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OT: UM Law School

Went to law school and have been practicing for almost a decade. Didn’t go to UM but I considered it along with FSU, UF and FIU. I ended up at FSU and frankly UM was at the bottom of the list due to costs. In retrospect UF May have been a better choice to get my career off but I wanted to be a trial lawyer and probably would have ended up with the same job I started my career at.

I’ve worked at a big firm in Miami and there was a lot of Miami grads there. They were all top of the class and were Good attorneys. I got a CLI from UM right now and he’s good too. But I can tell you the best trial attorney I’ve ever worked with went to St Thomas and the worst one was from Cornell so your school won’t set your career. That’s on the work you do afterwards. I think my career success was based more on the work I did. I don’t even know if my current firm ever looked where I went to law school.

Also if your going to school and banking on being in the top 10-20 percent, then your doing it wrong. Law school grading is very subjective and everyone your in school with is just as smart as you. Overall I think UM is way too expensive for essentially being a good regional school. If you hit the jackpot and make the top 10 percent than you can probably walk into any big name firm on Brickell but there’s a 90 percent chance that won’t be you. They also place well in the government positions in Dade County (PDs, SAO, City attorneys, etc). Your more likely to end up there than a big firm and all of those are excellent places to start a career.

I think you need to ask yourself what you want to do in the legal profession. If you want the big law gig, retake the LSAT and hope for a T14 score. That’s the surest way to get one. Otherwise your kind of rolling the dice. That holds true for UF, FSU and UM. If not biglaw, then ask yourself where you want practice and look who places well there. In South Florida, UM is fine albeit expensive. If you want Florida outside of Miami, UF and FSU are good. Stetson won’t hurt you in Tampa either. If you want Atlanta, UGA and Emory are great. So is Alabama actually. Just plan it out and take your time.
 
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wspcane said:
For the record, this is on the school. I told them repeatedly to have law school students interested in tax or to reach out. Had the ability to pick interview candidates. The school sat on its thumbs and did nothing. They do a terrible job of maintaining an alumni database, engaging alums, reaching out. It is SO easy now with LinkedIn and they do absolutely nothing.

I generally agree with your point but both Emory and GT are much better schools than Miami. Unfortunately even the state schools that we love to mock (Alabama, Georgia, Auburn, Tennessee, etc) have massive alumni networks in Atlanta and other hub cities that really help in recruiting. And those schools do an excellent job of engaging those networks, unlike Miami.
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I’ve considered returning to Miami to start a business but Miami doesn’t have access to the kinds of graduates other regions have. It annoys me that Miami hasn’t figured out how to improve on the academic side. Look at usc, they hired a great president a while back and dramatically improved the schools reputation. I’m not saying Miami can make it into the top 25 but can’t figure out how it can’t manage to be #1 in the state and maybe top ten in the south. Bot is to blame. We can’t hire a great president. We can’t hire a great AD. We can’t hire a great coach. How can Miami be great???
 
wspcane said:
For the record, this is on the school. I told them repeatedly to have law school students interested in tax or to reach out. Had the ability to pick interview candidates. The school sat on its thumbs and did nothing. They do a terrible job of maintaining an alumni database, engaging alums, reaching out. It is SO easy now with LinkedIn and they do absolutely nothing.

I generally agree with your point but both Emory and GT are much better schools than Miami. Unfortunately even the state schools that we love to mock (Alabama, Georgia, Auburn, Tennessee, etc) have massive alumni networks in Atlanta and other hub cities that really help in recruiting. And those schools do an excellent job of engaging those networks, unlike Miami.
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GT and Emory aren’t elite but much better than UM. I really feel like Miami could do much better but ****** bot and admin hold the school back. I’m sure they are all sitting around saying things like @it just opens the door for your first job” and @i know random dude x who did well so we are good enough”. It’s the same apathetic mindset we see in athletics. It is a disease that permeates the school. Then they charge you and arm and a leg on tuition.
 
Alexdw85 said:
Went to law school and have been practicing for almost a decade. Didn’t go to UM but I considered it along with FSU, UF and FIU. I ended up at FSU and frankly UM was at the bottom of the list due to costs. In retrospect UF May have been a better choice to get my career off but I wanted to be a trial lawyer and probably would have ended up with the same job I started my career at.

I’ve worked at a big firm in Miami and there was a lot of Miami grads there. They were all top of the class and were Good attorneys. I got a CLI from UM right now and he’s good too. But I can tell you the best trial attorney I’ve ever worked with went to St Thomas and the worst one was from Cornell so your school won’t set your career. That’s on the work you do afterwards. I think my career success was based more on the work I did. I don’t even know if my current firm ever looked where I went to law school.

Also if your going to school and banking on being in the top 10-20 percent, then your doing it wrong. Law school grading is very subjective and everyone your in school with is just as smart as you. Overall I think UM is way too expensive for essentially being a good regional school. If you hit the jackpot and make the top 10 percent than you can probably walk into any big name firm on Brickell but there’s a 90 percent chance that won’t be you. They also place well in the government positions in Dade County (PDs, SAO, City attorneys, etc). Your more likely to end up there than a big firm and all of those are excellent places to start a career.

