Top Law Schools

Hello,

My nephew is applying to law schools and suggested I take a look at this site as it seems to be a very good pre-law resource. I am either out of touch or there is a lot of misinformation going on around here so I am happy to answer some questions here and there.

My background: I attended one of Yale, Harvard, Stanford, and was on that schools respective law review/journal. I clerked at one of the following 2/7/9 and worked for a big law firm in NYC then a litigation boutique in a major market. I went back to my old firm for a non-legal position, which I then took up for a large multi-national corporation abroad. Currently I am in consulting.

I am also a member of a traditionally underrepresented group i.e. African-American, Latino, American Indian.

Here are my caveats: I will only take questions within the scope of what I have discussed. I will not specify more than I have in terms of Law school attended, where I clerked or the name of my firms/company. Keep in mind I attended law school in the 80's so things may be very different.

From your point of view, is it a question of how long will it take the legal market to rebound or a question of if it will rebound?

Thanks so much for coming here and answering questions. Really appreciated.

I asked this to a recent grad, but I'd like to hear something from a more experienced firm attorney. Do you find that students from HYS (Harvard/Yale/Stanford) are privileged in the firm environment simply because of the name on their degree? We all know that these students get some major advantages during the job search, but does that seem to dissipate once they are actually working?

In response to your questions:

First off, this economic downturn is nothing like what I've experienced in the past, the only thing that maybe compares is the recession of the early 90's. I am not an economist, but I am an optimist and although I am out of the legal field now I have a lot friends who think that it's only a matter of time before things start to pick up again. You have to keep in mind though if you are measuring the health of the legal market by first year associate salaries you are going to be disappointed. Partners are stingy, and especially people my age generally think we worked harder for our money, I mean what is market these days 145k? I couldn't dream of making that out of law school.

Harvard, Yale, and Stanford are hands down the cream of the crop in the opinion of people my age in the legal field. Michigan is also highly respected amongst the people I know, but to be honest prestige is very important to firms, but at the end of the day the person who works the hardest is going to go places. So yeah, those schools will get you in the door, but don't count on that mattering 8/9 years later when you are being evaluated for partner.

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Barring good reason? I have no good reason for not being more specific other than I'd like to keep some sense of anonymity. Listen if you don't think I graduated in the 80's that's fine.

Anonymous User wrote:
I mean what is market these days 145k? I couldn't dream of making that out of law school.

Adjusting for inflation, 145k in 2008 is approximately $80669.02 in 1988. Is that more like what you would have expected to make back then coming out of law school?

http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi

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Market is actually 160k

I actually found out what my firm paid in the 1980s- it was about 150k in 2009 dollars. Plus, lawyers in the 1980s paid a fraction of the tuition for law school. But you did walk 5 miles uphill both ways in the snow each way to work, so we do need to respect that.

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I am A'nold's uncle and the POTUS. I will not give you any information other than that. Ask away....