Do not attend a non top 14 law school in this economy

[flowerhead]

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you will likely not get to start your job the autumn after you graduate from law school in the spring and take the bar exam in the autumn. Instead, at most of these top law firms, you will now have to wait at least one to two years (yes, I said years) before they will allow you in the door to start making that salary.

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<p>This point is less relevant to prospective law students, and the classes of 2011 and 2011, than it is to current 3Ls and students who just graduated. Part of the reduced hiring we saw at this year’s EIW was not just the result of firm’s trimming back, at least we hope; another reason is that they truly want to provide offers to everyone, and to let everyone start on time. Weil Gotshal is going to have a significantly smaller class this summer, but I’ve heard that this intention is based on their wanting the class of 2011 to be at the firm in the fall of their graduation year.</p>

<p>My firm’s summer class will be significantly smaller as well (and, amazingly, none of our associates have been deferred yet); again, firm’s are really playing it safe in this recession. While this might seem self-aggrandizing, I truly belief that the class of 2011 who managed to get BigLaw jobs are truly elite in comparison to their brethren from previous years.</p>