Yale Law School Brand - Jed Rubenfeld, Amy Chua, Matteo Godi and Now JD Vance
Unlike Harvard Law School which admits for the IL class over 500 annually, Yale Law School is small. Only about 200 make it in as a first-year. That fosters a fascination with the small intimate setting that has launched SCOTUS Justices ranging from Samuel Alito to Sonia Sotomayor and former US President Bill Clinton. Often it has been ranked #1 among law schools. On the fun side, alumnus David Lat invented digital legal tabloid Abovethelaw.com.
UNWELCOME ATTENTION
But the brand has received unwelcome attention.
Once described as "gods who traveled the corridors of Yale Law School" married professors Jed Rubenfeld and Amy Chua have fallen from grace. Media outlets such as New York Magazine and Newser, as well as my own articles like this one in O'Dwyer's Public Relations, chronicle that downfall.
JED RUBENFELD AND AMY CHUA
Rubenfeld had been suspended without pay from teaching for two years after an investigation about alleged sexual misconduct. Also investigated had been Chua about alleged abuse of power in clerkships and excessive drinking with students. When Yale Law School limited her interaction with students, her pushback created a negative public relations frenzy. Obviously she didn't understand how journalists operate. Isn't that a necessary skill for all players?
MATTEO GODI
More recently in 2022, Politico unmasked Yale Law School graduate Matteo Godi, an associate at Paul, Weiss, as a hacker of Wikipedia. A former clerk of then-Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson he created narratives on an anonymous basis that repositioned his former boss and her contenders for the US Supreme Court open seat in terms of their liberalism. Jackson's other clerks fingered Godi. Does that say anything about the quality of his professional relationships?
What some of us wondered at the time was this: Had anyone in the Jackson loop "put Godi up to that?" However, it was not an issue at the televised confirmation hearing. Jackson had been approved. Currently she is penning liberal dissents to conservative rulings. But, as in the Beatles' song, she may be, like Father McKenzie, writing sermons the words of which no one will hear.
JD VANCE
Now, Yale School Law graduate JD Vance is being vilified for his extreme views. He could be motivated to "Do a Biden" and step down from the number-2 place on the Donald Trump ticket. Is anyone correlating Vance's policy views with his training and socialization in law school? How did he develop his mode of thinking?
What makes the negative Vance story more juicy and sensational is that he has been betrayed to The New York Times by former law school classmate and one-time close friend Sofia Nelson. Now transgendered, Nelson shared with the Times 90 emails and texts from between 2014 and 2017. We might muse: What about Vance could set in play a long-term friend turning against him in such a fierce manner?
LIFE
Does any of this bruise the Yale School brand?
JEFF SKILLING
We recall when it was a headliner that off-to-prison former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling had gradated from Harvard Business School. At that time earning the MBA from a top program such as Harvard Business School's was the ticket. The brand didn't really take a hit. That was then.
What is delivering a ding or worse is the decline in demand for the MBA even from elite schools. In 2023, only 86% of Harvard Business School graduates had received offers. Overall, some contend the Harvard University mystique per se is "over."
LAW OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND IN LEGAL SECTOR, WITH HEAPING SIDE DISH OF PRESTIGE
On the other hand, potentially the JD from a top program like Yale's can deliver high compensation and status. In general the market has recovered from the global financial meltdown and the pandemic.
In Big Law entry-level jobs for new graduates pay $225k annually, plus possible bonus. Although it is well known that many will not make equity partner there is a shot at nonequity partner in large law firms ranging from Kirkland & Ellis to Paul, Weiss. You're still in the money and your professional identity is still as a lawyer in a prestigious law firm. Of course the latter makes for an excellent exit platform.
The Yale brand is intact. Scandals often provide mere entertainment.
In coaching I warn clients not to enjoy scandals too much. Look at where the opportunity could be amid the temporary chaos.
Full Disclosure: Yale Law School turned me down. Harvard Law School admitted me.
UPDATE:
The demand situation for newly minted JDs, just as for new MBAs, has already begun to darken some. 2023 might have been the last year the good times rolled. Reuters Legal reports:
"New law school graduates crushed the entry-level job market in 2023, posting record high employment rates and salaries, according to just-published data from the National Association for Law Placement. But subsequent classes are unlikely to repeat those strong numbers .... The red-hot market for lawyer talent in 2022 and early 2023 has already cooled ..."
For example law firms made 19% fewer full-time job offers to summers. Will that influence the perception of the Yale Law School brand in the next several years? There is usually a lag between what is developing and the actions people take.
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