School Funded Jobs Forum

[TexasAggie13]

Just curious, I realize that 99% of the time a "school funded job" is just code for couldn't get a real legal job, but is this true even at the top law schools? For example, last year Chicago & Columbia both had a decent amount of people in school funded jobs, but couldn't this feasibly be people who actually wanted to pursue academia and are putting in some extra time/making connections at their schools to help make this happen? Any thoughts?

[bowser]

Columbia's school-funded jobs went from 5 to 38, and Chicago's went from 2 to 20, from c/o 2010 to c/o 2011 (the bottom of the legal hiring market).

So yes, it's safe to assume most people on school-funded jobs would have taken a paid job if they had that choice. It is a little more complicated, though: most long-term school-funded positions are graduates finding a PI/govt employer and working for free while getting a stipend from the school. So in any group of people working a school-funded job there's going to be quite a mix: PI-or-bust people who skipped OCI and were willing to roll the dice, Biglaw strikeouts scrambling for other options, PI people on named fellowships they've been gunning for the whole time they were in law school (I think HYS and PI-school oriented people are heavily represented in this group), etc.

I think people should realize that the glut of grads getting school-funded jobs is making the PI/govt marker even tighter than ever. If the glut stays the same it could just become the accepted convention that you have to work for free for a while just to get your foot in the door, after you've paid for 3 years of law school.

[senorhosh]

I'm having trouble reading LST.
Are school funded jobs listed under PI? Or is it impossible to know?

[Richie Tenenbaum]

They're having this conversation here: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=205879