Good advice but I'd quibble with a few points. #2 should be based on actual knowledge of what lawyers, that work in jobs similar to the one you are likely to e

Good advice but I'd quibble with a few points. #2 should be based on actual knowledge of what lawyers, that work in jobs similar to the one you are likely to end up in, do. Your colleague that's sold his last start-up for eight figures has a lawyer spouse that works at a small not-profit for 35 hours a week working on issues of internet freedom. That's not a relevant data point for you unless you too have such a spouse. More explicitly, if you fall into category #3 (outside the HT) you should know what BigLaw is like and want to do that. Because that's where you are going to go if you want to pay off that debt. Speaking of category #3 T14, which always manages to be 16-17 schools, it is a too broad in my opinion. Yale is in a class by itself and opens doors that are difficult or impossible to open otherwise. Harvard Law has the most generous loan forgiveness program I've ever seen. To be honest I don't know much about Stanford Law, but that's usually included in the Holy Trinity. Beyond that, if you get no money, you really should consider the schools on an individual basis based on where you want to practice and what you want to do. Many should really be put into the #4 (scholarship) or #5 (regional powerhouse) rule. Regarding #4, a full ride only covers around 2/3rds of the financial cost and none of the opportunity costs. I'd restrict this category quite dramatically (though keeping in mind #5) to maybe 30 or 40 schools including the t-14, and exclude schools that have several higher ranked competitors in the same city (sorry Fordham). Finally, I'd add one more category -- people with a fair amount of experience in a particular industry that know exactly how a law degree will help them advance in that industry and can easily slot back in. Some people I went to law school with that would qualify along those lines were real estate developers and talent agents.