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Re: Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions

Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 7:44 pm
by yhezel
oldtimer wrote:Does anyone know what the "non trad" situation is at Illinois?

I'm just curious if the law school has any contingent at all of older, married students that are more than a few years removed from undergrad.

I just came off of the wait list at Illinois and one of my other top choices and while I already HAD my fall plans in place at a 3rd school, now I am the middle of having to decide between Illinois and two other schools.

I fully understand that Champaign is a "college town," but I'm just curious if anyone out there has any experience as a non traditional Law student there and whether or not you would recommend U of I as a result of that experience.
Hi, 30 here, married and a rising 2L. I agree with Chattelcat in that being in a college town is definitely an advantage as far as having things to do. Personally it allowed me to make very good friends outside of the law school, since there are also many other grad students in campus, and I probably wouldn't have had this opportunity if I'd decided on a school that's apart from a University campus. At the law school there is definitely a large number of older students, some married and with families, but I haven't seen that be a factor at all in terms of friendships, socializing/activities, etc. Good luck in your decision.

Re: Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions

Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 3:45 pm
by oldtimer
SaintClarence27 wrote:
oldtimer wrote:Does anyone know what the "non trad" situation is at Illinois?

I'm just curious if the law school has any contingent at all of older, married students that are more than a few years removed from undergrad.

I just came off of the wait list at Illinois and one of my other top choices and while I already HAD my fall plans in place at a 3rd school, now I am the middle of having to decide between Illinois and two other schools.

I fully understand that Champaign is a "college town," but I'm just curious if anyone out there has any experience as a non traditional Law student there and whether or not you would recommend U of I as a result of that experience.
I was 31 when I started, have a life-in girlfriend, and I'm a 2L now. Granted, I'm from the C-U area, but it's always seemed totally reasonable to have a spouse here. The only issue would be finding employment for your significant other, as C-U isn't big. That said, the housing is super-cheap, so you don't have to make as much here as in other areas.

What kind of information are you looking for specifically?

Thanks to all of you for responding!

As far as specific information, Some of it has already been provided as far as the "feel' of the college town not being too overtly "undergrad." I am several years... (ok, over a decade) out of my undergrad (heck, I finished my Grad work in 2002... for some peek into how "elderly I really am... haha)

At any rate, did my undergrad at what was (at the time) lovingly referred to as one of the top "party schools" in the country (down at the other end of Illinois, ;-) and frankly, I didn't really fit in even then because we got married in my 3rd year of undergrad and I worked tons of hours on campus and took a VERY heavy class load.... no time to party.

We're now "married with children" and want a reasonably "normal" life, but we understand that the top-law-schools.com in and of itself is not "normal" in many respects, so as long as we're not having to actively avoid wild undergrad partiers non stop and avoid going out with our kids because of that "atmosphere" we should be fine.

The other part of the question was really academic. I am curious how "diverse" the classes tend to be in terms of age/life experience and if the older students tend to fit in well or if the younger students tend to have a problem with the older ones (I can't see why they would, but I'm just curious).

I say all that as if I'm an old retired dude starting my 4th career and while I AM technically starting my 4th career, I'm probably only about 10 years older than the "average" student there, so while that IS a pretty good gap, it's not as bad as it could be.

I'm also a professional musician and I have a pretty fair amount of "younger" friends as a result, so I guess I consider myself to be maybe a little "younger" socially than most folks my own age who spent the entire last decade sitting in an office just "growing old." (not sure how to say exactly, but it's not meant to offend anyone younger OR older...)

On that note (off the topic) are there a reasonable number of cool, laid back bars/clubs that have live music... I'm sure I'm going to need an outlet once in a while if I have time (BIG if)... playing an acoustic gig or two now and again would probably help to blow off some 1L steam!

Oh, and Saintclarence, we THOUGHT that might be an issue, (employment for my wife) but no kidding, on the day that I was pulled from the waitlist, I made two phone calls and my wife had someone literally telling her that they NEED HER immediately and wanted her to come up to Champaign to work. Fortunately, she is in Healthcare and already licensed in IL, so she happens to be a perfect fit for an open position right there in Champaign. (destiny???)
That certainly helps to make the decision somewhat.


Again, I appreciate the info folks! See, I already feel more "welcomed" by my fellow Illinois Law people.

