Differences in 501+ percentages for lower T14s Forum

[Legen..waitforit]

Outside of the few top law schools that place exceptionally well, if one believes that most of the T14 schools are peers, are the differences in 501+ biglaw percentages explained away by self-selection (greater % of Mich kids choosing fed clerkships over biglaw than Berkeley kids or greater % of Cornell grads choosing huge biglaw jobs over public interest than Duke kids, for example)? Does it have to do with location <---my guess

I would think that these small differences fluctuate yearly between schools, but some lower T14 schools are consistently better 501+ biglaw feeders than others and I was hoping for some context. I'm just trying to wrap my head around % differences for this category as I browse LST...

thanks and sorry if this isn't the right forum

[sinfiery]

Location. 501+ firms only exist in very big markets, I believe. Biglaw is really better suited to equal well paying job instead of a job at a 500+ firm (especially relative to COL) and so we generally include all firm jobs with 100+ people at said firm job.

Also, self selection is indeed a thing too, but because it is so hard to quantify and is completely ignored by the current data, it is the big elephant in the room we all ignore except for HYS.

[Lexaholik]

Outside of the few top law schools that place exceptionally well, if one believes that most of the T14 schools are peers, are the differences in 501+ biglaw percentages explained away by self-selection (greater % of Mich kids choosing fed clerkships over biglaw than Berkeley kids or greater % of Cornell grads choosing huge biglaw jobs over public interest than Duke kids, for example)? Does it have to do with location <---my guess

I would think that these small differences fluctuate yearly between schools, but some lower T14 schools are consistently better 501+ biglaw feeders than others and I was hoping for some context. I'm just trying to wrap my head around % differences for this category as I browse LST...

thanks and sorry if this isn't the right forum

it absolutely has to do with location. many law students are not laser focused on placement, so they will choose a school close to where they're from (eg penn from nyc, umich from detroit). those folks will in turn gravitate to jobs in those areas, and depending on the city, there are greater or fewer megafirms.

as for differences for employment preferences, i think that's hard to measure. i suppose it's possible that a school like berkeley or michigan would draw more PI folks than a school like penn or columbia, but that's kind of based on stereotypes that i haven't seen anyone really verify.