Top Law Schools

A big selling point for most schools seems to be expansive alumni networks.
But how does this actually benefit students? It seems that when firms and agencies hire, they are concerned with rank/grades/experiece/regional ties. Do they really give any preference to graduates of their alma maters? Do alums really go out of their way to help students? Based on skimming TLS (one thread in particular, in which the OP says alums simply ignore his e-mails, comes to mind), it seems like they do not.
How do students use alumni networks to their advantage?

Yes, it helps.

When you see people from Wake or SMU or Tulane or somewhere like that taking a job not in the school's area, it's pretty much guaranteed that they either had ties to the area already or help from an alum.