<p>I have a major dilemma about planning to go to law school. I have heard from so many sources that it is very difficult to get a job as a lawyer now a days for all reasons regardless of a bad economy/recession. I heard this is due to a loss of respect or dislike against lawyers. Is this true or is the exception those who graduated from T14 Law Schools. If I don't get into a T14 law school is it worth it to practice law at all?</p>
<p>It’s always been hard to get a job as a lawyer. It’s especially bad right now, but the most important difference (in my opinion) is that law school is now far more expensive than it was in the past so that many unemployed law grads are in serious trouble. They have lots of loans so they can’t just take low paying non-law jobs and move on with their lives.</p>
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<p>I would say it depends on what it will cost. If you can get a full scholarship somewhere, and you really want to be an attorney, I think it’s worth it since the downside won’t be so terrible. If you do go the scholarship route, make sure that it will be reasonably possible to maintain your scholarship. Some law schools have very strict GPA requirements and/or put all of the scholarship students in the same section as a way of breaking peoples’ scholarships.</p>
<p>Another question is whether it’s worth borrowing full freight to attend a top law school. In my humble opinion, the answer is “no.” If you start at a top law school next year, you could easily graduate with $200,000 dollars in debt. That’s a huge albatross around your neck if for some reason things don’t work out for you. (It’s true that some top law schools have loan assistance programs, but you need to look at the details of those programs very carefully.)</p>
<p>The main thing to keep in mind is that student loan debt can be very toxic. Unlike most other kinds of debt, you can’t just walk away from it if things aren’t working out. </p>
<p>The “T14 or you shouldn’t go to law school” advice is way overblown.</p>
<p>Outside the T14, there are plenty of good T1, T2, and even some state T3’s law schools. More lawyers have graduated from these law schools than the T14. And of them, a large percentage have rewarding legal careers. And I bet you this will hold true even for recent graduates who had the bad luck of graduating into a down market.</p>
<p>For certain applicants, attending a Non-T14 will be a better option than attending a T14. If an applicant wants to be a public defender in his or her home state after graduation, then he/she would be foolish to turn down a scholarship (or just in-state tuition, for that matter) to his/her state school in favor of sticker at a T14.</p>
<p>^^^^ those are the type of arguments you see from people who can’t get into good schools. </p>
<p>There are not plenty of good t2 and t3 schools. And Blaze fails to realize that in the early nineties and eighties everyone out of law school was getting jobs, which is why plenty of older lawyers have good jobs out of these law schools. </p>
<p>Anyways, to answer you question in the knowledge I have. It’s not so much about getting a job (in tier 1 and higher) but about getting a job that makes the debt worth it. Most people are taking out 200k in debt and the majority of people doing this believe it only to be worth it if they can get a high paying job after school, this means “biglaw” or some prestigious public interest like DOJ or SEC. </p>
<p>So if your goal is to make a lot of money and work on high profile cases, yes a t14 is almost a must. But if you want to be a city DA or public defender than yes a lower tier school is fine for job prospects. Also, some lower tier schools do dominate their home market if it is a secondary markey. For instance Iowa dominates that state, so if you want to work in Iowa that is a great choice. </p>
<p>To put it in perspective, roughly 60% of all t14 grads are going to get these six figure jobs or comparable prestigious public interest jobs/clerkships/academia (they just don’t pay as well). With the low end of t14 being around 40% right now and the high end being around 70-80%. After that you get into tier 1, with probably about 15-20% of them getting those jobs with the high end getting 35-40% and most of the rest getting anywhere from 10-20%. After that you get into tier 2 and tier 3 which are putting roughly 2% of their graduates into those types of jobs. And the vast majority of those are at schools that dominate that specfic area of their law school. Also, the farther you go down the rankings, the more likely you are to end up unemployed all together, the majority of those employed are making 45k doing what people term as “****law”. And the vast majority of these people at all the schools are taking out over a 100k in loans. </p>
<p>So to sum it up, not necessarily t14 or bust, but close. Depends on your goals, your family situation, money situation, etc. So I would advise either a t14 or a school that is in the area you specifically want to work in. I wouldn’t go to Indiana hoping to work in california. And you should try to limit your debt as much as possible, but there is a point where the loans may be worth it due to the vast difference in job prospects.</p>
<p>Depends on where you live! I know people that have graduated from SMU/UH, that have good jobs. Personally i wouldnt go unless i was rich or got a scholarship. </p>
<p>Like others have pointed out, T14 or bust is exaggerated. However, that came from the necessity of informing people to not go to a lower-ranked school (take that however you wish) while accruing a lot of debt. It’s not worth it. Either go to an affordable state school or one that offers enough financial aid (non-loan) so that you aren’t living in a box in the future.</p>
<p>If you have sights set on 6-figure salaries, then really really shoot for T-14. There are some people who manage to get into BigLaw from outside that, but it’s generally few and far between, and most of THEM are from the ones right outside (UCLA, Vandy, UT, etc)</p>
<p>You can have a good career from a T2 or T3, but ONLY if you have good connections and/or graduate in the top 10% and get on law review. That’s it. Please don’t fall for any of the lies about people getting $160k a year big law jobs with their TTT degree.</p>
<ol>
<li>Go T14</li>
<li>Go Public</li>
<li>Go full ride</li>
<li>Don’t go at all</li>
</ol>
<p>“But if you want to be a city DA or public defender than yes a lower tier school is fine for job prospects.”</p>
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<p>No, it’s not. Most DA offices have hiring freezes and get TONS of applications, especially the big city ones. The NJ AG’s office recently opened positions for lawyers to work for FREE and they got more applicants than there were positions. This is a true story.</p>