Top Law Schools

I'm looking at two schools, one is Fordham, ranked 34 on TLS, the other is Cardozo, ranked 75 on TLS.
Fordham's median salary after graduation is nearly twice as much as Cardozo.
However, Cardozo is ranked 7 in their Intellectual Property program in the nation, which is exactly the kind of law I want to get into. Fordham, from what I can see, is not even in the top ten; their focus is more on public defense and part time law.
My question is that will it affect my job hunt negatively in the future to go to Cardozo based on the special program ranking, or do employers really only care about the overall ranking of the school? Help please!

Common wisdom on TLS will tell you that their is no value to the speciality rankings.

Also, the value of specific rankings outside the T14 are of dubious value, but many would feel that a gap of 40 slots might be worth noting.

No school is "focused on public defense and part-time law" just like no school is focused on IP. At each school you'll take basically the same 1L courses, and then get to choose most of your classes thereafter. They'll both offer IP courses. Pick the one that offers the best value in price/employment prospects

Thank you to both I, I appreciate it!!

haus wrote:Common wisdom on TLS will tell you that their is no value to the speciality rankings.

Also, the value of specific rankings outside the T14 are of dubious value, but many would feel that a gap of 40 slots might be worth noting.

Cardozo was a backup school, the only reason it became a consideration was because they offered me an extremely generous scholarship. I was attempting to weigh out the long term costs and gains between each school in terms of salary, loan repayment, etc.
When you say 40 slots though, it does make me reconsider.

MightiHeidi wrote:

haus wrote:Common wisdom on TLS will tell you that their is no value to the speciality rankings.

Also, the value of specific rankings outside the T14 are of dubious value, but many would feel that a gap of 40 slots might be worth noting.

Cardozo was a backup school, the only reason it became a consideration was because they offered me an extremely generous scholarship. I was attempting to weigh out the long term costs and gains between each school in terms of salary, loan repayment, etc.
When you say 40 slots though, it does make me reconsider.

For what it is worth, I opted to attend a school even further away from the 'top' school I was admitted to.

This was done for a variety of reasons, including a generous scholarship that was locked in for my entire degree, but even more important to me was that the school I selected offered a level of flexibility that was not available at the higher ranked school. But I am a bit of an odd bird, in that I am a part time student working full time, who has no interest in pursing a job through OCI, so what is important to you may well be different than what is important to me.

haus wrote:

MightiHeidi wrote:

haus wrote:Common wisdom on TLS will tell you that their is no value to the speciality rankings.

Also, the value of specific rankings outside the T14 are of dubious value, but many would feel that a gap of 40 slots might be worth noting.

Cardozo was a backup school, the only reason it became a consideration was because they offered me an extremely generous scholarship. I was attempting to weigh out the long term costs and gains between each school in terms of salary, loan repayment, etc.
When you say 40 slots though, it does make me reconsider.

For what it is worth, I opted to attend a school even further away from the 'top' school I was admitted to.

This was done for a variety of reasons, including a generous scholarship that was locked in for my entire degree, but even more important to me was that the school I selected offered a level of flexibility that was not available at the higher ranked school. But I am a bit of an odd bird, in that I am a part time student working full time, who has no interest in pursing a job through OCI, so what is important to you may well be different than what is important to me.

The goal is to go into IP law as an associate straight out of law school and then hopefully land an in house counsel job or something more laid back down the road to make way for family. Regardless, annual salary as an attorney is one of the biggest determining factors. Perhaps I'm being to optimistic thinking that I can work through the actual ranking and still get a high paying salary. So OCI would definitely be a factor in this. That is very helpful, though, thank you.

MightiHeidi wrote: The goal is to go into IP law as an associate straight out of law school and then hopefully land an in house counsel job or something more laid back down the road to make way for family. Regardless, annual salary as an attorney is one of the biggest determining factors. Perhaps I'm being to optimistic thinking that I can work through the actual ranking and still get a high paying salary. So OCI would definitely be a factor in this. That is very helpful, though, thank you.

The only school that really performs beyond its rank in IP is George Washington. The rest don't really give you any boost for their quality of that specific area of law.

Are you patent bar eligible?

Also, check this thread out: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 0#p8977420

totesTheGoat wrote:

MightiHeidi wrote: The goal is to go into IP law as an associate straight out of law school and then hopefully land an in house counsel job or something more laid back down the road to make way for family. Regardless, annual salary as an attorney is one of the biggest determining factors. Perhaps I'm being to optimistic thinking that I can work through the actual ranking and still get a high paying salary. So OCI would definitely be a factor in this. That is very helpful, though, thank you.

The only school that really performs beyond its rank in IP is George Washington. The rest don't really give you any boost for their quality of that specific area of law.

Are you patent bar eligible?

Also, check this thread out: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 0#p8977420

You need an engineering degree right? If so, then no, I'm not. But I was aiming for TM and Copyright law. Leaning more towards transactional but litigation is fine. US or International is fine. And good to know. I really am all for long term gains. I would much prefer to sacrifice three years in law school being miserable and then have it pay off with a well paying, not awful job long term. I can still handle that kind of stress in my early twenties.

MightiHeidi wrote: You need an engineering degree right? If so, then no, I'm not. But I was aiming for TM and Copyright law. Leaning more towards transactional but litigation is fine. US or International is fine. And good to know. I really am all for long term gains. I would much prefer to sacrifice three years in law school being miserable and then have it pay off with a well paying, not awful job long term. I can still handle that kind of stress in my early twenties.

There's a whole list of majors that qualify you for the patent bar, but generally they're engineering, computer science, and hard sciences. There's also a coursework track in case you started in one of those majors but transferred out. If it sounds like any of that could apply to you, do a quick google search to see if you're eligible.

I bring that up because hard IP (patents) has a very different market than soft IP (trademarks and copyrights). Hard IP has relatively favorable employment prospects, whereas soft IP is on par with the rest of law. As an example, I work in the IP section of my law firm, and there are probably 30 patent attorneys and 2 trademark attorneys in my office.

However, some firms specialize in soft IP. Those would be good firms to get in contact with and maybe go get coffee with one of the associates. (Make sure it's an associate or a hiring attorney... they know what today's job market looks like).

I would much prefer to sacrifice three years in law school being miserable and then have it pay off with a well paying, not awful job long term.

I remember thinking that when I was starting law school. There aren't many law jobs that come with a 6-figure salary and a good work-life balance. Litigation can be absolutely atrocious if you're not into most of your vacations being spontaneous. Transactional can feel like you're trying to outrun an avalanche at times. However, if you go through law school with one eye open to any prospects that come with some semblance of a work-life balance, you'll probably find something that fits.

Specialty rankings don't matter at all.

It sounds like you want a high paying job. If do, you need to go to a T14. Fordham and Cardozo are non-starters. Both might be ok with modest career goals if you get a full ride there.