Legal Academia Forum

[superhopefulwoo]

This thread reminds me of all the "What schools besides the T14 are good for big law" threads.
You may think you can contribute to legal academia. That's great. But no one else will think that. Yale or change your goals.

I guess you are (unfortunately) correct. You have to be part of the prestigious to be a worthy individual in that field, at least according to others. I guess its a good thing I have several options lined up aside from academia. Or maybe I need to just listen to the 'retake' cries all over these boards.

[star fox]

I don't think that me not getting into HYS means I wouldn't be able to make valuable contributions to the legal academia field. Like previous poster , I enjoy teaching and I enjoy doing research. I don't think my aspirations are unrealistic. I think it is presumptive to state that anyone 'unable' to get into HYS can't be expected to make worthy contributions... I think there are plenty of incredibly intelligent people who didn't get 175+ their first try on the lsat, and their score is by no means an accurate indicator of how valuable their contributions to academia could be.

Lol what? Just world fallacy much?

What I am trying to get across is that I don't think its right to deem someone 'not good enough' because they don't attend HYS. I am open to the fact that I may be wrong or too idealistic. It just seems like most people value prestige more than what an individual has to offer. Again, I may be wrong...! It is just my humble opinion.

It doesn't matter if you think you can be just as good of a professor if you don't go to HYS (or with an outside shot at some other T14). You may be right. According to a tenured Law Professor at a Tier I school who blogs at inside the law school scam it's a pretty easy job. However, there are limited spots open.. and reputation means everything so as long as there's someone from Yale looking to become a professor.. well that makes it that much harder for you. Realistically, you won't get a job as a professor without going to one of the best of the best schools. Nothing to do with idealism just realism.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Yes, it's just that often, you won't get the chance to show what you can offer if you don't have the credentials to make people look at you in the first place.

I mean, it's not impossible for a non-HYS person to get into academia; the most important thing is placing publications in good law reviews, and it's true that the ability to write a decent LR article isn't limited to HYS people (although places like HYS are designed to help you do so in ways that other schools aren't; and LR editors do look at authors' credentials when evaluating a submission, so they matter). But it's a lot like a midwestern T3-T4 student intending to work in DC biglaw. It's not impossible, but it's probably not a good idea to rely on that as your career plan.

[hephaestus]

Also keep in mind that key non-publication credentials are much easier to get from Yale, such as COA clerkships.
At least at cornell, almost all of our recent hires fall into one of two camps:
HYS + COA Clerkship + <2 years of elite big law
Or
HYS + PhD + Novel cross-disciplinary work

[reasonable_man]

Shooting for a career in legal academia in 2013 is sorta like trying to hop on this bad boy:

--ImageRemoved--

[John_rizzy_rawls]

OP if you're 100% set in academia look into doing a JD/PhD program. The cross-disciplinary nature of your research may enable you to get an undergrad teaching position. There are at least more of those (adjunct, assistant, etc) than law prof positions.

But only if you're literally deadest on academia. Otherwise don't.

[superhopefulwoo]

OP if you're 100% set in academia look into doing a JD/PhD program. The cross-disciplinary nature of your research may enable you to get an undergrad teaching position. There are at least more of those (adjunct, assistant, etc) than law prof positions.

But only if you're literally deadest on academia. Otherwise don't.

I would love to do academia, but I am not deadset on it so I guess I'll survive. Although for overall survival in the legal industry, it seems like my current numbers are a big fat fail. Unless I settle for one of the full schollys at a T50-100. I just can't tell if everyone is freaking out about employment prospects at lower ranked schools more than they should or if you really are shooting yourself in the foot by attending one of those schools. Of course, my consideration doesn't include the debt because then I have to agree it'd be crazy to attend any school below T20 with 100-150k+ debt! Yikes.

[John_rizzy_rawls]

OP if you're 100% set in academia look into doing a JD/PhD program. The cross-disciplinary nature of your research may enable you to get an undergrad teaching position. There are at least more of those (adjunct, assistant, etc) than law prof positions.

But only if you're literally deadest on academia. Otherwise don't.

I would love to do academia, but I am not deadset on it so I guess I'll survive. Although for overall survival in the legal industry, it seems like my current numbers are a big fat fail. Unless I settle for one of the full schollys at a T50-100. I just can't tell if everyone is freaking out about employment prospects at lower ranked schools more than they should or if you really are shooting yourself in the foot by attending one of those schools. Of course, my consideration doesn't include the debt because then I have to agree it'd be crazy to attend any school below T20 with 100-150k+ debt! Yikes.

Stop freaking out. Buy LGB, LRB, Manhattan RC, every PT in existence, and follow NoodleyOne's guide for retakers. Get a higher score. Good luck.