The high cost of being a lawyer

Few in the legal profession blinked when they read the story about the enrollment decline at the University of Hawaii’s William S. Richardson School of Law.

Word has gotten around that the usual employment centers — law firms serving clients of means — are no longer the fount of jobs they used to be. Lawyers are still needed, but many people can’t afford one. And the people who hire public-interest attorneys — those who work for government or for legal-aid agencies — often can’t fill the spots, because the relatively low salaries attached to these jobs aren’t enough to help young attorneys to pay off their whopping law-school tuition bills.

So law schools charge more, students can’t find jobs to cover the tab, and they quit enrolling. It makes sense, in a logical, lawyerly way.

A four-legged therapist

Service animals are much appreciated for improving the quality of life for all sorts of people. They started out serving folks who had a physical need — seeing-eye dogs, for example — and in recent years have helped people cope with anxiety and other mental-health problems.

That’s the role an 8-year-old boxer named Athena serves in Veterans Treatment Court, where some of the defendants suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, and calm down as they interact with the lovable canine. The military, hospitals, prisons, schools and other institutions also have had success with "pet therapy." As any animal lover knows, the bond can be transformative.