Job prospects out of Tennessee? Forum

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bergg007

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Job prospects out of Tennessee?

Post by bergg007 » Sun Jan 09, 2011 6:08 pm

I have been accepted to a few second tier schools, houston and Tennessee, and i have been waitlisted higher up the list. I like Tennessee a lot, the state and the school, an I like the COA and the COL but I don't know a lot about the Job prospects out of school. the website makes it all look super rosy but I don't buy it completely. If I don't get in to any other schools then my decision is made but I expect to get in other places because of my LSAT, but no where is cheaper than Tennessee. Could i find a good job out of LS?

Addt'l info: I am interested mainly in Mid law and would be perfectly happy making 60-75k in tennessee. I obviously would like more but I have no interest in New York or any other large market. I like the mid markets a lot better. I'd like to do "big Law" in a mid market if possible. I'd be willing to work public interest or small law if they'll pay me at least 60k or give me debt forgiveness.

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Re: Job prospects out of Tennessee?

Post by bergg007 » Sun Jan 09, 2011 6:20 pm

anyone? ...anyone?

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Re: Job prospects out of Tennessee?

Post by mpj_3050 » Sun Jan 09, 2011 6:22 pm

How much debt would you be taking on at Tennessee? I have been accepted to some of Tennessee's peer schools that I have listed on TLS and others that have recently come in. I highly doubt that you could bank on 60-75k out the gate from UT or the others I have gotten into (don't know what percentage gets that but I would not want to be overly optimistic). Like Arkansas-Fayetteville, Pittsburgh, Kentucky, etc which just arrived.

Personally I am a bit more pessimistic and banking on 40k a year out the gate from the school I ultimately attend, if I actually get a job, so I am going to keep debt at about 40k.

You just really need to talk to some of the students and see what they say - not the students the school will have email you because they are not representative.

Edit: saw your profile and you have a 167 and a 2.9. Hopefully you get some money later on in the cycle, best of luck. I had damn near nervous break downs twice and got 160's so you at least have me killed in the LSAT part.

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bergg007

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Re: Job prospects out of Tennessee?

Post by bergg007 » Sun Jan 09, 2011 6:28 pm

mpj_3050 wrote:How much debt would you be taking on at Tennessee? I have been accepted to some of Tennessee's peer schools that I have listed on TLS and others that have recently come in. I highly doubt that you could bank on 60-75k out the gate from UT or the others I have gotten into (don't know what percentage gets that but I would not want to be overly optimistic). Like Arkansas-Fayetteville, Pittsburgh, Kentucky, etc which just arrived.

Personally I am a bit more pessimistic and banking on 40k a year out the gate from the school I ultimately attend, if I actually get a job, so I am going to keep debt at about 40k.

You just really need to talk to some of the students and see what they say - not the students the school will have email you because they are not representative.


If you don't think you can make at least 40k why got to law school? any crappy BA can get you that. The in-state average for Tennessee is 75K so I thought 55-60K would be safe. My debt load would probably be between 30-45K. it's only 13k a year for tuition(b/c instate is incredibly easy to get), my wife will be working making 40-50k a year.

you don't think Tenn. has good job prospects i take it?

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Re: Job prospects out of Tennessee?

Post by MrAnon » Sun Jan 09, 2011 6:30 pm

it is great that you would be happy with 60k-70k. Unfortunately that is a fantasyland for many students from schools at that level. A few students will graduate to 100k jobs. The rest will be earning 40k to start and will be outearned by Costco managers.

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Re: Job prospects out of Tennessee?

Post by pokerlaw » Sun Jan 09, 2011 6:31 pm

--LinkRemoved--

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Re: Job prospects out of Tennessee?

Post by ran12 » Sun Jan 09, 2011 6:31 pm

Check this out. --LinkRemoved--. You'll be able to find out what kind of possibilities you have through OCI out of Tenn. I pretty much have a full ride at Tenn but after looking at the site I'm wavering but it also has a lot to do with me being from NY and wanting to work in NY or DC. Seems like you can get some pretty well paying jobs in TN though.

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Re: Job prospects out of Tennessee?

