Top Law Schools

http://blogs.forbes.com/kurtbadenhausen ... ting-rich/

Discuss.

wait. people go to law school to get rich?

Article itself doesn't have the list (need to cycle through the pictures):

School + reported mid-career salary

1. Stanford (236,000)
2. Duke (221,000)
3. Columbia (217,000)
4. UVA (212,000)
5. BU (206,000)
6. NYU (204,000)
7. Harvard (207,000)
8. UPenn (201,000)
9. UCLA (200,000)
10. Berkeley (191,000)
10. Notre Dame (191,000)
12. Chicago (190,000)
13. Georgetown (188,000)
13. SCU (188,000)
15. Cornell (187,000)
16. Michigan (179,000)
17. USC (178,000)
18. Northwestern (177,000)
18. Rutgers-Camden (177,000)
20. Fordham (176,000)
20. Georgia State (176,000)
22. BYU (173,000)
23. American (171,000)
24. GWU (170,000)
25. Ohio State (169,000)

Mid-career pay (age 45):

1) Stanford $236,000
2) Duke $221,000
3) Columbia $217,000
4) Virginia $212,000
5) Boston U. $206,000

6) NYU $204,000
7) Harvard $203,000
Penn $201,000
9) UCLA $200,000
10) UC-Berkeley $191,000
10) Notre Dame $191,000

12) Chicago $190,000
13) Georgetown $188,000
13) Santa Clara $188,000
15) Cornell $187,000

16) Michigan $179,000
17) USC $178,000
18) Northwestern $177,000
18) Rutgers-Camden $177,000
20) Fordham $176,000
20) Georgia State $176,000

22) BYU $173,000
23) American $171,000
24) GWU $170,000
25) Ohio State $169,000

Tied at 33) Yale $159,000


FORBES compiled this list & published the story.

I actually put a decent bit of stock in this. And by that I don't mean that I think that this is necessarily the correct ranking for the schools that are the "best" or even most prestigious in the eyes of employers. I think it shows which schools have grads that 1. Have the ability to get high paying jobs but more likely (at least within the top 14 schools) the schools whose grads are most likely to choose career paths that lead to the highest salaries. Note that highest salary (partner at a biglaw firm CEO etc.) career path is not necessarily the same as highest prestige career path (i.e working in a high position in the DOJ or being a Fed judge)

Georgia State has the most surprising placement on this list.

Couldn't be bothered to read it, but if the numbers are law and non-law, it probably also gives some information about how many top grads leave law, as the richest alums from any school are always non-lawyers (meh, maybe plaintiff guys with jets). In fact, I know the former alumni development guy at a T14 law school who said because he dealt with the top $$ donors he never dealt with lawyers.

Notre Dame what up

If this list is for mid-career median salary, shouldn't it compare 45-year-olds at every other school with 85-year-olds at NU?

Bumi wrote:If this list is for mid-career median salary, shouldn't it compare 45-year-olds at every other school with 85-year-olds at NU?

Nice.

georgia state has been a surprise for the the last few lists. I'm not going there but it seems like for those who do, and who do well, its a great bang for your buck!

Wow @ BU

Too bad it's not mean instead of median. I'd like to see what influence Joe Jamail would have on the list. Haha

I would not be surprised if this is in response by the "Law school Cartel" to the scathing NY Times article that came out in January. This is the second ranking in about 3 days that makes law schools seem like an excellent idea. I am hedging my bets on that we would see something else to make us all feel good about taking up these enormous debts in a few days.

Bumi wrote:If this list is for mid-career median salary, shouldn't it compare 45-year-olds at every other school with 85-year-olds at NU?

It's certainly not mid career as most people don't retire at 65 any more.

In fact, a few candidates that are said to be running for presidents, suggest that Social Security retirement age needs to be lifted from 65 to 75 because people are living into their 80's and social security wasn't prepare with that in mind. (Huckaby I believe was a big compenent in doing this)

Guess it doesn't really matter. None of us will have Social Security anyways. Oh joy...

handlesthetruth wrote:Notre Dame what up

Yeah that kind of surprised me. Maybe ND grads do better with Catholics?

lolz @ yale

joebloe wrote:

handlesthetruth wrote:Notre Dame what up

Yeah that kind of surprised me. Maybe ND grads do better with Catholics?

im betting it's the alumni network.

Georgia state wtf?

handlesthetruth wrote:

joebloe wrote:

handlesthetruth wrote:Notre Dame what up

Yeah that kind of surprised me. Maybe ND grads do better with Catholics?

im betting it's the alumni network.

Jeez, this makes me think twice about a few schools. Of course, these figures may be radically different when we're all mid-career.

what's a compenent?

WOOOOOOO!! I'm liking THIS thread! More posts like this needed!! I can feel the positive energy too..

A few people are surprised about Georgia but the major outliers here seem to be Santa Clara and Rutgers-Camden. No surprise there?

So how many years were people working to get to those salaries - 20 years?
And how many of those years were pre-ITE - though the senior lawyers didn't take a salary hit like the associates did , so maybe ITE isn't relevant?
Wonder what the debt load of those people were?