PhD a negative for firm jobs? -- JD/PhD vs. CCN vs. B.U/B.C
Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2010 4:38 pm
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I can't attest to this, but shouldn't the 3 year of lost income factor into this as well for the PhD (even though it is technically free)?Balliol2012 wrote:Do people think that the PhD is a NEGATIVE, or just irrelevant for a firm job?
No. Median NU will likely not get you Boston Biglaw. There are outlies, but without solid connections you won't have a shot.Balliol2012 wrote:So you think that i would be able to land a firm job in boston with a JD/PhD from N.U if I was near median? sounds optimistic.
Yea, you're right that too many grad degrees is no good - I'm aware of that. The plus side is that I only spent 2 years in college. So I got the first two master's degrees plus my b.a within the normal undergrad time frame.
More than NY, likely less than DC, Chicago. Its not like Boston firms are more prestigious, its just that their summer classes are generally very small and you have BC/BU swallowing up a lot of the positions.Balliol2012 wrote:Is Boston Biglaw less/more competetive than other cities like NY, Chicago, Philly, DC, LA, SF? I really don't know much about the biglaw scene.
lol, so your BA is in Philosophy?Balliol2012 wrote: but I could never universalize that maxim, and so it would be the wrong thing to do!
Wrong. I am interested in legal academia too and have done some research on it. The OCS here has recently created a new position that caters solely to students who want legal academia. Last week we had a rather comprehensive seminar on the subject and based on all the research and data presented there, almost all of the new tenure track hires here either have work experience or a Ph.D. The guy said those are the two best bets to get jobs in legal academia in the top 10 schools, followed distantly by people with just a JD+ clerkship+ published material. He specifically mentioned that a Ph.D. used to be icing on the cake but has become more and more important in the past 6-7 years or so.Renzo wrote:PhD is irrelevant for both legal academia and firm jobs.
One of you academic-oriented types do some research: pick a law school at random, go through the faculty bios, and count the proportion of professors with PhD's. I bet it's in the single digits. Browsing the professors at NYU who I know have joined the faculty in the past 5 years turned up zero PhDs.Balliol2012 wrote:Exactly. And for some specialties, there is absolutely no way you are getting hired without the relevant PhD. Example: jurisprudence teaching positions require a PhD in philosophy.Hattori Hanzo wrote:Wrong. I am interested in legal academia too and have done some research on it. The OCS here has recently created a new position that caters solely to students who want legal academia. Last week we had a rather comprehensive seminar on the subject and based on all the research and data presented there, almost all of the new tenure track hires here either have work experience or a Ph.D. The guy said those are the two best bets to get jobs in legal academia in the top 10 schools, followed distantly by people with just a JD+ clerkship+ published material. He specifically mentioned that a Ph.D. used to be icing on the cake but has become more and more important in the past 6-7 years or so.Renzo wrote:PhD is irrelevant for both legal academia and firm jobs.
Jurisprudence does not require a PHD. Examples - Frederick Schauer, AE Dick Howard.Balliol2012 wrote:Exactly. And for some specialties, there is absolutely no way you are getting hired without the relevant PhD. Example: jurisprudence teaching positions require a PhD in philosophy.Hattori Hanzo wrote:Wrong. I am interested in legal academia too and have done some research on it. The OCS here has recently created a new position that caters solely to students who want legal academia. Last week we had a rather comprehensive seminar on the subject and based on all the research and data presented there, almost all of the new tenure track hires here either have work experience or a Ph.D. The guy said those are the two best bets to get jobs in legal academia in the top 10 schools, followed distantly by people with just a JD+ clerkship+ published material. He specifically mentioned that a Ph.D. used to be icing on the cake but has become more and more important in the past 6-7 years or so.Renzo wrote:PhD is irrelevant for both legal academia and firm jobs.
Renzo wrote:One of you academic-oriented types do some research: pick a law school at random, go through the faculty bios, and count the proportion of professors with PhD's. I bet it's in the single digits. Browsing the professors at NYU who I know have joined the faculty in the past 5 years turned up zero PhDs.Balliol2012 wrote:Exactly. And for some specialties, there is absolutely no way you are getting hired without the relevant PhD. Example: jurisprudence teaching positions require a PhD in philosophy.Hattori Hanzo wrote:Wrong. I am interested in legal academia too and have done some research on it. The OCS here has recently created a new position that caters solely to students who want legal academia. Last week we had a rather comprehensive seminar on the subject and based on all the research and data presented there, almost all of the new tenure track hires here either have work experience or a Ph.D. The guy said those are the two best bets to get jobs in legal academia in the top 10 schools, followed distantly by people with just a JD+ clerkship+ published material. He specifically mentioned that a Ph.D. used to be icing on the cake but has become more and more important in the past 6-7 years or so.Renzo wrote:PhD is irrelevant for both legal academia and firm jobs.
And the idea that teaching jurisprudence "requires" a PhD would surprise this lady, this guy, this guy... I'll grant that in that narrow field, a PhD is a much bigger deal than in general legal academia, but lets not overstate things.