Post by mpj_3050 » Sun Jan 09, 2011 6:41 pm

MrAnon wrote:it is great that you would be happy with 60k-70k. Unfortunately that is a fantasyland for many students from schools at that level. A few students will graduate to 100k jobs. The rest will be earning 40k to start and will be outearned by Costco managers.
I think Tennessee is a fine school and I almost applied there (tuition/residency not what I need), but MrAnon is correct. UT is certainly not one of the private schools in the T2, T3, and T4 range that grinds out 30k in tuition a year from students so it can be a smart decision. I few will hit the lottery but most will make 40k. Keep in mind that this is 40k starting and it will pay off ultimately with a lower debt level (and yes the Costco manager will make more than the majority of UT Law grads or any comparable schools, but you can hopefully profit in the long run). Hell, I can't even get into a T1 school with a 160/3.5 and I know that opportunities greatly fall off after a certain cutoff point.

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Re: Job prospects out of Tennessee?

Post by bergg007 » Sun Jan 09, 2011 8:34 pm

I have to say I'm surprised at how bad everyone thinks the job prospects are at UT. I mean yeah the school is second place in a small state but stats show that almost all Vandy students leave the state, making UT the de facto #1. Hmmm..... i hope you are all wrong, but I'm gonna seriously rethink a Tennessee JD. Houston just started to look a little better.

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Re: Job prospects out of Tennessee?

Post by mpj_3050 » Sun Jan 09, 2011 8:43 pm

bergg007 wrote:I have to say I'm surprised at how bad everyone thinks the job prospects are at UT. I mean yeah the school is second place in a small state but stats show that almost all Vandy students leave the state, making UT the de facto #1. Hmmm..... i hope you are all wrong, but I'm gonna seriously rethink a Tennessee JD. Houston just started to look a little better.
If you can go on the cheap then Tennessee could be a good choice for you, as well as many other students who manage the debt. If you can keep the debt load at 30-45k like you specified Tennessee would be a good school to attend. If you have Houston vs. Tennessee go with the one that is cheaper and where you want to live. I just wouldn't be overly optimistic about starting salaries (this coming from someone who will be in a similar position school wise).

I assume 40k starting because I want to be realistic regarding my employment prospects and the caliber of school that I can attend. And believe me I wish I could find a 40k job with my BA right now. Really though, I think Tennessee with your specified debt level would be a solid choice, just scale back the expectations just a smidgen and I am sure you will be okay. Hope everything works out for you, best of luck!

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Re: Job prospects out of Tennessee?

Post by bergg007 » Sun Jan 09, 2011 8:45 pm

mpj_3050 wrote:
bergg007 wrote:I have to say I'm surprised at how bad everyone thinks the job prospects are at UT. I mean yeah the school is second place in a small state but stats show that almost all Vandy students leave the state, making UT the de facto #1. Hmmm..... i hope you are all wrong, but I'm gonna seriously rethink a Tennessee JD. Houston just started to look a little better.
If you can go on the cheap then Tennessee could be a good choice for you, as well as many other students who manage the debt. If you can keep the debt load at 30-45k like you specified Tennessee would be a good school to attend. If you have Houston vs. Tennessee go with the one that is cheaper and where you want to live. I just wouldn't be overly optimistic about starting salaries (this coming from someone who will be in a similar position school wise).

I assume 40k starting because I want to be realistic regarding my employment prospects and the caliber of school that I can attend. And believe me I wish I could find a 40k job with my BA right now. Really though, I think Tennessee with your specified debt level would be a solid choice, just scale back the expectations just a smidgen and I am sure you will be okay. Hope everything works out for you, best of luck!

Thanks for your input, I guess I'll see what happens.

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Re: Job prospects out of Tennessee?