Re: Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 12:12 am
by SaintClarence27
Yeah, we've got some marrieds in our class, and no one seems to mind one way or another - even the study groups tend to be mixed age. As far as the music scene, you've got the canopy club, and a lot of the bars are set up for some live music (and a few coffee shops as well). I'm glad to hear that your wife already found employment. That was a huge stressor for me early on.

Re: Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 12:26 am
by oldtimer
Yes, that certainly helps with the decision... Unfortunately, the offer I got from UIUC wasn't "great" and it will put us in a much higher debt bracket than my current plans (SLU with a MUCH nicer scholarship) would have, so the decision still doesn't seem to be a no brainer.

Of course, there are some who would say U of I at any price over SLU (at any price) is a no brainer, but I'm not so sure of that, especially in this economy. (and yeah, I know what USNWR would say) I sure wish I had someone with DEFINITIVE data to support either choice who could say ... "JUST SHUT UP AND GO TO X" but so far, I've heard support for both options (considering the cost difference).

It IS good to know that U of I seems to be comfortably diverse as far as student body is concerned because that is one area in which SLU seems to excel. They have a very diverse student body in the law school and there seems to be a fairly collegial and friendly atmosphere among the students regardless of age, station in life, etc. (of couse, there are exceptions to every rule).

Re: Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 11:12 am
by hkm6315
Oldtimer- you are probably not quite as old as you think you are : ). I started this thread three years ago, and I just graduated from University of Illinois College of Law. I can honestly say that my three years there were probably the most life changing, fun, and amazing years of my life. If you look through this thread, you will see me beat the same message to death over and over again: THE LAW STUDENTS AT ILLINOIS ARE AMAZING! They are some of the most intelligent, down to earth, fun, authentic, caring, and "real" people you will ever meet. (I am getting choked up writing about it because I miss it so much!) The school, administration, faculty, etc. all promote that atmosphere, and you will see it if you visit there. I think that there are some summer classes in session there now, and a bunch of 3Ls freaking out during BarBri classes because the bar is fast approaching. So I don't know if you would get the full feel visiting Illinois now, but it would still be worth it. I applied to 26 different law schools, got into a bunch, and visited a ton. I decided on Illinois because it had this amazing atmosphere when I went to visit (whereas others did not). I wanted to have a high quality of life and enjoy my time in law school, and I really got the sense after visiting the school that I would have that there. AND I WAS RIGHT! : )

There is definitely a lot of diversity and range of ages at Illinois. For example, my darts team consisted of myself (28), our team captain (38), a 23 year old, 27 year old, and 29 year old. I am married and our team captain is actually getting married this September. There are a lot of people who are married at Illinois, and a lot of people with serious girlfriends and boyfriends who apparently all got engaged at the end of third year : ). (Seriously, there was a period of a few months there last semester where my Facebook news feed was constantly filled with my classmates changing their status to "engaged.") There is definitely a wide variety of people here. It is definitely not all 22 year olds fresh out of college doing the party scene. Not at all. There is a little of that, but there is also a little of everything else.

Furthermore, the law school is pretty isolated from the rest of the campus. I NEVER even went on the main undergrad campus or saw undergrads lol. I guess if you lived on campus you would see them, but most people lived off campus in Savoy, Urbana, etc. I lived in Austin, Texas for 25 years before deciding to move to the midwest for law school (where I knew NOBODY!). It was definitely the right decision. Champaign is a great city that has a very similar feel/vibe as Austin. It is a laid back college town, and there is something for everyone. In terms of bars/hangouts, some of our favorites were: Blind Pig Pub (either one), Crane & Alley (in Urbana), Cowboy Monkey, Boltini, Seven Saints, Guidos (sometimes), and Clark Bar for karaoke!! NONE of those are in the "college town" bar area which pretty much centers around Green Street. Green Street is like a miniature version of Austin's Sixth Street (not sure if you are familiar with that). Green Street is lined with bars, and they actually let 19 year olds into the bars on Green Street!!! It is nuts. They have to get their hand stamped saying that they won't drink (yeah, I am sure that works). In any case, I went to Green Street maybe two times during my whole three years at Illinois... And I think I only went because there were two law school SBA parties there (Halloween party and Christmas party I believe). However, it is really really really easy to avoid that whole scene your whole three years of law school. That is exactly what the majority of the people in my class did.

Anyways, hope this all helps. I have not posted on this thread in forever. Things got a little crazy : ). Let me know if you have anymore questions!

