How much is a degree from a low level law school worth? (and more ?s)

[gusmahler]

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It would be incredibly difficult to "hang a shingle" in immigration law. I agree with you on "ambulance chaser" and "traffic law."

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My Mom graduated from law school (UMKC) when she was 45 or so. She continued to work for the Veterans Administration for a while after that doing arbitration. But then opened her own immigration law practice 8 years ago or so. AFAIK she's doing fine and loves the work, even has a couple employees.

I think she's trying to do adoptions too, but mostly still does immigration. She had worked for an established immigration lawyer in KC for a while. So I think that helped some. But it's not like she took over his practice or anything.

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I know someone who life a big firm after only working there for about 1 year to hang her own shingle as an immigration attorney. I haven't talked to her in years, but last time I did, she was doing pretty well for herself.

[gusmahler]

Here's a topic that seems to be popular among my female colleagues: is there a bias against women in big firms?

All the stats show that, although females and males attend law school at roughly the same rate, there are many more male partners than female partners. Why is that?

The fact that the time for females to become elected partner happens to coincide with the prime child birthing years leads more females than males to abandon the 2000+ hours to concentrate on children. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Can that be changed?

[MrMon]

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Here's a topic that seems to be popular among my female colleagues: is there a bias against women in big firms?

All the stats show that, although females and males attend law school at roughly the same rate, there are many more male partners than female partners. Why is that?

The fact that the time for females to become elected partner happens to coincide with the prime child birthing years leads more females than males to abandon the 2000+ hours to concentrate on children. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Can that be changed?

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I'd be more than happy to answer this, but this is such a big detour from the original thread, I think we need a new thread.