A Tale of Two Law Students

A Tale of Two Law Students

There was once two law students.  One was named Tibby Patterson and the other was named Eric Tushingtun.  Both of these young men were quite similar, each of them were in their mid-twenties, both lived in New York, and they were both schooled to the teeth.

But the differences between these young men were also worth noting.  Tibby had middle-income parents.  His uncle, a "baby boomer" was a partner at a law firm in Tacoma, Washington.  Tibby got a first year scholarship of $21,000, which paid roughly 1/2 of his first year of tuition.  Tibby would be given money for his school housing, but he would have to take out other loans for other living expenses.  Tibby also went to a school located in the East Village.  New York University.  Considered in certain circles to be one of the finest law schools in the developed world.

Eric went to a lesser known school.  Where he grew up, in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, nobody had heard of New York Law School.  But that's where Eric would be returning after he graduated.  The employers there all hired Gonzaga Law, University of Idaho, University of Montana, and if possible, they would grab a University of Washington graduate.  But who are we kidding?  Employment in the "Inland Empire" had slowed down greatly over the past few years.  Eric knew that, but figured that law was his chance to make it big. 

Eric's parents thought Eric was just plum crazy for moving to the big city to go to law school.  They were, however, proud of the boy, but had little money to help support him.  Eric did not get any scholarship for school due to his craptastic LSAT score which was barely over 150.  Further, Eric's cost of living would be covered by student loans. 

There was recently a big story that came out in a newspaper that was called "is law school a losing bet?"  The story covered graduates at a few of the finest law schools in the country.  Columbia University School of Law, New York University, and Georgetown Law Center were all covered.  It seemed that some of the grads of these schools were unemployed, even after they landed spots on their school's moot court teams and law review.  Angry chums filled out school sent surveys stating the fact that they were barely holdin' on!  One such young woman was working in Starbucks to get by!  A Columbia law grad working in Starbucks!!!!  It was an outrage!

Eric and Tibby both were sitting in their respective school's law library reading the story.  Eric's eyes moved down the article.  Him, a New York Law School student, sitting there, reading about big-timers not getting any job offers.  Columbia and NYU grads, unemployed!  How could it be?  To Eric, Cardozo law was elite! 

Tibby's eyes slithered across the paper and he sighed.  He didn't make law review.  Hell, his grades were so bad he would have been kicked out at a forth tier school.  But his school did not remove people for bad grades.  Tibby's performance had been on a downward spiral since he noticed the papers talking negatively about law school.  When Tibby signed up he figured he would be able to supplement his English Literature degree with a law degree.  Tibby never even bothered trying to get a job after undergrad, figuring nobody would hire him.  So he took an LSAT prep class that met a few nights a week with help from his parents.  He was able to score an impressive score.  Coupled with an essay that he had professional help writing and a solid undergraduate GPA, he was able to secure entry into NYU.  At first he was hopeful, but now, continuing to read stories about NYU top-performers and Columbia grads not getting jobs, Tibby was destitute!

Eric, however, put the paper down and began to study for his upcoming Criminal Procedure final.  He had done very well last semester and wanted to keep the ball rolling.  It was his final year at New York Law school, and he was excited to move back to the Inland Northwest and start his career.  "So what if I don't work in law.  My life is still a blank canvas!" he told himself.  That did not stop him from getting some good grades.  And although he was not in the top 15% of his class due to a bad semester, and although he didn't get on law review, he figured that he would do his best.  There was no sense on lamenting about the future.  A future he did not know anything about.

Tibby sat at a nearby bar when he should have been in class.  He looked at his beer. 
"Could I get a refill?  My glass is half empty," he said to the bartender. 
"Sure.  No classes today?"
"Didn't feel like going.  What's the point?  The economy sucks," he said.
"You know, I almost went to law school myself.  I decided to continue bar tending when I saw how expensive it was going to be."
"I wish I would have never even started.  I have almost $70,000 of debt."
"This one's on the house."

Eric sometimes wondered what it would have been like if he would have taken the LSAT more seriously.  He had no doubt he could have done better.  He wondered what it would be like if he went to Columbia or even NYU.  But, Eric realized all that stuff was just vanity.  "What does it matter?" he told himself.  "I will find success in my life no matter where I go."  Some would say he had "special little snowflake syndrome," but he wasn't going to give up on his life.  He was too young.  Even if he was 50 years old he would still have a few decades left.  "Why worry?" was his motto. 

