UW 1L taking questions Forum

[booksforxmas]

1. As you would imagine the job prospects vary greatly according to GPA/LR. Of the 24 kids in my small section 1L year,I know that 5 are currently summer associates for big law firms in Seattle/Portland. The number could be higher because I haven't done a good job of staying in touch with everyone. On the other hand, if you are in the bottom half of the class then job prospects aren't great. I have a friend who graduated in 2012 unranked (you only get ranked if you are in the top 1/3 of the class) and he now works with a small PI firm in Everett where he makes 50k. Is he happy? Yes, but he didn't graduate with much debt. If you are willing to work outside Seattle, you can find real legal jobs, though those jobs often pay 40-70k.

2. I don't have time to enjoy all that Seattle has to offer. Nonetheless, I am convinced that going to law school in Seattle is better than going to law school in a small town. I live in Capital Hill and really love the neighborhood. Additionally, because Seattle is a real city, I have been able to befriend smart and intelligent people who aren't law students. I think that would have been much harder to do in Salem.

Hope that helps everyone make informed decisions.

[parisian]

Bump!

I'm interested in UW as well. Could anyone comment on the possibility of finding a good firm job in Northern CA (non-IP) from UW? From the attorney search function of some firms, I saw there was quite a few UW associates in San Francisco. Would one need to be near the top of class to get such opportunities?

Thank you for taking questions!

[redtalun]

The school places very few graduates outside of the PNW. It's a combination of few students wanting to leave the region, and few employers interested in recruiting at UW from outside the region.
The silver lining is that most BL firms with offices in Seattle will recruit at UW and allow you to rank which offices you are interested in. The downside, of course, is that you need to be near the top of the class to get those offers.

Hastings might be a better choice if your desired landing spot is in the bay area.