I have been fortunate enough to receive offers from both Judges and private practices.  I need help to choose which to pursue.

By the way, I am a 1L.

Should it be all about the money and take the paid job?  Or should I choose the job clerking for the judge?  The judge in question is a state level appellate judge.  Does it matter how high of a court the internship is for?

If I am offered a position with a U.S. District Court, should I choose that over the paid private job?

Please help.  Thanks.

You should take the paid job because it might turn into a paid job after graduation. Unpaid clerkships with judges during school do not turn into paid clerkships with judges upon graduation. Especially with federal district judges. They let students clerk for them all the time but when it comes to clerking upon graduation - that's a whole different process. And taking the state appellate court position will do little for your career.

From Paul L. Caron, TaxProf Blog:

LawSchoolNumbers.com ranks the 195 law schools by 1L attrition rates.  (The ABA Section on Legal Education publishes aggregate attrition rates, and each school's attrition rate is available on its official ABA data sheet.)  Here are the 25 law schools with the highest attrition rates according to LawSchoolNumbers.com, along with the school's 2009 U.S. News overall ranking:

   1. Whittier (51.5% 1L attrition, #161 in U.S. News)
   2. Touro (37.4%, #171)
   3. Golden Gate (36.9%, #174)
   4. Western State (32.6%, not ranked)
   5. Jones School of Law (32.3%, not ranked)
   6. Widener (30.5%, #179)
   7. St. Thomas University (28.5%, #174)
   8. Barry (27.6%, #181)
   9. Liberty (27.1%, not ranked)
  10. Thomas M Cooley (26.0%, #181)
  11. Florida Coastal (23.7%, #171)
  12. California Western (23.6%, #156)
  13. Valparaiso (23.4%, #143)
  14. Florida International (23.3%, #153)
  15. Capital (22.8%, #161)
  16. Louisville (22.5%, #100)
  17. North Carolina Central (22.1%, #168)
  18. Detroit Mercy (21.9%, $163)
  19. Nova Southeastern (21.8%, #158)
  20. Oklahoma City (21.0%, $168)
  21. Willamette (21.0%, #137)
  22. Western New England (20.7%, #171)
  23. Northern Kentucky (20.2%, #156)
  24. University of The District of Columbia (20.0%, #181)
  25. Franklin Pierce (19.9%, #131)

With the economy and the over over abundance of law schools and graduates, how in good conscious can the ABA justify keeping these school accredited.  They are all abominations.  And Louisville.... SHAME ON YOU!

There is good reason why the ABA accredits these law schools. It's simple. Any person that demonstrates mere competence should be allowed to practice law.

Law touches all of our lives. So deeply rooted is this concept that, as the maxim goes, "ignorance of the law is no excuse." The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are built around this concept, allowing for pro se litigants to have their day in court. In short, our democracy is built upon the rule of law and the idea that all persons that demonstrate minimal competence should be allowed to participate in the very mechanism that, potentially, can take away life, liberty, and property.

For good or bad, it is the market and individual states that will regulate who practices, not the ABA. For example, bad attorneys will either not have clients and leave the profession (market forces), or will be barred (by the state bar or state supreme court) through disciplinary actions.

The thing about write on competitions is that a lot of people who start don't finish. So, just by handing something, anything, in, you're already at an advantage.

But being on a journal isn't for everyone. I hate it, as do most everyone else on my journal.

Quote from: TeresaPinfold on April 21, 2009, 10:58:36 AM

Actually I think the problem is that most of the ranking is not based on real, meaningful factors like LSAT. A ranking based purely on a LSAT/GPA index would probably be more accurate, but it wouldn't be worthy of a lucrative magazine edition.

Good point, but I disagree.

USN&WR isn't simply listing the "most selective law schools" (and even in that case, merely factoring LSAT/GPA is insufficient).  It is listing the 'best' schools.  Your academic experience will be enhanced when you have a library with plenty of resources and space, when your professors are of high quality, when the school spends money on enhancing your experience, when the school provides the ability to summer in a good firm that will give interesting work (employment %), and when other students are very smart.  All of these factors are relevant in assessing the quality of the legal education.


That said, I don't think USN&WR is perfect.  I think it could add some measurements, use different proportions to come up with rank, and measure things differently.

I'm in total agreement.

It somehow seems unprofessional for a dean to discuss leaked rankings before they're published.

I agree. However, they were published. And purchased.