IP USED to be the ticket to easy wealth in the legal field. Those with science degrees, whether it be CS, biology, math, physics, etc, had an easier time getting a job, and therefore the caveats about class ranking and school quality didn't apply as much, because there was such a dearth of qualified candidiates for this, however, two things apply:
1. For you to take advantage of this, you still have to be interest in intellectual property. This can be fun stuff (music copyright, trrademark, and unfair competition), but the nature of the practice also makes you on some level, the legal equivalent of a bench chemist. Constantly dealing with the scientific side of things.
2. People have quickly caught on to this, ESPECIALLY because of the tech boom, and because of that (1) alot more "science people" are in law school, trying their luck at this, and (2) alot of the IP firms, that is, firms concentrating on intellectual property, have dissolved. Pennie Edmonds, Lyon and Lyon, Brobeck, and the like are all dead and gone.
Regarding Part time
This isn't necessarily a bad thing, and those who stand the most to take advantage of this are those already established in fields (read: job experience and skill) and looking to augment it with a legal competence. There are several part time programs at VERY competitive schools like Georgetown, GW, and here in NY, Fordham. The requirements to get in aren't as stiff, but thats because USNEWS doesn't factor part-time admissions in, therefore, the schools themselves don't feel the need to play to stringency game. That means two things: (1) you get the same education, which in reality, is the same among ALL law schools in the country, and (2) you get the name of prestigious school you can align yourself with. To go into a part-time as a completely new career change is an option, however, it requires discipline nonetheless. You'll be studying after work and often at night. This isn't easy to do. The bottom line is this. A law degree is only as useful as at is depending on the career, you as a part-timer can apply it to.
Here's a quick rundown of the legal job opportunities, REGARDLESS of the area in the country which you live:
1. BIGlaw: These are jobs at the most prestigious firms. If you are NY, thesea re at the headquarters of most of the prestigious firms in the country. NY is, hands down, the legal capital of the US.
2. MIDlaw: these are also excellent firms, and are only distinguished from BIGlaw, not in the type of work you'll be doing, but the salary paid. Often $70-90k. Ironically, getting a job at these firms, at least in NY, is even harder to do so from a less-well-known school, simply because they don't have the resources to "train" a new law graduate like a big law firm does. MANY of the BIGlaw firms lose up to 70% of their lawschool hires in the first two years to these smaller firms, and its expected. for example, my law firm hires 70 law school students each and EVERY year. Why? Because in 2 years, 95% will have quit and moved down the ladder to less pay, but more sane working lifestyles. Working at the big firms is a pedigree and a training ground and nothing more.
3. Small-law: a think I've made this term up, since I haven't seen it before, but it comprises the "mom and pop" firms who do "general" legal work, and who clearly don't have the resources to train lawyers, but will hire a person or two every year, hoping they'll stay forever.
In NY, the biglaw firms are too big to list, but for example:
Cravath, Swaine and Moore (#1 firm in the world)
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen U& Katz (#2 often in the ranknings of profits. First year out of law school = 200k!)
Sullivan and Cromwelll
Cleary, Gottleib
Skadden, Arps
Shearman Sterling...
and so on...
in Chicago:
Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Mawe
...and the rest are Branch offices of NY's best (and this is the case for the rest of the countries big cities)