Post by rundoxierun » Sun Jan 09, 2011 9:02 pm

bergg007 wrote:I have to say I'm surprised at how bad everyone thinks the job prospects are at UT. I mean yeah the school is second place in a small state but stats show that almost all Vandy students leave the state, making UT the de facto #1. Hmmm..... i hope you are all wrong, but I'm gonna seriously rethink a Tennessee JD. Houston just started to look a little better.
I live in TN. A decent number of Vandy students stay in TN (34 last year according to their admitted students info) plus you have students from UMemphis and Ole Miss hitting the market as well. Basically, there is no #1 in the TN market. The TN legal market is very small. The only cities with firms of size are Memphis and Nashville. Memphis has two sizeable firms and Nashville has like 3 that I can think of. Everything else is basically firms of less than 20 attorneys and a couple with 40-60. Ive been told that TN sends a few students to KY but the majority of the others end up in these small law firms, start their own firm, or do something else. One thing that TN does have to their advantage is that their alumni base is pretty loyal. TN is a good dice roll if you want to be a lawyer, dont have many other opportunities and get a nice scholarship. I would not recommend anyone take out significant debt for it though.

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Re: Job prospects out of Tennessee?

Post by Patriot1208 » Sun Jan 09, 2011 9:25 pm

pokerlaw wrote:--LinkRemoved--
OP, you need to look very closely at the above. It would seem, Tennessee only has reported the salaries for a little less than one half of the class. And, for that one half, the median salary is 75k. Now, if you assume that it was the top half of students that reported salary info (probably not quite right, but close) you'll see that you basically had to be in the top quarter of students to make more than 70k. rest of the top half was make less than 60k. Meaning, if you finish below median, you will be lucky to find employment and the majority of the class will be making below 60k, probably closer to 40k.

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Re: Job prospects out of Tennessee?

Post by drylo » Mon Jan 17, 2011 1:08 am

bergg007 wrote:I have to say I'm surprised at how bad everyone thinks the job prospects are at UT. I mean yeah the school is second place in a small state but stats show that almost all Vandy students leave the state, making UT the de facto #1. Hmmm..... i hope you are all wrong, but I'm gonna seriously rethink a Tennessee JD. Houston just started to look a little better.
I think you could do OK out of Tennessee. I'm at Vandy, but I know people at UT, and it seems like UT grads do pretty well, really. On the whole, definitely better than Memphis and Ole Miss grads... for whoever said that.

(Edited to add: By "UT grads do well," I mean the ones who presumably have good grades. I think UT is definitely second-best in Tennessee (to Vandy), but obviously that doesn't mean that every UT student gets a sweet job.)

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Re: Job prospects out of Tennessee?

Post by ran12 » Mon Jan 17, 2011 12:49 pm

drylo wrote:
bergg007 wrote:I have to say I'm surprised at how bad everyone thinks the job prospects are at UT. I mean yeah the school is second place in a small state but stats show that almost all Vandy students leave the state, making UT the de facto #1. Hmmm..... i hope you are all wrong, but I'm gonna seriously rethink a Tennessee JD. Houston just started to look a little better.
I think you could do OK out of Tennessee. I'm at Vandy, but I know people at UT, and it seems like UT grads do pretty well, really. On the whole, definitely better than Memphis and Ole Miss grads... for whoever said that.

(Edited to add: By "UT grads do well," I mean the ones who presumably have good grades. I think UT is definitely second-best in Tennessee (to Vandy), but obviously that doesn't mean that every UT student gets a sweet job.)
Would you say UT grads get these nice jobs in TN or tend to be able to get out of there.

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Re: Job prospects out of Tennessee?

Post by rundoxierun » Mon Jan 17, 2011 1:16 pm

ran12 wrote:
drylo wrote:
bergg007 wrote:I have to say I'm surprised at how bad everyone thinks the job prospects are at UT. I mean yeah the school is second place in a small state but stats show that almost all Vandy students leave the state, making UT the de facto #1. Hmmm..... i hope you are all wrong, but I'm gonna seriously rethink a Tennessee JD. Houston just started to look a little better.
I think you could do OK out of Tennessee. I'm at Vandy, but I know people at UT, and it seems like UT grads do pretty well, really. On the whole, definitely better than Memphis and Ole Miss grads... for whoever said that.

