in the Natural State.
According to a very in-depth article at Lawyers of Distinction (http://tinyurl.com/hl7kl5o), we see there were 20.12 lawyers per 10,000 residents in Arkansas in 2013. The only state that had fewer attorneys than that was South Carolina with 20.08 lawyers per 10,000 residents. The average in the United States was 39.63 attorneys per 10,000 students in 2013.
Not surprisingly, the District of Columbia had the most lawyers per capita in 2013 – 803.28 attorneys per 10,000 residents.
While the case can certainly be made that there’s no oversupply of attorneys in Arkansas, there is another statistic to keep in mind. According to the aforementioned Lawyers of Distinction article, about 25 percent of all attorneys licensed in Arkansas in 2013 were not actively practicing law. Those attorneys ranged from judges and legislators to people who just couldn’t find careers as lawyers or simply hated practicing.
The point of all this is that young attorneys who graduate from one of the two law schools in Arkansas can look forward to having some of the lowest student debts loads in the nation. They should also know that Arkansas is not exactly overrun with attorneys, so it is still very possible to make a good living as an attorney.
Naturally, a legal profession doesn’t always work out, but at least Arkansas offers attorneys plenty of opportunities. That situation shouldn’t change in the near future.
Ethan C. Nobles is an attorney in Benton focusing on real estate, evictions, contracts, wills, trusts, incorporations, bankruptcy and other areas of law as the mood strikes. You can reach him at Ethan@NoblesLawFirm.com or visit him on the Internet at NoblesLawFirm.com.
