Top Law Schools

DC is IUB's second strongest market after the Midwest. They sent us the placement numbers a while ago but I can't seem to find them. Here's a good idea of how important a market it is though: The school scheduled a spring break trip for interested students to D.C. and New York for this semester.

So one last thing on employment that is a bit more unique to IU is the Legal professions program.

For those who are unfamiliar with the program, they break us into practice groups of 6 or 7 at the beginning of the year, give us a 2L or 3L mentor. Then 2nd semester we have leg professions class which in turn has us working in our groups together, and learning skills beyond just doing well at law school but also excelling in skill sets for the legal profession.

They are also working on a 2L class and 3L class on network connections and career choices

Now I don't how much the system is really going to help, but some of the faculty are really committed to making it work. Henderson has done a lot of work with firms, so in that sense maybe the word is getting out now that IU is an up and comer. Hoffman really was big into the program even though he is not involved, so its not just the directly involved faculty that think this is a big deal.

Now this is all just speculative statements, but professor Steele (I know Ive mentioned him like 5 times in this thread) thinks this system is a huge deal, and it will significantly help IU grads to firms. I find this pretty interesting because Steele isn't just a professor he was a hiring partner, so if he buys into the system being that important, then others likely will as well.

I know there has been a lot of talk about Northwestern's requirement of employment before admission has helped them, Steele thinks this is comparable to that requirement if not better, because its actually related to the legal field.

Now thats a pretty one sided part of the story im sure, and I know I am biased. I also know some people don't enjoy the Legal prof system, and don't see it as helpful, so maybe some of the other guys on here can give some more balanced opinions.

How's the semester going for all of you 1L's? Any news on summer employment?

I know I have already posted my employment stuff, but I will say most of my friends now either have jobs or have solid interviews.

I only know a few people with paying gigs, and most are small firms that basically are minimum wage.

the main areas of employment i have seen are PI, Judges, DA's, or small firms.

Ive also been a bit surprised by location, at least subjectively the people that i know that are staying in Bloomington are mainly from Indiana or own a house here or have families, whereas a lot of my friends from out of state are going home or by relatives to get jobs. Probably in light of the lack of a real legal community directly in Bloomington. I don't wanna say specific locations since its not about me, but I have found quite a few people getting jobs in the east coast and the West coast.

I know a lot of people have been stressed with the job search though, I feel pretty bad for them, and Im glad that things are really starting to pick up now.

Just a recommendation for 0L's for next year, get started on employment during break. I waited till the last week of break and I felt that I missed out on a few opportunities because of it. It sucks cuz you don't get grades back till late Jan early Feb, but the apps will be too late at that point.

The rest of the stuff this semester has been nice, its been easier to get stuff done with only 3 real classes this semester. This semester has really flown by so far.

Only 5 more LRW classes and we are done!

I'm still looking and interviewing, but I didn't send out applications until about 4 weeks ago. Most places I talked to said they would be making decisions in early April. Still sending out apps, but I got a late start. I wasn't expecting to have a job locked down within 3 weeks of applying anyways. Good luck to the other late applicants as well.

Yeah, I'm still looking and interviewing too. But I've admittedly been very lazy with the job search. It seems like the jobs were pretty much there for people who have decent grades and got on it early (judges and stuff, not biglaw obviously)

Any suggestions for decent housing? I'm looking for a 2 bedroom apartment- so far the apt management companies online look like they get pretty terrible reviews.

pieceofbeth wrote:Any suggestions for decent housing? I'm looking for a 2 bedroom apartment- so far the apt management companies online look like they get pretty terrible reviews.

haha, I was JUST coming here to ask this question!

+1

I seriously suspect that one of the apt owners went through and gave bad reviews on all their competitors.

Or maybe college students are just complete idiots i dunno.

My theory with reviews is that generally only really displeased people will write them- so they are all skewed.

I can't make it down to find an apartment until the very beginning of May- am I going to have a problem finding a decent one at that point?

That'd be pretty funny if they did that. I think that some places are more used to dealing with undergrads, and plenty of them are hard to deal with. Places dealing mostly with undergrads also don't have a lot of motivation to treat their tenants fairly either. They will fill up their spots with new people regardless.

It seems like half the school is at poolside. I've had zero problems with Covenanter Hills. They have a bunch of different sized apartments, are right by the mall, and a bus comes by all the time. http://www.renaissancerentals.com/conte ... rict-intro

If you are looking for 2 bedrooms, you might want to move away from campus a mile or two. Also, most places will give you a grad student discount because of how awesome you are.

You shouldn't have a problem with finding a place in May. I think that is when I came and looked, and nowhere I was looking at was filled up.