(Edited to add: By "UT grads do well," I mean the ones who presumably have good grades. I think UT is definitely second-best in Tennessee (to Vandy), but obviously that doesn't mean that every UT student gets a sweet job.)
Would you say UT grads get these nice jobs in TN or tend to be able to get out of there.
I never made any comparison about whether they are better or worse.. my main point was that there are grads from other schools in the area and, probably due to market size, that there is no clear, super dominant #1 in TN. I dont think you would disagree with that. The OP kind of asked whether UT has a stranglehold on TN and that is definitely not the case.

I know a few UT grads who have gotten jobs in the major Kentucky cities (Lexington and Louisville) but I dont know enough to really say whether it is the norm or not.

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Re: Job prospects out of Tennessee?

Post by observationalist » Mon Jan 17, 2011 1:41 pm

Patriot1208 wrote:
pokerlaw wrote:--LinkRemoved--
OP, you need to look very closely at the above. It would seem, Tennessee only has reported the salaries for a little less than one half of the class. And, for that one half, the median salary is 75k. Now, if you assume that it was the top half of students that reported salary info (probably not quite right, but close) you'll see that you basically had to be in the top quarter of students to make more than 70k. rest of the top half was make less than 60k. Meaning, if you finish below median, you will be lucky to find employment and the majority of the class will be making below 60k, probably closer to 40k.
Specifically, 27.3% of the Class of 2008 were making 66K or higher, all of which were reported out of the private sector. Very few government or public interest positions pay that much, which means just about every other non-reported salary is going to be lower than the 66K. 2008 was also an excellent year for placement across the country; since then nearly every large law firm in Nashville (the market I'm most familiar with) has slashed their hiring practices for new associates, meaning it is even more difficult to find a firm that is in the position to hire new graduates now than it was a few years ago. And while I understand the argument that regional law schools have strong local alumni networks, the fact remains that these alumni are not currently in the position to be hiring graduates from anywhere. I participated in a panel discussion last June in Murfreesboro at the Tennessee Judicial Conference, and the main topic was how to deal with all the new graduates when there isn't enough work to go around as it is. Members of the Tennessee Bar are extremely concerned about how to mentor and train the ranks of new lawyers, many of which are now being forced to enter solo practice.

That said, there is a huge need for legal assistance in rural parts of the state. There's actually one county west of Knoxville that (as of last June) had zero licensed attorneys active in the area. But as I pointed out at the conference, new graduates are not usually able to work in rural areas for a number of reasons, the most important of which is the debt. If you have a sincere interest in practicing law in a rural area and you can finance your law degree without taking on debt, then I think a school like UT could be a great option. But right now very few graduates are landing jobs in the private sector absent going into solo practice, while public interest jobs are extremely difficult to find and government positions are now being grabbed by graduates of more competitive programs.

I am in no means advocating for Houston... for their Class of 2008, about 45% reported making 60K or more in the private sector, but without better information from the law school I think it is fair to assume that less than half of that percentage were still able to find firm jobs last year. Unfortunately, there's more to the story. If you can't find a job at a law firm, you may not be able to find a legal job at all. Statistics for both law schools count everyone employed in any position nine months after graduation, whether or not it is legal in nature.

What I strongly suggest you do is to use your acceptances to these schools as leverage to get employment statistics for the Class of 2010. You have to be very specific in the information you're requesting: ask for how many graduates reported starting salaries, and of them what the median/25th/75th statistics were. Ask how many graduates are working in jobs that require a JD, as opposed to jobs that don't require a JD. And you should request a complete list of all employers who hired graduates from the Class of 2010, so that you can research them and get a better feel for whether or not the job prospects are what you are hoping to have in a few years. Both schools will be reporting information on the Class of 2010 at the end of February, so if they tell you they don't currently have that data you can let them know you don't mind waiting until then. Be persistent and you should be able to get responses that will help you determine whether or not you're comfortable taking on nondischargeable debt to finance your JD. G'luck.

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Re: Job prospects out of Tennessee?

