The Message Board Where Lawyers Go To Weep

Lawyers and law students are generally familiar with the online forum TLS (Top Law Schools), but are you familiar with the TLS thread: “The Vale of Tears”? It’s for law students and recent grads without job offers. The name comes from a verse in an ancient prayer, “To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears.” The 2008 bust was a catastrophe for anyone entering the legal field, which isn’t news to anyone in or hoping to get into the legal field but is still the reason that there is so much weeping on this particular message board. Law school graduates face an average of $112,776 of student debt, and often with no prospect to repay. “The Vale gives people an opportunity to talk openly about sensitive personal and employment issues in a way you can’t with classmates,” says one frequent poster, who posts to encourage others not to give up hope. He recently shared his mantra: “Keep your head up, you’ll find something, keep grinding, we’re all pulling for you.”