>> This is my favorite thing to do, is give students advice
on how they need to map out becoming a lawyer.
Because I'm telling -- I didn't know anything.
When I first started, I had no idea that it was important the law school you go to,
depending on the type of law you want to practice.
And this is what I tell people all the time: if you want to work at a DLA Piper
or a big law firm, you better go to a really good law school, because we won't look
at you even if you're the top of your class at any place besides, I can name maybe 10 schools.
And when I first started, I started out at University
of Louisville Law School my first year, and then by dumb luck, we were moving to Washington D.C.,
and I applied to one law school, Georgetown, as a transfer student and I got in.
And what I didn't realize at the time was the difference between going to Georgetown
and the opportunities that provides you and going to the University of Louisville.
When I can tell you there's really not a lot of difference,
in the legal education, and it's shocking.
You'll see students who'll say, "Oh, yeah.
I want to go into private practice, and I'll go the University of Alabama..."
not outside Alabama you won't.
It's fine -- and that's why you have to decide the kind of law you want to practice,
because if you want to go in to criminal law and be a prosecutor, that's fine;
if you want to stay in the state of Alabama, that's fine;
if you want to go into government work, that's fine.
But you kind of have to decide pretty early on what you want to do
and choose your law school accordingly.