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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Don't listen to DCUM and this "top law school or bust" stuff -- especially since they don't even really understand what a top law school is. Lots of folks who aren't lawyers playing one on DCUM and giving advice that is just downright incorrect. And some of that is already showing up here.

I went to law school at what I consider to be a pretty great school and people are impressed when they hear it -- it was founded in the 19th century and we had plenty of folks head to BigLaw in NYC and DC and federal clerkships al over, including Circuit Court clerkships. I landed at DOJ in the Honors Program. GMU is ranked ahead of my school (although when I went to ls, it didn't).

Your DD would do well to attend GMU, especially  with in state tuition -- I can't tell you how many people struggle financially with their law school loans for years and years. And going to school with the intention of working in BigLaw where you can make enough to pay them off relatively easily isn't a plan -- most aren't able to get those jobs, and some people like me who could decide to go DOJ or public interest instead.

Just tell her that law review is a big deal and she should do everything she can to grade onto it, and if she doesn't (which she probably won't), do the write-on competition. Then she should consider clerking for a judge after graduation, preferable fed (and the DC area has some specialty courts to consider as well if she has certain interests like the Tax Court and the Court of Fed Claims). Appellate if she can get it.

[b]She could do pretty much anything she wants with law review + fed clerkship.[/b] [/quote]

I read the above post while alternating between shaking my head and near outright laughter. Clearly, the above poster is angry and has an ax to grind regarding this matter and is out-of-touch with the realities of the legal market today.

Stating that one could do well if on law review and able to obtain a federal judicial clerkship is not reasonable advice even though mostly accurate. Earning a spot on law review and getting a federal judicial clerkship are not easily accomplished.

Of the 143 law graduates of the GMU law class of 2022, almost 5.6% (8) obtained federal judicial clerkships. This is a solid percentage. Another 6 got clerkships at the state level (usually state appellate courts), and 19 obtained local judicial clerkships-which is a type of bottom-of-the-barrel legal job placement. Understand that the overwhelming majority of law students from a Top 14 law school (other than Yale Law School, U Chicago, and Stanford) cannot get a federal judicial clerkship.

The more reasonable way to assess law school options is to assume that one will graduate ranked at median--in the middle of the class. This is one area where Top 14 law schools excel. The higher ranked a law school is, the deeper into the class Biglaw will go.

As a side note: I assume that the angry poster graduated law school in the 1980s and has not kept up with the realities of the legal marketplace over the last two decades.

Important to understand that federal judicial clerkships at the District Court and Circuit Court level are only important for those aspiring to be litigators (trial attorneys) which is an area not highly valued by most Biglaw firms today. (A couple of Biglaw firms recently announced that summer clerks would not be allowed to experience litigation and that of the summer clerks receiving an offer of post-law school employment who expressed a desire to practice in litigation would have their employment offers rescinded. Litigation is just too expensive for large law firm clients and not as profitable for Biglaw firms as is transactional practice areas.)

Whether or not to attend law school should be assessed on a cost benefit analysis with the assumption that one will graduate at median--in the middle of the class. At most Top 14 law schools it is fine to finish in the top 75% to 80% as Biglaw employers go much deeper into the classes at these schools.

Any difference in statistics and salaries is due to different methods of compiling and reporting data between the ABA and NALP.[/quote]

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