Where You Went To School Does Matter in Solo Practice…As Does Everything Else
I love the blog The Practice, written by three practicing solos, Jon Stein, Shane Jimison and Barry Kaufman. And generally, I generally agree with most of the advice that the trifecta dispenses. But I part company with Jon’s recent post that the value of a top law school is overrated for those who want to be solos. Jon points out that most clients never ask lawyers where they went to school, which is true enough, but it’s only one side of the equation. The reason that I feel compelled to devote a post to respond to Jon is that his view, which I believe is shared by most in the “how-to-start-a-practice” field, is not just inaccurate, but is probably one of the greatest deterrents to biglaw associates and top law grads who are thinking about starting a law firm.
Lest you all attack me for being a “school snob,” let me start with the caveat that I believe that solo practice is one of the greatest equalizers in out otherwise strategied legal profession. A last place graduate from the lowest ranked law school in the country can succeed just as big in solo practice as a top grad from from an Ivy League law school. And in fact, I am certain that there are dozens of examples of lawyers from lower tiered schools with successful solo or small firm practices who out-earn their upper tiered peers ten times over.
At the same time, the fact that lower tiered graduates are successful in solo practice doesn’t mean that a degree from a top law school (which I’m going to define as Top 25 or First Tier) doesn’t matter. Here are some reasons why a degree from a great law school can provide you a ticket to success in small firm practice.
1. A degree from a top school gives other lawyers, particularly biglaw attorneys, comfort in using your service.
Biglaw attorneys have a need for legal services like anyone else. Large firm attorneys may need to hire a lawyer to handle a personal matter for them or for law firm staff. Large firm attorneys might also need to refer matters that are too small for the firm to handle or outside of its expertise. Finally, from time to time, large or mid-sized firms need lawyers to provide work on a contract basis.
Large firm attorneys must look to solo and small firm attorneys to meet these needs. At the same time, our legal profession has grown so stratified that most larger firm attorneys have never met a solo and don’t think very highly of them. So if you’re a solo with a pedigree of a great law school (and concommitantly, perhaps a great clerkship or previous biglaw job) you’ll fit within the large firm’s comfort zone – and the firm will have more confidence in sending the work your way.
I know this from my own personal experience. I graduated from Cornell Law School, which has consistently ranked in the top 15, though because of the Ivy League affiliation, it carries an even more impressive reputation than its ranking reflects. Though I was a middling law student (I’m a far, far better attorney) and had almost no hands-on experience when I started my firm, my Cornell degree helped generate a substantial amount of lucrative contract work in the early years of my practice that kept my firm afloat. We can forever debate the equities of a system that perpetuates this practice, but for now, it exists – and if you have a degree from a top school, why not take advantage of it?
2. A degree from an upper ranked school is a show stopper. Even now, with so much disatisfaction about biglaw, a large percentage of graduates from the top schools continue to stream into large firms, or perhaps government agencies like Department of Justice or prestitigious legal aid jobs. So when you graduate from a top law school and start a firm, you stand out. People remember you – and being remembered can help you find clients.
3. A degree from an uppper ranked school may give you a broader reach of contacts. Usually, graduates from upper ranked schools spread out to practices all over the country while those from lower tiered schools typically remain local. Thus, graduates of top schools have access to a broader range of alumni contacts which can be useful for those who hope to build a national practice.
The bottom line is that when you start a law practice, everything matters. If you were a police officer before going to law school and starting a practice, that’s going to help you build a criminal law practice. If you clerked for the head of the family law division at the local court, you’re going to have a competitive edge over a lawyer who lacks those same connections. Some might argue that law school ranking shouldn’t matter because it’s an elitist concept or one that we can’t control. But ranking does matter, just like everything else, so if you’ve got a great ranking, flaunt it. And if you’re sitting at biglaw, depressed about your plight because you spent 100k on a Harvard law degree and never spent a second in a court room, cheer up: you may not have an ounce of practical experience, but your degree and biglaw credentials will still buy you the same ticket to solo practice.
Carolyn –
Great post. I think you make some valid points about how a top law school can help your practice. My point was not that you should not go to a good law school.
There are a lot of reasons to go to the best law school you can get in to. However, I think people worry too much about ONLY getting into a top tier law school. I think students should attend the best law school that they can get into, and that they can afford.
