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Do graduates usually work in the same state their whole life
Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 11:00 pm
by dkang
Do graduates usually work in the state they graduate their whole lifes? or after they get some experience they have opportunities to move to other states easier?
I just find it to hard to pick which school I want to go to if I'm going to be living in that state for the rest of my life
Re: Do graduates usually work in the same state their whole life
Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 11:06 pm
by albanach
dkang wrote:Do graduates usually work in the state they graduate their whole lifes? or after they get some experience they have opportunities to move to other states easier?
I just find it to hard to pick which school I want to go to if I'm going to be living in that state for the rest of my life
The consensus here seems to be that mobility is substantially increased if you attend a T14 school.
Also, the better the firm you work for initially, the easier it will be to lateral out to another state.
Re: Do graduates usually work in the same state their whole life
Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 11:21 pm
by Helmholtz
dkang wrote:Do graduates usually work in the state they graduate their whole lifes? or after they get some experience they have opportunities to move to other states easier?
I just find it to hard to pick which school I want to go to if I'm going to be living in that state for the rest of my life
From my experience, they typically do. Especially when we look at the vast majority of law school graduates--the ones who don't make biglaw. Think of it like this: When you're a fresh graduate of a law school with a limited geographic reach, your best chance of getting a job is to look in a place where there is the largest concentration of graduates and where your school has maximum name recognition. From there, a lot of success is going to depend on the connections you build with the local legal community, and your reputation in the area. So you start connecting with local lawyers and building your reputation. At what point are you supposed to uproot yourself and move somewhere else? Why would you leave all your progress behind? If you weren't working at a large firm, chances are, attorneys across the country aren't going to be familiar with your firm. This is just how I've seen it work with people who went into midlaw or small law, and to some extent, biglaw in secondary markets.