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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Ignore the “top or bust” people.  GMU is fine and your kid will get a job. [/quote]

This depends upon a cost benefit analysis as to whether or not GMU law is a wise investment of one's time & money. The median starting pay for a GMU law grad is paltry compared to the median average first year earnings for a Georgetown Law grad (as well as for any other Top 14 law school). The difference in first year compensation for a GMU law grad versus a top 14 law grad is usually quite dramatic:

[b]George Mason law grad median first year earnings are $80,000,[/b] while the [b]median earnings for a first year Georgetown Law grad are about $165,000[/b] and first year earnings for a [b]University of Virginia law school grad are about $190,000[/b].

Most graduates of Top 14 law schools start at major law firms referred to as Biglaw. Standard Biglaw salaries are lockstep for an attorney's first 8 years (although most last for a bit less than 4 years at their initial Biglaw law firm):

Biglaw lockstep salary and bonus for one's first 8 years:

1) $225, 000 base salary plus $20,000 end-of-year bonus = $245,000
2) $235,000 plus $30,000 = $265,000
3) $260,000 plus $57,500 = $317,500
4) $310,000 plus $75,000 = $385,000
5) $365,000 plus $90,000 = $455,000
6) $390,000 plus $105,000 = $495,000
7) $420,000 plus $115,000 = $535,000
8) $435,000 plus $115,000 = $550,000.[/quote]

But 56 out of 135 students last year were employed by firms. That's half the class. (rest are clerks, government hires, etc.).  And GMU has 100 percent employment.[/quote]

Also, it's not true that "most" T-14 grads go into BigLaw. It is more true that some of these schools have a "slim majority" go to BigLaw, if that. Only 65 of 224 2023 Yale grads went to work for a firm with over 501 attorneys (less than 30%). In fact, only 174 had jobs that required a JD. Even if you assume the 54 federal clerks eventually go to BigLaw, that's still only 119 (53%). Harvard had more -- 516 out of 554 grads take jobs that required a JD & 332 in 501+ person firms, but that's still only 66%.  Duke shows 140 out of 238 going to BigLaw (58%). Georgetown had 54% go to work for law firms of any size (didn't find a breakdown by size quickly), so essentially the same as GMU. Michigan had 57% go to a private firm of any size. Meanwhile, Texas (*not* T-14) had 253 out of 277 employed in a job requiring a JD, with 157 at private firms (57%) and 102 (37%) in BigLaw. If you add in the 46 clerks at Texas, that's 148 (53%). One thing that surprised me is that Texas had 36 (13% of class) with federal clerkships compared to Yale's 54 (24% of class).With Yale's reputation as the place to go if you want a clerkship, I would have expected the discrepancy to be larger. (FWIW, employment numbers were one reason Yale dropped out of the USNWR rankings.)

I am a BigLaw partner and have a kid who is looking at law school, which is what made me want to dig into these numbers. But anecdotally, a few weeks back I had a BigLaw partner friend tell me that my DC should definitely look at GMU, as it is definitely on an upward trend. [/quote]

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