Top Law Schools

just curious. i am 46 and considering law school. purdue (bs) / stanford (ms) engineering.
i am reading on the forums and regional schools to the location of practice seems to be important? why?
with engineering, it really doesn't matter that you went to school in the same state / region where you are employed. doesn't seem to be the case with law?
just curious?

thanks.

With law school, generally only the Top 14 schools will have a national reputation. Beyond that, most schools feed into their local markets.

With your engineering background, have you thought about going into IP law? I imagine you'd be able to find a great job in patent prosecution.

cbq wrote:just curious. i am 46 and considering law school. purdue (bs) / stanford (ms) engineering.
i am reading on the forums and regional schools to the location of practice seems to be important? why?
with engineering, it really doesn't matter that you went to school in the same state / region where you are employed. doesn't seem to be the case with law?
just curious?

thanks.

Engineering is about having an actual skill that is highly demanded, law is about a socially constructed skill that a bunch of people have that nobody really needs as much of right now. Therefore networking, alumni, ties to the area are much more important for practicing law, which translates into law school location being more of a factor. A note is that the top schools are less constrained by this logic.

ok. thanks. makes sense. more interested in contracts and business than IP..

St.Remy wrote:

cbq wrote:just curious. i am 46 and considering law school. purdue (bs) / stanford (ms) engineering.
i am reading on the forums and regional schools to the location of practice seems to be important? why?
with engineering, it really doesn't matter that you went to school in the same state / region where you are employed. doesn't seem to be the case with law?
just curious?

thanks.

Engineering is about having an actual skill that is highly demanded, law is about a socially constructed skill that a bunch of people have that nobody really needs as much of right now. Therefore networking, alumni, ties to the area are much more important for practicing law, which translates into law school location being more of a factor. A note is that the top schools are less constrained by this logic.

Lol, all post-secondary skills are socially constructed.