Law School Discussion

They always part very far to one side and have side-swept bangs. Has anyone else noticed this before?

I think I might be the only southern girl alive that parts mostly down the middle.

It's application season again and I've been getting a lot of PM's asking me for advice about getting into Boalt and, more frequently, asking me what I think I did to have gotten into Boalt with an LSAT score far below its median. I'll still take individual and more specific questions over PM if you're willing to be patient in waiting for a response, but as my free time has become substantially more limited with the new job, I decided to make a general post answering this question to the best of my ability.

My answer comes in several parts and I'll try to expound on these soon:

1. I think Boalt is unique and there are few top schools that would have even considered me with my LSAT. While I did not personally apply to Yale, I have several exceptional friends with sub 160's who got in there. Outside those two schools, I think that anyone with a sub 160 needs to be looking at lower T1 and down. A corollary to that is that I was at the Univ. of Tennessee, where virtually no one applies to schools outside the state and I didn't know any better than to assume that a GPA a few points above the 75th percentile would more than make up for an LSAT that was a few points below the 25th. Idiotic, I know, but this was before the days of lawschooldiscussion.org and I simply didn't have anyone at school who was willing to give me a reality check. I guess in the long run it worked out in my favor. Had I known what I do now, I probably wouldn't have wasted the $75 to apply.

2. Berkeley is a GPA whore and I had a 3.9 from a program in which I took 80% senior level and grad level courses since my freshman year. My understanding is that for them to be willing to be lenient with the LSAT, your GPA has to be through the roof.

3. I wrote what I feel is a compelling personal statement about my personal struggle in finding my cultural equilibrium while obtaining my education in a Tennessee public school system. I will send it to you by email so long as yours is a school email.

4. I got lucky. Plain and simple. I am humble enough to admit that dozens of exceptional, talented and bright people were turned away so that I could have that spot. I am eternally grateful to the admissions committee for believing that I could make it at Boalt and giving me the chance.

This is a place to discuss immigration law from a practice perspective.

Anyone interested in this practice area?

I've had some substantial experience working in immigration law and can answer questions if anyone has them.

Those of you whose sole reason for attending law school is to hit the jackpot should caredully consider the stats in this article. Getting a law job, especially one paying the highly-advertised $160K is difficult. Be realistic and know what you're getting into.

The article from National Law Journal:

http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1183712786622#

About that huge salary: It's a longshot
Most law grads face lower pay and debt.

Leigh Jones / Staff Reporter
July 9, 2007

Northeastern University School of Law’s Emily Spieler
Image: David Leifer
University of Miami School of Law’s Marcelyn Cox

Despite news of record-breaking employment figures for law school graduates and first-year salaries of $160,000 at many top law firms, a significant contingent of job seekers — including those with strong credentials — are living a much different story after graduation.

By accounts from employment trackers, news reports and some law schools themselves, starting a lucrative career as a lawyer these days is easier than ever. Many big law firms are doling out first-year salaries that exceed those paid to seasoned federal judges, and they are bestowing year-end bonuses that rival starting pay for many entry-level professional positions.

But the eye-popping salaries are the reality for a small fraction of law school graduates, and all those stories of big money may be creating unrealistic hopes for the vast majority of law school students. Contributing to the situation is the effort by law schools to portray their employment numbers as robustly as possible to boost their ranking scores.

The upshot means dashed expectations for lots of graduates, many of whom are saddled with high debt as they struggle to start their careers.

"They do not have an accurate perception of the job market," said Emily Spieler, dean of Northeastern University School of Law. "They have very restricted views."

A big challenge — and responsibility — for law schools is to dispel the notion that six-figure salaries at megafirms are the norm, she said. "They perceive those jobs as having high status and high pay and do not understand what they entail."

According to the latest information from NALP, the Washington-based nonprofit group that tracks legal employment, 90.7% of last year's law school graduates were employed nine months after graduation, topping 90% for the first time since 2000. The total number of graduates for whom employment status was known equaled 40,186.

From that number 55.8% — or 22,424 — took jobs in private practice. NALP estimates that about 37% of graduates who go into private practice end up working for firms with 101 attorneys or more. Importantly, the vast majority of the firms paying first-year associates the much-publicized $160,000 have more than 500 attorneys.  

The result is that about 80% of law graduates are not working in law firms with more than 101 attorneys, and, consequently, are making far less than the amounts grabbing all the attention.

"I'm kind of stuck," said a 27-year-old lawyer from Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law who moved to Chicago after she graduated last year. She did not want to reveal her identity out of a concern that doing so would hinder her job search.

Currently working for an in-house department at a large insurance company in Chicago, she graduated in the top third of her class, was a member of law review and participated in the school's moot court competition. She has $70,000 in student loan debt, she said, and makes about $50,000 annually.

She sent out more than 100 résumés and letters before and after she graduated, she said. "I could get in the door; I just couldn't land the job."

She said that many of her friends from law school are working on a contract basis for law firms.

"A lot of people are making $30,000."

She is looking for another job and is considering nonlawyer positions.

"I'm not going anywhere," she said.

While the challenges of landing that first job as a lawyer may not be any more difficult for law graduates than for graduates in other fields, the attention paid to the top lawyer jobs by the media, the law firms and the schools themselves can build false hopes about job prospects.

"I absolutely think their expectations are inflated," said James Leipold, executive director of NALP. Part of the problem lies in the interpretation of the numbers, Leipold explained. As of August 2006, the most recent data available from NALP, the median salary for first-year associates at law firms with 501 attorneys or more was $135,000. Since then, many big law firms have raised their starting pay to $160,000. For firms with two to 25 attorneys, the median salary was $67,000, according to NALP's latest information.

But job hunters should view those figures with caution, Leipold said. First, the majority of law school graduates obtain jobs at firms with 10 attorneys or fewer, he said. In addition, location makes a big difference in salaries. Most law school graduates across the country who take jobs in private practice can expect to make between $40,000 and $45,000 their first year, Leipold said.
According to NALP, 75.3% of graduates in 2006 had jobs for which passing the bar exam was required nine months after graduation. Leipold said he is confident that NALP's numbers are accurate.

Robert Meachem leads CJ (and just about every other receiver in the country) in EVERY statistical category save one - number of TD's. This can easily be explained by the fact that Robert had to share his TD options with two other 10+yds/catch receivers.

My question: Why is Meachem constantly listed behind CJ, Rice and others in terms of draft potential?