Michigan vs Berkeley vs Duke Forum

[Duck33]

I think that Berkeley is probably my best choice. The only reason I put Dallas as my first choice for employment is that my wife would really like to live in Dallas and I don’t care where I live. I was curious if there was an advantage coming from Duke or Berkley for someone with little to no ties to the Dallas market. The answer seems to be that it doesn't really matter and my odds are going to be low from either school, which is 100% fine with me. Bottom line is my goals are non-NYC big law. Personally, I would like to work in NYC, but my wife is unsure if she wants to raise a family there.

The whole ties thing with legal employment seems to be somewhat of a mystery to how they will impact me. I don't really have good ties anywhere except a Midwest city I would prefer not work in. I plan on applying to all major markets, including NYC just to cover myself. Hopefully going to school on the west coast will help build some west coast ties and I can use the military to try to downplay any other concerns that may come up with my lack of ties to major markets.

[SLS_AMG]

Ok where did this idea come from that Berk is good for Biglaw. It's not, Berk's Biglaw placement has always been on the low end, and Duke has outperformed both Berk and Mich for the last 3 years. Plus if OP wants TX this is a complete no-brainer for Duke.

Stats for Biglaw + Fed Clerkships in the last 3 years:

2012
Duke 64%
Berk 60.5%
Mich 51.8%

2011
Duke 56%
Berk 51.3%
Mich 44.6%

2010
Add it up yourselves or take my word for it

Well, according to the most recent data on LST, Berkeley placed a higher number of graduates in big law than Duke did, despite the fact that the majority of Duke students gun for NYC whereas the majority of Berkeley students gun for California (read: harder market). You disguise your statistics by combining federal clerkship numbers with big law numbers to make Duke look better while totally ignoring the fact that Berkeley has a lot more people go into prestigious PI positions than Duke does (though Duke does a good job of putting its recent grads in PI jobs by hiring them itself).

[BigZuck]

Ok where did this idea come from that Berk is good for Biglaw. It's not, Berk's Biglaw placement has always been on the low end, and Duke has outperformed both Berk and Mich for the last 3 years. Plus if OP wants TX this is a complete no-brainer for Duke.

Stats for Biglaw + Fed Clerkships in the last 3 years:

2012
Duke 64%
Berk 60.5%
Mich 51.8%

2011
Duke 56%
Berk 51.3%
Mich 44.6%

2010
Add it up yourselves or take my word for it

Well, according to the most recent data on LST, Berkeley placed a higher number of graduates in big law than Duke did, despite the fact that the majority of Duke students gun for NYC whereas the majority of Berkeley students gun for California (read: harder market). You disguise your statistics by combining federal clerkship numbers with big law numbers to make Duke look better while totally ignoring the fact that Berkeley has a lot more people go into prestigious PI positions than Duke does (though Duke does a good job of putting its recent grads in PI jobs by hiring them itself).

While I don't really agree with the notion that Duke is clearly better than Berk for big law, you are also retardedly splitting hairs. Berkeley hired 2% of its class, Duke hired 5%. If you want to throw PI into the mix, Berk's employment score is 75 and Duke's is 73. Clerkships are worth throwing into the mix because they are "prestigious" and those that get them almost certainly could have had big law if they wanted it.

The schools might have different packaging but they're total peers.

[SLS_AMG]

you are also retardedly splitting hairs. Berkeley hired 2% of its class, Duke hired 5%. If you want to throw PI into the mix, Berk's employment score is 75 and Duke's is 73.

I totally agree that 2-4 percentage points is negligible. But for Duke guy on the first page, Duke placing 4 percentage points better than Berkeley in big law/clerkships one year meant that Berkeley was not good at big law placement and Duke somehow was?

And I agree that they are peers. I actually believe Berkeley and Duke are possibly the two most underrated T14 schools out there.

[StillCutty]

go to Berkley, enjoy the bay

there was an SF biglaw associate here the other day saying he thought berkley had a slight advantage over SLS in biglaw SF jobs if that means anything to you.

[rickgrimes69]

Ok where did this idea come from that Berk is good for Biglaw. It's not, Berk's Biglaw placement has always been on the low end, and Duke has outperformed both Berk and Mich for the last 3 years. Plus if OP wants TX this is a complete no-brainer for Duke.

Stats for Biglaw + Fed Clerkships in the last 3 years:

2012
Duke 64%
Berk 60.5%
Mich 51.8%

2011
Duke 56%
Berk 51.3%
Mich 44.6%

2010
Add it up yourselves or take my word for it

Well, according to the most recent data on LST, Berkeley placed a higher number of graduates in big law than Duke did, despite the fact that the majority of Duke students gun for NYC whereas the majority of Berkeley students gun for California (read: harder market). You disguise your statistics by combining federal clerkship numbers with big law numbers to make Duke look better while totally ignoring the fact that Berkeley has a lot more people go into prestigious PI positions than Duke does (though Duke does a good job of putting its recent grads in PI jobs by hiring them itself).

lol cool your tits brosef I'm not "disguising" anything, I said pretty clearly those stats are for Fed Clerkship + Biglaw. cw is that anybody with the resume for a Fed Clerkship could have gotten Biglaw which is why they are usually combined.

also for the record I consider Berk and Duke pretty equivalent for Biglaw. My post was responding to the peeps on page 1 talking up Berk like it was the best thing like sliced bread when in reality its biglaw placement is nothing special outside of CA.