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October 09, 2002

Choosing A Law School

I'm reading Law School Confidential for tips on deciding where to apply to law school, and it's making me a little nervous. According to author Robert H. Miller, where you go to law school, geographically speaking, is crucial. The writers say "the most controversial thing in this book" is this piece of advice:

If your goal is to work for a firm, and you don't get into one of the top fifteen to twenty law schools, and you are not interested in practicing in the city, state, or region where that non-top-twenty law school is located, you're better off re-applying and trying again. (64)

I've heard things like this before, and realize it's true to some extent, but really, is it that hard to work in a region outside the region where you go to school? And what happens to this advice if, like me, you have no desire to work for a firm? For example, could I go to school in Illinois (and not at the University of Chicago, which is a top-twenty school), and still have a good shot of getting a good public interest job somewhere on the East Coast?

The question may be moot, since it looks less and less likely I'll be going to law school in Illinois. Instead, odds are currently on some school somewhere in the D.C. area, and that's probably a pretty good place for me to work after law school, so... Options include: American University, Georgetown (which would be a "reach" school), George Washington, and George Mason. (It appears that if you want to go to school in the D.C. area, your chances of attending a school with some variant of "george" in the name are quite high.) There's also the University of the District of Columbia law school, but... Anyway, if you have any tips, vignettes, helpful inside stories, or whatever about any D.C. area schools, I'd love to hear them. I'm especially interested in avoiding a "cutthroat" school (the kind where people steal books from the library to prevent other students from doing assignments, etc.—JCA talks a bit about this here), so if you know anything about the cutthroat level at any D.C. schools, that would be particularly helpful. If you're concerned about libel, the comments system on this blog happily accepts completely anonymous posts, or you can email me: ai at mowabb dot com.

Posted October 9, 2002 06:53 PM | law school


If you do end up in DC, where I went, you're not exactly trapped there. I went to one of the schools you mentioned, and am now back in NJ, although I could have worked for firms all along the eastern seaboard. However, if you do a regional school out of the top twenty, it is a valid concern. Let's say you went to CU Boulder. I would suspect that you do get locked into the Rocky Mountain/Midwest region.

Posted by: TPB, Esq. at October 10, 2002 02:59 PM

have you talked to graduates of any of the DC-area law schools? i have several friends who are graduates of AU/WCL, who loved their experiences there. current students at Georgetown that i've spoken to aren't that happy. i'm applying for fall 2003 to many of those same schools (sans mason -- not interested in VA) -- you may want to talk to their students.

Posted by: jenny at November 30, 2002 07:23 PM

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