So, as part of my job hunt this year, I e-mailed about 20-25 associates/partners at various mid & biglaw firms and asked dumb questions and tried to start "networking" (don't worry Matthies, I'm doing other stuff, too!). Although I don't know how successful I was in actually networking, I did get some insightful responses from several people. Obviously every person I talked to said that the job market is unbelievably bad. In light of that, the advice I got from a couple of people was that I should do everything possible to improve my resume while delaying starting work; two suggested seriously looking into an LLM in tax, and hoping that by the time I finish the economy improves. (I'm also considering the idea of applying to G-Tech and taking 24 hours in physics so I can sit for the patent bar, or trying to convince the business school to let me do a JD/MBA).
Anyway, I read over most the relevant threads here, but a couple questions...
(1) It seems like biglaw basically ignores the tax LLM and instead picks people based on their JD performance. But, when I was looking for places to mass mail, I noticed a lot of midlaw firms with HYS/CCN law grads, along with T2+LLM students. I don't really care how prestigious my firm is, but I do care how much money I make. Will a tax LLM significantly improve my chances of getting a 110k+ job? Are there a significant # of non-biglaw jobs?
(2) Given that there are (relatively) probably a lot of people considering this path, any idea what my chances are of landing NYU/GULC/UF? Is it worth going to Miami/UVA? Would I be competitive for $$ at any of these places?
Relevant info: Based on my current GPA, and my plan to coast the rest of the way through law school, I'm guessing I end up 30-50% at Emory (ranked #20). I am planning on going through our Transactional program, so I should have a fair number of tax courses. I am mostly interested in a tax LLM because I am assuming I will not have a "real" job, so work experience is not going to be a selling point.
(3) Serious newbie question. Let's say they completely reform the tax code. Would an LLM in tax lose a lot of value? Will classes in tax turn out to be a total waste?
(4) Will I be able to defer my loans while I am doing the LLM thing?
(5) Are there other LLMs or other degrees I should consider? Law in general is very interesting to me ... so I'm not worried about being uninterested regardless of what I pursue -- I want to do whatever I can to maximize my earning potential. Also, I am not afraid of hard sciences or other grad schools.
Gracias.