Re: Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 11:41 am
by oldtimer
hkm6315 wrote:Oldtimer- you are probably not quite as old as you think you are : ). I started this thread three years ago, and I just graduated from University of Illinois College of Law. I can honestly say that my three years there were probably the most life changing, fun, and amazing years of my life. If you look through this thread, you will see me beat the same message to death over and over again: THE LAW STUDENTS AT ILLINOIS ARE AMAZING! They are some of the most intelligent, down to earth, fun, authentic, caring, and "real" people you will ever meet. (I am getting choked up writing about it because I miss it so much!) The school, administration, faculty, etc. all promote that atmosphere, and you will see it if you visit there. I think that there are some summer classes in session there now, and a bunch of 3Ls freaking out during BarBri classes because the bar is fast approaching. So I don't know if you would get the full feel visiting Illinois now, but it would still be worth it. I applied to 26 different law schools, got into a bunch, and visited a ton. I decided on Illinois because it had this amazing atmosphere when I went to visit (whereas others did not). I wanted to have a high quality of life and enjoy my time in law school, and I really got the sense after visiting the school that I would have that there. AND I WAS RIGHT! : )

There is definitely a lot of diversity and range of ages at Illinois. For example, my darts team consisted of myself (28), our team captain (38), a 23 year old, 27 year old, and 29 year old. I am married and our team captain is actually getting married this September. There are a lot of people who are married at Illinois, and a lot of people with serious girlfriends and boyfriends who apparently all got engaged at the end of third year : ). (Seriously, there was a period of a few months there last semester where my Facebook news feed was constantly filled with my classmates changing their status to "engaged.") There is definitely a wide variety of people here. It is definitely not all 22 year olds fresh out of college doing the party scene. Not at all. There is a little of that, but there is also a little of everything else.

Furthermore, the law school is pretty isolated from the rest of the campus. I NEVER even went on the main undergrad campus or saw undergrads lol. I guess if you lived on campus you would see them, but most people lived off campus in Savoy, Urbana, etc. I lived in Austin, Texas for 25 years before deciding to move to the midwest for law school (where I knew NOBODY!). It was definitely the right decision. Champaign is a great city that has a very similar feel/vibe as Austin. It is a laid back college town, and there is something for everyone. In terms of bars/hangouts, some of our favorites were: Blind Pig Pub (either one), Crane & Alley (in Urbana), Cowboy Monkey, Boltini, Seven Saints, Guidos (sometimes), and Clark Bar for karaoke!! NONE of those are in the "college town" bar area which pretty much centers around Green Street. Green Street is like a miniature version of Austin's Sixth Street (not sure if you are familiar with that). Green Street is lined with bars, and they actually let 19 year olds into the bars on Green Street!!! It is nuts. They have to get their hand stamped saying that they won't drink (yeah, I am sure that works). In any case, I went to Green Street maybe two times during my whole three years at Illinois... And I think I only went because there were two law school SBA parties there (Halloween party and Christmas party I believe). However, it is really really really easy to avoid that whole scene your whole three years of law school. That is exactly what the majority of the people in my class did.

Anyways, hope this all helps. I have not posted on this thread in forever. Things got a little crazy : ). Let me know if you have anymore questions!

WOW, Incredibly helpful response... and even READING it made me a little choked up because I could totally feel the emotion in your words.

We spent 10 years in Nashville and absolutely LOVED it and I understand that Austin is similar (though most would argue BETTER), so if you feel like Champaign-Urbana was even CLOSE to that, that is huge plus for UIUC. We're in ST. Louis right now and miss Nashville something fierce, but unfortunately, I didn't see Vandy as a viable option, so I didn't apply... now I'm second guessing that decision, but my wife definitely does NOT want me to wait and reapply next year. She's ready to make the move into law school now and since I have her full support now, I want to honor her preferences as much as possible.

My other option is to stay here and attend at SLU (I'd already received my section assignment, books, etc, when I got the call from IL), but we honestly do NOT love this city despite all of the great things it has to offer... which includes the fact that the majority of both of our families live here! It seems obvious that UIUC will have much better "reach" if we were to try to relocate to another region of the country (such as back to Nashville) than would SLU.

Now that I've heard first hand that the "scene" is more conducive to "older" students than I had anticipated, I'm even more excited. It appears that a visit THIS WEEK is in order since I have to respond to Pless by Friday.


