GULC's BL Placement Forum

[usa1492]

I've heard from many that at OCI, firms prefer to hire students who are not transfers. Assuming this is true and considering that GULC's graduating classes often have 100+ transfers, how much of GULC's relatively low BL placement do you think is attributable to the transfers?

[ball is life]

There's a lot of reasons for GULC's BL placement being lower than the other T14s and one is definitely transferring. Another is Section 3 where many people do not even try for BL (along with a large PI/Gov interest in other sections). Another is that many people target DC which is the most difficult legal market in the country. Another is the part-time section where many people do not do OCI because they already have gov/capitol hill type jobs lined up. Finally, the humongous class size makes a large BL placement difficult.

Honestly if you get median and bid smart (NY and home markets, not DC) I would not be worried about BL from GULC.

[usa1492]

There's a lot of reasons for GULC's BL placement being lower than the other T14s and one is definitely transferring. Another is Section 3 where many people do not even try for BL (along with a large PI/Gov interest in other sections). Another is that many people target DC which is the most difficult legal market in the country. Another is the part-time section where many people do not do OCI because they already have gov/capitol hill type jobs lined up. Finally, the humongous class size makes a large BL placement difficult.

Honestly if you get median and bid smart (NY and home markets, not DC) I would not be worried about BL from GULC.

Interesting. I'm not going to GULC, though. I was just wondering.

[ShakeAndBake]

Just bumping, b/c I am curious if anyone has more anecdotal evidence on this.

Looking at LST reports and factoring in the transfers, PT, and PI students, it seems like a median student could be successful bidding mostly NY and not burning bids on D.C.

But, I don't really know.

[QContinuum]

Looking at this from a high level, Georgetown most recently had a BigLaw/fed clerk placement rate of 59%. That suggests that a median student (i.e., someone at the 50th percentile) should reasonably be able to land BigLaw assuming they bid wisely and hustle a bit (i.e., blanket NYC, do pre-OCI, also apply to any other markets where they have ties).

[objctnyrhnr]

Not to unnecessarily speak negatively of Georgetown as an option, but everybody considering a school ranked say 10-30 or so should remember that biglaw is currently in about as good a situation as it has ever been (I suppose this can be argued insofar as the current state of things compares to 2007ish).

Anyway, the salient point is that the current %’s are very unlikely to be the %’s when current 0Ls graduate law school. Almost all economists are predicting a recession, though they disagree as to exactly when this will occur.

If you want to play it a bit safer, you could factor 2011ish biglaw/fedclerk percentages into your decisions as to which schools to attend.

I decided to post this upon seeing the 59% biglaw/fedclerk placement out of gtown cause that just struck me as very high relative to the numbers I was working with when I was deciding between gtown and others in the 10-30 range.

[QContinuum]

Not to unnecessarily speak negatively of Georgetown as an option, but everybody considering a school ranked say 10-30 or so should remember that biglaw is currently in about as good a situation as it has ever been (I suppose this can be argued insofar as the current state of things compares to 2007ish).

Anyway, the salient point is that the current %’s are very unlikely to be the %’s when current 0Ls graduate law school. Almost all economists are predicting a recession, though they disagree as to exactly when this will occur.

If you want to play it a bit safer, you could factor 2011ish biglaw/fedclerk percentages into your decisions as to which schools to attend.

I decided to post this upon seeing the 59% biglaw/fedclerk placement out of gtown cause that just struck me as very high relative to the numbers I was working with when I was deciding between gtown and others in the 10-30 range.

This is all true and I would further add that as we saw post-2008, any BigLaw crash is likely to disproportionately hit lower-ranked schools. That primarily means the T14-20 and the stronger T1s (notably Fordham, also BU/BC/GWU), which currently place reasonably well. Of course in a crash situation all schools will be affected - Yale included - but if what happened post-2008 is any guide, the effect is going to be more severe the further down in the rankings you go.

[BrainsyK]

Not to unnecessarily speak negatively of Georgetown as an option, but everybody considering a school ranked say 10-30 or so should remember that biglaw is currently in about as good a situation as it has ever been (I suppose this can be argued insofar as the current state of things compares to 2007ish).

Anyway, the salient point is that the current %’s are very unlikely to be the %’s when current 0Ls graduate law school. Almost all economists are predicting a recession, though they disagree as to exactly when this will occur.

If you want to play it a bit safer, you could factor 2011ish biglaw/fedclerk percentages into your decisions as to which schools to attend.

I decided to post this upon seeing the 59% biglaw/fedclerk placement out of gtown cause that just struck me as very high relative to the numbers I was working with when I was deciding between gtown and others in the 10-30 range.

I agree with this mostly though I'd characterize using 2011 statistics as being more than "a bit safer." Some are saying that there will be an earnings recession and not an economic recession though the latter may be on the horizon as well. It's unlikely that the next recession will be as bad as the last. Either way, I think a shade under 50% is the safer number to go with, which would make median not safe. I'd always shave 5%-10% off the facial BL/FC number just because there will be SEO candidates with jobs lined up up starting 1L and extremely charismatic or influential below median people. Being biglaw-safe at median always been, to me, the hallmark of the "T14."

[carsondalywashere]

Not to unnecessarily speak negatively of Georgetown as an option, but everybody considering a school ranked say 10-30 or so should remember that biglaw is currently in about as good a situation as it has ever been (I suppose this can be argued insofar as the current state of things compares to 2007ish).

Anyway, the salient point is that the current %’s are very unlikely to be the %’s when current 0Ls graduate law school. Almost all economists are predicting a recession, though they disagree as to exactly when this will occur.

If you want to play it a bit safer, you could factor 2011ish biglaw/fedclerk percentages into your decisions as to which schools to attend.

I decided to post this upon seeing the 59% biglaw/fedclerk placement out of gtown cause that just struck me as very high relative to the numbers I was working with when I was deciding between gtown and others in the 10-30 range.

This. I did this even just a few years ago. The t13 has slight dips from school to school, but overall does not change substantially. Schools like Vandy, Georgetown, WashU, Fordham, etc. are hit very hard for big law/fed clerk placement during a recession.