BigLaw Proximity Matters Study Forum

[minnbills]

Shameless plug, totally worked for the professor who did this study.

[BigZuck]

The study still reinforces that you should go to a T14 school. However, it also shows that there are a few schools outside of the T14 that seem to perform better than their similarly ranked counterparts, and those schools are typically in major markets (GW, BC, BU, Illinois and Notre Dame).

The booming metropolises of South Bend, Indiana and Urbana-Champaign, Illinois thank you for your kind characterization.

I'm just kidding (and I get your point), but I think it is underrated just how well certain law schools, including some of the ones you listed, place into large metro areas. It can make the job hunt that much easier when a school has a stellar reputation in and a well-established pipeline to certain markets and certain firms.

This just highlights in my mind how unique of a setup UT has. It "owns" Austin, places very well in Dallas (well ahead of SMU), even better in Houston (far ahead of UH), and Texas markets don't have nearly as many candidates from T14 schools as other major markets (NYC, LA, Chicago, SF, Philly, and DC) trying to come get a jerb there. Comparatively, Notre Dame and UIUC probably are at best the 4th largest feeders to Chicago behind Chicago, Northwestern, Michigan. Then you have the next wave of students from WUSTL, Iowa, Wisconisin, Minnesota, et al.

Does that make you feel any better, BZ?

(still sobbing from DBagChina's diss)

[dabigchina]

If by powerhouse you mean a dollhouse attached to a potato.

lol

no need to insult potatos. potatos are delicious.

[NotASpecialSnowflake]

1 Chicago
2 Harvard
3 Yale
4 Columbia
5 Northwestern
6 UVA
7 Penn
8 NYU
9 Stanford
10 Michigan
11 Duke
12 Cornell
13 GULC
14 GWU

This is the real T14, as least for people wanting biglaw

No. That's a major reasoning error. Schools with the most big law partners ≠ the schools that get the most biglaw jobs. Just because a school has a lot of big law partners doesn't mean that it places well in big law. Most biglaw associates don't become partners and have no desire to make partner.

People don't pick schools to have the best shot at partner at a biglaw firm, they pick schools that give them the best shot to place in biglaw. Your assertion is based on flawed reasoning.

The article is actually pretty misleading. It implies these are the best schools for biglaw when its using data for something different.

The logic would make a good LSAT LR question to be honest.

[Informative]

1 Chicago
2 Harvard
3 Yale
4 Columbia
5 Northwestern
6 UVA
7 Penn
8 NYU
9 Stanford
10 Michigan
11 Duke
12 Cornell
13 GULC
14 GWU

This is the real T14, as least for people wanting biglaw

No. That's a major reasoning error. Schools with the most big law partners ≠ the schools that get the most biglaw jobs. Just because a school has a lot of big law partners doesn't mean that it places well in big law. Most biglaw associates don't become partners and have no desire to make partner.

People don't pick schools to have the best shot at partner at a biglaw firm, they pick schools that give them the best shot to place in biglaw. Your assertion is based on flawed reasoning.

The article is actually pretty misleading. It implies these are the best schools for biglaw when its using data for something different.

The logic would make a good LSAT LR question to be honest.

Agreed. And the NLJ already put out a study on the best schools for biglaw. To be fair, the same top 20 schools are pretty much in both rankings.

http://www.nationallawjournal.com/home/ ... 0310143046

[JCougar]

This is asinine. So few people even at T14 schools ever sniff partner that it's pointless to base your decision to go to school off something like this. Also, the partner decision is made 8-10 years after you graduate law school, and depends on numerous other factors unrelated to your alma mater.

Why two people would waste their time on such a vapid study is beyond me.

If you want to be a Biglaw partner, just go to some place that gets you in the door. The rest is up to you--not your degree. Trying to magically attribute this back to your school other than getting you in the door is foolish--but it's the kind of foolish decision-making the authors of this study probably expect 0Ls to engage in.