The Myth of Prestige

You’re a Lawyer? You Must Be Rich

The Myth of Prestige, the Reality of Paychecks, and Why the Joke’s Not Funny Anymore

There’s a joke I once heard that the J.D. after a lawyer’s name doesn’t actually stand for Juris Doctor.
It stands for "Just Debt."

And I’ll admit, when I graduated from law school and started practicing, that joke hit a little too close to home.

People hear "lawyer" and immediately imagine courtroom drama, high-rise offices, and six-figure salaries with a bonus for breathing. But let me show you what it actually looked like.

My first job offer?
$38,000 and a reminder that I would be the first black attorney (they literally said this). For a law school graduate with student loan debt well into six figures.
I turned it down.

My second job offer?
$110,000 with an understanding that I would not do real case work for another 2 years and they paid me for my time, which meant I needed to “be available.”  
I turned it down. Crazy? Maybe, but I would probably do the same thing again for the same reasons.

My third job offer?
$50,000 public service job.
That one I accepted. Not because it was fair, but because I needed to start somewhere substantive.

Two years later I moved to a position that doubled my pay, but I left with a TON of real case experience, jury trials, and 10 judges in my phone that I could genuinely contact for anything. 

At the time, I thought I’d finally closed the gap, until I learned that someone with less experience than me was making $10,000 more. And she was kind enough to tell me because even she thought it was wrong.

But let’s back up to the public service job. That $50,000 government attorney salary came with a shiny promise:
Loan forgiveness… in ten years.
The catch?
You had to stay at that job, or one like it for a decade.
You had to hope your salary increased steadily (it usually didn’t and certainly didn’t beat inflation).
You had to trust that the forgiveness program wouldn’t disappear before your ten years were up.
And you had to pretend like you could afford life in the meantime.

Spoiler: You couldn’t.

The problem here isn’t just money.
It’s the assumption.
The assumption that lawyers,  like doctors, like dentists, like anyone with an expensive degree are automatically rolling in it.

But degrees don’t guarantee dollars.
And prestige doesn’t pay the bills.

It’s insulting how often public defenders are treated like they’re not “real lawyers.”
It’s painful how often people assume you're just "not doing it right" if you're not making six figures right out the gate.
It’s exhausting having to explain that your “fancy job” pays less than a union plumber who skipped college and owns his house outright.

Let’s break it down.

Most lawyers do not start at $300,000. That would be specialized experience in what is called “Big law,” which are big law firms that can afford to start new graduates at $180,000+.

The majority do not work in Big Law.
Many begin in public service roles like public defenders, prosecutors, legal aid attorneys, government agencies, where starting salaries can range from $45,000–$65,000 depending on the state.

Now add:

• $120,000–$250,000 in student loans (this is the national debt average, but my friends had more)

• Interest rates that compound daily
• Bar exam fees
• Licensing fees
• Continuing education costs
• Professional insurance
• Taxes that remove a third of that paycheck

And then layer on a public narrative that says, “You’re a lawyer. You’re fine.”

Loan forgiveness programs exist, yes, but they typically require 10 years of qualifying payments in public service. That means:

• You must remain in qualifying employment.

• You face the potential for unintentionally branding yourself as a public sector lawyer
• You must make consistent payments the entire time.
• You are taxed on certain forgiven amounts depending on the program.
• Policy changes can impact eligibility.

It’s not a shortcut. It’s a long road. We built a culture that equates education with automatic wealth. But education often comes with leverage and leverage comes with risk.

Doctors face similar paths. So do dentists. So do pharmacists. So do many highly educated professionals.

Prestige and profit are not the same thing, so before assuming someone with a professional degree is “set,” consider:

• What did it cost them to get there?
• What trade-offs did they make?
• What salary structure does that field actually pay at entry level?
• How long does it realistically take to stabilize?

I’m not bitter. I’m not mad. I’m just tired of the story being told incorrectly, so I’ve decided to set it straight.

Some of us said yes to service work.
Some of us took the lower-paying job because we believed in the mission and we wanted the experience.
Some of us are still trying to climb out of the debt it took just to be allowed in the room.

The issue isn’t that lawyers are underpaid.
The issue is that people misunderstand how the system is structured.

So the next time someone asks what you do and you say, “I’m a lawyer,”
and they follow with, “Oh, you must be doing really well for yourself,” you have my permission to say:
“Doing well doesn’t always mean getting paid well, but the earning potential is there.”

If you’re the person making the assumption, try not to.  Instead, ask about why we went to law school, who we are, we are more than our titles.