Going To Law School

xpost

the NY schools are probably at least marginally better than the DC schools, but go to DC if you want to work there and/or do public international law.

American is in an inner-ring burb, ie the outskirts of DC. yes, you can get downtown, and no you're not gonna be living it up all the time, but it's not the city, even by DC standards.

if you go to any of the schools listed above and are not one of the top 10 graduating persons than you really won't have a good chance of paying those loans off any time soon

My friend got into Fordham off the "waitlist", so goo luck. I submitted my application on 1/11/07 and haven't heard shit from them yet. Same with Cardozo.

Fordham's $$$ is nuts; my friend who goes there is looking forward to 2,000/month in loan paybacks after graduation.

Is American as bad a school as people say? Everyone's always so down on it.

I have law school grad friends who aren't making much better money than I make now. But my job is a dead end and law is at least a career.

read that wall street journal article from last fall, people

hurting on the right track, dan is misinformed :/

That Wall Street Journal article was written about some whiny slacker. If I can make it as a writer in NYC, I can probably do OK in other pointless, senselessly-competitive fields.

if you go to any of the schools listed above and are not one of the top 10 graduating persons than you really won't have a good chance of paying those loans off any time soon

that's not true of Fordham, is it?

Whatever you say Cutty McMoneybags, Esq.

Just fucking with you, obv., sorry.

If I had a PhD subject I really wanted to do and didn't have to pay for it I'd just as soon do that.

Do you like living on 12k a year until you're like 30 y/n?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119040786780835602.html

Yes, we've all read the WSJ article. People dug around and found out it was done by a whiny bitter loser who belongs to this community of other whiny, bitter losers.

I think American is a very good school.

burt stanton, those are some great arguments you got going, can't wait til you get up in front of judge with that sorta malarkey.

Regardless of who wrote that article, it's well known that supply of law school grads is going up way faster than demand for lawyers.

wow burt you have it all figured out and you haven't even read pennoyer v. neff yet

They're amazing arguments, aren't they. No, I have 0 respect for people who go into a brutally competitive field and then get surprised that it has a nasty food chain.

It's even worse with lib. arts Ph.D.s... I withdrew my English Ph.D. applications after realizing that, if my 4.0 Vassar friends were struggling to get into decent schools, that little ole state college me probably wouldn't fare too well.

Lol "malarkey"

shillelagh hugger

ILX lawyer roll call:

me
gabbneb
felicity
Hunt3r
Daniel, Esq?

Don't tell me about loans, either. I know you dicks can pay off 150k in like 5 years.

Depends. And I don't mean that as a flip answer, Dan. OTOH, this . . .

if you go to any of the schools listed above and are not one of the top 10 graduating persons than you really won't have a good chance of paying those loans off any time soon

. . . isn't necessarily true, either.

Ah, I didn't know those others were attorneys! What kind of law do you all practice?

ACTUALLY -

As a graduate of Catholic University Law, one of the schools in DC that doesn't contain the name George, I can tell you that American (and Catholic, Howard, and Maryland) grads can very easily get good jobs in DC.

And the job market in DC, according to an article in the Post late last year, was very, very good.

Next Point:
Comparing academic graduate programs and professional graduate programs is like apples and oranges, and the money is just one reason.

This is the most important point:

If you want to be an attorney, go to law school. Do well. Meet people. Try to have a part-time job and a summer job, even if you don't get a cherry summer associateship. Accept the fact that, at least for the first few years, you will be living on a budget. Get a job. Start doing good work, and you'll start building a career.

If prestige, or influence, money or power is the driving motivation behind you going to law school, DON'T. Go to business school. Hire youreself out as a third world dictator. Start selling drugs - I hear the Stansfield corners in West Baltimore are WIDE open.

BLAM, Esq.

Law school definitely seems like the wrong path to go if you want to make a ton of money these days; even Big Law people seem disappointed at the measily 160k they make, when kids out of college are plowing through 300k/year in banking, etc.

As I said upthread, not necessarily.

To be fair, Burt, if you're talking about first-year salaries, or salaries for young lawyers, I think you're in the ballpark (the N.Y. Big Firm rate was about 150k for first-years a few years ago; I haven't checked on it in some time).

BLAM otm. the wsj article isn't just whining, but it is overstated, maybe by a lot.

What kind of law do you all practice?

gabbneb practices Atlantic Waterfowl law, felicity is one of the Top 100 Lawn Sportshound lawyers in America, and cutty specializes in the Law of the Seahorse.

Ah, I didn't know those others were attorneys! What kind of law do you all practice?

General litigation, mostly small business. Never want to do criminal, although that area of law is fascinating to me.

Ah, all you niche lawyers.

Ah, all you rich niche lawyers

Fixed.

i work for NYC

A friend of mine from NYU law is about to go work for NYC. He already did summer work for the city.

Sounds like a good job. I worked for a NYC-based firm for a couple of years (in its South Florida office). Good experience. Good lawyers.

hurting, find out what division and let me know, i'll greet him

yeah I'll ask him. good guy.

Fyi if you are admitted in CA you can waive into NY through DC without taking the bar.

I do IP LOLaw.

I've done some IP litigation, too (tho, admittedly, only a few cases). Esoteric, heady stuff. I liked it.

i wanted to do IP but couldn't break in to that field without a technical degree. the city work is good cause it's 9-5, stress-free, and i definitely do not take my work home with me

B.L.A.M., did you just take the CA bar? Maybe I am thinking someone else.

I'm sure a technical degree helps to do IP work, but the IP litigation I've done is all just straightforward -- albeit difficult and nuanced -- litigation. Tho, to be fair, most of my friends who went into IP had engineering backgrounds.

(xp to Cutty)

Yes I am a LOLitigator with a bachelor's in studio art.

LOL @ LOLitigator. I'll have to use that (giving you due credit/royalties).

believe me i tried to IP LOLigate

1P 3tigation

B.L.A.M., did you just take the CA bar? Maybe I am thinking someone else.

I did, I did. Results in a little over two months. I really have no idea what I'll do if I don't pass. I busted my ass for three months, working full time for two of those, and don't feel like I could have done more. Plus, I like my job and would like to get paid at an associate level as opposed to a "law clerk" level. Which sucks.

My big fear with going to a school like American (or Cardozo, etc.) is ... is it really worth it to take on so much debt? I got no money at AU-WCL, despite my numbers being like ... 90% there, and Fordham'll probably give me the ole WL since I'm 25% there.

So it's like ... 180k of debt for a slight chance of a new career? Or are the naysayers overdoing the doom mongering?

i don't enjoy paying $1200/month in loans