Get a car? House? Go to law school? All of these are BIG-ticket decision that calls for smart and savvy consideration. How do you make the decision?
What Fits Your Destiny?
One of the major considerations in choosing a law school is what sort of career tracks you would be called to. Is it professor? Big firm partner? Solo practice? Something outside of the legal profession? Judge? Legislator? “Public Interest”?
I’ll touch on each:
Professor
Most professors graduated from one of a dozen or so institutions. These institutions, from what I understand, include: Yale, the University of Virginia, Stanford, Northwestern, the University of Chicago, Harvard, the University of Michigan, Columbia, Berkeley, the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell. Other similarly situated law schools for pumping out academics may include: Georgetown, Duke, and New York University.
So if working full-time on a law faculty is where you’re called, know that most graduated from the above named institutions.
On the other hand, degrees from Oxford, Cambridge and other such highly regarded academic institutions will also likely aid in pursuing a hyper-competitive academic slot. Such degrees are rarer among American law professors but are highly prized as well.
Big Firm
Big firms get a large portion of their hires out of law school through their on-campus recruiting programs. Law schools vary widely in the number and type of employers that recruit on campus. Generally, the “bigger name” schools have attracted more employers, especially of the big firm variety. If you don’t go to one of these “prestige” schools, generally one must have some really outstanding credentials from that school and/or connections. Also, it’s possible to wend one’s way into one of these big firms later in one’s career if one has the sort of experience/clients/chemistry for which the firm is looking. If a big firm is not for you, it’s not as important to get in to an “elite” law school.
Solo
Basically, I would recommend a law school with a strong program in the geographic area that you’re interested in practicing. It’s a plus if that school is strong clinically and in the substantive area(s) that you are going into. Name value, while not crucial, might attract certain clients. More importantly, get enmeshed in your community!
Outside of the Legal Profession
Go where there’s a strong program in the area that you’re interested in. Joint degree programs may be for you. If you’re not sure, go to a place with a strong overall program.
Judge & Politics
For a local office, go to a local school. For a national office, go to a national school. While this generality seems largely to hold, it is by no means absolute. At the same time, alumni networks have been known to count for something on occasion.
It helps as well to get into “party machinery”. Knowing Senators can help land a federal judgeship. State judgeships vary–sometimes by appointment, sometimes by election, sometimes a hybrid.
Running for SBA office might also help you in a future political career. Involvement in politically active groups may also boost your opportunities.
Public Interest
Certain schools pride themselves on public interest. To back their program, some have generous loan-forgiveness programs. See what percentage of graduates enter public interest, how much of the curriculum is devoted to public interest and the public interest groups at the school. Incidentally, careers that aren’t expressly called “public interest” can still be in the public’s interest! What is called “public interest” pays roughly about half of the private sector on average
In Your Neighbourhood?
Where do you want to end up geographically? It makes a difference when looking at law schools. Laws vary from state to state. States have their own bars. Local/state law schools typically have their alumni highly concentrated in their locale, which can be a plus, especially if you want to stay in that area. So try to figure out where you’re supposed be before plunging into law school. “National” law schools often provide more flexibility and options geographically and otherwise if you’re not sure.
Bargain
Is money already coming out of your ears? Or are you buried in debt?
Most scholarships/aid come from the school itself. Outside scholarships are less common for law school than for college. Loan forgiveness programs are worth looking into as well–but sometimes have strings attached. The criteria for qualifications would be well worth looking into if its a significant factor for you, which it is for most.
Also, state schools can be tremendous bargains, especially if you’re a resident in that state. If you’re not, sometimes you can get state residency after your first year–especially if you can prove that you intend to settle down there.
Elite
Are the “top schools” way better than the “lower-tier” schools? I wouldn’t characterize it that way, even though I graduated from a “top school”.
1st year curriculums tend to be rather similar in general. Use of the Socratic method is common.
On the other hand, there’s no question that various quantifiable factors at “top schools” are higher on average. For example, the average LSAT and G.P.A.’s of fellow students can differ wildly (or minutely) from school to school.
Legal academia in general is an oligarchy of publishing stars who were educated at a small number of institutions themselves. So you’ll be able to find professors from “elite” law schools at most every law school.
“Inbreeding” for professors happen as well. In other words, if you want to become a professor without going to one of the dozen or so feeder institutions, you might have your best shot coming back to teach at alma mater. Most schools seem to have at least a few of their own graduates as professors.
In some ways, the local/state schools can actually prepare one better for practice. How?? They are more practically/locally oriented in general.
Electives vs. Prescribed Curriculum
This factor varies from electives your second semester to very few to no electives. Yale and Northwestern are examples of elective city. Regent, Trinity and Notre Dame are examples of lots of prescribed courses.
Religious Affiliation
While most law schools are predominantly secularized, there are some exceptions. For some, this factor can be a major scale-tipper in weighing the decision. Here’s a rundown of a bunch of such schools:
Catholic: Catholic schools vary a good bit in how Catholic they are. The Pope had expressed recently that Catholic schools in the U.S. should be more Catholic. These schools lie along a continuum. A few examples that perhaps represent three points on this continuum of Catholic commitment and integration: a) the Dean at Seton Hall told me that it is rather nominally Catholic b) Notre Dame will not hire faculty who are not pro-life, has an optional chapel service, and has an occasional course that seems more Catholic; c) Loyola in Chicago is perhaps in between Seton Hall and Notre Dame. For example, they have a canon (church) law course. I did notice a large number of Northwestern law alumni among the Loyola faculty.
Protestant: Among nationally ABA accredited law schools, Regent is probably the one that aspires to be more thoroughgoing in its Christianity than any other. Trinity in California has perhaps thus far aimed the most to integrate faith into the education. Presently though, Trinity is California state accredited with national accreditation as a goal. Valparaiso (Valparaiso, Indiana) is mostly nominal but has traditionally had a strong Christian Legal Society chapter as well as some devout Christian Professors like Professor Stith and former Dean Gaffney. Pepperdine (Malibu, California) seems to be moving more towards embracing its religious affiliation and is hosting a major conference on law and religion. Campbell (North Carolina) seems to be a bit of a mixed bag in its Christian elements. Samford (Cumberland School of Law in Alabama) seems to be perhaps in between Campbell and Regent in how Christian it is. Baylor seems to be moving to strengthen its religious roots through the leadership of President Sloan. This is actually a fairly extensive sampling of the not very numerous selection of more Protestant Christian schools.
Mormon: There seems to be little disagreement that BYU (Brigham Young University’s Reuben Clark School of Law) is the consensus top pick for Mormon schools.
Jewish: My understanding is that Yeshiva Law School is Jewish in some sense. As a side note, there was actually a Jewish Law course taught at Northwestern when I attended.
At the End
The bottom line in selecting a law school should be: where are you called? Once you figure that out, you can factor in these various variables to confirm/corroborate your mission in life…if you choose to accept it!