<p>Just as a point of reference, no new attorney (particularly one who is not yet admitted to the bar) is getting billed out to clients at $500/hour, even in NYC. You don't get billed out at $500/hour (at least most places) until you are a senior associate or junior partner.</p>
<p>If anyone wants legal consulting, I currently charge $500 an hour, I am not a lawyer, but I watch alot of Law and Order, and know how the system works!</p>
<p>500 dollars may be an exaggeration, but if you are paying that much, for say Cravath work, a certain amount of work will go to associates as well as partners and all else being equal, you'd want everyone working for you to be of the highest pedigree possible.</p>
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<p>you'd want everyone working for you to be of the highest pedigree possible.</p>
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<p>Sure. Branding matters a great deal in law, just as it does in consumer industries. The law firm product is associate hours. It's a lot easier to sell the time of an associate who's labeled with a great brand name.</p>
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If some guy is charging you 500 bucks an hour to represent you, you'd want the best, not some podunk from a 3rd tier university.
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<p>A lot of top trial lawyers, who could charge that much in an important case, did not attend first-tier law schools. They earned their experienc and honed their abilities over many trials.</p>
<p>You must realize that geographic considerations are important for how much a person from a tier III or even lower can make. For instance, I have several friends who are going to law school at U South Dakota. Most are planning to stay in South Dakota and so they aren't at a disadvantage in getting a job - but if they go even as far away as Omaha, Des Moines or Kansas City they are going to have problems. Now granted, jobs in Omaha, KC and Des Moines aren't going to be earning what someone in NYC or DC might earn, but again that's the geographic factor I'm talking about.</p>
<p>But in comparing law school to med school. Med school is a surer thing...there are fewer schools, fewer doctors produced, and there is always a need for doctors. However a JD is much more versatile...you don't just have to be an attorney. Many law schools provide seminars and open houses to expose their students to the opportunities available. That's part of the reason why law school is set up the way it is - law school teaches you the law and how to think in legal terms, but not necessarily HOW to be a lawyer. That's why firms stick associates in grunt work positions.</p>
<p>BIGREDMED, uh oh, you mentioned law firms sticking associates in "grunt work positions." omg, is that where fresh-out-of-school law grads are forced to do the most work, work the longest hours and have the most grueling position in the firm ? I've heard these stories about law firms working the newbies like crazy to see if they can handle the workload. so is this a myth or reality ? and when do they begin to go easy on you ? btw, are lawyers really the rough and tough people they're depicted to be on tv ?</p>
<p>Yes, that's what being an associate is...and from my friends in law school it is especially true at the bigger firms (ones where if you make partner you will be charging $500/hr and seeing income over a $200,000).</p>
<p>In the whole medical vs legal debate there are some major differences (and similarities) in how everything is set up for recent grads. Coming out of med school you are almost guaranteed a job because of the Match system (93.7% of US Senior Med Students were placed in a residency position), and even unmatched seniors likely found positions during "the scramble". However Law students have no system like "the Match" and so the process is like anyone else trying to find a job. </p>
<p>However, law grads who do go on to associate positions will make $80,000 or even higher in their first years if they are in the big cities. I have friends in Lincoln NE who are first and second year associates making $68,000 and $73,000 respectively. Residents however only make about $45k to $50k their first year out and the salaries do not rise that quickly (plus we have 4 years of loans compared only to your 3 years of loans). </p>
<p>Both will have to work ridiculous hours, but residents are now capped at 80 hours/week (averaged over the month). Lawyers, b/c they aren't dealing with people's lives have no caps. So it's possible to be working 120 hour weeks...but of course med students work harder in school than law students do. </p>
<p>Law students also get much better summer positions where working for top firms can net you upwards of 2 grand a week. Med students might do research for 3 grand for the summer. </p>
<p>However, once you are in medical school, you are in, you will become a doctor so long as you remain wishing to do so. Medical schools put a lot of time and money into retaining students, whereas it's common for a significant number of dropouts from a 1L class. Med schools will let you remediate if you are in danger of flunking out. Just take that first year again and you're on your way.</p>
<p>The idea of choosing either profession though for the money is not smart. Both are extremely demanding fields. And as far as medicine for the money, it simply wouldn't be worth it. It's too much of a grind, too much stress, too much of everything to be worth it if you are only looking at the salary. If I hadn't wanted to be a doctor since I was three, really felt that I wasn't doing this entirely to help people, and didn't believe that this was my calling...I would have quit being pre-med about three and a half years ago in the middle of organic chemistry, or 2 and half years ago in the middle of biochem, or two summers ago while studying for the MCAT...</p>
<p>Bigredmen, thanks for those comparisons !</p>