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Abstract:
This article, based on the first wave of the After the J.D. data, explores the history of urban law schools and asks whether they play the same role today as in the past. In particular, it asks whether the urban, Catholic, and independent categories of law schools located in major urban centers play a distinctive role today or whether law school ratings are more important in allocating students to particular schools and determining what role they will play in the legal profession. The analysis shows some continuities but also some interesting changes - for example, in terms of where immigrants are likely to attend law school and also the current significance of the social networking and location of urban schools today.

law schools, lawyers, law students

Abstract:
On the basis of qualitative interviews as part of the After the J.D. Project, the paper explores the attrition of associates in corporate law firms. One aspect of the paper explores the continuing high attrition among women and minorities and how that is produced. The other aspect focuses on the more general reluctance of associates generally, and especially those from elite schools, to imagine the law firm apprenticeship as anything more than a stage they are expected to go through on their way to something else. The few who stay to battle for partnership are those who are best able to - or hungriest and therefore most willing - to put in the time and those who get support at home and work for the extraordinary effort that it takes.

legal profession, corporate law firms, legal careers