Post by drylo » Mon Jan 17, 2011 2:05 pm

observationalist wrote:
Patriot1208 wrote:
pokerlaw wrote:--LinkRemoved--
OP, you need to look very closely at the above. It would seem, Tennessee only has reported the salaries for a little less than one half of the class. And, for that one half, the median salary is 75k. Now, if you assume that it was the top half of students that reported salary info (probably not quite right, but close) you'll see that you basically had to be in the top quarter of students to make more than 70k. rest of the top half was make less than 60k. Meaning, if you finish below median, you will be lucky to find employment and the majority of the class will be making below 60k, probably closer to 40k.
Specifically, 27.3% of the Class of 2008 were making 66K or higher, all of which were reported out of the private sector. Very few government or public interest positions pay that much, which means just about every other non-reported salary is going to be lower than the 66K. 2008 was also an excellent year for placement across the country; since then nearly every large law firm in Nashville (the market I'm most familiar with) has slashed their hiring practices for new associates, meaning it is even more difficult to find a firm that is in the position to hire new graduates now than it was a few years ago. And while I understand the argument that regional law schools have strong local alumni networks, the fact remains that these alumni are not currently in the position to be hiring graduates from anywhere. I participated in a panel discussion last June in Murfreesboro at the Tennessee Judicial Conference, and the main topic was how to deal with all the new graduates when there isn't enough work to go around as it is. Members of the Tennessee Bar are extremely concerned about how to mentor and train the ranks of new lawyers, many of which are now being forced to enter solo practice.

That said, there is a huge need for legal assistance in rural parts of the state. There's actually one county west of Knoxville that (as of last June) had zero licensed attorneys active in the area. But as I pointed out at the conference, new graduates are not usually able to work in rural areas for a number of reasons, the most important of which is the debt. If you have a sincere interest in practicing law in a rural area and you can finance your law degree without taking on debt, then I think a school like UT could be a great option. But right now very few graduates are landing jobs in the private sector absent going into solo practice, while public interest jobs are extremely difficult to find and government positions are now being grabbed by graduates of more competitive programs.

I am in no means advocating for Houston... for their Class of 2008, about 45% reported making 60K or more in the private sector, but without better information from the law school I think it is fair to assume that less than half of that percentage were still able to find firm jobs last year. Unfortunately, there's more to the story. If you can't find a job at a law firm, you may not be able to find a legal job at all. Statistics for both law schools count everyone employed in any position nine months after graduation, whether or not it is legal in nature.

What I strongly suggest you do is to use your acceptances to these schools as leverage to get employment statistics for the Class of 2010. You have to be very specific in the information you're requesting: ask for how many graduates reported starting salaries, and of them what the median/25th/75th statistics were. Ask how many graduates are working in jobs that require a JD, as opposed to jobs that don't require a JD. And you should request a complete list of all employers who hired graduates from the Class of 2010, so that you can research them and get a better feel for whether or not the job prospects are what you are hoping to have in a few years. Both schools will be reporting information on the Class of 2010 at the end of February, so if they tell you they don't currently have that data you can let them know you don't mind waiting until then. Be persistent and you should be able to get responses that will help you determine whether or not you're comfortable taking on nondischargeable debt to finance your JD. G'luck.
First, congrats on the ATL recognition, observationalist!

Second, I will elaborate on my comments.

As far as in-state vs. out-of-state, I would imagine UT places best in Tennessee. That being said, if you have connections in Kentucky or Alabama or some nearby state, you could probably get a job if your grades are good enough. But it seems to me that the two most important factors (of equal importance, probably) in getting a job are (1) grades, and (2) connections to the geographical market that you want to get into.

Also, like observationalist pointed out, the hiring across the board is not very good--and that is certainly the case in Nashville (which is where I have the most knowledge/experience as well). From my experience/observation, it seems like UT students are getting a pretty good shot alongside Vandy students for summer jobs in Nashville. A few points to note, however... (1) A lot of the students at the top of Vandy's classes are leaving Nashville; (2) there are not a lot of people getting jobs in Nashville--out of Vandy or UT; so basically what I'm saying is (3) the way things are right now, you have to be at or near the top of the class to land a job in Nashville. I suspect that the firms are hiring a little bit deeper into Vandy's class than UT's, but it's really not pretty either way. (The benefit that Vandy has is obviously that a good number of Vandy students (relatively speaking) are getting jobs in NY, DC, Chicago, Atlanta.)

