Just wondering what schools, especially lesser known ones, are good for law school placement
For a statistical approach to this topic, including a list of 20 schools, you can search “Top Lawyer Producer Schools – Infographic.” All of the colleges included are highly competitive for admission, though a few, such as perhaps Claremont McKenna, may be unfamiliar to you.
Prelaw students may want to look for low cost (to save money for expensive law school), grade inflation (particularly in the subjects that they may want to major in), and less rigorous (or no) general education requirements in subjects that are not their strongest areas.
There really isn’t any concern regarding “law school placement” as there is with medical school placement.
There are about 200 fully ABA accredited law schools in the US. Admissions requirements for about half of these schools are easily obtained.
Primary consideration in law school admissions is one’s LSAT score. One’s undergrad school is not usually a factor is the admissions’ decision. LSAT score & one’s undergraduate GPA are the primary factors considered for admission to law school & for scholarship awards.
For a complementary opinion, consider this from College Transitions:
But aren’t only the more selective ones good for placement into law jobs? Seems like attending a less selective (low rank) law school often means spending a lot of money but not getting a law job at the end.
Law school placement (i.e., how good a school you can get into as well as potential discounts on tuition) is mostly determined by your LSAT score and GPA. Where you go undergrad doesn’t make all that much difference. A Binghamton grad with a 3.9 GPA and 171 LSAT score will have better options than a Cornell grad with a 3.6 GPA and 167 LSAT score.
What people forget is the actual undergraduate education can be better at different colleges. Do you really believe that “pre-law” at Middle Tennessee State is the same at Amherst or Harvard?
1 Like
Many of the lower ranked law schools–especially public law schools-- are much less expensive and place well locally.
While tuition alone at the top 14 ranked law schools exceeds $60,000 per year, resident tuition at many state public law schools is about $20,000 per year.
The University of Montana charges residents about $11,500 per year tuition.
University of New Mexico is about $17,000 per year for residents.
University of Nebraska charges residents about $15,000 per year tuition.
University of Mississippi charges residents about $15,500 per year tuition.
If one wants to practice law in any of these states, these schools are better for placement than any T-14 or T-20 law school.
Plus, housing & the cost of living is much less at these schools than at the T-14 schools’ locations.
Most T-14 law grads need a biglaw job to pay off their law school student loan debt. Typical biglaw job lasts about 4 years at one’s initial firm. Most share that the experience is unpleasant.
I only listed 4 law schools above. I could have listed dozens. The best value law schools tend to be the University of Tulsa, the University of Georgia, the University of Alabama–not the T-14 save for Harvard, Yale & Stanford law schools.
Annual tuition at Georgia State University in Atlanta is about $17,000 per year for residents. Lots of internships available.
The Univ. of Georgia charges residents about $19,500 per year & places into biglaw for top students who want that early career path.
Both FSU & the Univ. of Florida cost residents around $21,000 per year or so for tuition & fees.
LSU runs about $22,500 per year for residents.
Univ. of Wisconsin costs residents about $22,000 per year for tuition & fees.
The theme is that often public law schools offer an excellent option for residents of that particular state.
Many lower ranked private law schools offer full tuition scholarships to applicants with less than top 14 credentials.
The point is that law school can be affordable and even tuition free for those willing to look beyond the top 14 law schools.
Top 14 is an arbitrary cut-off. For example UCLA and USC are not in the Top 14 but big law recruits from these two law schools.
Last point, many lawyers don’t “practice law” and get jobs in consulting, management, public policy, etc.
The actual undergrad education will differ among colleges. However, “prelaw” is a marketing gimic; no one needs prelaw advising and there are no prelaw requirements. Although colleges offer it, it’s entirely unnecessary. One can suddenly decide to apply to law school long after graduating from college.
As for value law schools, the value to the individual depends on the potential practice area or type. Not attending a top law school (whether defined as T14 or closer to top 20) can make it very difficult to get hired into certain types of firms.
I am a bit surprised at how open some biglaw firms are with respect to hiring non-top-14 law grads with one to four years of practice experience in sought after areas. Limitation seems to be top 50 law school.
Of course, NYC biglaw office locations can be pickier due to number of close by top 14 law schools. (Harvard, Yale, Columbia, NYU, Cornell, Penn, Georgetown, for example).
If you are a student that could have been accepted to H and double major in math and philosophy, yes.
“sought after areas” is key- and those are highly cyclical.
I know a bunch of lawyers who were third and fourth years specializing in securitization in 2007… highly compensated, they could pretty much write their own ticket, and it didn’t matter where they went to law school or whether they had passed the bar on their first or third attempt.
That business evaporated in 2008. And it is hard to start all over again as a newbie in litigation (even if you can get a firm to hire you, when they are busy trimming recruiting targets, doing their own layoffs).
If you are an engineer who goes to law school and loves IP- and has a solid grounding in CS to boot- then yes, Publisher, your comments hold. But a random grad from a “not top tier” law school with a specialty in white collar crime? trusts and estates? real estate?
My comments “hold” beyond IP & white collar crime.
Of course, “sought after areas” are cyclical–that is usually why there is a shortage in addition to newly developing practice areas.
Litigation has variations. Usually want federal clerkship experience, but will hire in remote locations–such as West Virginia–for doc review positions that last a couple of years. Employment law is an exception. Some firms want nothing to do with it, while others are heavily into it.
@blossom: Are you a recruiter ?
I work in corporate recruiting- not doing law currently, but did a lot of it between 2001 and 2009. I have a solid network of colleagues who either work for search firms focused on legal talent, or who run recruiting for big law firms. We are often at networking/professional association events together. I would NEVER encourage a young person to consider law school in order to end up in a doc review job which lasts a few years, has only modest career prospects long term, and zero loyalty from the organization which hired you. And it is very hard for a college student, let alone the OP who is just in HS, to figure out what the “high demand” fields of law are going to be once he or she finishes law school.
LOL Nobody encourages one to attend law school for a doc review job.
I could tell by your prior post that you are not in the legal field.
P.S. I do not mean to be impolite. Your knowledge is a bit outdated.
P.P.S. Although your comment about doc review made me smile, there is actually a growing sub-specialty for doc review & doc review supervisors–all are attorneys. I know experienced attorneys who could not get doc review jobs due to lack of training in that area. And I am dead serious. Not kidding.
Some firms with an urgent need in doc review guarantee training for licensed attorneys, a minimum number of hours & even length of employment. Nonetheless, nothing I was referencing in my post #12 above involved doc review, IP or any of the other areas that you mentioned.
With respect to substantive educational criteria, you may want to consider colleges that emphasize writing:
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/writing-programs
[quote=“evergreen5, post:12, topic:2074675”]
Will resubmit comments