I believe though, that if your choice is going to school or not, solely because you cannot get into a top school, you should still go to law school.
Jonathan
Carolyn –
Great post. I think you make some valid points about how a top law school can help your practice. My point was not that you should not go to a good law school.
There are a lot of reasons to go to the best law school you can get in to. However, I think people worry too much about ONLY getting into a top tier law school. I think students should attend the best law school that they can get into, and that they can afford.
I believe though, that if your choice is going to school or not, solely because you cannot get into a top school, you should still go to law school.
Jonathan
Whether pedigree matters in practicing as a solo depends on one’s area of specialty. Personal injury, employment, workmen’s compensation, social security, immigration, etc
Whether pedigree matters in practicing as a solo depends on one’s area of specialty. Personal injury, employment, workmen’s compensation, social security, immigration, etc
Yes, going to a top tier school gives you choices you might not otherwise have. But, the top tier schools are targeted by BigLaw firms and they are so good at making you believe that BigLaw is the only respectable place to go that soon all the other options come to seem moot.
Yes, going to a top tier school gives you choices you might not otherwise have. But, the top tier schools are targeted by BigLaw firms and they are so good at making you believe that BigLaw is the only respectable place to go that soon all the other options come to seem moot.
My guess — as someone just finishing up law school, and thus with only minimal real world experience (though I’ve worked in a variety of firms and clerked) — is that a show-stopping degree may be important to landing some potential clients at first, but with time your professional reputation would far outweigh any benefit from your school alone.
But even starting out it’s not so clear, and I can give you a concrete example. My wife and I are both 3Ls. I am graduating from a second tier school with extensive connections in the area, while my wife is graduating from one of the schools many people [wrongly] consider the “best.”
She certainly gets a lot of oohs and ahhs with her degree. But I have a lot more strings to pull, and my rolodex is far more useful. How will our contacts compare in 1, 2, 5 or 10 years? I don’t know. But I do know that I’m starting out with contacts just from my law 1L section spread all over the area’s legal, government and private sectors, while her contacts are clustered tightly in the New York corporate law firm market and the DC political arena.
Her contacts certainly have their uses, but pulling in clients isn’t one of them. If I hung out my shingle after a year or two of practice, I’d already have a substantial referral base. She wouldn’t, not even if she moved to NYC or DC, since all her friends would still be junior associates in large firms, far from client contact.
Not to say I really disagree, just putting in $.02.
My guess — as someone just finishing up law school, and thus with only minimal real world experience (though I’ve worked in a variety of firms and clerked) — is that a show-stopping degree may be important to landing some potential clients at first, but with time your professional reputation would far outweigh any benefit from your school alone.
But even starting out it’s not so clear, and I can give you a concrete example. My wife and I are both 3Ls. I am graduating from a second tier school with extensive connections in the area, while my wife is graduating from one of the schools many people [wrongly] consider the “best.”
She certainly gets a lot of oohs and ahhs with her degree. But I have a lot more strings to pull, and my rolodex is far more useful. How will our contacts compare in 1, 2, 5 or 10 years? I don’t know. But I do know that I’m starting out with contacts just from my law 1L section spread all over the area’s legal, government and private sectors, while her contacts are clustered tightly in the New York corporate law firm market and the DC political arena.
Her contacts certainly have their uses, but pulling in clients isn’t one of them. If I hung out my shingle after a year or two of practice, I’d already have a substantial referral base. She wouldn’t, not even if she moved to NYC or DC, since all her friends would still be junior associates in large firms, far from client contact.
Not to say I really disagree, just putting in $.02.
I went to a Top 20 law school and recently hung out my own shingle doing criminal defense, family law and personal injury work, in a big Southern city. Prior to that, I did an appellate clerkship and spent a year at an eight-lawyer firm doing product liability work representing plaintiffs.
My experiences have made me skeptical of the marketing value of my Top 20 degree. At the product liability firm where I worked, nobody much cared where I went to law school. With the criminal defendants and divorcing spouses I represent, my law school never comes up. The biglaw partners I meet around town do know that I went to the prestigious law school … but I get the feeling that the nature of my practice representing defendants “taints” me in their eyes and at least for now, I don’t expect these biglaw types to direct any business toward my firm.