I feel like I'm rambling, and I know this thread is not about Vandy at all, but my point is that in my mind, UT has a pretty good lock on the #2 spot in Tennessee (and maybe even co-#1, with the caveat that the top 10% at UT might be competing with the top 20-25% at Vandy... totally speculating). However, with that said, the point of this post was to counter-balance that "endorsement" for UT with the reality that does not seem particularly easy right now to find jobs in Tennessee, especially Nashville.

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Re: Job prospects out of Tennessee?

Post by ran12 » Mon Jan 17, 2011 2:16 pm

Has anyone heard of UT grads going to work in the northeast or DC? I'm from the northeast and I got a really good deal from UT that would leave me with minimal debt but I do not want to be stuck in TN or any of the bordering states. I have family connections to go to DC but I do not want to rely on that and go to UT thinking I'll be fine b/c you never know what will happen. NALP research I did doesn't look promising OCI wise for where I want to practice so any perspective on this would be helpful.

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Re: Job prospects out of Tennessee?

Post by stratocophic » Mon Jan 17, 2011 2:20 pm

ran12 wrote:Has anyone heard of UT grads going to work in the northeast or DC? I'm from the northeast and I got a really good deal from UT that would leave me with minimal debt but I do not want to be stuck in TN or any of the bordering states. I have family connections to go to DC but I do not want to rely on that and go to UT thinking I'll be fine b/c you never know what will happen. NALP research I did doesn't look promising OCI wise for where I want to practice so any perspective on this would be helpful.
Don't go to UT if you don't want to work in the south. It's a regional school catering to southern states. You wouldn't go to UCDavis if you wanted to work in Chicago, right? No different for Fordham w/ LA, yes? Same concept, except with a more limited school.

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Re: Job prospects out of Tennessee?

Post by observationalist » Mon Jan 17, 2011 4:55 pm

drylo wrote:
First, congrats on the ATL recognition, observationalist!

Second, I will elaborate on my comments.

As far as in-state vs. out-of-state, I would imagine UT places best in Tennessee. That being said, if you have connections in Kentucky or Alabama or some nearby state, you could probably get a job if your grades are good enough. But it seems to me that the two most important factors (of equal importance, probably) in getting a job are (1) grades, and (2) connections to the geographical market that you want to get into.

Also, like observationalist pointed out, the hiring across the board is not very good--and that is certainly the case in Nashville (which is where I have the most knowledge/experience as well). From my experience/observation, it seems like UT students are getting a pretty good shot alongside Vandy students for summer jobs in Nashville. A few points to note, however... (1) A lot of the students at the top of Vandy's classes are leaving Nashville; (2) there are not a lot of people getting jobs in Nashville--out of Vandy or UT; so basically what I'm saying is (3) the way things are right now, you have to be at or near the top of the class to land a job in Nashville. I suspect that the firms are hiring a little bit deeper into Vandy's class than UT's, but it's really not pretty either way. (The benefit that Vandy has is obviously that a good number of Vandy students (relatively speaking) are getting jobs in NY, DC, Chicago, Atlanta.)

I feel like I'm rambling, and I know this thread is not about Vandy at all, but my point is that in my mind, UT has a pretty good lock on the #2 spot in Tennessee (and maybe even co-#1, with the caveat that the top 10% at UT might be competing with the top 20-25% at Vandy... totally speculating). However, with that said, the point of this post was to counter-balance that "endorsement" for UT with the reality that does not seem particularly easy right now to find jobs in Tennessee, especially Nashville.
Thanks drylo. I'm sorry to hear that NFDS failed to catch on with you guys, but at least we still have the brick at LP Field to commemorate our brief stint of buffet-dining fame. Hope 2L's going well for you otherwise.

As drylo points out, it's hard to get a grasp on where you need to land in terms of class rank to land a high-paying gig in Nashville (or Memphis/Chatt/Knox). Just make sure that you learn where you need to land in terms of obtaining a legal job by looking at the Class of 2010 data, along with how much those jobs are likely to pay and whether the employers practice the type of law you can see yourself doing.