Another are you may or may not have experience with is the public transportation situation. Will we need a second car there or does the bus system seem sufficient? It seems as though it goes to the law school on a fairly regular schedule, but I'm curious if it's typically fairly quick or if it would take an extra hour out of my day trying to ride rather than just driving to campus.
Naturally, reducing expenses by having only one car would help offset the cost of UIUC, but I'm not sure if it's realistic for a family of 4 (having to drop off, pick up kids, etc.)

Thanks again for your response! How cool that you came back to the thread after 3 years to help a potential fellow Illinois Law student with a question! I think you're right about the fact that Illinois law students are truly great folks!

Shannon

Re: Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 12:15 pm
by hkm6315
Hey Shannon!

You could totally get away with just using public transit if you live close enough. There are apartments called Hessel on the Park that are a short bus ride (or even bike ride). There are a bunch of houses and "suburbia-ish" neighborhoods right around Hessel Park as well. I am not sure if you are thinking of a house or apartment. Another place that A TON of law students live in is the Village at Colbert Park in Savoy. There is a bus that goes regularly from the apartments to campus. I have a ton of friends who lived there and took that bus daily.

Champaign definitely reminded me of Austin (but of course smaller). If you want more mobility with your law degree, going to a better/higher ranked school will definitely help you with that. That is one of the big reasons I chose Illinois over a lot of the other schools I went to. I now live in Raleigh, NC with my husband. I would definitely give admissions a call and go check out the school. It is not too far of a drive from St. Louis. I had a handful of friends in law school who grew up in St. Louis and went to Wash. U. They went back often on weekends to see their families. Anyways, good luck with everything!

Re: Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 12:29 pm
by oldtimer
hkm6315 wrote:Hey Shannon!

You could totally get away with just using public transit if you live close enough. There are apartments called Hessel on the Park that are a short bus ride (or even bike ride). There are a bunch of houses and "suburbia-ish" neighborhoods right around Hessel Park as well. I am not sure if you are thinking of a house or apartment. Another place that A TON of law students live in is the Village at Colbert Park in Savoy. There is a bus that goes regularly from the apartments to campus. I have a ton of friends who lived there and took that bus daily.

Champaign definitely reminded me of Austin (but of course smaller). If you want more mobility with your law degree, going to a better/higher ranked school will definitely help you with that. That is one of the big reasons I chose Illinois over a lot of the other schools I went to. I now live in Raleigh, NC with my husband. I would definitely give admissions a call and go check out the school. It is not too far of a drive from St. Louis. I had a handful of friends in law school who grew up in St. Louis and went to Wash. U. They went back often on weekends to see their families. Anyways, good luck with everything!

Thanks again. I'm going to look into those places immediately. I also hear that the "Tenant Union" is a good place to start with my search. Did you have any experience with them?
It really is great to see how open and helpful just ONE example of Illinois Law grads is!

So, how do you like Raleigh?

My wife and I both just love the south, but we also really like the northwest coast, perhaps oddly different preferences, but last night my wife mentioned the Carolinas as a possible option for after graduation. Since we love East TN and would both really enjoy being even closer to the coast, that actually sounds like an interesting option. How is the market out there for recent grads? (and I understand the market EVERYWHERE is tough right now, but in general)?

How would you compare the quality of life to that of Austin? Have you been there long enough to make a comparison?

Re: Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 12:49 pm
by hkm6315
Hmmm. I have only been in Raleigh for two weeks now so don't have too much knowledge of the area, but I love what I have seen! It is reallly nice out here. Funny because Forbes just had this story out on Yahoo news a few days ago ranking the next big boom towns. Austin is number one and Raleigh is number two! Plus, Raleigh is rated #1 place to raise young children. Yeah, the market is tough everywhere right now. It just takes time and perseverance. I would say that the degree travels well. I have friends with jobs in D.C., Houston, Colorado, North Carolina, California, etc. etc. Yeah, the majority of people at Illinois are from Illinois so they go back to the Chicago area.. Plus, Chicago is the second biggest legal market in the country and we have A TON of alumni and connections there. However, you can settle wherever you want to.

