Texas Law Student: I Know 1 Person Who’s Found Work

Knows Texas
Apr 13, 2009 3:16 PM CST

TWU SOL isn’t particularly well-regarded as a law school, is it?  My impression of it (from several years ago when I compared law schools) was that TWU was a bottom-tier expensive private school, with nothing much noteworthy about it.  Maybe their students are having a hard time simply because it is not the preferred school in the area.  Now that there is more competition for jobs, employers can get a University of Texas grad or a University of Houston grad (both top tier schools) for the same salary, so why settle for TWU?  And then there’s South Texas College of Law which has a great trial advocacy program—if you’re looking for a litigator, STCL grads can work cheaper (because the school is darned near free, they’ll have less loans) and the STCL grad will eat a TWU grad’s lunch any day of the week.
Hopefully it’s not that bad all over.  But I feel sorry for any poor schmoe who borrowed money to go to TWU.

Flag this comment

Knows Texas
Apr 14, 2009 6:48 AM CST

No doubt, there are “worthy candidates” from schools of all tiers.  I bet there are a few TWU grads (likely the ones who attended on scholarships because they were exceptionally well qualified and could likely have gotten into any school) who won’t have much trouble landing a job.  But now that times are tough and competition is rigorous, there won’t be jobs for everyone; employers will have to prioritize who they want to give a chance to.  A top school is something that employers may consider—just one of many factors, no doubt. 

And I almost hate to bring up something so basic, but spelling and grammar count a great deal, too.  Employers want a lawyer who can produce a letter or pleading or email (and maybe even a blog post?) that won’t embarass the firm.

One thing that really does concern me is that TWU is measuring its graduates’ employment as anyone who is working, whether in a legal and nonlegal job.  I wonder what percentage are working as lawyers nine months after graduation?  I’d like to see stats like that on all schools.

Flag this comment

Stone
Apr 14, 2009 12:53 PM CST

We had professors pleading with us to answer the survey, and explaining to us that “mowing your parent’s lawn would count as being employed for this survey.”

The reality is <50% of grads 07 - present have actual legal work, much less full time work with benefits. If you don’t think so, ask somebody.

Flag this comment

dude
Apr 14, 2009 8:44 PM CST

Stone is right…I never filled out my survey…I graduated summer 08 and the majority of my classmates don’t have jobs- even the merit scholars and the ones in the top 10%!! 

At a T-4 school, unless you graduate #1-and I am not talking #2, 3, 4, etc.- unless you grad #1, you better have something else to go along with your law degree to be competitive.  Also, if you graduate from a t-4 school, your law degree is USUALLY worth less if you go outside of the state where you went to school b/c no one knows your school- seriously.  The only exceptions to that rule are if you have family in the new state or it is a graduate from your law school that is doing the hiring or you busted your butt and went to that state every summer and worked in a firm and they know you and your work….other than that, you’ll have a hard time getting a job.

and before you call me a T-1 snob, I grad from a T-3 school.

Flag this comment

Knows Texas?
Apr 18, 2009 3:48 PM CST

Knows Texas, are you SERIOUS with your comments about South Texas being darned near free? You need to recheck your sources on that, because it’s waaaaay off.

Flag this comment

CSO rep
Apr 21, 2009 3:21 PM CST

Yes, non-legal jobs count as being employed for purposes of the NALP survey.  However, there are additional places on the survey to indicate what type of employment it is - legal, J.D.-preferred, professional other, or non-professional other, and those categories are divided further.  NALP provides these break-downs in the full survey reports. 

Having students fill out the surveys, whether they’re employed in legal jobs or not, is important to us because it lets us as schools know what sort of work our graduates are getting.  And I cannot answer for any other school, but I have worked in Career Services for four years, and we have never thrown out any surveys and have actively sought to determine the employment status of every alum in the surveyed class, even when we suspect the alum is unemployed or does not have a legal job.  Those are actually the alums we most want to know about, because we would like to reach out to them and help them with their job searches.

Flag this comment