Top Law Schools

Hey I know TLS has just a wealth of info on SA prosects for 2Ls but I have not heard much for 3Ls. I am considering not returning to school next year. While i love law school and studying law, most of the people at my school who did not get SAs are unemployed, and I can't afford to pay north of 40k to have that be me.

With grades from this semester it's looking like I'lll finish in the top 15-25% or so going into 3L year.

I was wondering if anyone had any idea what my chances of getting employment are at the following things:

Fed Clerk
State supreme or appellate court clerk
Something Fed.
Biglaw

I am willing to do absolutely any job as long as it pays more or equal to what I've been offered in the private sector (just got a job offer for a 50k/ year job and need to decide if I want to drop out).
Advice is appreciated, I really want to practice law but do not want to end up like all the unemployed 3Ls who did not get SAs, living at home with parents, and who would prob kill for job I just got offered.

Why don't you have a firm job this summer?

I was probably more like a bit above median and then absolutely killed it this year. Some really tragic personal events happened 1L which only left me with a bit above average grades going into OCI.

Anonymous User wrote:Hey I know TLS has just a wealth of info on SA prosects for 2Ls but I have not heard much for 3Ls. I am considering not returning to school next year. While i love law school and studying law, most of the people at my school who did not get SAs are unemployed, and I can't afford to pay north of 40k to have that be me.

With grades from this semester it's looking like I'lll finish in the top 15-25% or so going into 3L year.

I was wondering if anyone had any idea what my chances of getting employment are at the following things:

Fed Clerk
State supreme or appellate court clerk
Something Fed.
Biglaw

I am willing to do absolutely any job as long as it pays more or equal to what I've been offered in the private sector (just got a job offer for a 50k/ year job and need to decide if I want to drop out).
Advice is appreciated, I really want to practice law but do not want to end up like all the unemployed 3Ls who did not get SAs, living at home with parents, and who would prob kill for job I just got offered.

Hold on- wut? You are dropping out and still hoping to get a permanent legal job? Or are you just considering dropping out if your summer job goals aren't met?

You won't get paid for a Fed internship while in school, nor for many other Fed internships (though some will pay basically a living wage).

Just not entirely clear on what you're looking for/ what your situation is.

Should have made clearer, am a rising 3L thats the problem that the job market ship seems to have sailed, also I have summer job this summer but theres no chance of being employed at it and its unpaid so this 50k job offer is tempting to cut my losses.

Anonymous User wrote:Should have made clearer, am a rising 3L thats the problem that the job market ship seems to have sailed.

So you don't have anything for this summer at this point? Or are you just worried that you don't have anything lined up that will turn into a future full-time offer?

School rank/location?

Sorry I'm not sure why this is unclear, I go to a top ten law school, and have unpaid summer work which i am currently doing this summer but just got the 50k job offer.

The biglaw ship has sailed, but the job market ship has not. I doubt that most of your peers at a T10 school who didn't go biglaw are unemployed. Some are probably in state/federal government, others at small firms, others doing contract work, and few are probably unemployed. Granted, many of those jobs don't pay a whole lot, but they're jobs.

If I were you, I'd spend some time deciding if you want to be a lawyer. Chances are you won't be making more than the 50k you could be making now when you graduate, but there will be room for income growth. So do you want to be a lawyer making 50k, or do you want to be doing whatever other job you've been offered?

I would certainly rather be a lawyer than the position I've been offered. But the enormous tuition does not seem justifiable to me to earn the same money after. Would it be unrealistic to expect myself, in the top 20% or so of the class to make more than 60k out of school or be able to land a clerkship?

Anonymous User wrote:I would certainly rather be a lawyer than the position I've been offered. But the enormous tuition does not seem justifiable to me to earn the same money after. Would it be unrealistic to expect myself, in the top 20% or so of the class to make more than 60k out of school or be able to land a clerkship?

Depends how much hustle you have.

At a T10 you should be competitive for Fed Clerkships. And you should be a decent spot for Fed Gov jobs.

Desert Fox wrote:At a T10 you should be competitive for Fed Clerkships. And you should be a decent spot for Fed Gov jobs.

+1. He might have a decent shot at a District Court clerkship, right? (And probably better for a State Supreme Court position)

OP, send out your materials to Biglaw firms, it can't hurt and from what I know from upperclassmen, a dramatic grade increase is one reason people try to do 3L recruiting.

I say don't drop out. You prefer being a lawyer and you are now well above median at a T10! It sucks you don't have a SA gig, but I bet you could land a state supeme court clerkship (or perhaps district court) and I think you could find a 3L BigLaw gig. It's obvious why you didn't get a SA (grades were lower). Now, you are a better candidate than tons of current SAs at big firms. They'd be silly not to see that and hire you IMO

what kind of grades ARE required for fed gov? As someone who's between top third and top quarter at a CCN, do I have any chance or will my GPA disqualify me?

You would be absolutely crazy to drop out, at this point, with those grades from a top 10.

If you would rather be a lawyer, then I say finish--a degree from a top 10 law school is an amazing thing to have, even though right now it doesn't seem that helpful. Do everything you can to land a district court clerkship. Talk to your professors, find out who's hiring when, and so on. If you have a federal clerkship, you'll have a decent shot at landing big law afterwards, especially if you continue to improve your grades.

This is why firm hiring is retarded. I would reach out like crazy to big law firms you never know if one of them will like you. Also, I would definitely apply to Dist. Court clerkships, I know kids with your grades from a t-10 that got these and they are great experiences and resume builders.

Top 15-25% is definitely in the ballpark for a less competitive district court clerkship, especially if you're closer to the former, but you need to get started yesterday. Recommendations, contacting professors, etc. You may already be too late for off-plan hiring (unless you've got recommendations in hand already) but you should be able to scrape together some decent apps in time for on-plan hiring. Talk to your professors about this, right now.

What are you doing 2L summer? Going forward government is an option, but some parts of the government are still under hiring freezes. Hopefully they'll be lifted by the time you graduate.

Why didn't you get a 2L SA? I did OCI same year as you, and while SA's weren't guaranteed to median-ish folks, the ones who didn't get them either made some bad bidding/market choices or were weaker interviewers. If the latter you need to seek some comprehensive and honest advice about interviewing, preferably from your peers. The stuff OCS will tell you isn't sufficient at this point, you need to figure out how to stand out in an interview.

Also look at the USAJobs website: http://www.google.com/search?client=saf ... 8&oe=UTF-8, and the Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) program. They'll put you into public service jobs which will make you eligible for the 10-year IBR plan.

Applied in a multiple Cali markets but granted that may have been a problem (Yeah I go to BoalTTT). It's not unusual for people with such high grades at our school have gotten nothing but gov employment so I cannot say I'm too disappointed.

Anyways, I just hope being around top 20% from BoalTTT is good enough for a fed gig (would rather get that than biglaw). But judging from how tough it was to land any summer job I'm not too hopeful.