Brief question about employment prospects Forum

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jbagelboy

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Re: Brief question about employment prospects

Post by jbagelboy » Wed Dec 02, 2015 11:02 am

so, if you go to a lower tier school, you strike out on reputable firms and you want to make it big you have to grind and hustle like a young nicky barnes. most UMC kids from the suburbs who've only worn white collar aren't cut out for the willy loman-esque desperation of advertising, hands-on pitches, and afternoons stalking the lavatories of small claims court and would rather be traditionally successful with the veneer of "the professions"

if you want early career opportunities handed to you, which you can then squander through substance abuse, marital dysfunction and crippling depression down the line of your own accord, you go to the feeder schools

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cbbinnyc

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Re: Brief question about employment prospects

Post by cbbinnyc » Wed Dec 02, 2015 11:09 am

Might be repeating what others have said, but FWIW ...

My dad is an AUSA (works 9-5, gets interesting cases, makes six figures, what you would call a pretty successful lawyer I think), and he went to a TTT law school (got his LLM at a T14, but not sure how much that helps). However, he has often commented that, while many of his colleagues went to TTT schools, almost everybody they interview now is from Harvard, Yale, or top of their class at another T14. And that's just to get an interview. Market is different now.

psu2016

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Re: Brief question about employment prospects

Post by psu2016 » Wed Dec 02, 2015 11:25 am

cbbinnyc wrote:Might be repeating what others have said, but FWIW ...

My dad is an AUSA (works 9-5, gets interesting cases, makes six figures, what you would call a pretty successful lawyer I think), and he went to a TTT law school (got his LLM at a T14, but not sure how much that helps). However, he has often commented that, while many of his colleagues went to TTT schools, almost everybody they interview now is from Harvard, Yale, or top of their class at another T14. And that's just to get an interview. Market is different now.
This +1000.

I have had this exact same conversation with MULTIPLE AUSAs from various districts who come from TT/T backgrounds who all say that they would never get in the door if they needed to apply now. I'm most familiar with the Middle District of PA, which is probably not the most glamorous of locales to move to, but an AUSA there with a TTT background told me that they get 1000+ applications for an open position, and that there is literally no way that his resume with his school name would ever have made it past it a secretary opening emails or envelopes. If that's the competition in the Middle District of PA, I can only imagine what it is like in the Eastern District of PA...

I pretty much just smile and nod when older lawyers (admitted pre-1990) start giving me advice about legal employment. Unless I'm speaking with someone who actively hires attorneys (and, therefore, actually SEES how competitive every single job worth wanting is), I just assume that, despite his or her presumably good intentions, s/he just has no idea that the world facing newly minted lawyers today is NOTHING like what they were up against.

dumdeedum

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Re: Brief question about employment prospects

Post by dumdeedum » Wed Dec 02, 2015 12:32 pm

cbbinnyc wrote:Might be repeating what others have said, but FWIW ...

My dad is an AUSA (works 9-5, gets interesting cases, makes six figures, what you would call a pretty successful lawyer I think), and he went to a TTT law school (got his LLM at a T14, but not sure how much that helps). However, he has often commented that, while many of his colleagues went to TTT schools, almost everybody they interview now is from Harvard, Yale, or top of their class at another T14. And that's just to get an interview. Market is different now.
My friends have mentioned this, too. They both got competitive jobs out of a lowly ranked school in the past couple of years, but one of them had to sell themselves super hard to get an interview (she only got one, and they hired her), and the other made a useful networking connection at golf, or something.

Troianii

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Re: Brief question about employment prospects

Post by Troianii » Wed Dec 02, 2015 11:23 pm

pancakes3 wrote:If you meant for us to take for granted that these outcomes are not the norm for TTTT grads, then haven't you already answered your own question? To what degree are these outcomes an anomaly? To a degree that it should be presumed that it is not the norm.
Well sure, but I was hoping for something a bit more specific haha :D

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