Eric took a sip out of his water container.  He didn't have much money and often found himself skipping meals and studying without even thinking of going out to eat.  Sometimes he would bring a sandwich with him.  However, he tried to save some money if he could, so he never bought drinks.  Therefore, he would fill up his water container every morning at the water fountain and later on as he studied.  Eric usually filled up his water bottle at this time of the day, but as he looked at it he smiled, as the water bottle was still half full.  "Nice, I can study some more.  This is going to be a great day!  I can't wait until finals!"

Well, time progresses like a hen smoking a crack pipe, and before you know it, both boys were graduating and looking for work. 

Eric returned home to the Inland Empire without bothering to look for work in the New York area.  He was excited to make his way back home.  He figured he would be able to find something if he had wanted to, and he knew competing with Gonzaga Law graduates was going to be tough, but he was ready for the challenge. 

Tibby, however, moved back into his parents house, a short drive outside of New York City.  He did not try too hard to find a job.  I mean, he faxed a few resumes, and went to the career counseling center but didn't get much help there.  He called a few places blindly and was told they were not hiring.  When he got a bit irate with one lady, demanding a job, she told him to never call again.  He felt angry at himself for graduating with close to $100,000 in debt (the actual number was $68,976).  It didn't matter to him though, in a few years it would skyrocket, and how the heck would he pay back his loans with no real job?  He did not trust IBR and there was no way he was going to even think about paying it back at this point.  So he left all those federal loan letters sit on his desk unopened and buried them.

Sometimes Tibby's father would bring the young lad a job lead. 
"I talked to your Uncle Ronald in Tacoma," the father said one day during dinner.
"Yeah?" Tibby said.  This being his last hope.  He always heard Tacoma was a dump, always rainy, and a "seaman's town," whatever that meant.
"Yes I did.  Sadly, they are not hiring right now, but he'll keep you in mind.  He said too bad you didn't graduate a year ago, they hired a young woman from Lewis and Clark Law School.  She's really good."
"That's nice," Tibby said, thinking to himself, "why should I care?  Lewis and Clark Law is a second tier toilet."

Eric didn't find a job quickly, but he never let it get to him.  He had started making some money on the side by designing and selling funny bumper stickers.  It was not a lot, but coupled with a part time job at the local WinCo Food grocery store, he was able to bring in enough money to live on.  He didn't send in resumes blindly, but instead tried to get to know the people that worked at the firms.  He also kept his eyes open for other job opportunities.  He knew that it could be a slow process, but school took him three years. 

Tibby and Eric began to think about the bar exam right after law school.  Eric passed, due to doing well in his law school classes.  He didn't do a bar review course but instead studied his butt off.  On the plane on the way back he studied.  He also went to the library and studied daily, from sunrise to sunset.  He passed the Idaho bar and would be taking the Washington state bar later in the spring.  He knew that would give him an advantage.

Eric took a bar review course that his parents paid for.  He barely paid attention, figuring "what's the point."  At the end, he wondered if he even learned anything, despite having studied his "butt off" for over 3 hours a day, and sometimes on the weekend.  It didn't matter though.  On the day of the bar exam, Tibby forgot to go.

Eric did eventually pass both the Washington state and Idaho state bar exams.  He thought maybe one day he may take the Montana bar as well, but not now.  He continued to look for law jobs, but with little luck.  He did not let that get to him though.  He was doing good with selling his bumper stickers and actually enjoyed his grocery store job.  Sure, he had a lot of loans, over $200,000, but IBR was helping him keep the amount out of mind.  Why should he dwell on that now?  It would just make him sick with worry.

One day while vomiting in the bathroom after a long night at the bar, Tibby's father knocked on the door.  "Son, are you in there?" the father asked.
"Yeah," Tibby said.
"Uncle Ronald called.  He said he might have a place for you at the firm.  It's just an administrative position, but it's a start.  A talented young man from University of Washington School of Law did it for a while and now is an associate."
"Oh?" Tibby said, wiping a little bit of vomit from his lips.
"Did you get your bar results back yet?"
Tibby never told his family that he missed the exam.
"Not yet."
"Well, they will hire you if you passed.  Even though it's just an administrative position, they want you to be barred.  I guess it's because of the growth potential.  And they want to help struggling lawyers out.  So, if you find out you passed, the job's as good as yours."
Tibby let another stream of vomit shoot forth out of his mouth.  It hit the rim of the toilet, bounced back, and splashed him.

Eric one day was looking in a newspaper and noticed that there was an opportunity for people with advanced degrees to go to various Indian reservations in the southwest and teach.  The pay was not great, but the idea of something new interested Eric.  Most of these schools were in impoverished areas, but there were some benefits that could even result in loan forgiveness.  Eric decided that this opportunity sounded good, signed up, and was easily hired.  He figured it was something to do while the economy improved.  He could continue to work on his bumper sticker business while teaching on the reservation and he would be helping others.  It would also be a new life for Eric.  Further, his pay would actually turn out be very good when compared to the cost of living in the southwest.

