<p>Total number of law schools in the US & Puerto Rico, including unaccredited schools, is probably about 212.</p>
<p>200 accredited; I stand corrected.</p>
<p>[ABA</a> Approved Law Schools](<a href=“http://www.abanet.org/legaled/approvedlawschools/approved.html]ABA”>http://www.abanet.org/legaled/approvedlawschools/approved.html)</p>
<p>I agree with Mike’s analysis. </p>
<p>One thing someone else mentioned and you need to keep in mind is that some people have special expertise or connections. I know a nurse who went to a second tier law school and got a six figure starting salary. She went to work for a defense medical malpractice firm. Not only did her medical background give her a big advantage, the firm reallized she could bring in business, since she was well-known and liked by the in-house counsel at the hospital where she had worked. He had some flexibility with its insurance carrier in picking defense firms, and when he could throw business her way, he did. Now she certainly wasn’t ‘connected’ in the sense that most people use that term, but the fact that she could bring in business set her apart. </p>
<p>Years ago, I worked at a big law firm with an associate who was law review at a lower ranked LS. I assumed that she got the job because she was law review. Only after we became friendly did she tell me that her father was a well-known artist. He used the firm to write his will and that will made a partner in the law firm the executor of his estate, which was expected to be substantial. Her dad sent her resume to the head of the T&E department. Now the firm could have refused to give her a job, but if it did, it was pretty much guaranteeing that if she did get a job at another law firm, her dad would change the executor of his will. Moreover, her dad had referred a lot of successful artsy types to the law firm over the years, and undoubtedly that flow of business would stop too. Her attitude was to keep her mouth shut about the connection, take the job and work for a few years, and then go for a lateral position, where nobody would know how she had gotten the first job. </p>
<p>One of my secret vices is reading the wedding announcements in the NY Times. Quite often you’ll see that the bride or groom is an associate at a top firm and then see that a parent or grandparent has a prominent position at a top corporation or is politically connected. </p>
<p>The ability to bring in business helps a LOT.</p>
<p>Only if you’re in the top 10% of your class, and even then you need to make all the right connections. The reality of the legal profession these days is that there are too many lawyers and not enough legal jobs to accommodate the 40,000 or so new legal graduates every year, especially in saturated markets like NY, DC, California, and Texas.</p>
<p>My very close friend was a partner at a major NYC law firm (really, national) from a 3rd, 4th tier law school. First in the class and president of law review too. Graduating class rank figures highly in getting a foot in the door at the the coveted jobs and being right up in the top from lesser known firms can do be a lot more lucrative than being in the bottom half of higher ranked schools.</p>