I think you need to ask yourself what you want to do in the legal profession. If you want the big law gig, retake the LSAT and hope for a T14 score. That’s the surest way to get one. Otherwise your kind of rolling the dice. That holds true for UF, FSU and UM. If not biglaw, then ask yourself where you want practice and look who places well there. In South Florida, UM is fine albeit expensive. If you want Florida outside of Miami, UF and FSU are good. Stetson won’t hurt you in Tampa either. If you want Atlanta, UGA and Emory are great. So is Alabama actually. Just plan it out and take your time.
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Was the best trial attorney you worked from St. Thomas named Jose Baez? That guy is a beast.
 
TacoCane said:
Also depends on what kind of law you want to do. Litigation especially personal injury and things of that nature, yeah it doesn't really matter much. But if you want to do large scale class action suits, products liability, or ANY kind of corporate work then the school absolutely matters. Personally, I'm trying to finesse my way into a GC position at a private equity shop or big company up here in NYC and these snobby Wall Street ***** won't give you the time of day if you don't have the resume.

But I agree school has absolutely ZERO impact on how good a lawyer is going to be. I was constantly baffled as to how some of my classmates made it in to law school at all, zero practical skills.
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They care more about your experience than your school, but certainly it doesn’t hurt to have an Ivy League school on your résumé for PE work. Do you have PE experience? If not, I’d suggest trying to be a ‘40 Act attorney to get your foot in the door at an RIA then segue into PE. Lots more opportunities for that. PE is probably the hardest area of finance to break into. One of my close friends is an MD at Blackstone and couldn’t even get me an interview there, despite work experience at large investment management firms. Why? I didn’t have tangible PE experience. It was a deal breaker.
 
Poptimus said:
They care more about your experience than your school, but certainly it doesn’t hurt to have an Ivy League school on your résumé for PE work. Do you have PE experience? If not, I’d suggest trying to be a ‘40 Act attorney to get your foot in the door at an RIA then segue into PE. Lots more opportunities for that. PE is probably the hardest area of finance to break into. One of my close friends is an MD at Blackstone and couldn’t even get me an interview there, despite work experience at large investment management firms. Why? I didn’t have tangible PE experience. It was a deal breaker.
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The firm that I work at is a huge legal player in the PE field, I work almost exclusively on PE deals now, even when I do specialist work it's usually an ancillary part of a PE transaction. A lot of our exit options are PE based as the firm does a great job at placing associates in house with clients. I just started out, so it's something I'll explore more when I'm a fifth or sixth year associate.
 
Wait and ask that question after this Diaz upheaval has settled down. A relative of mine was the former attorney general of FL. Cost is the main thing at the U compared to UF. Many of the lawyers that come from Nova and St. Thomas are not of the quality compared the UM and UF especially in real tough legal areas.
 
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If anyone on here is trying to argue the work you do after law school doesn’t matter then you can safely dismiss their “advice”. Only an imbecile would argue that.
 
wspcane said:
Disagree 100%. If your goal is big law or federal clerkship, then yes, though it also depends on what the highest ranked school is. If your goal is criminal law, a solo shop, or most public interest type of work, then it is a combination of going to school where you want to practice and how little debt you will leave with. I know plenty of people that went to Nova with a big scholarship, got jobs at good firms, and paid off their debt much quicker than UM students with the same career trajectory.
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I agree with this except on the clerkship part. Speaking as an FIU Law grad here with a Federal District Court clerkship under his belt. FIU Law has a strong reputation among the local district court judges and even some of the 11th circuit judges (in particular Jordan, Rosenbaum, and Lagoa). But if you are outside the top 10 in your class, it's not happening.

If you want a federal clerkship outside the middle or southern district (or the above listed judges in the 11th) FIU isn't going to cut it. But then again, UM Law isn't raking those in either. It's T14 or bust for non-local placements in major cities.

Bar passage rate also suggests FIU is a great value. From a career placement point of view, some firms straight up seem to avoid FIU law alumni, like Akerman, but that's changing with exposure. I'm a partner at a 200+ attorney firm and I do OCI at FIU the last 3 years or so.

Assuming you are the one paying for it and UM Law isn't offering you at least a 50% scholarship, I'd say save yourself about $35k per year in tuition. Barring some catastrophe, my student loans will be completely paid off in the next 12 months. My contemporaries that went to private law schools (including UM Law) can't say that.
 
MaximoCane said:
I’ve considered returning to Miami to start a business but Miami doesn’t have access to the kinds of graduates other regions have. It annoys me that Miami hasn’t figured out how to improve on the academic side. Look at usc, they hired a great president a while back and dramatically improved the schools reputation. I’m not saying Miami can make it into the top 25 but can’t figure out how it can’t manage to be #1 in the state and maybe top ten in the south. Bot is to blame. We can’t hire a great president. We can’t hire a great AD. We can’t hire a great coach. How can Miami be great???
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USC Endowment: 5.13 billion
UM Endowment: 948 million

End of story.
 
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tcgrad1014 said:
USC Endowment: 5.13 billion
UM Endowment: 948 million

End of story.
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No doubt that usc has a ton of money. But about 20 years ago they made a push under a new president to become an elite academic institution. Not sure if the money came first or came after. Point is they hired a legit president with a vision and Miami hires a clown like frenk. I wouldn’t pay my for my kids to go to Miami at this point. School is a mess.
 
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