Top Law Schools

Know any law students who went into law school wanting to do public interest, but after doing very well in the first year, then wanted to go to the most prestigious appellate/trial firms?

Why did they change their goals?

hint: $$$

oh and of course:

models and bottles

boats and hoes

I went in for prosecution and am really digging a certain kind of firm work right now.

.

$160,000 is a lot harder to say no to when it isn't hypothetical. Nothing weird there.

That said, most people I knew who were PI-focused haven't changed their tune (myself included).

I came in for PI, did well (~top 15%), still wanting PI specifically public defense. I do see the appeal of working at a big firm for a few years to pay off student loans, but as a career? Bleh.

JG Hall wrote:come in PI --> do mediocre --> now want firm
seems to be the prevailing trend among those I know.

I think you got this backwards.

Come in PI -> need a visa sponsor -> now want firm

I'm the opposite. I came in thinking I wanted a firm and then realized that was a terrible idea for me and now I want public interest. I have the feeling a lot of people change their interests in law school.

leobowski wrote:I came in for PI, did well (~top 15%), still wanting PI specifically public defense. I do see the appeal of working at a big firm for a few years to pay off student loans, but as a career? Bleh.

I like this guy's style.

sophie316 wrote:Come in PI -> need a visa sponsor -> now want firm

This. And need to pay off loans that will not be covered by LRAP because they are foreign loans --> now want firm. Until loans paid off.

LRAP and IBR can be great. However, it seems much easier to go work at a law firm for 2-3 years at $160K /year starting, and repay your entire student debt in that time frame and get head start in life financially and then try to go PI, as oppose to being really broke to begin with, trying to work for a fairly meager salary, and use that meager salary to pay off a certain percentage of your massive student debt AND trying to pay for other things in life, such as food, going out, and possibly even things like a mortgage and a kid.

honestabe84 wrote:

JG Hall wrote:come in PI --> do mediocre --> now want firm
seems to be the prevailing trend among those I know.

I think you got this backwards.

Not really. At Columbia at least, a MUCH higher percentage of those who went biglaw found the job they wanted prior to graduation than those who were going public interest. PI is not a fall-back plan, and I wouldn't recommend using it as one (especially in this economy).

Quite honestly, law firms are a fallback in case I can't get any of the PI work I want for next summer. Anyone who wants PI that is either 1) well-paying or 2) in a big, popular city should expect things to not be easy.

vanwinkle wrote:Quite honestly, law firms are a fallback in case I can't get any of the PI work I want for next summer. Anyone who wants PI that is either 1) well-paying or 2) in a big, popular city should expect things to not be easy.

Not that many people want to work in SF, right?

Right?

SoftBoiledLife wrote:

vanwinkle wrote:Quite honestly, law firms are a fallback in case I can't get any of the PI work I want for next summer. Anyone who wants PI that is either 1) well-paying or 2) in a big, popular city should expect things to not be easy.

Not that many people want to work in SF, right?

Right?

Not that many people want to work in NY, right?

<3

Came in PI, did fine. (Nothing earth shattering to report, but I am happy.) Am curious about firms and will participate in OCI, but I would never want to be at a firm forever. Have spent my time in law school interning at a nonprofit, and happily so. That said, I don't think this is an either/or proposition. I don't actually expect to get biglaw ITE, and I would be very happy to continue on in a job like the internship I've had this past school year and summer. (FTR, I might leave New York, but would never do so solely for a job opportunity, no matter how great.)

OperaSoprano wrote: Not that many people want to work in NY, right?

<3

Came in PI, did fine. (Nothing earth shattering to report, but I am happy.) Am curious about firms and will participate in OCI, but I would never want to be at a firm forever. Have spent my time in law school interning at a nonprofit, and happily so. That said, I don't think this is an either/or proposition. I don't actually expect to get biglaw ITE, and I would be very happy to continue on in a job like the internship I've had this past school year and summer. (FTR, I might leave New York, but would never do so solely for a job opportunity, no matter how great.)

I don't think anyone in their right mind wants to be at a larger firm for more than a few years. There's always a few weirdos that actually like the misery of working at a larger law firm, but most people seem to hate it and leave in a few years. The only good reason to work in biglaw is to pay off student loans in a reasonable time frame, and unfortunately, nowadays working at a large firm is becoming a requirement to repay student loans in a reasonable time frame. Once again, yeah, there's IBR, but that's 10 years and it's pretty difficult to decide that you know for sure you want to do anything for that long of a period of time when you are coming into law school in your early 20s. And IBR is all or nothing so you are completely screwed if you want to leave PI after 5 or 6 years (e.g. if you have kids and decide you really need more money, leaving PI to go work for a private employer is out of the question).

FWIW, I was fairly certain about what I wanted to do when I came into law school (and it's in the PI realm), and after my first year, I found myself not so sure whether that's the route I want to go right now.