Re: Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 9:44 pm
by oldtimer
hkm6315 wrote:Hmmm. I have only been in Raleigh for two weeks now so don't have too much knowledge of the area, but I love what I have seen! It is reallly nice out here. Funny because Forbes just had this story out on Yahoo news a few days ago ranking the next big boom towns. Austin is number one and Raleigh is number two! Plus, Raleigh is rated #1 place to raise young children. Yeah, the market is tough everywhere right now. It just takes time and perseverance. I would say that the degree travels well. I have friends with jobs in D.C., Houston, Colorado, North Carolina, California, etc. etc. Yeah, the majority of people at Illinois are from Illinois so they go back to the Chicago area.. Plus, Chicago is the second biggest legal market in the country and we have A TON of alumni and connections there. However, you can settle wherever you want to.

Well, we're one step closer! (actually pretty much both feet in now). Talked to Pless this morning and got a bump on my offer due to some other W's I assume, and my wife has potentially found a nice job doing what she does here for a substantial pay raise (since apparently it is hard to attract good people to the "middle of nowhere" and that is GOOD for us right now!)

Man, I'm so psyched I can hardly stand it. PLUS I was able to research firms in the south a little more today and found a firm that has branches in all 3 of my most desirable Cities and there are a number of Illini working in at least two of them!

Seems like it's all falling into place... I feel so blessed right now I can't even describe it.

Re: Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 10:25 pm
by wdk3618
oldtimer wrote:
hkm6315 wrote:Hmmm. I have only been in Raleigh for two weeks now so don't have too much knowledge of the area, but I love what I have seen! It is reallly nice out here. Funny because Forbes just had this story out on Yahoo news a few days ago ranking the next big boom towns. Austin is number one and Raleigh is number two! Plus, Raleigh is rated #1 place to raise young children. Yeah, the market is tough everywhere right now. It just takes time and perseverance. I would say that the degree travels well. I have friends with jobs in D.C., Houston, Colorado, North Carolina, California, etc. etc. Yeah, the majority of people at Illinois are from Illinois so they go back to the Chicago area.. Plus, Chicago is the second biggest legal market in the country and we have A TON of alumni and connections there. However, you can settle wherever you want to.

Well, we're one step closer! (actually pretty much both feet in now). Talked to Pless this morning and got a bump on my offer due to some other W's I assume, and my wife has potentially found a nice job doing what she does here for a substantial pay raise (since apparently it is hard to attract good people to the "middle of nowhere" and that is GOOD for us right now!)

Man, I'm so psyched I can hardly stand it. PLUS I was able to research firms in the south a little more today and found a firm that has branches in all 3 of my most desirable Cities and there are a number of Illini working in at least two of them!

Seems like it's all falling into place... I feel so blessed right now I can't even describe it.
congrats! hope to see you in august

Re: Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 10:36 pm
by oldtimer
Visited campus today. Took a tour with Dean Pless. VERY impressed with the school and the library in particular. It's incredible looking. Seems like a great place to study. The classrooms all look very nice and Dean Pless said the section size is going to be fairly small in this class, so it should be a great experience.

We just have to solidify my wife's job situation (which I think we are very close to doing) and I'll be locked in. I can't wait. Champaign looks like such a cool place to spend the next 3 years (maybe more). Hoping to find good housing in the next week as well. It's all happening so fast!

Re: Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions

Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 8:22 am
by hkm6315
Awesome! Congrats! :)

Re: Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 5:24 pm
by adammac17
columbia86 wrote:So Dean Pless sent me this list of firms/agencies that were present last year during OCI:

