1 is a law student who, in a year or so, will likely either have to clean up her bad debts to pass a moral character test (depending on the state), or will have a good-paying job as an attorney.
Not necessarily. IIRC, at least in California, bad debts do not torpedo a moral character exam, which is looking more for dishonesty (e.g., fraud) than financial problems (although I suppose someone whose finances are a real train wreck might raise some questions as to whether they should be trusted with client funds).
Which is why I said "depending on the state". In this particular case, the reason given for the loan - truthful or not - was to clear up bad debts so that she would be able to meet the moral character requirements once she graduated.
And not all law school grads get a "good-paying job." While the headlines often like to speak of the $160K starting salaries for lawyers, those jobs are only for the top graduates at the top law schools who go to the top big law firms. As seen here, the 2007 median starting salary at firms of 2-25 lawyers is $68,000. While that is a goodly amount of money, it is also distorted by the higher pay in certain high-cost areas, such as New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. And, of course, half of the people make less than the median. And large attorney job categories such as prosecutors, judicial clerks, and Legal Services jobs pay much less -- 2006 median salaries of $46,000, $46,500, and $38,000 respectively.
I suspect $38000 - $68000 is "good-paying" enough to cover a garnishment order for a $3000 judgment.
