So I'm a month behind. Sue me. To the induhviduals starting law school this fall, the numbers will look the same when you graduate. Trust me: they haven't budged in four years. Have fun chasing the fox.
Vault just released its list of the top 100 law firms. The methodology perfectly captures what a fucked-up industry law is.
The online survey asked attorneys to score each of the law firms on a scale of 1 to 10 based on how presTTTigious it is to work for the firm. Associates were asked to ignore any firm with which they were unfamiliar and were not allowed to rank their own firm.
Remember that in the Top 100, Vault is not assessing firms by profit, size, lifestyle, number of deals or quality of service; we are ranking the most presTTTigious law firms based on the perceptions of currently practicing lawyers at peer firms.
I'm glad survey respondents needn't trouble their fine minds with boring stuff such as quality, innovation, productivity, or, heaven forbid, results. All in on presTTTige, baby. Congratulations to the newly-annointed most presTTTigious firms. May your billing rates rise to meet your awesomeness.
There was a small gain year-over-year. Get your application in NOW!
In other news, "Paula Lorona, a former assistant director of financial aid at Arizona Summit Law School, claims that starting in May 2014, all three of InfiLaw's schools — Arizona Summit, Charlotte, and Florida Coastal — began offering $5,000 payoffs to students who were unlikely to pass the bar exam"
More, here. Meanwhile, I have this stuck in my head.
Finally, ATL issued its 2015 law school ranking, using employment outcome as the main criterion. I prefer library seats, myself. The usual suspects top the list. After that it becomes random, peppered with nonentities whose claim to fame is the local market is relatively less saturated. That's how Temple makes the cut and USC doesn't. My school did; I stopped putting it on my résumé years ago and my education has been useless both professionally and personally.
Some good news for once, and I'm not talking about employment. Looks like Charleston School of Law is going belly up. Unfortunately, this was due to its owners getting too greedy and not because the lemmings finally saw the light of day and stopped enrolling, but it's a start.
"We used to care a lot about where you went to school," Google executive Laszlo Bock said. "We found that that has no relationship with how you perform."
Laszlo said the company has shifted its hiring strategies after realizing that a person's academic background bears no relationship to job performance.
"It is a mistake, and we don't focus on that anymore," he said.
Can you believe this shit? Everyone knows that the only thing that matters, the sole currency, the sine qua non of the thriving juggernaut of a legal "profession" is presTTTige!
PresTTTige pays the bills. PresTTTige gets the girl. PresTTTige commands the respect.
In my day, classifieds ads didn't say, "No lawyers need apply." Instead, they said, "Top credentials necessary." [I'm not making this up.]
How dare this upstart tell us otherwise! Moron probably doesn't know what tier Hastings occupies, nor how many Article III clerks Indiana Tech has graduated. Probably can't even identify McCarter & English's peer firms. THOSE are the things that matter!
Don't be mislead by a lowly tech executive who couldn't get hired into S&C's mail room. Let Bob Morse lead you. Let Top-Law-Schools guide you. Let the ABA inspire you. Focus on presTTTige!
