Apprenticeship Model: Will It Return to Law (and become a profit center)?

Back in medieval times, parents launched their offspring into how to make a living through securing an apprenticeship. For that, they paid the master a fee.

Today that model is mostly dead. Instead, parents fork over funds to universities to grant the bachelor degree. Or even the law degree. 

The problem with funding those degrees including law, as FT hammers in this video, is that it's increasingly difficult for the new graduates to then land an entry-level job. Chair of law firm Paul, Weiss Brad Karp warns that there'll be fewer of those first jobs. That's because of AI. 

In zeroing in on the field of law, FT introduces the model that was standard in 19th century America: Learning to become a lawyer through "reading law" with an experienced lawyer. At that time there were few law schools. That's how Abraham Lincoln became a lawyer. Incidentally states such as California, Vermont, Virginia and Washington still allow that option. 

What would be in this for law firms? 

At least two things. 

One, they would be creating a pool of lawyers who'll eventually fill the slots at higher tiers in the value chain. Strategists will always be needed and the old guard will eventually retire. 

And, two, conducting such a program and charging a fee could establish a new kind of profit center in the firm. In many ways the creation of the Non-Equity Lawyer also enhances Profits Per Equity Partner. In addition, some law firms are selling their AI services to other law firms and to corporations. Yes, the once rigid legal sector is opening to fresh approaches to generating revenue and boosting PPEP.

No longer the elephant in the room, what will happen to all the law schools has already emerged as an issue. 

When I talk with those under-40 I steer the conversations to the possibility of financial ruin. Their focus should be shifting to how to dodge that bullet in preparing to earn a living. Ditch prestige. Don't box themselves into knowledge work fields. Lower expectations about compensation.

BTW, FT labels what's taking place for recent graduates as the "Jobpocalypse."

Thrown off your game, maybe the first time since you started working? You made all the right moves and then the world moved in another direction.

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