Law School Discussion

Look back at previous cycles. Look at schools other than BU. Look at a "range" of numbers close to yours. A 2.8-2.9 with a 170+ may be "rare" but is not rare if you're talking about splitters. A 2.0 with a 180 is a different story.

Here is an example from a few years back when I was first deciding whether or not to apply to law school:

http://lawschoolnumbers.com/burghblast

Well not exactly. There are groupings within even the top schools. And students from schools like Yale and Stanford tend to funnel into prestigious judicial clerkships.

For example, you're going to need roughly the same percentile rank to get a biglaw job from Michigan and Virginia even though one might be ranked higher than the other in any given year.

Plus firms like diversity in their classes, Biglaw firm X in NYC might rather hire, say 5 students each from UM, UVA, and Penn, even though UM has a larger class and there are more students sitting at X percentile rank that Biglaw firm X requires than at the other two schools. And students from say, Berkeley might prefer to take a job at a firm that pays biglaw money, but only has west coast offices, which means those students don't fit the definition of what many people think is biglaw.

I think once you get past UCLA/USC/Vandy/Texas, the rankings become pretty mushy. For example, does WashU really place better than GW? I doubt it, but in recent years WashU has been higher ranked. Schools like W&L, W&M, Minnesota, etc. have never had great biglaw placement. Yet those are so-called top 30 schools. Ranking doesn't equate with placement.

Check this out for a very rough idea of how biglaw placement works. Note that when the data the legal job market was in a boom. Or at least the tail end of a boom.

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2008/04/law-school-rank.html

Here is another interesting link. Note that this is for the class of 2005.

http://pdfserver.amlaw.com/nlj/20080414employment_trends.pdf

Basically, in a good economy, if you want a very good chance at a biglaw job, you're best shot is to attend a top 10 school, or preferably, a top 5 school.

Just keep in mind that right now all bets are off for biglaw no matter where you go unless the economy substantially improves. And outside of biglaw, salaries drop off considerably. Depending on what state or region you are in, $30-50K at a small firm might be considered "good" if you can find a legal job at all. For the next few years, you are going to see a lot of fresh law grads doing quasi-legal or non-legal work for low pay. Many will be lucky to have health insurance and a salaried position. That's even students from top 20 schools.

Definitely research the residency requirements. It may turn out that you can get residency in one state but not the other...or that you have to jump through extra hoops to get residency. Residency may also differ from one Ohio university to the next.

Also, keep in mind that even these schools, like UBalt, Akron, Toledo, Cleveland State, etc are still going to want a decent LSAT for schools of their ilk.

You might want to check their stats, but I think it safe to say that if you score below 150, you're going to have trouble getting admitted to even the part-time programs at these schools.

Remember that even with in-state tuition, you are still looking at $90K or more to go to any of these schools for 3 years, and you will be lucky to find a secure job that pays $40K / per year with health insurance out of any of these schools. And if the economy doesn't improve you will be lucky to find any paying legal job at all.

Lastly, you should check your state bar rules before stepping foot in law school. Get a lawyer that specializes in bar admission issues. You want to be sure that you're not going to have any character and fitness problems with the bar before stepping foot in law school due to your health issues.

Tax LLM programs will care most about grades in Tax classes, not LLM classes in global basketweaving law or anything else.

I'm not even sure if it's possible to get another LLM if you've already got one. Check with the schools. Even if they let you do it, why on earth would you think it would be a good idea? I hope you aren't planning to take out loans for it.

Let me guess, you did an LLM and it didn't help you get a job and now you think by doing a tax LLM from a top school will help break you into some kind of high paying job?

I'm afraid that isn't likely. Even tax LLMs from the top schools have been having a hard time finding jobs for the last few years. Even JD grads from top schools who came out in the last couple years are having a hard time finding any decent work.

I agree with Matthies. Apply now if you absolutely must, but don't get your hopes up. I would start making plans for something to do for the next 1-2 years just in case law school doesn't work out this cycle. Definitely get into a program. Last thing you want to do is get another DUI or other legal problem once you are in school.