Since we're in a bball forum.... Not every bball player should or would be well-advised to aspire to become the next Jordan....
i didn't say you should aspire to that. simply pointed out that jamail is an example of why that isn't true. that, and i know guys who graduated low and are still practicing law and doing quite well. in the practice of law, there are many ways to add value. not all of those involve brilliant legal minds.
It's a joke, not a rule. But there's a grain of truth in the joke, and it lies with probability. Nothing more, nothing less. Careful now. There are non-lawyers reading here, and statements like these just confirm their suspicion that lawyers are leeches of society (but I suppose no different from i-bankers, consultants, and other "value add" service "professionals"...).
Jamail is one of those exceptional individuals that beat the odds. Bill Gates and Michael Dell both dropped out of college, etc. It doesn't take a statistics major to know that your earning potential is greater if you go to a good school, graduate, and make good grades. Also, though, Joe Jamail does illustrate one point, which is that not all law jobs are the same. The "big firm" jobs that people talk about and (some) covet are almost all defense firms. Not everybody wants that - some people want to work for smaller firms, or be a plaintiffs attorney, or work in criminal law, or family law, etc. Different areas of law have different requirements, and not all of them put the same emphasis into what school you went to or where you were ranked in your class.
This is somewhat true. If you go to a top 5 school, being "mediocre" won't kill you. However, if you go to a school like UT and finish in the middle, that's much worse than if you went to UH and finished in the Top 10%, especially if in Texas. My opinion is if you finish in the Top 10% of any top 50% quartile school, you should find a good job in the region. My wife and I both went to UH law. I wouldve been accepted to UT law but had to stay in Houston for personal reasons. I don;t think it wouldve mattered much if I went to UT law vs UH law other than the stronger alumni base. My wife, graduated from UH law, finished in the Top 20%, worked at a small firm, received an in-house counsel job at a corporation in Houston. Now, she is in-house counsel for a big coporation in Connecticut. Her boss went to University of Michigan, a fellow attorney went to NYU. They knew nothing about UH but hired her based on the strong work referrals and her undergraduate degree from Rice. Bottom line: You can go to a big school, small school - doesn;t matter. It's more important to do well, gain work experience, and develop a specialty.
I have a friend who worked for several years before deciding to go back to law school. He said that basically there are three schools that have significant clout anywhere -- Yale, Harvard and Stanford -- in that order. Columbia and NYU are close to making the list. Big, big dropoff after those schools. All other schools, he said, do not give you a significant edge over any applicants from top 40 schools. Therefore, it is best to go to a school in the area that you'd like to live/work if you can't crack the big boys. Law can be a very localized industry with regulations specific to a geographic area. The state bars are different from one another, as well. As a result, geography should be a determinant in your choice. Whatever you do, don't go to a place that you aren't comfortable with just because they are high on some collection of journalists' list (unless it is Yale-Harvard-Stanford).
Good post Jorge. I've heard the same thing with respect to undergraduate colleges. You've got your Yale/Harvard/Stanford/Princeton and maybe Duke, but anything after that is sort of second tier at best. So a degree from, say, a place that is the 17th ranked undergraduate college, you might as well just say screw it and go to your local flagship state school ranked around 46 or so, since you're going to be pretty much tied down to the same region where you started anyway.
Sam, are you trying to pick a fight? My post was not directed at you. I don't see how you could interpret it otherwise.
Jorge, well, I'll see your and raise you a . . . I'm merely speaking in the hypothetical, with #'s picked at random. I'm sorry if you interpreted it the wrong way. My most sincere apologies and Joyeux Noel....
Your friend who was accepted at Yale is going to a liberal bastion. I don't think a man of conservative stock (which I assume he is) would attend such a place unless he harbored certain latencies. I do wish him well though.
Hehe, that's a good one. Anyways I have a friend who has been successful in investment banking, and he is going to law school here in Houston. If you know exactly what you are using your law degree for, then I don't think it's very important to go to a "big name" school. But if you have no experience then it's probably better to go to a known school so you can get more opportunities.
who are you arguing with?? what are you talking about?? there are people who add value to any business simply by being good people-people. they are instantly relateable. you send them out to get new business. yes, they practice law. but their real value is in courting new business. there are partners in law firms whose function is largely administrative...they're good at understanding the business and organizing a firm around it. and on and on.
This is a good point and similar to the point I was making before Sam tried to derail with his personal insecurities. One of the top students in my undergraduate class went to UH law school after working for a couple of years, simply because he knew exactly what he wanted out of law school. He wanted functional knowledge of the real estate industry, and he wanted to practice that knowledge in Houston. UH offered him a scholarship and the chance to stay at home. It made sense *for him*. Would he have been better served combing through the US News rankings and only applying to the top schools? Of course not. Too many times people get involved in some kind of penis-measuring contest with regard to US News rank, instead of objectively considering their own personal situation. Those who have a clear picture of their future and their goals can often match those goals locally -- and save a ton of time, money and effort in the process.
Again, a difference in opinion. I guess I'm just not that comfortable with advising someone from the get-go that bad schools don't matter, bad grades don't matter, straying away from a profession's core competencies doesn't matter when A QUESTION WAS ASKED ABOUT PICKKING SCHOOLS.
Jorge, there is no need to justify your educational and career choices to me. Really, I thought we were beyond this pettiness.
Sam, you are derailing the thread needlessly. Do us all a favor and find a job that occupies you for more than 10 minutes a day. Thanks.
Back on topic, Rocketman95, are you still considering law school? If so, what criteria affect your choice?
