Lawyer, Law School, BigLaw FAQ

[yerfdog]

Originally Posted by MetroStyles

Fair enough, dog. Good luck in your career!

ayyyyy


thaaaaat'sss riiiiight

 

[Fuuma]

So, when are you guys arranging the mass suicide/BIGLAW meetup?

 

[samblau]

The judge I work for passed away today. One of the incoming clerks will likely loose her job offer. I have no idea what will happen to me. This profession is just nuts some time.

 

[oman]

Originally Posted by theincumbent

So you are going to spend 3+ years, and $100K+, and not use the professional degree you obtain? I am struggling to find a more tactful way to say this, but that is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. You would be far better off taking the tuition money that you will spend on law school and using that as capital for these "entrepreneurial ventures." Law school is a bad investment in this economy. Coming from a recent grad.

Originally Posted by yerfdog

100% agree with this. You might as well go to medical school because you plan to become a professional athlete and you want some background in human physiology. I can't say whether law school is a bad investment over the long term now, but I have had to seriously revise my ROI and payback period estimates.
thank you for your input

Originally Posted by lawyerdad

That said, I'm not sure how oman comes to the conclusion that entrepeneurship is a bigger roll of the dice than law school. Assuming your goals are purely financial, the up-front, fixed cost of law school is substantial. That's not necessarily the case with entrepeurship.
well you could be right. i didn't really do any calculations or anything - i just assumed it was common knowledge that ceteris paribus, a traditional salaried occupation is usually a steadier bet than starting your own business

 

[AZMJS]

I have kind of an off the wall law related question, I suppose.

I graduated with a Linguistics degree and about a 3.5 GPA from a state school, and then spent two years in China learning Chinese and teaching English/Spanish at a university there.

I got a 171 (98th %ile) on the LSAT, and would like to go to law school and then join the Foreign Service, or else do something where I could live/work in China or elsewhere overseas.

How do you estimate my chances for being accepted to a prestigious, say, top 5 school, and do you think it would be worth it to concentrate on trying to get into one, given my current plans? I'm going to be applying this fall.

Hate to ask lawyers for free advice, of course, but thanks in advance for any thoughts you might be willing to share on the subject.

 

[Benzito]

Why don't you just apply for the foreign service now? You don't have to have a law degree and my guess is that it would probably be less useful working for the Department of State, where they tend to shift you around every few years from station to station.

I have a client who graduated law school and works as a diplomat and his wife just has her undergraduate and also works as a diplomat. Their pay grades aren't significantly different and can probably be explained by their job descriptions.

 

[cadillac37]

^ Agree. Law school is 3 years of your life that you could be enjoying life in the foreign service. My friends who joined the foreign service out of college all seem a lot happier and more fulfilled than my lawyer friends (even those in NYBIGLAW).

 

[Flambeur]

Originally Posted by cadillac37

^ Agree. Law school is 3 years of your life that you could be enjoying life in the foreign service. My friends who joined the foreign service out of college all seem a lot happier and more fulfilled than my lawyer friends (even those in NYBIGLAW).

bullshit, asshole - there isn't anything better than NYBIGLAW out there...

 

[AZMJS]

Sensible advice, absolutely, but I do more or less have my heart set on law school.

 

[Benzito]

Originally Posted by AZMJS

Sensible advice, absolutely, but I do more or less have my heart set on law school.

Well, you do have quite a nice LSAT that would otherwise go to waste.

Hopefully you are as smart and dedicated as you test and it wasn't a fluke, because I think people's success in law school is directly related to how much effort they put into the LSAT and the resulting score.

Yes, I admit that is a HUGE generalization to make, so I'll just say that is how it was where I went (not Top Ten or even Top 100 ... if anything, my school makes the Top 100 possible).

 

[RJman]

I don't know if there have been any serious posts (as opposed to poasts) in this threak. And if any of the posts were serious, I can't say if such posters ought to be pitied. However, the NYTimes Dealbook has an interesting piece on the collapse of so-called BIGLAW recruiting. As always, the NYT is behind the ball on this one, but it's a reminder that law school, even the infamous T14, is no guarantee of BIGLAW, and BIGLAW is no guaranteed path to MAFOOFAN-like prestige.

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/20...obs-disappear/

Honestly,$200K in law school debt alone... I'm stunned.

 

[crazyquik]

Originally Posted by RJman

I don't know if there have been any serious posts (as opposed to poasts) in this threak. And if any of the posts were serious, I can't say if such posters ought to be pitied. However, the NYTimes Dealbook has an interesting piece on the collapse of so-called BIGLAW recruiting. As always, the NYT is behind the ball on this one, but it's a reminder that law school, even the infamous T14, is no guarantee of BIGLAW, and BIGLAW is no guaranteed path to MAFOOFAN-like prestige.

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/20...obs-disappear/

Honestly,$200K in law school debt alone... I'm stunned.

Is Milbank really a glittering name?

Article is still behind the ball, in that it doesn't mention deferrals. Just yesterday Proskauer announced that people who graduated last May (May 2009) won't be starting in September of 2009 as they were originally told, or March 2010 as they were later told, but now November 2010. Other firms are pushing May 2009 grads to January 2011 before they can start.

To steal from an ATL commenter:
So Mintz Levin incoming associates, who interviewed in the fall of 2007, summered in 2008, and graduated in 2009, won't start working until 2011. That is the most ridiculous hiring model I've ever heard of.

 

[RJman]

Originally Posted by crazyquik

Is Milbank really a glittering name?

Calling out Milbank and not Baker & McDonalds = BIGLAW knowledge EPIC FAIL.

Don't you have resumes TTTo send out or sthg?

 

[crazyquik]

Originally Posted by RJman

Calling out Milbank and not Baker & McDonalds = BIGLAW knowledge EPIC FAIL.

Don't you have resumes TTTo send out or sthg?


At least Baker measures revenue in billlllllllions. I'm busy getting ready for next year's Best Dressed Real Man competition.

 

[RJman]

Originally Posted by crazyquik

I'm busy getting ready for next year's Best Dressed Real Man competition.

Is that code for staying at the Carlyle?