Top Law Schools

Didn't see one started yet, and my application just went Complete today. Maybe if we get enough interest the mod's might see about getting a profile up for the school too Good luck everyone!

Not applying, but this is my hometown law school Good luck OP!

App went complete 10/10. Anyone know of students who commute from the southern end of Portland?

un-vordox wrote:App went complete 10/10. Anyone know of students who commute from the southern end of Portland?

Yes, you can easily commute to Salem from southern Portland if you are used to commuting in any big city. Depending on which suburb you choose, it should take about an hour. Alot of Salem attorneys commute from the Pearl District in downtown Portland.

I've heard from friends that alot of people are choosing Wilsonville now. You can easily get into Portland and Salem.

Thanks for the heads up. My fiance wants to move to Portland, so I may end up being one of the commuters.

My wife is originally from West Linn. I'm applying to L&C too, but I'm pretty sure Willamette is in my future. An hour commute isn't too bad.

I'm applying to L&C too

+1

Complete today. My guess from LSN is that is the last movement I'll see on this app until next year February

I just went complete 11-1. It looks like everyone is applying to pretty much the same schools here...we should just make a "Pacific Northwest" forum ha ha ha. I feel like we are the bastard child region on this site it seems like unless you want to got to school on the east coast or California then most of the posters on this site think your school is gonna suck and you should just give up on practicing law but I know UO, L&C, SU, Wil, are all pretty respected in the region.

UO, L&C, SU, Wil, are all pretty respected in the region

Yeah, the funny thing is people will rant about schools not in NY/New England/CA, but then talk about applying to the best school in the market where you want to work. Each one of the schools listed above has a pretty good niche in the PNW.

atcushman wrote:I feel like we are the bastard child region on this site it seems like unless you want to got to school on the east coast or California then most of the posters on this site think your school is gonna suck and you should just give up on practicing law.

Well, many of the people on this site are only looking at "Big Law". I currently live in Las Vegas, where there are no "Big Law" firms, and there are plenty of opportunities to make a decent living. Further, I have more of a public interest slant, so "Big Law" doesn't exactly interest me. I'm glad to hear that others think that some of the posters on this site get a little ridiculous.

I agree that people often lose perspective on these things! Growing up in Salem, Oregon with a mom who worked for the courts, I always thought Willamette was the end-all-be-all of good law schools. Most of the best attorneys went there and a fair number of the best attorneys in the state/region. I knew solid judges who went to T-14 schools, but the best judge is and was always a Willamette grad. If I want to emulate someone in my legal career, it would be him (and I know plenty of grads from more highly-ranked law schools).

I know the economy is rough, but there is still plenty of high-paying or high-reward legal careers outside of Big Law for people who do well at places like Willamette. Just because Oregon isn't New York, doesn't mean it doesn't need attorneys or have ones that make a very nice living or have a great impact on social justice. And being a 3rd generation Oregonian, I am very confident that Willamette Law grads continue to be highly regarded throughout the state, regardless of what those on TLS think.

This thread is really refreshing to read. I've always dreamed of living in the Pacific Northwest (I'm from the Midwest) and have always known I wanted to move there after undergrad, so I guess now is my chance. It gets discouraging reading how poor the job market is but I have zero desire to continue living in Chicago and could never see myself in NY, CA, etc.

So, to get to my question, which of all of the schools in OR or WA have the best employment prospects? If it helps, I'd really like to go into criminal law. (I know a lot of the schools are known for environmental law, but what about criminal law?)

I know this might not be the best place to post this, but I figure it'll get slammed a lot less here than moving it to a more general thread.

Thanks!

I posted this link in the L&C thread too, but it's relevant here:

--LinkRemoved--

Heading up for a campus tour and meeting with an admissions representative on Friday as part of a family trip. I'll try and take some pictures and upload them on Monday for those that are curious about the campus.

Please do!

un-vordox wrote:Please do!

+1

I wanted to re-post this from the L&C thread because it makes me consider Willamette more stongly (after L&C). This is a TLS user's spreadsheet of SA's for large Portland firms. There is a total by degree granting LS on the right side.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... nItVU90VkE

Hey everyone,

So, I visited the campus, received a tour from a very energetic and enthusiastic 2L, and sat down with an admissions counselor over the weekend. I have several pictures and am happy to post them, but need someone to explain to me how posting images works on TLS (please message me the instructions if interested, thanks).

As far as the campus and people....I'm sold. There are only ~150 seats for each class, which makes it pretty competitive, especially for a TTT school. My guess is that their TTT status comes more from the fact that they drop the bottom 10% after 1L, which means that ~15 of your classmates won't be around for 2L (and I believe the student said they do again after 2L, but need to get clarification on that because I think it is abnormal for that to occur after the first summer). It appears as though networking comes easy at this school as career services has a strong presence and they seem well-liked. In my opinion if you can't work an angle while going to school in a small state capitol, you're not really trying.

The law school is only one building, but it has a very collegiate atmosphere with all the technological bells and whistles of most campuses that I've seen. The undergraduate campus is small, but adorable, and has a creek running through it. You can take a stroll to the downtown area of Salem which isn't metropolitan by any stretch, but again has all the amenities that you could possibly need while going to school.

Again, pictures will come whether I figure it out on my own, or someone explains it to me. But, if anyone has any specific questions, please feel free to message me.

P.S. - I visited Lewis & Clark as well and won't be posting a review as I don't want to be bombarded with questions...but I will say that L&C was very institutional by comparison

Thanks for the report! I haven't posted a pic so I can't help you there, but I'd like to see them when you have it all figured out.

How are they with scholarships?

Ok...here goes nothing with the images...I know everyone probably wants to see the library, but you'll have to trust me that there is plenty of natural light as none of my photos really came out, sorry!

Entrance to the school:





Lobby area:



The Great Hall - supposedly about 1/2 the 1L classes are conducted here:



One of the several smaller classrooms (a lot of natural light even though it doesn't look like it)



Student Lounge area:







Around the undergrad campus:











And, finally, the Capitol Complex viewed from the Quad:

Ha! Sorry for the size of those pics!

msu1077 wrote:Ha! Sorry for the size of those pics!

Thank you for posting those!

awesome thank you!!!!! I think I am gonna head down there and check them (and L&C) out at the end of this month