Coming from the schools within your range (and assuming you do well), you are far more likely to find a legal job with a small shop through networking/alumni connections than you are getting something at the large law firms being advertised. Some of those jobs existed in 2008, but these days they are limited only to a select few. Small shop employers tend to negotiate starting salaries in exchange for offering mentoring and training, but they'll only hire you if you can show an interest in the region and have ties to the community.

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Re: Job prospects out of Tennessee?

Post by rose711 » Mon Jan 17, 2011 9:21 pm

You know, I found the NALP website really helpful and you can search by state.

I just looked and there are only 15 firms from Tennessee listed but that would give you a start. You can see how many associates they've hired over the past three years. You can also get information as to the hiring office and you could call for advice or, you could just look up the firms and see how many lawyers there went to Tennessee.

--LinkRemoved--

Although I've glanced at the data on these firms and a good number didn't hire summer associates or hired only one or two or four. How big is the class at Tennessee? If the biggest firms are hiring a few people, what about the other firms? I'm not sure how to find that data - there just may not be reporting from very small firms.

I'm starting to think that the only way to get realistic job data is to look at the information reported by firms and forget the USN&WR data.
Edit -Once again I didn't see this link was posted above, I used this site to compile my list of NYC offers in the thread about the $160,000 job
Last edited by rose711 on Tue Jan 18, 2011 3:09 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Job prospects out of Tennessee?

Post by ATR » Tue Jan 18, 2011 2:23 am

ran12 wrote:Check this out. --LinkRemoved-- ...
Wow, great link. Definitely going to use this as a factor when deciding on a school in a few months.

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drylo

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Re: Job prospects out of Tennessee?

Post by drylo » Tue Jan 18, 2011 5:15 am

rose711 wrote:You know, I found the NALP website really helpful and you can search by state.

I just looked and there are only 15 firms from Tennessee listed but that would give you a start. You can see how many associates they've hired over the past three years. You can also get information as to the hiring office and you could call for advice or, you could just look up the firms and see how many lawyers there went to Tennessee.

--LinkRemoved--

Although I've glanced at the data on these firms and a good number didn't hire summer associates or hired only one or two or four. How big is the class at Tennessee? If the biggest firms are hiring a few people, what about the other firms? I'm not sure how to find that data - there just may not be reporting from very small firms.

I'm starting to think that the only way to get realistic job data is to look at the information reported by firms and forget the USN&WR data.
Edit -Once again I didn't see this link was posted above, I used this site to compile my list of NYC offers in the thread about the $160,000 job
Well, just to give you some perspective on how helpful the NALP directory is (for your current purposes)...

Two firms that probably have the third and fourth biggest Nashville offices (behind Bass Berry and Waller Lansden) aren't even listed on the Tennessee NALP list. (They are Bradley Arant Boult Cummings and Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz... I suspect they are on NALP, but in different cities... Birmingham?) There are also a number of other really high-quality firms of around 30 lawyers that are not listed (Riley Warnock & Jacobsen, Sherrard & Roe, Neal & Harwell, Walker Tipps & Malone, and Waddey & Patterson for IP--and that's not necessarily exhaustive). Adams and Reese also has a decent-sized Nashville office (listed under New Orleans for NALP). MGLAW is smaller, but great reputation (i.e., competes with the bigger firms for top talent). Then, of course, there are a lot of smaller firms that are off the OCI (on-campus interviews) radar screen, but nonetheless exist.

BTW, I don't know salaries for all the smaller firms, but I guarantee you that every firm that I named in the paragraph above pays $100k+. I still don't want to paint too rosy of a picture, but just want to point out that NALP may or may not give you an accurate picture of what is out there.
Last edited by drylo on Wed Jan 19, 2011 2:18 am, edited 1 time in total.

jms1987

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Re: Job prospects out of Tennessee?

Post by jms1987 » Tue Jan 18, 2011 11:38 pm

What do Knoxville or Chattanooga have as far as law firm presence? I honestly would really like to end up working in Knoxville, but what I've read in here scares me a bit.

Seriously? What are you waiting for?

Now there's a charge.
Just kidding ... it's still FREE!


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