Reference for appropriate schools for type of law practice? Forum

[uflaw2012]

Sorry if this is posted somewhere..

I am looking for a quick reference for what schools specialize in what areas. For example, best Employment Law programs, Securities Law programs, and Family Law programs. Other than going through each school individually, is there a quick reference guide or a "ranking by program type" out there somewhere?

[mrtoren]

Its irrelevant. No one follows specialty rankings.

Employers hire from the overall best law schools first and then trickle down to the bottom.

[gaud]

^ credited

[bhan87]

Only time you should try to rank law programs is if you're talking about peer schools.

You might have a case to choose NYU over Columbia / Chicago because you really want to practice tax law, but you'd have to be insane to pick UFlorida for this reason.

Even if you're evaluating peer schools, take any specialty rankings with a grain of salt. The methodology used to compile these rankings is sketchy at best (mostly just survey data).

Its irrelevant. No one follows specialty rankings.

Employers hire from the overall best law schools first and then trickle down to the bottom.

This is absolutely the truth.

[thedive]

Obviously if you want to do environmental law you should go to Vermont, it is by far superior to any other school. But, no like someone else said, it doesn't matter and may be unwise to base your decision on such criteria. I have a prof. who said he choose his school based on specialty rankings and ended up doing something completely different and ended up making partner.

[random5483]

The earlier posters are basically right. School rankings matter. Overall rankings do not matter.

The pecking order is as follows:

1. School Ranking
2. Geography (for schools outside the T14 or perhaps T20, this can sometimes be more important than rankings)
3. Cost of Attendance


Anything else is a bonus. Speciality rankings don't matter. Among peer schools that place well in the region you want to practice in, you can consider things like faculty in a specific area or course offerings. Picking NYU over Columbia might make sense, but picking "Random T2 School higher ranked than NYU in Speciality X" over NYU would be very stupid.

Other factors matter. The feel of the campus, the courses offered, or anything else that matters to you. However, the three criteria mentioned above are paramount.