Originally posted by rick hutt: New suit: $500 Nice briefcase: $250
You need to spring for better suits and a nicer briefcase. Just kidding with you...
Yeah, that was awhile ago. When was the last time Law School cost $75K? I have moved up a bit in suits, but the whold briefcase thing eludes me. I carry a small back pack
Hope nobody here ever needs my services. Not only have you been accused of a felony, but you're indigent.
Posts: 123 | Location: Chicago, IL, USA | Registered: December 29, 2003
This is one of my other obsessions. Have about 8, use only one, an old leather catalogue case. I, unlike the father in the Brady Bunch, have never used my briefcase to my advantage in Court.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: prc,
I'm gonna thread-jack here a little, while there are some lawyers in the room...
What do you, as attorneys, feel when you read the US News & World Report ranking law schools? Do you think its accurate? Do you think it makes a difference in the "real" world? Do you check to see how your school ranked as a novelty or a concern?
Just curious...like I mentioned, I'm starting in a week, and am curious about some of these reports and their impact when I go applying for jobs...
Any thoughts?
jag
quote:
We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it. ~ Abraham Lincoln
Posts: 1375 | Location: Moving in December | Registered: September 15, 2006
Great Question! I am a partner in a law firm with 23 attorneys. Never once have I paid even the slightest attention to such rankings. My assesment/interview process is as follows:
GPA GPA GPA -I don't care what some applicant's major was, or where he or she went to school. What is important to me is that person's intelligence. I do take mitigating factors into account. For instance, if I get a kid who was raised in a slum, and has a consistent 3.0 though HS and College, that is impressive. If I get a kid from a privileged background with a consistent 3.5, that is not impressive.
Practicing in Boston, I will leave you with this. I am a trial lawyer by trade. My list of most impressive opponents has rarely included graduates of Harvard, Yale, or Columbia Law. Rather, this list usually includes guys and gals from local law schools such as Suffolk, Massachusetts School of Law, Boston University, and and Boston College who came, for the most part, from the neighborhoods of Boston. Call it smarts plus street smarts.
As you may have gathered, this is a subject of passion to me. I spend a lot of time volunteering time with HS students in the city. My goal is to convince them that there is no limit to their potential.
My apologies for going on and on about this. I guess the simple answer to your question is that few if any firms really pay attention to those rankings in assessing applicants. Look for a school with a good mix of full time professors and adjunct professors. When in doubt, go with the adjunct (translates to: lawyers who actually practice their profession).
I haven't seen the "Useless News and World Distort" rankings. But I'm interested: where's U of Michigan?
To answer your question, of course I look whenever I see one of these lists, but I wouldn't seek such a list out in the sense that it might seriously affect a hiring decision; the top ten or so are all pretty well known. (We can quibble over where exactly one or another school should rank within the group, but that's just... quibbling).
Good luck in your first year and beyond; where you rank in your graduating class is very important.
______________________________
"People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything."
Just kidding with you...
