What does portability mean after 2-3 years in law? Forum

[J Eazy]

I get what portability means for your first job out of law school, in that a school is typically going to place fresh JDs better in its home market than elsewhere, but how true does this remain after you've been working for a little while?

Let's say I want to attend UCLA with $$$ to pursue PI, work in LA for 2-3 years, and then move to another large or mid-sized city depending on my SO's career. In this case, is portability still a major issue, compared to say a T14 degree?

For reference, based on my numbers it looks like I have an okay shot at Harvard and strong odds at CCN, which hopefully would also mean decent $$ at at least a couple schools in the T14, but for relationship reasons being in LA for 5-6 years would be pretty clutch.

[cavalier1138]

It really depends on the school, and I'm very confused by your hypothetical. If you end up looking at CCN with money, then that should beat out UCLA, even if you want to end up back in LA. And yes, it will make a difference if/when you want to move. Your degree starts to matter less as you get more experience, but 2-3 years out of school, people in charge of hiring are still going to care.

[Npret]

Why not actually get accepted first, know the COA and then decide? Do you need to save money on application fees? I don't understand why you are worried about this now.

[J Eazy]

It really depends on the school, and I'm very confused by your hypothetical. If you end up looking at CCN with money, then that should beat out UCLA, even if you want to end up back in LA. And yes, it will make a difference if/when you want to move. Your degree starts to matter less as you get more experience, but 2-3 years out of school, people in charge of hiring are still going to care.

To clarify, it looks like I could get into CCN, not necessarily with money, and I am hoping that this would mean $ at at least a couple T14s.

Why not actually get accepted first, know the COA and then decide? Do you need to save money on application fees? I don't understand why you are worried about this now.

I'm 1 year out of undergrad, hoping to get 2 years or so of additional work experience before deciding 100% on law school or not. My SO wants to go to LA for grad school, so I'm just trying to get a handle of how we should approach balancing our relationship with our respective careers.

[Npret]

It really depends on the school, and I'm very confused by your hypothetical. If you end up looking at CCN with money, then that should beat out UCLA, even if you want to end up back in LA. And yes, it will make a difference if/when you want to move. Your degree starts to matter less as you get more experience, but 2-3 years out of school, people in charge of hiring are still going to care.

To clarify, it looks like I could get into CCN, not necessarily with money, and I am hoping that this would mean $ at at least a couple T14s.

Why not actually get accepted first, know the COA and then decide? Do you need to save money on application fees? I don't understand why you are worried about this now.

I'm 1 year out of undergrad, hoping to get 2 years or so of additional work experience before deciding 100% on law school or not. My SO wants to go to LA for grad school, so I'm just trying to get a handle of how we should approach balancing our relationship with our respective careers.

You should apply and see what happens. I don't know how you can make decisions in a vacuum. If you want to stay in LA for your SO then you can do that. Or you can wait and go to law school when your SO is finished. I wouldn't tell your SO not to go to grad school in LA if that works best for them.

I don't agree that your school matters as much after 3 years, but that's all speculative.

[J Eazy]

Thanks guys. Does anyone else have advice or input?

[UVA2B]

It really depends on the school, and I'm very confused by your hypothetical. If you end up looking at CCN with money, then that should beat out UCLA, even if you want to end up back in LA. And yes, it will make a difference if/when you want to move. Your degree starts to matter less as you get more experience, but 2-3 years out of school, people in charge of hiring are still going to care.

This is right. Think of it as being on a continuum of sorts. Fresh out of school, your school and grades are the dominant factor in getting hired. As you get more experience (particularly true in some areas of PI I would imagine as you get more specialized, but you'd have to specify which type of PI you're thinking about), it becomes less and less likely you will get hired because of the school you attended. Another way to look at it is this: when a legal employer looks at your resume, the school and grades are glaring red beacons of signaling whether they'll want to hire you. But then you get substantive experience on the job, and that stuff starts filling up your resume and tempering down that big school/grade signal. It might always matter some, but after you build up your resume with legal work experience, that becomes a much bigger signal to your professional competency.