There is no question that the cost of law school, and the amount of debt many students must accumulate, seems daunting right now. (I am proud to point out that, on average, Case Western Reserve students graduate with almost 22% less debt than graduates of other private law schools.) It is critically important for your future, however, to evaluate the amount of money you’re going to have to borrow in light of your future career prospects.

U.S News & World Report ranks all law schools as if they had the same mission. And, in one sense, we do -- educating lawyers. But there is a vast difference among law schools, sometimes even of the same rank, in what that simple mission means.

There are, for example, law schools whose purpose is to educate lawyers for the local or regional bar. Many state law schools pursue this mission, as do a number of private law schools. This is an extremely important mission for the well-being of the communities or regions in which these law schools are located. And if you are pretty sure that you want to practice in a particular place, these law schools are very worth considering, especially those state law schools that will save you money.

But most law students don’t know what they will do after graduation, not in their first jobs, and certainly not ten, or twenty, or thirty years out. After all, while we educate lawyers, we educate them for careers. And the arc of your career is critically dependent on the resources and reputation possessed by your law school that can help you capitalize on opportunities you can’t now even imagine.

Again, using the law school I know best, Case Western Reserve, the story is told by the geographical diversity of our alumni and the geographical draw of our students. Over two-thirds of our alumni live and work outside our region and state. (This is what keeps me on the road so much, and they are great people.) Approximately two-thirds of our students come from outside our region and state. Unlike many law schools that surround us in the rankings, we truly are a law school of national scope.

What does this mean for you and why should you pay for it? First, it means jobs. Wherever I travel, whether in LA with our many alumni prominent in the entertainment industry, to New York with our big firm partners and investment bankers, to Washington with our ambassadors, agency heads, and top government and private lawyers, I meet alumni who have gotten their jobs both because they were helped by other alumni and because of the reach of our reputation. Many of these people started their trajectories right out of law school; others began their practice locally, but later felt the urge to branch out. Either way, they have enjoyed careers that they would have found much more difficult to pursue had they attended a more local or regional law school.

It may cost more to go to a school like ours. But our alumni agree -- it’s well worth it.

I’ve already discussed getting into law school and how to use the rankings. So you’ve probably narrowed down your options to a reasonable number of schools to which you might apply. You’ve made some applications, and are preparing others. Soon, you will begin to learn where you are accepted. And this is where the rubber meets the road.

One of the biggest factors law school applicants use in choosing a law school is its US News & World Report ranking. In this posting, I’ll discuss how this variable might rationally play into your decision to choose one law school over another. The question requires more complex analysis than might appear at first blush.

So this week the question is the general one of why you might go to law school, especially given the rotten economy and bad press (the latter of which I hope to have at least somewhat cleared up in my last posting). Next week I’ll talk about how to choose a law school, assuming that you have decided you’re interested.