Undergraduate major of lawyers, earnings and type of law practiced

[Anonymous]

I assume there's some correlation between college major and type of law practiced. For instance, economics majors I suspect are more likely to be found doing corporate or tax. Lawyers who had econ majors earn more than others, while criminal justice majors earn less (I assume they're more likely to be solo practitioners and graduate from less prestigious law schools).

See Table 7 here, for earnings for most common undergrad majors.

https://walkerd.people.charleston.edu/WhyMajor/econreward.pdf

I should add the qualifier that the major itself is correlation not causation (except for patent attorneys, who have STEM undergrads). The "clock" starts at zero in 1L, so to speak.

[Anonymous]

Thanks OP. As you point out, this is not about causation and moreover, there's an open question as to which way the arrows point. The kind of person who majors in "justice" was probably always going to shoot for the local ACLU or housing authority, rather than Covington.

The kid with 2 parents on Wall Street who accelerated through linear algebra in his NYC top tier private was ALWAYS going to make money, whether in PE, corporate real estate, fintech or at white shoe firm. The econ major was just a means to a the end, and the end was always defined as "making bank, wherever it suits me."

[Anonymous]

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2016/03/simkovic-mcintyrethe-value-of-a-law-degree-by-college-major-29kyear-for-stem-majors-45kyear-for-huma.html

[Anonymous]

Econ major is a nice preparation for antitrust, which tends to be among the more sophisticated practice areas.

If you are looking for large compensation, BigLaw and boutique BigLaw spinoffs, regardless of practice area, will be a more reliable path than, say, random small firms. Obviously there are exceptions and no one-size-fits-all rule.

[Anonymous]

Mean earnings:

Economics $187K
Political Science $151K
Criminal Justice $89K

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks OP. As you point out, this is not about causation and moreover, there's an open question as to which way the arrows point. The kind of person who majors in "justice" was probably always going to shoot for the local ACLU or housing authority, rather than Covington.

The kid with 2 parents on Wall Street who accelerated through linear algebra in his NYC top tier private was ALWAYS going to make money, whether in PE, corporate real estate, fintech or at white shoe firm. The econ major was just a means to a the end, and the end was always defined as "making bank, wherever it suits me."

I thought Criminal Justice is a major for aspiring cops, not something that really attracts social justice activists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks OP. As you point out, this is not about causation and moreover, there's an open question as to which way the arrows point. The kind of person who majors in "justice" was probably always going to shoot for the local ACLU or housing authority, rather than Covington.

The kid with 2 parents on Wall Street who accelerated through linear algebra in his NYC top tier private was ALWAYS going to make money, whether in PE, corporate real estate, fintech or at white shoe firm. The econ major was just a means to a the end, and the end was always defined as "making bank, wherever it suits me."

I thought Criminal Justice is a major for aspiring cops, not something that really attracts social justice activists.

+1

And the kids who watched a lot of CSI or other silly forensics shows on network TV and thought they looked cool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mean earnings:

Economics $187K
Political Science $151K
Criminal Justice $89K

Christ on a cracker. I didn't know it was common for lawyers to make under 100 G's.

[Anonymous]

About a quarter make less than 100K:
https://www.bls.gov/oes/2023/may/oes231011.htm

[Anonymous]

Those data are from 1990– before I even graduated from high school. Did the OP not realize how old this paper is? My current college junior (political science major hoping to go to law school) was born the year it was published. Do those who know the legal field (I do not) think the general gist of the paper is still valid? How have the educational setting and the legal field changed in the past 30 years?

[Anonymous]

Look at the link TaxProf. blog. It confirms the older data.

[Anonymous]

Undergrad major to lawyer earnings is at best correlation, not causation.

If you want to make big $ as a lawyer, go to a highly ranked law school and get very high grades. Top of your class. Especially the first semester of your first year. IMHO, this is the #1 factor.

With very high first year grades, you are more likely to get interviews with (and offers from) the top-tier corporate law firms that pay top of market. These firms have very high grade cut-offs. They only hire law students with the very top law school GPAs.

Getting the summer offer is the hard part. If you do a decent enough job over the summer (arent completely incompetent or excessively awkward or weird), you’ll be fine.

At the college level - Do what you need to do to get into the best law school you can while also preparing yourself to get excellent first year grades for once you get there.

Above all else, this means having a high college GPA and LSAT score. (The lower-ranked your college is, the higher your stats need to be to get in to a good law school.)

College major doesn’t matter much. Just be sure to: (1) earn a high GPA; and (2) take as many classes as you need to become super skilled at reading and analyzing large volumes of texts, and writing clearly and persuasively. (Without already having this skill-set on day one of law school, you’re unlikely to do well first year, which in turn will limit your employment options and earning potential after.)

[Anonymous]

My major was liberal arts, because I failed to take everything required to graduate with my major, which was theater.

Tax litigator here. DOJ HP. GS-15.

[Anonymous]

It's interesting that a lot of philosophy departments "sell" their major by pointing out how well philosophy majors do on the LSAT. Not sure to what extent it's because philosophy just attracts better students to begin with and to what extent the study of philosophy prepares one well for the LSAT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Undergrad major to lawyer earnings is at best correlation, not causation.

If you want to make big $ as a lawyer, go to a highly ranked law school and get very high grades. Top of your class. Especially the first semester of your first year. IMHO, this is the #1 factor.

With very high first year grades, you are more likely to get interviews with (and offers from) the top-tier corporate law firms that pay top of market. These firms have very high grade cut-offs. They only hire law students with the very top law school GPAs.

Getting the summer offer is the hard part. If you do a decent enough job over the summer (arent completely incompetent or excessively awkward or weird), you’ll be fine.

At the college level - Do what you need to do to get into the best law school you can while also preparing yourself to get excellent first year grades for once you get there.

Above all else, this means having a high college GPA and LSAT score. (The lower-ranked your college is, the higher your stats need to be to get in to a good law school.)

College major doesn’t matter much. Just be sure to: (1) earn a high GPA; and (2) take as many classes as you need to become super skilled at reading and analyzing large volumes of texts, and writing clearly and persuasively. (Without already having this skill-set on day one of law school, you’re unlikely to do well first year, which in turn will limit your employment options and earning potential after.)

It doesn't because everybody starts again in law school, there is no advanced standing.

The only area where your undergraduate major matters at all is patent law.
.