Tibby eventually told his parents about not taking the bar exam.  They were quite upset, having spent about $2500 helping the young man prepare for the exam.
"You can't live here forever," his mother finally said.
"I don't plan on it."
"Well, what do you plan on doing?"
"I'm looking for work!"
"Can't you do something in the meantime that's not law?"
"I can't!  Nobody will take a person with a JD!  It's a scarlet letter!  And everyone is only hiring Yale grads!  It's Yale or fail mom!"
"There has to be somewhere.  McDonalds won't hire you?"
"Really mom?  McDonalds?!"
"Yes, you have been living here and not bringing in any money at all!  Are you even looking for law jobs?  You've been down protesting your debt almost every day for the last month with those occupy wall street people."
"Yes!  I am looking for them!  I sent out a ton of e-mails yesterday with my resume attached!"
"Well, maybe you are going about it wrong.  Maybe you need to pass the bar to be a lawyer."
"He does," his father chimed in.
"I am going to pass it.  But others get jobs before they pass the bar, mom."
"Well, they don't miss the bar."
"I thought you were done harassing me about that."
"Sorry.  It's just that you've been here for almost two years now and I really thought you'd find something by now."
"I did too!  I thought NYU would have helped me get a job by now, but the career center there does nothing to help!"
"NYU is a good school.  Nobody else there is finding jobs?"
"Science nerds mostly.  It's for that patent law stuff.  I always thought English literature would be better for law, but I guess no matter what I do, I'm just doomed."
"Don't think that way."
"Can I get a refill of Orange Juice?  My glass is half empty."



Eric enjoyed his time on the reservation.  While at work he showed his new friends some of his bumper stickers, which became the rage down on the Navaho reservation.  In fact, many of the people there wanted some for their cars.  Can you imagine, those reservation cars with the bumper stickers on them!  It was quite a site.  In fact, Eric was making a lot of money selling his bumper stickers just to people around the reservation.  People told him he should join in the pow-wow circuit and sell some native American themed bumper stickers there.  Eric thought it sounded like a great idea and would do it during the next summer.  He would donate part of the profits to the tribe for helping him with it. 

Eric found that he made more than he ever thought selling bumper stickers at pow-wows.  Eventually he made some other novelty products and started to make a killing.  After a while some people found out that he was a lawyer and began to ask him questions.  Eric took the Arizona bar and volunteered to help out with a local non-profit during the summer months at first, while school was out.  Later, Eric moved into helping the Navaho people in the Southwest full time.  He eventually was able to pay off his loans by living a frugal life.  He enjoyed his life and was able to travel frequently.  He knew that he would find something, and although back at New York Law School he had no idea what it was, he had found it.  It was nothing he would have ever expected, but he kept his mind open and was hopeful for his future.

Meanwhile Tibby angrily left his parents house after they continued to badger him to find work.  He moved in with another law student, an angry Cardozo grad who could not find work, and together they mourned and lamented their life.  Tibby frequented JDUnderground and made his awful life well known to everyone.  For money he worked as a day laborer, telling nobody about his JD degree, lest they should shun him.  At night, he would spend most of his extra money getting drunk.  His loans were in deferment.  Each morning he would throw up before going to stand in line at a day labor recruitment center.  He would sometimes fax in a law resume, even though he never bothered taking the bar.  He blamed his parents, his school, his pre-law adviser, the professors, and just about everyone else for his lot in life.  He found himself in an unending bout of depression as life continued to throw curve ball after curve ball at him.  Sometimes, when his roommate was gone (or when he thought the roommate was gone), Tibby would break down and cry while at the computer, looking at websites of big law firms.  He would see the lists of NYU and Columbia grads that were making six figure and sometimes seven figure salaries, oftentimes partners, living in amazing co-ops and condos, riding fancy over sized cars, and he would just let the tears roll from his eyes.

"That should have been me!"  He cried.  "Curse you New York University!  Curse you!" he would scream, as he saw that even some Fordham and Cardozo grads were being hired. 

One night, Tibby ran out onto the street, fully unclothed, right in front of a taxi that came to a halt.  Crazed and drunk, Tibby was cuffed and taken to a psychiatric center for rehabilitation.  His parents were notified.  His father was disappointed.  His mother knew he would never be admitted to the bar now.  Both hung their heads in shame, knowing their son would never amount to anything.

The End

Eric Tushingtun | School: New York Law School | GPA 3.42 | Loan amount: $197,567.00
Tibby Patterson | School: New York University | GPA 2.99 | Loan amount: $68,976.00