Prestige Whoring | Law School Maths

If you are going to law school or are thinking about going to law school, you have probably heard the term "prestige whore".  While I do not particularly care for the term, it is a reality of the legal world, and you had better get used to it. 

Lawyers and law students are generally obsessive about prestige.  One look at top-law-schools will tell you that from 0L, students are riled up over where they are going to be going, how much they plan on making, and how much better their school makes them than their competitors.  Law school applicants go crazy over LSAT scores, undergraduate GPA's, and other 'soft' factors that they use to size each other up.  If you get into the T14, T10, T6, or T3, as they are called (and this is just another example of how number-obsessed law students are), you consider yourself 'set for life'. 

Then, there are the other T's.  The Tier 1 (T), Tier 2 (TT), Tier 3 (TTT), and Teir 4 (TTTT) law schools.  As you can imagine, to the new law school applicant, this is really confusing at first.  However, in a couple days time, you'll learn it because everyone is talking about it. 

What are the difference between law school tier rankings?

First, the Tier 1 is the top 50 law schools.  The top 14, 10, 6, 3, 2, 1, etc. are in this list, but are considered in a league of their own by many.  The tier 1 schools are considered by many to be quasi-elite (the top 14, etc. are considered by many to be elite, even though that may be changing as job prospects are turning out to be not as AMAZING as the students that go to these schools are realizing).   Schools like the mighty Cardozo, University of Washington, UC Berkeley, Boston University, Boston College, UC Hastings, Michigan, etc. are on this list.  Everyone coming out of here makes $160,000!  Right?  Right?

Second comes the Tier 2 (TT) schools.  These are the schools ranked 51 to 100.  Such schools include St. John's, Brooklyn Law School, University of San Francisco, Seattle University, Lewis & Clark, University of Oregon, among others.  Such schools are seen as quasi-quasi-elite (law students always like to put the word 'elite' into everything, as you will notice).  These are schools that are considered to be 'up and coming' or 'gaining speed' by their deans.  These are the schools that you can still get a fine legal education (whatever that means to you) and not have to feel (too) dirty inside.

Third is the third tier (TTT) schools.  Schools like the infamous Drake University, Gonzaga (what's a Gonzaga anyway?) New York Law School, CUNY Law, and a host of others line this classification like the plaque lines your teeth.  Basically it's schools that fall out of the top 100 to 150ish (even though they are not ranked in order by US News).  As you will be realizing, there are a TON of law schools out there, each pumping out hundreds of graduates every year.  Third tier schools are generally considered (or touted) to be quasi-quasi-quasi elite. 

Next and last is the quasi-quasi-quasi-quasi elite fourth tier schools -- Cooley, Florida Coastal, Western New England, Golden Gate University, etc.  Although they are in the bottom of the barrel of accredited law schools, they are still somewhat elite to their students because they seen as better than unaccredited law schools, they cost a lot (and if something costs a lot it MUST be good, right?), and they are law schools, and just being in law school makes you a wonderful human being!  Oh, and these schools are the ones in your e-mail and in your mailbox trying to get you in with fancy pamphlets and smiling faces of intelligent and sexy looking students who are making big money.  Who would not want to go?

"Give yourself a pat on the back, you're law students now!"
-Obligatory speech fodder at a convocation/welcome ceremony for lower ranked law schools.

The Law School Transfer Game

If you did not land in the top school (Yale), there's always the idea of transferring.  You see, law students want to be the very best (like no one ever was), and the hundreds of thousands of students are all vying to be the top student of their graduation year at Yale.  That's the game (with a couple of exceptions).  The game of transferring up the ladder has been introduced, and law schools LOVE it!  Why?  All those scholarships that they give away do not go to transfer students.  That means a student that climbs up from Phoenix School of Law to Touro or makes that arduous climb from Florida Coastal to New England Law: Boston will give up any scholarship money they had AND have to pay full price at the new school.  The schools see this is a great way to make an extra bit of cash.  And thousands of law students want to transfer.  Many will give up scholarships at a school ranked 150-200 to go to a school ranked 97th.  It's a climb up the elite ladder.  Why would you not want to transfer from Cardozo to Fordham, or from Western New England to Seton Hall? 

Rutgers to Brooklyn?  Beam me up scotty!

After Law School

After you are done with law school, you will be vying for jobs.  This is the reason you went in the first place (unless daddy has his own firm, momma's a judge, or you are dying to hang up a shingle).  Many will want to get the highest ranked clerkships.  Going into the working world, many now realize that the firms have their very own pecking order and are ranked just like law schools!  In fact, everything is ranked.  Associates, Partner, Of Counsel, Big Kahuna.  These are terms you will see in the firm.  The numbers game never ends.  Bill so many hours.  Get so many clients.  Where did you work before here?  Can you have that intern scrub the door nobs before he leaves? 

My goal:  to work at a quasi-quasi-quasi-quasi-quasi elite firm.  That is, get a real life legal job!

