Top Law Schools

If one decided to attend a school that was not within the T14 (for any reason), how severely impacted are their job prospects in practicing law? Would they still have a chance to go BigLaw?

Depends on the school. A place like Vandy or WashU, you have about a 30-40% chance at biglaw, but usually limited to the non-competitive markets like NYC. Much harder to pull a smaller market or DC. If its a school lower ranked, you are talking about 5% chance at biglaw or lower.

If you want biglaw, the options truly are t13 or bust. Otherwise, the chances are just not there. Further, once you start getting outside the t20 or 30 schools, most schools have only a TOTAL LEGAL EMPLOYMENT number of 50% or less. That means half the class or more will never work as a lawyer, even at 20k a year salaries.


Edit: I just read your previous posts. This is a troll mods, please ban him. In some threads, he's a sophomore in college. In others, he's pretending to be a law student.

sparkytrainer wrote:Edit: I just read your previous posts. This is a troll mods, please ban him. In some threads, he's a sophomore in college. In others, he's pretending to be a law student.

I'm not sure where he pretended to be a law student. OP has pretty consistently just been an over-excited college student.

OP: It varies, and stop. You literally have years to make these decisions, and you should be focusing 100% on your undergraduate studies.

sparkytrainer wrote: posts. This is a troll mods, please ban him. In some threads, he's a sophomore in college. In others, he's pretending to be a law student.

If you legitimately read my previous posts, and not just their thumbnails, you would have seen that those "instances where I pretended to be a law student" were not actually my posts, they were just quotes that I pulled form the other people commenting on my threads to respond to them.

cavalier1138 wrote:
I'm not sure where he pretended to be a law student. OP has pretty consistently just been an over-excited college student.

OP: It varies, and stop. You literally have years to make these decisions, and you should be focusing 100% on your undergraduate studies.

Thank you.

You're right. I am just trying to make sure I am putting myself in the best possible scenario.

sparkytrainer wrote:Further, once you start getting outside the t20 or 30 schools, most schools have only a TOTAL LEGAL EMPLOYMENT number of 50% or less. That means half the class or more will never work as a lawyer, even at 20k a year salaries.

This is an exaggeration. It’s definitely something that the OP has to check for any schools they’re considering, but there’s a little more nuance than the above.

softmer wrote:I am just trying to make sure I am putting myself in the best possible scenario.

The way to do that is to stop worrying about law school admissions and focus on the present.

softmer wrote:If you legitimately read my previous posts, and not just their thumbnails, you would have seen that those "instances where I pretended to be a law student" were not actually my posts, they were just quotes that I pulled form the other people commenting on my threads to respond to them. .

Also, this is correct. If you look only at post history the previews don’t show if the post begins with a quote or if the OP wrote it - you need to go to the actual post to check.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:

softmer wrote:If you legitimately read my previous posts, and not just their thumbnails, you would have seen that those "instances where I pretended to be a law student" were not actually my posts, they were just quotes that I pulled form the other people commenting on my threads to respond to them. .

Also, this is correct. If you look only at post history the previews don’t show if the post begins with a quote or if the OP wrote it - you need to go to the actual post to check.

I apologize, thats my bad on that. But OP, you are in college. Stop worrying about this. Go get good grades.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:

sparkytrainer wrote:Further, once you start getting outside the t20 or 30 schools, most schools have only a TOTAL LEGAL EMPLOYMENT number of 50% or less. That means half the class or more will never work as a lawyer, even at 20k a year salaries.

This is an exaggeration. It’s definitely something that the OP has to check for any schools they’re considering, but there’s a little more nuance than the above.

OP might benefit from the employment numbers threads over in Choosing a Law School. Good data on Biglaw+FC, and the differences between schools are more gradual than often presented. The gap between Duke and Wash U is large, but the gap between Berkeley and Vanderbilt is rather smaller. Consider how likely you are to miss out on biglaw, and what your financial situation would be otherwise.

But consider those things only slightly until you're actually applying to law school. The numbers could very well change between now and then.

sparkytrainer wrote:Depends on the school. A place like Vandy or WashU, you have about a 30-40% chance at biglaw, but usually limited to the non-competitive markets like NYC. Much harder to pull a smaller market or DC. If its a school lower ranked, you are talking about 5% chance at biglaw or lower.

If you want biglaw, the options truly are t13 or bust. Otherwise, the chances are just not there. Further, once you start getting outside the t20 or 30 schools, most schools have only a TOTAL LEGAL EMPLOYMENT number of 50% or less. That means half the class or more will never work as a lawyer, even at 20k a year salaries.


Edit: I just read your previous posts. This is a troll mods, please ban him. In some threads, he's a sophomore in college. In others, he's pretending to be a law student.

is houston or dallas considered a tough market?