Brown Boy Goes to Law School

Here’s a post made by a lawyer who has been working in the profession for two years now, which addresses many of the questions people in the application process have….

Read up!

1) US NEWS & WORLD REPORT RANKINGS. First and foremost, it’s imperative that people begin to understand that these rankings do not come down to us on tablets from God. Moreover, the ranking process  is hardly a science with the certainty of, say, mathematics. Some students applying to law school actually believe that there is some real and finite difference between the 80th-ranked school and the 100th-ranked school or between the 80th-ranked school and the 60th-ranked school. It’s nonsense, and, in many cases, a school’s ranking has as much to do with politics as with anything else.

2) THE TOP LAW SCHOOLS. Yes, there is, justified or not, a perception that a certain group of law schools is in a class by itself (“generally” the top 15-20 schools in US NEWS). And yes, if your desire is to work for one of the biggest and most prestigious law firms in the country, you will “probably” need a degree from one of these schools. That said, there are several caveats. The first, of course, is that there are exceptions. There ARE lawyers at the world’s most prestigious firms who went to schools that US NEWS ranks in the 2nd and 3rd tiers.

3) BIG FIRMS AND MONEY. There is an absurd myth prevailing to the effect that the lawyers at the biggest and most prestigious firms make the most money. That is nonsense. They will make more money AT FIRST but, in many cases, will find themselves making less money than people who went to smaller firms in 5-10 years. In some cases, a LOT less. Why? Because, when you go to work for a law firm, you own NOTHING. You are a subcontractor for the firm and are at its mercy. The BIG FIRM bills clients $300-400 per hour for your work and gives you about $25-$40 an hour(based on a 70-hour week), keeping the other $250-$350 for itself. The ONLY way that you ever begin to exercise some degree of control is to become a partner—especially an equity partner. Very simply, you have a much greater chance of becoming an equity partner at a smaller firm, and if you do become an equity partner at a smaller firm, you OWN a piece of the firm. The business is yours. Don’t fall into looking at ridiculous salary averages that are associated with degrees from certain law schools. You would be SHOCKED to learn that many of the lawyers who operate out of rinky-dink little offices on the side of a highway can BUY AND SELL many of the lawyers who work at the most prestigious firms. If your goal is to sit at a desk and have SOMEONE ELSE hand you work, you will NEVER be rich. Law firms are a stepping stone for 99% of lawyers. Sure, there is that 1% that will make equity partner at Cravath and make $2.5M a year, but the rest won’t—even among the Harvard/Yale kids. For almost all lawyers, law firms are stepping stones meant to guide you closer to your OWN firm or your OWN business.         

4) IF MONEY IS YOUR GOAL, DON’T WORRY SO MUCH ABOUT TIERS. I am all in favor of going to the most prestigious law schools. If you are blessed to get into Harvard, Yale, Columbia, or one of the other top 15 or top 20 schools listed in US NEWS, go. But I find that students tend spend so much time obsessed with the criteria of academia (GPA, LSAT score, School reputation) that they often fail to realize that 95% of their potential clients don’t give a damn about ANY of those things. I have found that the one overwhelming criterion is PERSONAL APPEAL. Are you a likeable person? Do you project confidence? Do you have a natural charisma? Do you inspire confidence on the part of the potential client? Does the client feel safe with you? THOSE are the questions that really matter. You could be the finest lawyer in the world from a technical point of view, but if you don’t get clients, you’re not going to make money. A good friend of mine graduated from a 4th-tier school, went to a small firm, and made over $125,000 in commissions in his FIRST year because he was such a likeable guy. He would meet clients in diners, restaurants, apartments, construction sites, bars, delis, parks, etc. He bent over backward for clients. Now, three years out of a 4th-tier law school, he’s closing in on $200,000 a year and dusting 90% of the kids who went to Harvard.

The Admissions office will never give you a straight answer. Don’t you want to know exactly how many law firms recruit on that campus? Which of your schools have the most firms recruiting on campus?

Go here: http://www.nalpdirectory.com/

Click on advanced search, and select your college.

This is a very useful tool. Don’t go to a school until you’ve used it!

I spent the entire day trying to decide between two law school in Boston and Houston.

In Houston I’m looking at South Texas. It’s a smaller, private, less-reputable law school, with $23k yearly tuition.

In Boston, I’m looking at Suffolk. It’s a bigger, more expensive law school, with $39k yearly tuition.

It basically came down to these things:

• South Texas will limit me to Texas. It’ll be incredibly difficult to find employment outside Texas, let alone big markets like Boston/NYC/DC. Suffolk is in Boston, and is a little more reputable.
• South Texas is a HECK of a lot more cheaper. But you wouldn’t want to pass on Suffolk simply because of that, because with the higher tuition you also get access to the Boston job market, and the surrounding major cities.

In the end, I pulled out post-graduate statistics from both schools. I compared the bar passage rates, % employed after graduation, and average starting salary. They were virtually the same; $73k for Suffolk, and $78k for South Texas. Further, even a moron could tell you that $70k in Houston gets you a HECK of a lot more than $70k in Boston. Don’t take my word for it, just go do the CNN Money Salary Comparison Calculator. If you’re making $78k in Houston, you’d have to make the equivalent of $120k in Boston in order to maintain the same lifestyle. So if Suffolk will get you an average salary of $73k, that doesn’t say much in Boston. In other words, South Texas is the bigger bang for the buck. On top of that, the cheaper tuition makes the decision that much easier.

If I was looking at Harvard or Yale, then sure, it would probably be worth taking the bullet. But paying Harvard-level tuition for Suffolk, a school that’ll get you about the same as South Texas as far as post-grad opportunities are concerned, just isn’t worth it.

Also, be realistic about your law school loans. You may have just graduated from undergrad, and your monthly payment is $200 or so. Well, to payback law school loans, you could be paying WELL above $1,000 a month. Will you be able to afford it? Check out this very helpful resource: FinAid’s Loan Calculator. But there’s more. These guys will ALSO tell you how much money you will need to be making in order to afford paying back that loan. For example, $40k tuition at a Boston school for 3 years is a $120k loan. A 20-year student loan at a 6.8% rate means your monthly payment will be $1,068.68. FinAid adds….

“It is estimated that you will need an annual salary of at least $128,241.60 to be able to afford to repay this loan.”

Plug your numbers into this calculator when trying to make the decision of whether you should go to that top-notch private law school with a $40k tuition rate. Look up how much an average grad from that particular schools makes on average after graduation. Is it worth it? Depending on the school, it might very well be. That’s your decision.

Hooray for benefit-cost analysis.