The First Thing We Do, Let's Kill All The Law School Applications

Matthew Willens is a personal injury attorney. He will pay you not to go to law school.

Matthew Willens and his team---no job openings available

In a case of "do as I say not as I do", Mr. Willens is offering a scholarship of $1000 to someone who is considering law school if they will apply to some other post-graduate program. Any program. As long as it isn't law school.

Don't look at his website that lists the millions in settlements he's won, because you'll only start calculating his cut and you'll be blinded. A successful personal injury lawyer can make a very comfortable living, you'll start thinking, and then your rational brain will shut down. Mr. Willens wants to catch you before you see those dollar signs dancing because he knows it won't be like that for you coming out the other end.

It's long been known that there are too many lawyers in the United States. Far more are being churned out of law schools than society needs, which means law school graduates won't find jobs after all those years of hard work. They are left with a crushing burden of student loan debt that has to be paid off, and when all you can find for work is a job as a minimum wage barista at Starbucks, you won't be getting your life on track much before you've reached retirement age.

Mr. Willens wants to catch students before they make that fateful step. He admits that his offer is selfish, in part. The profession he loves is being damaged by fresh graduates who can't get positions at existing firms to learn the business, so they go into business on their own but they don't really know what they're doing. Sure, they know the law, but they lack experience in practicing it. Then they screw up, and the general public gets an even more negative impression of lawyers, and that isn't good for the profession.

So if you're thinking of law school, and could use $1000 to help pay some of the expense of graduate school, here is your chance to save yourself from yourself.

How about a master's degree in library science? Or maybe you have some creativity in you and a master's in fine arts would send you along the road to being a teacher in a graduate program while working on your novel at night. Mr. Willens has $1000 to help you reach that goal.

Doesn't the world always need physicists? Or hedge fund managers? Maybe a degree in finance or business would be of more use than that law school diploma. At least you could be $1000 to the good on your debt load. And you still get to wear a suit to work.