Members of the law-school class of 2011 had little better than a fifty-fifty shot of landing a job as a lawyer within nine months of receiving a degree, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of new data that provides the most detailed picture yet of the grim market for law jobs.
根据《华尔街日报》对最新出炉的数据所做的分析，2011届法学院毕业生在获得学位后的九个月内获得一个律师职位的几率只有大约50%。这些新的数据为我们提供了迄今为止最详尽的分析，让我们了解到法学院毕业生在就业方面所面临的严峻形势。
Under pressure from disillusioned graduates and some professors, the American Bar Association for the first time released a tally of the previous year's graduates who have secured full-time, permanent jobs as lawyers. Until recently, the ABA required law schools to report only general data about how their graduates fared, such as how many were employed full-time or part-time in any kind of job, whether or not it required a law degree.
在一些幻灭的毕业生和一些教授的施压下，美国律师协会(American Bar Association)首次公布了上一年度找到全职永久律师职位的毕业生数量。在此之前，美国律师协会仅仅要求法学院公布能反映其毕业生求职情况的总体数据，例如有多少人找到了任何种类的全职或兼职工作，无论此类工作是否需要法律学位。
The numbers suggest the job market for law grads is worse than previously thought. Nationwide, only 55% of the class of 2011 had full-time, long-term jobs that required a law degree nine months after graduation. The ABA defines "long-term" jobs as those that don't have a term of less than one year.
数字表明，法学院毕业生的就业状况比此前想象的更糟糕。全美范围内，毕业后九个月内只有55%的2011届毕业生找到需要法律学位的全职长期工作。根据美国律师协会的定义，“长期”工作是指合同规定的工作年限在一年及以上的职位。
Of course, it's not uncommon for people to attend law school to advance their career without practicing law. Several law-school deans cautioned against placing too much emphasis on jobs requiring a law degree.
当然，只是为了助推自己的事业而上法学院并且在毕业后不从事法律工作的人并不少见。多位法学院院长对那种过分看重需要法律学位的工作的想法提出了告诫。
Nationally, 8% of 2011 graduates were said to be in full-time, long-term jobs for which a law degree was preferred but not required, according to the Journal's data analysis. Another 4% were employed in full-time, long-term positions for which professional training was required but for which a law degree offered no advantage.
《华尔街日报》的数据分析显示，在全美范围内，据称仅有8%的2011届毕业生找到了会优先考虑拥有法律学位的毕业生的长期全职工作（但拥有法律学位却并非获得此类工作的必要条件）。另有4%的毕业生找到了需要专业培训的长期全职工作，但对于这些职位而言，拥有法律学位并不能获得加分。
The numbers capture only 2011 graduates and measure their employment status within nine months of graduation. That time frame tends to favor top schools whose students often - in good times and bad - land jobs before graduation, according to several law-school deans.
这些数据反映的仅仅是2011届毕业生在毕业后九个月内的就业情况。据多位法学院院长透露，这一时间跨度往往有利于顶尖法学院的毕业生。无论就业行情是好是坏，这些学校的毕业生通常能在毕业前落实工作。
It's tough to compare the law-school situation to the job market for other advanced degrees. About 78% of 2011 graduates of M.B.A. programs landed jobs within three months of getting their degrees, according to U.S. News & World Report, although the figures don't show whether the jobs required the degree. That percentage was based on 135 of 441 schools responding to the magazine's survey; business schools aren't required to report placement statistics.
将法学院毕业生面临的就业形势同其它高等学位持有者面对的就业市场进行比较并不容易。《美国新闻与世界报道》(U.S. News & World Report)的数据显示，2011届工商管理硕士(MBA)毕业生在获得学位后的三个月内落实工作的比例大约为78%，不过这一数据没有表明这些工作是否需要MBA学位。这一比例是基于接受《美国新闻与世界报道》调查的441家商学院中135家的数据得出的。公布就业统计数据并非商学院的必要工作。
The new details are likely to feed a debate about the value of a law degree. More than 40,000 students enter the law-job market annually. In the past year, law-school graduates have filed more than a dozen lawsuits around the country alleging that some schools misled students with job-placement statistics.
上述新的数据可能引发一场有关法律学位价值的辩论。每年有超过40,000名毕业生进入法律就业市场。在过去一年中，法学院毕业生在全美范围内提起十多起诉讼，声称某些法学院用就业统计数据对学生构成了误导。
The 2011 data reinforce the notion in the industry that students from the top 14 U.S. law schools have little trouble finding work. The top-ranked schools sent graduates into long-term legal jobs in high numbers, but 87 lower-tier schools had placement rates of 50% or less.
2011年的就业数据再次强调了业内流行的说法，即全美排名前十四的顶尖法学院的毕业生找工作时几乎不会遇到麻烦。顶尖法学院能帮助大部分毕业生获得一个长期的法务工作，但87所排名较低的法学院的就业率只有50%，或者更低。
The data cover 198 of 201 ABA-accredited schools. A spokesman said data on two schools in Puerto Rico were pending. A third school, the Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, Va., doesn't confer a J.D.
这些数据涵盖了美国律师协会认可的201所法学院中的198所。一位发言人说，波多黎各的两所法学院的就业数据还未公布。而弗吉尼亚州夏洛茨维尔(Charlottesville)的Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School并不颁发法学博士(J.D.)学位。