Top Law Schools

Before being berated, I don't have T14 stats. I also don't have big-law aspirations. That means that I should take the absolute cheapest option available since one can not pay huge debts on doc review and shit load salaries.

I'm like many of you in that I got a degree that does not confer a profession but rather a set of skills that doesn't set me apart enough in the real-world.
(ironically, with the glut of unemployed lawyers on the market, neither will my law degree...)

I could probably manage to get into a few T2... however I think that I should go for the cheapest school = the one that offers the highest scholarships based on top %40-50 of the class. If I can transfer up, all the better. If I can at least maintain a scholarship, great! If I lose my scholarship, I will leave... simple as that.

So would you do it?

Hell no. What's the point of going to a TTT to do doc review?

Even if you were to get a full-ride somewhere, 3 years and the associated cost-of-living debt is not negligible. It can be deceptively easy to get stuck on the law school track, but if the particulars of your situation don't favor this path, forget it.

Same advice would hold for 75% of law school students who are not attending top schools and do not have the connections/guaranteed job offers upon graduation...
This would also take care of the over saturation of lawyers... I should be made captain obvious...

I do not want to do doc review - I'm just accepting that it is a possibility given the glut of lawyers and the over saturated market.

I will admit that I am on this forum to try to dissuade myself from a legal career BUT
- I can long remember myself wanting to be a lawyer
- I am not manual enough to learn a trade (becoming an electrician or a boilermaker would have much higher ROI...)
- I am lacking the science background to go into healthcare - the one field that will always be in demand
- Don't feel like joining the French Foreign Legion...

Ah well, only thing left to do is to apply and then reconsider...

What are your stats?

Go to the best regional school you can for as cheap as possible. Get admitted to comparable schools and use it as leverage for bigger schollys.

RebelRebel wrote:Same advice would hold for 75% of law school students who are not attending top schools and do not have the connections/guaranteed job offers upon graduation....

Yes, these are the people that the "lol law school sux dont go" articles are directed to. If you're able to work it out that you go to a school that affords you the best opportunity to get a great paying job, obviously those articles don't apply. But if you go to a school where only 5% of grads get a job paying median salary AND you paid a decent amount for it???

Work with what you have. Good regional school for as cheap as possible. Network the shit out of your life.

RebelRebel wrote:I will admit that I am on this forum to try to dissuade myself from a legal career BUT
- I can long remember myself wanting to be a lawyer
- I am not manual enough to learn a trade (becoming an electrician or a boilermaker would have much higher ROI...)
- I am lacking the science background to go into healthcare - the one field that will always be in demand
- Don't feel like joining the French Foreign Legion...

Ah well, only thing left to do is to apply and then reconsider...

DO NOT go to law school if you do not know for certain you want to be a practicing attorney. There are far too many fuckers here with a liberal arts degree who just joined because they didn't know what else to do. It's not only 3 years of work and $100k of debt, but it's also a lifetime in a single profession. Unless you know for certain that it is what you want, don't even bother debating about it.

Hawkeye Pierce wrote:Hell no. What's the point of going to a TTT to do doc review?

Let's play nice.

One should never go to law school banking on a transfer. If you legitimately think you've maxed out your LSAT potential, than your plan sounds as good as any other. Don't indiscriminately pick the school that gives you the most money. Balance cost with placement rate.

Consider a full tuition scholarship to Michigan State University which offers a four year program allowing one to earn both US & Canadian (Ottawa) law degrees in addition to offering the traditional full & part-time US degree programs.

CanadianWolf wrote:Consider a full tuition scholarship to Michigan State University which offers a four year program allowing one to earn both US & Canadian (Ottawa) law degrees in addition to offering the traditional full & part-time US degree programs.

Over 30 % of University of Ottawa's Class of 2010 didn't find an articling position, even at a full-ride at MSU, he would still be in trouble paying UofO's tuition while not even being dead set on practicing in Canada.


Bad idea.

I would prefer practicing in Canada, though admissions there are much more GPA centered and I was your classical underachiever...

As for the LSAT, I did not hit my ceiling, but I've exhausted the amount of times that I can take it. And unless I get a 170+, I don't see much of a reason to retake even if I could since all schools but the T14 are regional.

My best bets are either the Michigan-Ottawa program or the Windsor-Mercy program.

Also, where is the figure regarding UofOttawa from? Though I knew that the legal market here was not thriving, I had not idea that it was that bad...

RebelRebel wrote:I would prefer practicing in Canada, though admissions there are much more GPA centered and I was your classical underachiever...

As for the LSAT, I did not hit my ceiling, but I've exhausted the amount of times that I can take it. And unless I get a 170+, I don't see much of a reason to retake even if I could since all schools but the T14 are regional.

My best bets are either the Michigan-Ottawa program or the Windsor-Mercy program.

Also, where is the figure regarding UofOttawa from? Though I knew that the legal market here was not thriving, I had not idea that it was that bad...

The market is not THAT bad in Ontario, but keep in mind that you'll have to do well on the curve at Ottawa to secure a position.

Getting a job in Ottawa itself is very hard, not more than 25 articling positions a year, that's why most grads end up at Toronto or Montreal depending on their type of degree.

Even though 30% didn't find an articling position, most of them found a gig in the following months.
Here tuition isn't high, so we are allowed to consider Government, Crown Counsel, In-House as a viable option rather than BigLaw.
But if you have debts and rely on a BigLaw job to get out, be prepared to fight against UofT, Osgoode, McGill grads in Toronto for these jobs, not impossible, but definitely a harder task, especially coming from the U.S. Your grades will determine your future, just don't let the curve fuck you up, or you'll end up in that unemployed 30% (Even though it's like 10-15% after a few months).

So if you better think twice and have a plan B in case you get a surprise.

Ottawa is still a very safe (above 90% placement) bet if you want to work in Quebec, but you'll need French to do so.