The Tragedy of Sunk Costs - From Biotech to Law Degrees and More

Bad news sells and there's plenty of bad news about academic degrees which, upon completion, turn out not to be marketable. 

In The Wall Street Journal today there's the poignant example of the crash of the biotech niche in prime Knowledge Worker city of Boston. But this, unlike most, does have a happy ending for one Gen Zer. That's because May 2025 Harvard graduate in bioengineering Pierre Cousins did the unusual: He didn't hold on to his dream of nailing a job in his major in Boston. This November he took a sales job with Salesforce and it is in San Francisco. Typically those with degrees in which there are few jobs are determined to protect the sunk costs, ranging from the tuition money to the passion about the field. They are the current unemployed or underemployed.

The same kind of crash could occur in a hoped-for career path of practicing law.  

Last March Paul, Weiss and this month Sullivan & Cromwell projected how AI could replace some human lawyers, especially new graduates and those with only a few years experience. The number of eliminated slots could be significant.  

In addition, there are practices which could, because of AI, evolve into commodities. That also narrows the opportunities for new lawyers to open their own firms and generate a profit. Recall how Legal Zoom, launched in 2001, automated many of the bread and butter services which lawyers on Main Street had once delivered to earn a good living. Yes, Legal Zoom was a game-changer, just as is AI.

Of course, with the JD the sunk costs are deep. 

Those reach all the way back to high school to invest in getting the good grades to get into a good college and then in college to also get the good grades to get into a good law school and in the latter to be at the top of the class. Also be a leader in the right activities. 

Then there is the actual financial nut. At Harvard Law School for one year for tuition, housing, food. health insurance, books and other fees the expense is about $121,250. Before AI, graduates could usually land and keep jobs in Big Law long enough which would take care of paying off much of the student loans taken out. But that will be less likely. 

Another kind of sunk cost is the one-dimensional focus on the objective of practicing law. That could be the major obstacle. In coaching the JD classes graduating during The Great Recession as well as junior lawyers I hit up against this: their reluctance to transfer their knowledge base and skills to other kinds of jobs. Eventually that had to happen because educational loan payments were due. Back then they were about $700 monthly. 

Incidentally, none of my clients back then were from Paul, Weiss. Brad Karp has just been voted in as chair by the partners. Perhaps as a sign of confidence in the future of the firm during that difficult time he instituted a policy of no-associate-layoffs.

Is the solution to the burden of sunk costs not to invest so much? Maybe. Perhaps lines of work have to be approached with the understanding that they could only last four to five years. Then, it's time to reset. Or, a worse scenario: That career path can't even be begun. 

Actually I learned such a brutal lesson after I had put so much into a Ph.D. that wasn't marketable. Like the rest of that Lost Generation of Scholars, I bounced around jobs. But I didn't invest anything more in formal education - or a fixed idea of what I should be doing. After three years I landed into a lucrative business writing 40-year-career with not one course in any of that. Four years ago when the business dried up, I only invested 40 bucks for a workshop to enter the sectors in which I now earn income. 

Success is a mental game. Failure comes from being done in by the “committee” in your head.

Together, we reprogram your thinking. Then we change your story. And, unleash success.

Intuitive Coaching. Special expertise with transitions, becoming a solopreneur and aging. Psychic/tarot readings, upon request. Complimentary consultation with Jane Genova (Text 203-468-8579, janegenova374@gmail.com). Yes, test out the chemistry. Zero risk.

Don’t give up before the miracle.