Law School Class Rank | Transferring Law Schools

I recently received the following e-mail:

PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL

Dear Upper Class Students,

                Class ranks are recalculated at the end of each fall and spring semester.  This cannot be done until all grades have been submitted by the faculty.  At present, three class rosters of grades have not yet been submitted by faculty to the Registrar.  This has been reported to the Associated Dean for Academic Affairs and  the faculty, according to faculty rules, are being fined $100 days per day per roster.  When the grades are submitted, I will re-calculate class ranks and send an email notifying you that you can find your new rank under Grade Point Average by Term in Web Advisor.  A class rank letter will also be mailed to you. 

 I could not help but grin at the thought of a law professor, who probably makes well over $120,000 a year being fined the massive sum of $100 per day!  Can you imagine?  Now, keep in mind that this letter was sent on January 14th.  As of today, February 3rd, there is still no class rank posted. 

What kind of motivation is needed then?  I do not think that the sum of $100 a day is going to do much, especially if he/she values being able to take the grading process very slowly and instead do whatever it is that law professors do.  It may be worth $100 a day to sit back and focus on other tasks, such as playing Virtual Boy, or whatever it may be.

Virtual Boy -- the greatest gaming system of all time!

In fact, this is not the first time something similar has happened to me.  During my 2nd semester, one of my professors was late in turning in exams.  Professors are often given a month's time to grade exams, and to be late on this, when people use their grades for jobs, transferring, and other professional tasks, seems irresponsible.  Professors get angry when their students do not know every little tidbit of the case, yet it's alright for them to be chronically late with exam grading?  We are not the ones being paid thousands upon thousands of dollars to teach a couple of classes using the same recycled notes from years past.  

Perhaps there are better ways to motivate a professor.  A wage reduction for chronic lateness in grading papers?  Being disbarred perhaps?  Maybe a caning like in Singapore?  Something along those lines would be more in line with the real motivation that is needed.  I say we take 'em all out back and flog 'em even if one is a second late!  That would make for a more interesting law school experience, and a better one for the students, I imagine.  A floggin' instead of playin' the ol' Virtual Boy.  It sounds like a plan!

The Importance of the Law School Class Rank

Why is the law school class rank so important?  Well, if you are lucky enough to do well it is said you have a better chance of getting a coveted "big law" job.  Further, if you are in a lower tier school, such as a third tier school, you can often transfer to a better school.  That being said, transferring law schools comes with its price.  You lose your scholarships.  You must weigh the costs and benefits of changing law schools.  Is it worth having the name of your school on your JD and looking for a job under that school's pedigree, or would you rather have a more refined name on your diploma?  For some, having a better school named on that piece of paper is very important.  Others care mostly about the debt they will carry.  Ultimately the choice is yours.

I would like to say that oftentimes the transfer doesn't really have a much better chance of getting a big law job.  For example, take a student who transferred from Golden Gate University in San Francisco to Seattle University in Seattle, WA.  Golden Gate University is a very low ranked school (fourth tier I believe).  Seattle University is a second tier school and is said to be regional in its reach.  If you are planning on practicing law in San Francisco or even California, you may want to stick with a school like Golden Gate University School of Law. 

Golden Gate University, entrenched in the fourth tier

However, if you are hellbent on practicing law in Seattle and you abhor the idea of having a fourth tier school being your alma matter, then you may want to transfer.  Again, you will probably (read 99% chance -- maybe more) lose your scholarships.  Further, if you did well at the lower ranked school, you may want to stay. 

You will want to weigh where you want to practice in your analysis.  In the above example, if you want to practice law in Seattle, you may want to make the transfer.  A Golden Gate University Graduate may not have a good chance of practicing law in Seattle.  Seattle is a very hard market to practice in I have been told, and students from schools in Washington such as Seattle University and Gonzaga University are having a hard time competing with students from University of Washington School of Law.

University of Washington School of Law

That being said, if you are going to Golden Gate University, you are competing against UC Hastings, University of San Francisco (now in the third tier), and Stanford.  Oh, did I forget UC Berkeley?  You're also competing with UCLA and some of Southern California's great schools.  Oh, and throw in Harvard and Yale, and even Columbia and the other big boys.  So, you are realizing that maybe this whole law school thing wasn't worth it.  I know I sometimes do.  So, do you want to transfer or do you want to cut your losses? 

In the end, I find that the whole law school thing is mind bogging and just plain upsetting.  Do you want to play a game in which you constantly trying to climb to the top.  If you are going to a low ranked school, you have to realize you are at the bottom of the pack, and to climb up from the fourth tier to the tip top and be lucky enough to get a job is not a small feat.  In fact, it's next to impossible.  And if you have the drive to do that, why did you not get into the top schools in the first place? 

Of course, I don't want to depress you, but it is something to think about.  If you are still a 1L and are thinking of transferring, ask yourself if there is anything you would rather do, and if that something is something you can do now, why not put the law school thing aside for a while?  It will always be there when you feel the need to come back.  However, the reality is, there may not be a want to come back once you find that you are truly passionate about something else.  Further, law school is not Perry Mason or Judge Joe Mathis.  In fact, Law School is a headache. 

Either way, think about it long and carefully.  And let me know what you think in the comments below.