Assuming I eventually can make a living in my solo practice, I would like to transition toward marketing and providing services to a more upmarket clientele in addition to helping the folks in trouble. But for now, as a fairly new attorney, all of my business comes from folks who don’t care about my lack of experience, my modest office by the jail, or my Top 20 law degree.
I went to a Top 20 law school and recently hung out my own shingle doing criminal defense, family law and personal injury work, in a big Southern city. Prior to that, I did an appellate clerkship and spent a year at an eight-lawyer firm doing product liability work representing plaintiffs.
My experiences have made me skeptical of the marketing value of my Top 20 degree. At the product liability firm where I worked, nobody much cared where I went to law school. With the criminal defendants and divorcing spouses I represent, my law school never comes up. The biglaw partners I meet around town do know that I went to the prestigious law school … but I get the feeling that the nature of my practice representing defendants “taints” me in their eyes and at least for now, I don’t expect these biglaw types to direct any business toward my firm.
Assuming I eventually can make a living in my solo practice, I would like to transition toward marketing and providing services to a more upmarket clientele in addition to helping the folks in trouble. But for now, as a fairly new attorney, all of my business comes from folks who don’t care about my lack of experience, my modest office by the jail, or my Top 20 law degree.
Carolyn-
I’d add that another advantage of top tier schools is the resources those schools have, to which their students and alumni have access. You mentioned that the higher tier schools produce alumni that practice nationwide, which gives a broader range of contacts, but the other resources provided by top tier schools also provide significant additional advantages to their alumni.
Although the ‘pedigree’ for a top tier school may not be important to clients, particularly clients in certain practice areas, that pedigree can provide a definite advantage to solos or small firm practitioners, just as it can for BigLaw attorneys.
Allison
Carolyn-
I’d add that another advantage of top tier schools is the resources those schools have, to which their students and alumni have access. You mentioned that the higher tier schools produce alumni that practice nationwide, which gives a broader range of contacts, but the other resources provided by top tier schools also provide significant additional advantages to their alumni.
Although the ‘pedigree’ for a top tier school may not be important to clients, particularly clients in certain practice areas, that pedigree can provide a definite advantage to solos or small firm practitioners, just as it can for BigLaw attorneys.
Allison
I’m also going to be hanging my shingle soon. I graduated from a correspondence school from California (I can just hear the oohs and aahs now), but at the same time I know several attorneys in California who came from bottom dwelling schools and are doing quite well for themselves. One actually teaches a bar review course. My circumstance dictated that I attend a correspondence school as I was working as a physician, but hopefully with the two in hand, I can make it work.
But in the end, I still agree with the guys above (supra) in that a great law degree from a great school is like nothing else.
I’m also going to be hanging my shingle soon. I graduated from a correspondence school from California (I can just hear the oohs and aahs now), but at the same time I know several attorneys in California who came from bottom dwelling schools and are doing quite well for themselves. One actually teaches a bar review course. My circumstance dictated that I attend a correspondence school as I was working as a physician, but hopefully with the two in hand, I can make it work.
But in the end, I still agree with the guys above (supra) in that a great law degree from a great school is like nothing else.
Carolyn,
There are those among us who are unlikely to offer work to graduates of the so-called “great” law schools. Its not that graduates of Cornell, Yale and the like are dull-witted folk, but I have known several who were simply terrible lawyers. Perhaps this is because they are off to the UK, Botswana, and Bangladesh to study the development of foreign constitutions or to enjoy an immersion experience in the activities of the Rwandan Tribunal rather than doing meaningful things with their time. Time and again I have witnessed graduates of blue collar law schools embarass graduates of the “top schools” and, for that matter, of the big law firms as well. This post is not intended to give offense. I have every confidence that you are a fine lawyer. There is no question that Cornell, Harvard, Stanford and the rest do turn out some fantastic lawyers. In general, however, it has been my personal experience (and I hasten to add that my experiences are too limited in nature to make any kind of broad generalizations) that the best lawyers are those who struggled to raise kids, work part-time, and spend money they didn’t have to obtain a legal education against all odds. Interestingly, Ross Perot once mentioned that he has also found this to be true. His employees, attorneys, etc… are exclusively graduates of state schools.
