What's The Job Market Like For Law School Grads, Non-Top 25 Schools?

[Yavin4]

I'm just curious. What's the job market like for them? Say a law school grad coming out of a non-top 25 law school? How easy or hard is it to get a job? Even after you passed the bar exam?

Now, the same questions for someone coming out of a top 25 law school?

[MrCoffee]

1. it sucks. no other word to describe it

i went to a second-tier (US News) school in the Midwest, passed the bar on my first try, and still haven't found an attorney job.

[Yavin4]

2. How Long Ago Was This?

How long have you been looking?

[MrCoffee]

4. passed the July 05 bar

i was doing some temp work for a while, but had to take a non-attorney job when that ended. part of my problem, i think, is that i went to a different state for the bar than where i went to school, and had exactly no contacts. i keep kicking myself that i didn't stay and take a job where i clerked my 2L/3L years.

edited because i can't read a calendar. took the bar in july, got the results in november.

[BlooInBloo]

3. I thought that top-in-class and/or top bar score could make up significant ground.

[MrCoffee]

5. i have a pretty decent resume...

2 years clerking in a firm, one summer clerking for a state trial court, moot court...but i don't have any actual contacts where i moved to, and my school has a virtually non-existent alumni network.

of course, it could just be me.

[Yavin4]

6. Thanks and Good Luck

I asked because I'm in a heated debate with some ITers on another forum. My point to them is that every profession is difficult to break into, and they keep arguing with me that being a lawyer is a guaranteed, money-making career move.

[styersc]

17. Mr. Coffee, first allow me to apologize to jackass comments

made on another thread. That said, if you could contribute to an on going discussion that I have been having with a couple of friends as we all consider law school.

Do you think it is better to be at the top of your class in a mid-level law school or at the bottom of the class at a top rated law school?

[MrCoffee]

22. thanks for the apology. as to the second part,

if you're in the top 10% that's going to look fantastic. I went to a 2nd tier school and the people I went to school with were uniformly extremely intelligent and capable people. The top 10% was (i think deservedly) a very special group.

That being said, I am very firmly of the opinion that the better your school's old boy network is, the easier time one will have finding work after graduation, especially if you're not in the top 10%.

[BlooInBloo]

26. Top in class. You have to be at a pretty shitty school before top in class won't get you far...

... In general. It is, of course, possible to trump that. E.g. last-in-class Harvard son-of-President wouldn't have much trouble. But you have to get pretty extreme to find counterexamples.

[SoxFan]

7. HAHAHAHAHAHA!

:banghead:

[Lance_Boyle]

8. Depends, Did you go to Jesus Law School, or one of those 'secular' ones?

'Cuz Jesus Law School alumni get preference in government hiring for the next year and a half.

[nini]

9. not great.. you have to start at a much lower salary than you deserve

then build up your time to move on.

Not ever law grad gets that pie in the sky 200K salary. It's more like 60k to start.

[BlooInBloo]

10. "deserve"? Why do 2nd, 3rd, 4th tier grads, with commensurate bar scores deserve more?

EDIT: It's possibly to confuse hopes or expectations with deserts.

[MrCoffee]

12. Do 1st tiers take different courses than the rest of us?

Do they work harder? Study more?


My bar score was pretty damn good, thank you.

[BlooInBloo]

13. Yah! It's all law school, after all! What's the difference?

:rofl:

While that attitude might have a place at the undergraduate level, it's clearly asinine at the grad/professional level, and can only be taken as emoting bitterness.

[nini]

14. are we talking about the schools or the bar scores?

I answered this based on what school someone attended. Just because someone didn't go to Harvard doesn't mean they didn't learn as much as a Harvard grad.

My point was going to a high level school does not guarantee the competence of the grad.

I also think the bar scores are relevant only to a certain point - some people are better test takers than others. Please notice I said 'to a point'.

[BlooInBloo]

18. School, place in class, and bar scores are all components of job/salary prospects....

... and there are various clear correlations between those variables.

All talk of a "guarantee" only indicates the level of thought of the utterer.

[nini]

19. Much of what I meant about those 200k salaries are related to the Ol' Boy network

which is alive and well in that industry.

The school does play a part in this but my point is you can have two grads - one from Harvard and one from a non top 25 and there is no guarantee the Harvard grad will definitely have better legal skills. That's all.

[BlooInBloo]

20. Again the strawman talk of a guarantee - which no-one in his or her right mind would ever deny.

[nini]

23. So, I'm not in my right mind?

:evilgrin:

[BlooInBloo]

25. Not my area of expertise. :)

[nini]

27. oh come on.. you've been on DU long enough to be qualified

as a psychiatrist :D

we see all kinds of 'behavior' here.

[BlooInBloo]

28. Hell - I'm *already* out of my AOE - think I'll quit while I'm ahead.

[MrCoffee]

11. 60k?? they offered me 35k to stay

at the firm i clerked at for two years while i was in school. i'd have stayed for 60k.

[nini]

16. I guess it's relative to where you are and the type of law

I'm just reporting what I know of my nieces' experiences. That was her story while she knows of others that are pulling in wild salaries. There's a lot of the ol boy network involved in all this.

[eyesroll]

15. Non top-25 schools still can place well in their local market.

I'm a rising 2L at Marquette, which places very well in Milwaukee. Granted, not everyone (not most) get $100,000-a-year jobs out of school...but just about everyone gets something within 9 months.

Wisconsin law grads have diploma privilege and don't need to take a bar exam to practice in Wisconsin. That helps -- firms know that while they're taking the chance on a new grad in general, at least that person is a licensed lawyer out of the gate.

Grades and class rank helps a lot but isn't the be-all and end-all, especially at smaller firms and nonprofits.

Good luck to you.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

21. Impossible as a legal assistant, i believe.

I graduated from a private freestanding law school in 1985. It's known for winning national mock trial and moot court competitions for years and years. I went to law school at night for five years while working fulltime at the courthouse as a court reporter and typing transcripts.

I was a court reporter for many years, was a legal secretary for my father before that, and have tons of court experience, and know lots about litigation.


I took the bar exam a couple of times and didn't pass it. The third time I tried, I got sick after the morning session, felt like hell, walked out, went home and went to bed. I don't get exam panic, and I don't know why I couldn't pass it. So I don't have a license.


I looked for a legal assistant job for about a year and a half and got ONE interview, and they weren't nice enough to call me back and tell me anything. I think it's age discrimination because I'm over 40.

I said, to hell with it. I spent 25 years in school and I get nada.
I'm gonna retire.

[LynneSin]

24. Well if you graduated from Regent or Liberty School of Law you can get a job with the Bush admin.

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/law/brief/lawrank_brief.php

BTW - here's the top 100 Law Schools. Note that neither Liberty or Regent are listed


U.S. News & World Report lists Regent Law as a Tier 4 school, the lowest tier.<8> The ABA, the Law School Admission Council, Association of American Law Schools and many college presidents criticize school rankings.<9><10><11><12> However, US News regularly outlines and justifies their methodology alongside the rankings, and has even published defenses of their value.<13> Despite these criticisms, the rankings are the most recognized and play a very dramatic role in the world of legal education.<14>.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regent_Law_School

[musiclawyer]

29. Do your homework

There eare a lot of places, especially rurual and exurban places that are crying out for good attorneys, especially in family law, child welfare and some other specialties. Find the places with needs. And if you can go there. You opportunites expand exponentially if you are willing ro re-locate.