Allstate Insurance Company
Baker & Daniels LLP
Baker & McKenzie
Barnes & Thornburg
Bartell Barickman & Powell LLP
Berger Schatz
Bernstein Shur Sawyer & Nelson
Bingham McHale LLP
Bryan Cave LLP
Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella, PC
CAHILL GORDON & REINDEL LLP
Carmody & Torrance LLP
Central Intelligence Agency-Office of General Counsel
Chapman and Cutler LLP
Choate, Hall & Stewart LLP
Clark County Public Defender
Cook County State's Attorney's Office
DEBEVOISE & PLIMPTON
Deloitte Tax
DLA Piper LLP
Donohue Brown Mathewson & Smyth LLC
Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
Dykema Gossett PLLC
Fitch Even Tabin & Flannery
Foley & Lardner LLP
Foley Hoag LLP
Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell, P.A.
Godfrey & Kahn S.C.
Goodwin Procter LLP
Gray Plant Mooty
Greater Boston Legal Services
Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale PC
HeplerBroom LLC
Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen
Hodges, Loizzi, Eisenhammer, Rodick & Kohnz LLP
Holland & Knight LLP
Horizon Hobby, Inc.
Husch Blackwell Sanders Welsh & Katz LLC
Ice Miller LLP
Jenner & Block LLP
Jones Day
K & L Gates
Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
Keller and Heckman
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham, LLP
Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear, LLP
Kopon Airdo LLC
Krieg DeVault LLP
Latham & Watkins
Lewis, Rice & Fingersh L.C.
Leydig, Voit & Mayer
Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP
Mahoney, Silverman & Cross LLC
Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP
Mayer Brown LLP
McAndrews, Held & Malloy Ltd.
McCormick, Barstow, Sheppard, Wayte & Carruth LLP
McDermott Will & Emery LLP
McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP
McGuireWoods LLP
McLane, Graf, Raulerson & Middleton
Meyer Capel, A Professional Corporation
Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office
Michael Best & Friedrich LLP
Missouri Attorney General's Office
Modrall, Sperling, Roehl, Harris & Sisk
Morgan Lewis & Bockius
Moses and Singer
Neal Gerber & Eisenberg
New Hampshire Department of Justice
Nutter, McClennen & Fish LLP
NYC Law Dept
Office of the Attorney General
Orr & Reno, P.A.
Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker
Perkins Coie LLP
Pierce Atwood
Polsinelli Shughart PC
Proskauer Rose LLP
Pullman & Comley, LLC
Quinn, Johnston, Henderson, Pretorius & Cerulo
Reed Smith LLP
Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren SC
Rhoades McKee PC
San Diego County Office of the Public Defender
Santoro, Driggs, Walch, Kearney, Holley & Thompson
Schiff Hardin LLP
Seigfreid Bingham Levy Selzer & Gee PC
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Shearman & Sterling LLP
Sheehan Phinney Bass & Green, PA
Sidley Austin LLP
Skadden Aarps Slate Meager & Flom LLP
Snell & Wilmer LLP
Social Security Administration, Office of the General Counsel
Sonnenschein
State of Connecticut Judicial Branch - Legal Research
Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox
Sullivan & Worcester
Swanson Martin & Bell LLP
Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP
Thompson Coburn [homophobic language redacted] Haber
Troutman Sanders LLP
U.S. Air Force JAG
U.S. Army JAG Corps
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
U.S. Dept of Labor, Office of Admn Law Judges
U.S. Dep't of the Treasury - Office of Chief Counsel IRS
U.S. Navy JAG - Corps
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Varnum, Riddering, Schmidt & Howlett LLP
Vedder Price P.C.
Verrill Dana, LLP
Ward, Murray, Pace & Johnson
Warner Norcross & Judd LLP
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
Wiggin & Nourie, PA
Wiggin and Dana
Wildman Harrold
WilliamsMcCarthy LLP
Winston & Strawn LLP

Does that mean that each of these firms/government agencies actually interviewed students or that many of them were just present to collect resumes? I would be very impressive if Skadden, K & E, W & S, Weil, Latham, J & B, J D, etc actually interviewed and hired SA's from Illinois at last year's OCI.
Does anyone currently at UIUC have a secret breakdown of how OCI went? Anything more than what was emailed out to the 0Ls? I'm thinking like "2SAs at Mayer Brown, 1 at Air Force JAG etc..."
Not sure if they do this but itd be great to have :)
OskeeWowWow

Re: Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 5:38 pm
by Kilpatrick
I don't have anything like a secret list (I wish I did) but I can verify that there are Illinois rising 3ls this summer at Jones Day, Proskauer Rose, Sidley, Kirkland & Ellis, Winston & Strawn, Katten, Drinker Biddle, Best Best & Krieger, Morgan Lewis & Bockius, mcdermott will and emery, and Littler Mendelson. I'm a rising 2l and I don't know that many upperclassmen so I'm sure there are more, but these are the people I know of specifically.

Other people at Illinois may disagree with me but I actually find our Career Services pretty unhelpful in this regard. They don't keep the kind of statistics that other schools do about who was hired at OCI. Or if they do they don't share it. Last semester a bunch of new people got hired for the CSO though, so they're in kind of a transitional period. Hopefully these new people do a better job at gathering data from this years OCI and will make it available for you guys next year.

Re: Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 4:15 pm
by SaintClarence27
I wish I knew who Kilpatrick is.

