Name some good law schools

(are you saying the Louvre does?)

if you don't get into one of those, then get into the best and cheapest law school that you can in the area of the country where you think you want to practice law. i.e., don't go to Fordham or Brooklyn if you want to end up in Chicago!

Thanks for the tips.

where do you want to practice law?

Université de Moncton. I can't spell in English let alone French.

if you tell us about likely region you want to practice we can say more about what schools are good.

dude don't worry about the pricey high-flyin ones until you're ready for a LL.M. or a J.D. aiiight

a J.S.D., you mean?

still, i do regret turning down Fordham and U. Conn. for a 2d tier, cheap school.

xpost: Fordham is the prime example of the type of school I mentioned above. but so much so that it's arguably a 1st-tier school.

Well, our top students make it into all of the major regional firms, but they aren't exactly going to White and Case or Skadden Arps (we are in Detroit). For the students below the top 15% or who lack personal connections to the firms, there's not much opportunity even at the regional level. It really depends on what you consider a "major" firm, though.

come on now, I was hardly as specific as you, gabbneb, though admittedly exaggerating

But Fordham is surely in the top tier, aren't they? Is the top 50 still considered the top tier?

The only guide you really need.

come on now, I was hardly as specific as you, gabbneb, though admittedly exaggerating

touche. but I'm basing my comments upon reading multiple-year records of multiple-school admissions results for all applicants from at least one (perhaps two but maybe not) undergraduate institution, based upon their grades and LSATs.

* of course, some of the big Philly firms like Dechert and Morgan Lewis are also "national" -- their NYC offices are bigger than their Philly home offices!

I'm sure this is true, and I wish I had known how important regionalism was before deciding where to go (I was shockingly naive). We have a few bigger firms like Pepper Hamilton, Dickinson Wright, Honigman Miller etc., but not the huge powerhouses. Admittedly, it doesn't make a lot of difference to me as I dislike the big firm atmosphere and chose to go with a big-firm partner who was forming his own small firm, but I like having prestigious credentials, so it's only my own vanity that's hurt in the end.

Most students from U. Mich. routinely take the bar in NY rather than Michigan, they do tend to go with the biggest firms.

lesson: be like Eisbär -- go to a shitty law school 'cause it's cheap, do OK but not spectacularly well, pass the bar, and get a job at a small firm doing what you want (for something less than 6 figures, though) instead of endless document review projects. and tell off the jack-ass Dean of yer shitty school while yer at it, too!

NYU (which is a big reach)
Fordham
Cardozo
Brooklyn

(my friend works for the public defender in NY, and has for the past three years. probably not everyone's cup of tea but he wanted to do that from the get-go)

anyway, he was trying to make small talk and asked me what i thought of my time at his law school. i told him, "if i had to do it all over again, i'd have gone to Fordham or Villanova instead of this place. and don't expect me to EVER make any sort of donation after i graduate." he was taken back (understandably, i suppose), and all he said was "well, i'm very sorry that you feel that way." and i said, "so am i, believe it or not." when i graduated and was on the podium getting my diploma, he refused to shake my hand (as if i gave a fuck).

(* "Inn of the Court" = informal society for litigators that was run by the school and let law students join.)

motherfucker.

god, all these memories are making my blood pressure go up ... i'll stop now!

Big elite firms are a fucking scam nightmare for the clients and most of the lawyers there, and I've never met an excellent lawyer who stayed at one for long. Met plenty of folks from second and third tier schools, though -- all had been at the very top of their classes, most were better than average lawyers for big firms, and most were unnecessarily paranoid about what the Ivy types thought of them.

If you can get into the elite schools, differences are more a matter of "vibes" than anything else (that said, I should've gone to Yale or Berkeley -- that said, I shouldn't have gone to law school). If you can't, always choose public over private and "third tier" over "second tier" (second tier private law schools tend to be absurdly overpriced and populated by really ambitious (in the negative sense) and disappointed assholes who will make your life miserable -- and that's just the faculty!)

Isn't this in the job description for most law school deans anyway? We had to go outside the school to a private foundation this year to fund our journal (though the new dean is throwing us a few crumbs), and our career services dean wouldn't look twice at me until this year when I generated interest from several OCI firms--then she was my best friend all of a sudden.

I hadn't realized about the great UCI Law School controversy until today.

irwin chemerinsky is a madman

guy did his whole constitutional law bar review lecture without looking at a piece of paper once

But he would have been OUR madman!

Mostly I've been wondering if they're going to have their own library or not.

lexis.com
westlaw.com

hein online

You know, I gotta admit -- it's interesting to see who's been trashing UCI and sticking up for Erwin C. Hewitt, Bainbridge, Instapundit, John Leo -- quite honestly I wouldn't have expected it, which says more about me than them, I think.

Embry-Riddle

Kmeic used to be dean of my law school - Catholic U. in DC. I was not there at that time, and consider myself lucky after hearing the horror stories about how hard he was to work with.

As for the above discussion, this could not be more true:
If you can't, always choose public over private and "third tier" over "second tier" (second tier private law schools tend to be absurdly overpriced and populated by really ambitious (in the negative sense) and disappointed assholes who will make your life miserable -- and that's just the faculty!)

So, so true. if I have to hear one more time about how badly my school sucks from a classmate of mine, I'm gonna file suit.

I just realized that this was somewhat of a non-sequitor.

Mah bad. Doug Kmeic is head honcho at Pepperdine Law, and commented on the Chemerinski controversy in the article linked above.

I will now attempt to get some sleep. Not likely.

chemerinsky's BARBRI preparations for constitutional law = being taught ConLaw by Woody Allen. best of all, i saw it LIVE!! (not on video, the way some poor souls had to).

maybe there should be a thread polling folks on the best BARBRI presenter -- chemerinsky, paula franceze (sp?), or charlie whitebread?!?

All better than the essay prep guy, and Conviser was an asshole.

In a pinch, I'd go with Paula F., b/c she's SUCH a New Yawkuh.