Veritas wrote:

pieceofbeth wrote:Any suggestions for decent housing? I'm looking for a 2 bedroom apartment- so far the apt management companies online look like they get pretty terrible reviews.

haha, I was JUST coming here to ask this question!

+1

Did I miss something? Veritas is back in??

narkizopoint wrote:

Veritas wrote:

pieceofbeth wrote:Any suggestions for decent housing? I'm looking for a 2 bedroom apartment- so far the apt management companies online look like they get pretty terrible reviews.

haha, I was JUST coming here to ask this question!

+1

Did I miss something? Veritas is back in??

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=111119

Campus Walk Apartments have quite a few different apartments by the law school that are pretty reasonably priced. Unfortunately, a lot of them are also unfurnished, which can be a really big problem if you're coming from a far away location.

As for employment, a lot of people I've talked to haven't been too good about looking for jobs, but the ones who have been on top of it are doing pretty well. I just got hired to do patent portfolio management at Cook Medical in Bloomington over the summer and it's paying a good amount. If you're coming to Indiana to do IP, you MUST MUST MUST join the IPA. While they have a bit of a patent bias, the people running this organization have given all of us incredible opportunities to network and find jobs. Also, Mark Janis works closely with the organization and from what I've gathered, he's a big deal in the field of IP.

Veritas, why would you choose IUB over UCI?

I would assume zero alums and no accreditation are factors.

Spoonmanners wrote:I would assume zero alums and no accreditation are factors.

And 120k worth of debt. It is beyond silly that the state of CA needs another law school (up to 30+) in the most saturated market in the united states.

As soon as Irvine students are paying CA's 45k 2011-2012 resident tuition (with 20k in living expenses easy), the medians are going to drop below UCH and UCD figures. For all the hype these types of new schools generate, I have yet to see a post-1970 school vault into the ranks of the prestigious.

I disagree, Orange county does not have a law school and could use one. I dont wanna get this thread off onto a tangent, but I personally think UCI is great.

kings84_wr wrote:I disagree, Orange county does not have a law school and could use one. I dont wanna get this thread off onto a tangent, but I personally think UCI is great.

Does every city and subdivision need a law school now? The southern CA law schools- UCLA, USC, Southwestern, Loyola, Pepperdine- are just not enough? How about all the T14 grads and northern CA grads?

The whole concept behind having the most financially insolvent governing body in America build yet more jd factories to feed a non-existent market is utterly absurd. Unless, this is a ploy to make money from law students. In that case, this is actually a pretty good idea, considering you might get these suckers to pay 50k a pop.

sorry if this has been answered already but can iu-b's degree take me to the new york/boston area? I received a significant scholarship and really have no desire to work in indy or the midwest. I'm still waiting on a few schools (fordham in particular and a BC waitlist). If those do not work out, would it be wise to retake and apply next cycle?

jrobby6 wrote:sorry if this has been answered already but can iu-b's degree take me to the new york/boston area? I received a significant scholarship and really have no desire to work in indy or the midwest. I'm still waiting on a few schools (fordham in particular and a BC waitlist). If those do not work out, would it be wise to retake and apply next cycle?

DC is the 2nd or 3rd biggest market for IU grads. I don't know how much farther North that tends to extend, but our numbers are better than I thought they would be in terms of mobility. You will need to do some foot work on your end, but I think that's true for anyone looking for a job. I'll try and get the actual numbers when I get a chance and let you know.

I wouldn't waste a year retaking the LSAT, if that's what you are referring to. Job placement isn't bad, and you can always transfer if you do well enough.

Well i don't wanna get the thread going too much on UCI, but I think if anything the schools that arent worth it are the Pepperdines, Loyolas, Chapmans, Whittiers of the world.

jrobby6 wrote:sorry if this has been answered already but can iu-b's degree take me to the new york/boston area? I received a significant scholarship and really have no desire to work in indy or the midwest. I'm still waiting on a few schools (fordham in particular and a BC waitlist). If those do not work out, would it be wise to retake and apply next cycle?

Are you looking for Big Law in Boston/NY? It would be pretty tough to get that from IUB.

kings84_wr wrote:Well i don't wanna get the thread going too much on UCI, but I think if anything the schools that arent worth it are the Pepperdines, Loyolas, Chapmans, Whittiers of the world.

To be fair, most the $40K+ schools past the top 50 have no reason to be in business, other than to put people into debt. I don't think it's so much UCI (friggin Chemerinsky runs the school, that's weird enough for it to be OK) it's just the slew of new schools that help pump more people into a market that is already over-saturated.

I think not enough people are aware that even top 5% at a T2 school can be struggling to get a job.

Isn't UCI still giving out half rides?

So the question is IU fully scholly vs. Irvine half? Or is it something else?

The non-accredited thing I wouldn't think would be an issue from a practical standpoint...