Re: Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 4:19 pm
by bjsesq
SaintClarence27 wrote:I wish I knew who Kilpatrick is.
:|

Sounded threatening.

Re: Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 4:24 pm
by blurbz
Hahaha.

Well, for what it's worth, I know all of the same people Kilpatrick does and I agree with his assessment of career services. (And I know his/her secret identity...)

I really wish our OCS would publish more information than they do. It's obnoxious how opaque the process is here.

and I know who you are, saintclarence 8)

Re: Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 4:28 pm
by Kilpatrick
.

Re: Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 4:30 pm
by oldtimer
blurbz wrote:Hahaha.

Well, for what it's worth, I know all of the same people Kilpatrick does and I agree with his assessment of career services. (And I know his/her secret identity...)

I really wish our OCS would publish more information than they do. It's obnoxious how opaque the process is here.

and I know who you are, saintclarence 8)

Why do you think that is? (The process being so "opaque," that is?)

I'm just curious why other schools I'm dealing with (in terms of admissions, anyway) seem to have so much SPECIFIC data regarding how many people are going to which firms, etc, while at the same time UIUC SEEMS to have done a great job with getting their folks into these firms... but then seems to be unclear as to the hows, whens, wheres, and even WHY's as to those hirings.

It would actually be nice to be able to have a really solid "game plan" at the beginning of my 1L year or at leaset an idea of the process.

Re: Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 4:38 pm
by oldtimer
Kilpatrick wrote:
bjsesq wrote:
SaintClarence27 wrote:I wish I knew who Kilpatrick is.
:|

Sounded threatening.
Haha, I'm sure he's just curious. At least I hope it's not because he wants to beat me up IRL for besmirching the good name of career services.

:lol: Besmirching...
Funny word...

Love it.

Re: Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 4:39 pm
by blurbz
oldtimer wrote:
blurbz wrote:Hahaha.

Well, for what it's worth, I know all of the same people Kilpatrick does and I agree with his assessment of career services. (And I know his/her secret identity...)

I really wish our OCS would publish more information than they do. It's obnoxious how opaque the process is here.

and I know who you are, saintclarence 8)

Why do you think that is? (The process being so "opaque," that is?)

I'm just curious why other schools I'm dealing with (in terms of admissions, anyway) seem to have so much SPECIFIC data regarding how many people are going to which firms, etc, while at the same time UIUC SEEMS to have done a great job with getting their folks into these firms... but then seems to be unclear as to the hows, whens, wheres, and even WHY's as to those hirings.

It would actually be nice to be able to have a really solid "game plan" at the beginning of my 1L year or at leaset an idea of the process.
I guess it's not the PROCESS that's opaque; I misspoke. It's just that they don't keep the same types of data that other schools do. My experiences with my personal career counselor have been pretty good: She writes back within about 20 minutes of me emailing her and is always willing to help. I know that Kilpatrick has a different counselor who is significantly less responsive (but I'll let Kilpatrick tell those stories if he wants to do so). Like Kilpatrick said, though, the office was just revamped so hopefully it continues to get better.

I'd just like a list of where people are, what their GPA was, etc. The requirements given by firms are notoriously unhelpful and I find it annoying that OCS doesn't try to supplement that data with their own.

Re: Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 6:02 pm
by Chupavida
.

Re: Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 6:04 pm
by specialblend35
Incoming 2L transfer here. I'm in the process of putting together my schedule, and was wondering if anyone had input on who the must-take, rock star professors are at UIUC, and on the other hand which ones to avoid. Thanks in advance!

Re: Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 6:26 pm
by blurbz
specialblend35 wrote:Incoming 2L transfer here. I'm in the process of putting together my schedule, and was wondering if anyone had input on who the must-take, rock star professors are at UIUC, and on the other hand which ones to avoid. Thanks in advance!
School range/gpa? (I'm wondering where our transfer class comes from!)

What markets are you focusing your job search on? Are you coming to my school to steal my jerbs?

I kid, I kid (but seriously, what markets?????).



.....
No, really--
Welcome to Illinois. I liked almost all of my professors this year. I would recommend taking Smith (He's the dean and I don't think he's actually teaching anything this semester..) and Tabb (He's teaching bankruptcy). I also liked Lash, but I know many people who weren't as big of fans of his teaching style. I'm pretty sure he's teaching Conlaw II or III this semester...


If you need anything else, we're all pretty easy going here.