Cost of living.

stacy
Mon, 26 Mar 2007 14:43:04 +0000

one thing to consider is that your loans will be the same whether you go to NYC after law school or to a place like Houston (whose cost of living is about half of NYC’s). However, with NYC’s top firms paying $160,000 and Houston’s top firms paying $115,000-$140,000 for first year associates, you’re probably still better off in sheer cost-of-living terms in a less expensive market.

Another issue is that some cities have regional specialties. For example, Houston’s probably better for oil & gas, Milwaukee has some firms with ethanol practices, there’s lots of IP work in the Bay Area, I bet Hartford has a lot of insurance lawyers, and Boston probably has a bunch of attorneys doing higher education law. So if you have an interest in a somewhat esoteric field, it’s not as simple as “where should I practice if I want the most money,” but “where can I practice?,” or at least “where can I practice and work on the most interesting/high-profile cases?”