I would add that you certainly do have an advantage as a Cornell grad in that you made connections there that will be useful to you througout your life. BTW, while B-Schools are dissimilar in a million ways from law schools, it is interesting to note how few graduates of the “top” B-Schools ever attain to the top postions of Fortune 500 Corporations – virtually none! See this week’s Business week for an interesting article on this topic.
Thanks for your fine Blog. I do enjoy it and I hope you will receive my remarks in the spirit they are made. I have no doubt that you are a terrific lawyer and that Cornell is a fine school. They might do better to stick to the basics of legal practice, though. The same is true for too many 3rd and 4th Tier schools.
Carolyn,
There are those among us who are unlikely to offer work to graduates of the so-called “great” law schools. Its not that graduates of Cornell, Yale and the like are dull-witted folk, but I have known several who were simply terrible lawyers. Perhaps this is because they are off to the UK, Botswana, and Bangladesh to study the development of foreign constitutions or to enjoy an immersion experience in the activities of the Rwandan Tribunal rather than doing meaningful things with their time. Time and again I have witnessed graduates of blue collar law schools embarass graduates of the “top schools” and, for that matter, of the big law firms as well. This post is not intended to give offense. I have every confidence that you are a fine lawyer. There is no question that Cornell, Harvard, Stanford and the rest do turn out some fantastic lawyers. In general, however, it has been my personal experience (and I hasten to add that my experiences are too limited in nature to make any kind of broad generalizations) that the best lawyers are those who struggled to raise kids, work part-time, and spend money they didn’t have to obtain a legal education against all odds. Interestingly, Ross Perot once mentioned that he has also found this to be true. His employees, attorneys, etc… are exclusively graduates of state schools.
I would add that you certainly do have an advantage as a Cornell grad in that you made connections there that will be useful to you througout your life. BTW, while B-Schools are dissimilar in a million ways from law schools, it is interesting to note how few graduates of the “top” B-Schools ever attain to the top postions of Fortune 500 Corporations – virtually none! See this week’s Business week for an interesting article on this topic.
Thanks for your fine Blog. I do enjoy it and I hope you will receive my remarks in the spirit they are made. I have no doubt that you are a terrific lawyer and that Cornell is a fine school. They might do better to stick to the basics of legal practice, though. The same is true for too many 3rd and 4th Tier schools.
azn guys white girls
azn guys white girls
Cornell might be the most overrated law school out there (though come to think of it, no one thinks it’s that good).
Cornell might be the most overrated law school out there (though come to think of it, no one thinks it’s that good).
Tuesday, 6/26/07
I am a graduate of a night law school that wasn’t (and still isn’t) accredited by the holy A.B.A. I always wanted to work for myself so opened up a sole practice as soon as I passed the California bar exam (on the 1st try, I might add).
I can’t imagine working for a blue chip law firm. I’d rather drive a cab.
I made plenty of money and never had a dissatified client. Ivy League J.D.’s often have few streets smarts, though they can regale you with long-winded disserations on types of in rem jurisdiction in the D.C. Circuit.
Tuesday, 6/26/07
I am a graduate of a night law school that wasn’t (and still isn’t) accredited by the holy A.B.A. I always wanted to work for myself so opened up a sole practice as soon as I passed the California bar exam (on the 1st try, I might add).
I can’t imagine working for a blue chip law firm. I’d rather drive a cab.
I made plenty of money and never had a dissatified client. Ivy League J.D.’s often have few streets smarts, though they can regale you with long-winded disserations on types of in rem jurisdiction in the D.C. Circuit.
Forget about the name of the school printed on your diploma. Just be a lawyer.
Forget about the name of the school printed on your diploma. Just be a lawyer.
Paul:
Not everyone that went to a top law school did so without struggling (i.e. raising kids, working). I went to a top ten law school while raising three kids and working full-time. Not everyone that goes to a great undergrad and has high LSAT scores has a silver spoon in their mouth.
Paul:
Not everyone that went to a top law school did so without struggling (i.e. raising kids, working). I went to a top ten law school while raising three kids and working full-time. Not everyone that goes to a great undergrad and has high LSAT scores has a silver spoon in their mouth.