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10 TTT All-Stars

  Bitter Staff /   June 17, 2009 /   Columns, Lawyer /   30 Comments


If you believe the legal rumor mill, and we’re not sure why you would, a degree from a so-called TTT law school is a first-class ticket to a dead-end career. But the truth is that successful lawyers can come from any of the 184 ABA-accredited law schools, even (gasp) schools that aren’t in the Top 14.

Here are just some of the many accomplished legal minds who matriculated from the not-so-hallowed halls of America’s TTTs who’ve “done good” enough to manage to land top law jobs.  Just as U.S. News does with Tier-3 and Tier-4 rankings, the following individuals are simply listed alphabetically.

Alice Moore Batchelder

Law School: University of Akron School of Law (Tier 3)
Notable Work: Judge on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals; made George W. Bush’s shortlist for the Supreme Court seat that ultimately went to Justice Alito. [USA Today]

Jeffrey Birren

Law School: Southwestern (Tier 3)
Notable Work: General Counsel, The Oakland Raiders. [Southwestern.edu]

N. Cornell Boggs III

Law School: Valparaiso University School of Law (Tier 4)
Notable Work: Chief Legal Officer and Group Vice President for Public Affairs, Coors Brewing Company.  [AllBusiness.com]

Bonnie Dumanis

Law School: Thomas Jefferson Law School (Tier 4)
Notable Work: District Attorney for San Diego County since 2003. [Sign On San Diego]

Robert H. Jackson

Law School: Albany Law School (Tier 3)
Notable Work: Supreme Court Justice; Chief Prosecutor at Nuremberg. [Wikipedia]

Bill Lockyer

Law School: McGeorge School of Law (Tier 3)
Notable Work: Former California Attorney General; current California State Treasurer.  [Treasurer.ca.gov]

Rich McKay

Law School: Stetson University College of Law (Tier 3)
Notable Work: President of the Atlanta Falcons; former GM of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when they won Super Bowl XXXVII. [Wikipedia]

Dwight D. Opperman

Law School: Drake University Law School (Tier 3)
Notable Work: Former CEO of West Publishing; oversaw the creation of the WestLaw database; sold West to Thompson Reuters for $3.4 billion.  [Forbes]

Thomas J. Ryan

Law School: Suffolk Law School (Tier 4)
Notable Work: General Counsel, Pepsi.  [Suffolk.edu]

Various Firm-Name TTT Alumni

Law School: New York Law School (Tier 3)
Notable Work: Not to be confused with NYU Law School, this much-maligned institution is responsible for some of the biggest white shoes that BigLaw has ever known. [NYLS.edu]

Here are just some of the school’s notable alums:

  • Cameron R. MacRae of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae LLP (Now Dewey & LeBoeuf)
  • Albert Milbank of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP
  • Randolph E. Paul of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
  • Alfred Rose of Proskauer Rose LLP
  • Jacob Scholer of Kaye Scholer LLP

Who did we miss?  Leave the unsung TTT All-Star’s info below in the comments.

Filed Under: Columns, Lawyer Tagged With: alumni, Bitter by Numbers, law schools

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