West Virginia Big law Forum

[trebekismyhero]

Don't go to law school.

Don't go. 99.99% chance you do not get what you want

[BigZuck]

Really, really disappointed in you guys for playing along with this guy for so long and answering his questions in good faith.

Not mad, but definitely disappointed.

[BlendedUnicorn]

whatever. i told my friend this forum was useless anyways. bye.

I'm not going to enforce this with a perma because I want you to come back in 3 years and tell us if we were right or not.

(I realize that I didn't give advice ITT but just assume I cosign the hive mind here)

[HenryHankPalmer]

West Virginia has BigLaw?

[chargers21]

some female students are just there to find a husband.

what?

now this is using "female" in a derogatory manner

[PeanutsNJam]

whatever. i told my friend this forum was useless anyways. bye.

You're not wrong. There's no way in hell this forum could help you get a high paying legal job from west virginia or ole miss.

[HillandHollow]

I'm actually in West Virginia, so if anyone came here looking for information about this place, feel free to ask.

For the general record: basically the entire WV bar is composed of WVU Law grads (it's the only law school in the state), and most of those people are lifelong West Virginians. Very few people go to law school here and then go out of state, to a law job of any type. This is partially because this is not a highly ranked law school (~90-100 I think), but also because not a lot of the students here have any desire to leave the state. The weird thing about this is that out of state law schools (even T14) have *way* less pull here than they would anywhere else.

As for in-state legal jobs, there are a few firms that pay decent money (for WV). Steptoe, Jackson Kelly, Dinsmore, and Bowles Rice have been mentioned to me, but it is also difficult to find out what exactly they actually pay. As far as I know, no one in the state pays $180k. I doubt anyone pays above $115k for a first year, but it wouldn't shock me, either.

[BlendedUnicorn]

I feel like anything north of $100k would be great money for west virginia though. It's finding one of those jobs that I'd be concerned about.

[chargers21]

I feel like anything north of $100k would be great money for west virginia though. It's finding one of those jobs that I'd be concerned about.

I think my state has a more robust legal market than WV, and starting pay at the big 4 firms here is 105k. I'd wager WV is similar, and if you can manage to grab one of the limited associate positions available each year, it is great money for these kinds of states. But they generally only take from the top 10% from the local TTTs, so most people at those types of schools have no real shot at that kind of employment. Don't go to WV planning on this type of pay, but be happy if you are lucky enough to get it I suppose. So after all of my rambling, I agree with your post

[Rowinguy2009]

I was at one of the above firms for a couple years. As of two years ago, starting pay at most of them was in the 70's, except for Dinsmore which was in the low 80s (and which also, I think, had a 2k billable hour requirement, as opposed to the others which were between 1800 and 1900).

I really doubt the salaries have increased much over the past year or two given the struggles of the state as a whole.

Some of these firms tended to have solid benefits, with things like 401k match though. Once upon a time starting as an associate at these firms gave a fantastic chance at making partner, but these days it seems like a lot of them really expect you to have a legit book of business before that will happen, which can be hard for young people (again, WV is really struggling right now).

Edited to add -- no question that WVU law is, by far, the biggest feeder for these firms and all employers in the state. But if you have WV ties and went to a T25 or whatever you will be a very competitive applicant for most jobs.

[HillandHollow]

I was at one of the above firms for a couple years. As of two years ago, starting pay at most of them was in the 70's, except for Dinsmore which was in the low 80s (and which also, I think, had a 2k billable hour requirement, as opposed to the others which were between 1800 and 1900).

I really doubt the salaries have increased much over the past year or two given the struggles of the state as a whole.

Some of these firms tended to have solid benefits, with things like 401k match though. Once upon a time starting as an associate at these firms gave a fantastic chance at making partner, but these days it seems like a lot of them really expect you to have a legit book of business before that will happen, which can be hard for young people (again, WV is really struggling right now).

Edited to add -- no question that WVU law is, by far, the biggest feeder for these firms and all employers in the state. But if you have WV ties and went to a T25 or whatever you will be a very competitive applicant for most jobs.

Sorry, I was unclear. I didn't mean to imply that those firms do pay $115k. I meant to say that if someone DID pay that, I would think it was the highest end option possible, but that it wouldn't sound IMpossible. I know there are a couple of WV-only lit firms that are willing to pay more than low 80s, but that they definitely do not even hire one person per year on average. Of course, they can be very picky about who they bring on.

The "big" firms here also do not hire a huge number of people per year, so people should be very realistic about their chances.

FWIW, I think you're probably correct about going to a T25 and returning (I don't really know too much about that). If you have no ties at all though, a T25 (even T14) degree is substantially less valuable than in other places.