It used to be that getting a real estate license was the fallback career change du jour, then after the housing market collapsed it seemed everyone was going to law school.

But now, The Wall Street Journal reports, a job drought in the legal field has convinced 11.5 percent fewer students than last year from applying to become future Ally McBeals and Phoenix Wrights, causing the lawyer incubation pool to run dryer than it’s been since 2001.

In 2009, says the story, the American Bar Association warned the throngs of prospective law schoolers that their investment may not pay off.

If you’ve considered going to law school, what economic factors have swayed your opinion either way? And what’s the next mass migration career if real estate and lawyering have gone out of style?

Law School Loses Its Allure as Jobs at Firms Are Scarce [The Wall Street Journal]
(Thanks, Rhys!)

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