<p>So i'm looking at applying to law school fairly soon. What I am curious about is how important in the working world is a the ranking of the school. I know obviously the guy from harvard is going to get the highest paying job more or less while the guy from cuny isn't. but overall, what's the difference once you're out of the top big name schools?</p>
<p>I'm considering, for financial reasons cuny, rutgers, and a few other "cheaper"schools. </p>
<p>i also am looking at new york law school, and brooklyn law school. along with of course a few savor schools at the end of the 4th teir in case no one likes me hehe.</p>
<p>my biggest question is so far as employment how important is the big name school over something else. Or will through experience over th years the law school i went to take less importance</p>
<p>Very important for law schools. If you want corporate law, you'll have to go to a top tier school. You should compare the starting salaries from those coming out of top schools to 4 tier schools. There's almost a 100K difference.</p>
<p>Look at the top14 if you want a great paying job. If you want biglaw, look at Cardozo and Fordham. Don't take a TTT law school, because 150K in debt isn't easy to pay down making 50K a year.</p>
<p>Tier is important but you posed an interesting question...how important is it once you're considering only lower tiered schools? Good question...I dont know. </p>
<p>Going to a low ranked school obviously isnt gonna put u in competition with the Harvard guy but I would suggest that if your school is low ranked...work your butt off and get top grades. Absent the school recognition, top grades will make you stand out some....not as much as Harvard guy but...you get the point. </p>
<p>After a good number of years practicing law though...all of these factors tend to become less important and it just matters what how good of a lawyer you are.</p>
<p>If you want to achieve as a BIG(f?)LAW attorney it's essential that you go to a high ranked law school. A degree from a top law school will also help you get prestigious government and corporate jobs. If you want to just hang out a shingle, it's less important. I am a solo practitioner, and in the past 5 years perhaps 2 or 3 potential clients (out of hundreds) asked where I went to law school.</p>
<p>I have a few related questions (sorry to the OP if you feel like I'm highjacking, but I think it might help both of us). </p>
<ol>
<li><p>I'm thinking about doing corporate or patent law (in the bio-related field). So what is considered a good school for this? Is it honestly just the T14 schools, or can you go to a "lesser" school like University of Washington (which is ranked around 23-27) and still get a decent job? All I hear on CC is if you don't go to a T14, then you're done for, but that seems a bit ridiculous.</p></li>
<li><p>How competitive are the non T14, but T30-40 schools (such as UW)?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>1) While it may appear that going to a T14 is the only way to go it really isn't. The only thing a T14 allows you to do is finish lower in your class. Say I go to school ranked 50, and want a biglaw job in NYC...well I'm gonna have to finish top 20% of my class are so if I want that job. Say I go to Michigan or Penn, I can finish in top...75% and still get that job...therefore making it easier. </p>
<p>Furthermore it depends on where you want to practice. Fordham, for example, is ranked 33, yet it is relatively known that if a student places in the top 33% he/she is guaranteed a biglaw NYC job and if they place in the top 50% they have an ok/good chance at a NYC biglaw job...however NYC is the key component because fordham doesn't place well in anywhere BUT NYC. So, you can go to a lesser school, such as U of Wash, but if you want a biglaw job you're going to have to understand you're gonna have to graduate in the top quarter of your class and will probably be working in the pacific NW or W coast. </p>
<p>I recently retired from a senior legal position with a Fortune 100 company. The wrinkle is that we rarely hired attorneys right out of law school (exceptions might be new attorneys who had interned with us). We wanted some of the rough edges worn off through experience with law firms first. We looked for junior attorneys with 1-5 years of experience. In evaluating resumes, we were well aware of the law schools' reputations and standing in the community. Going to a T14 school would ordinarily get one an interview. Finishing in the top 10% of a tier 2 school usually would, too. Also, finishing in the top 10% of a law school in the local area which might be a tier 3 school would often get one an interview as well. Of course, the experience in the attorney's first 1-5 years of practice was an important factor as well.</p>
<p>Graduating from a top tier law school doesn't guarantee the BigLaw job if you don't do well in that law school. What a lot of people don't know is that your transcript follows you for years. Even if you land that BigLaw job right out of school, you may have trouble lateraling from that firm with mediocre grades. As a headhunter, I would rather have a Order of the Coif, Law Review candidate from a lesser school than one with a bunch of Cs from the University of Michigan. If you can land a federal clerkship, however, that will erase a multitude of sins.</p>