Need help on T3 / T4 Schools. Forum

[shump92]

Hitting T2 will at least make legal employment likely for you. From T3/T4 you are facing an uphill battle.

I don't even think this is true.

OP is a philosophy major that wants IP, and is looking at regional schools where (s)he has no ties

Going to a T2 won't solve these problems

also a visa holder that only big firms usually support.

fair enough. My main point was that OP should not be considering any schools at which employment itself would be contingent on graduating top 5/10% of class.

So OP, you might want to reach out to any Canadian law students/lawyers to get a sense for what type of school would get you into the comfortable range.

[Mack.Hambleton]

Don't go please dear god

[MaestroK]

Don't go please dear god

You guys make me look like a guy who decides to go to law school after watching full episodes of Suits. haha.

But i guess i am not being realistic right now. I really want to study law though.

[MaestroK]

Hitting T2 will at least make legal employment likely for you. From T3/T4 you are facing an uphill battle.

I don't even think this is true.

OP is a philosophy major that wants IP, and is looking at regional schools where (s)he has no ties

Going to a T2 won't solve these problems

also a visa holder that only big firms usually support.

fair enough. My main point was that OP should not be considering any schools at which employment itself would be contingent on graduating top 5/10% of class.

So OP, you might want to reach out to any Canadian law students/lawyers to get a sense for what type of school would get you into the comfortable range.

I appreciate your advice. IP / Patent Law has been my thing, but to be honest, i do not know which law to focus on. I just want to avoid criminal law. I have always thought that i will be able to figure out which law to focus on and be comfortable at after 1L. There are certain laws that i want to avoid and certain laws that i find interestin, but i will never know until i actually study them during 1L.

Please advise me if the way i layout my thoughts or goals do not apply in real world.

[Johann]

Nobody cares what you do as long as you have seen the LST score reports. Nobody here wants to be your mommy and tell you what you should do as long as you understand the risk.

If you want to study law, go do it. How are you not being realistic? You're the only one who can weigh the risk of the stats against your desire to study law/be a lawyer because only you know your desire.

[xael]

people who major in philosophy don't get to say their goal is IP

[Tom Joad]

Ole Miss Go Rebs!

[stego]

Ole Miss Go Rebs!

OP said Mississippi College, not Ole Miss.

[MaestroK]

Nobody cares what you do as long as you have seen the LST score reports. Nobody here wants to be your mommy and tell you what you should do as long as you understand the risk.

If you want to study law, go do it. How are you not being realistic? You're the only one who can weigh the risk of the stats against your desire to study law/be a lawyer because only you know your desire.

You are definitely right. I guess that is what i wanted to hear. Though, I really find advices here helpful.

So retaking the LSAT and targetting regionally strong T2 schools would be my best option right now.

Perhaps getting 165~170 range would increase my possibility to T2 schools? (and possibly able to somewhat cover the disadvantages i have such as no reigonal ties, visas, and etc) ?

** and yes, i agree that spending another year to boost my lsat score will be much much easier than being top 5% ~ 10% of class in schools i have listed above.

[Johann]

cool sounds like a good plan. see ya in a year.

[MaestroK]

people who major in philosophy don't get to say their goal is IP

I understand what you mean. As i said, i chose IP / Patent law based on my experience with laywers who are in the field.

After all, we get to choose which law to focus on. Right? Just because i majored Philo. does not mean i should limit myself to certain areas of law.

It should be risky to think about IP as a philo major with no science background. But for now, nothing else comes up in my mind.

I will have to find that out once i test the water.

[chuckbass]

people who major in philosophy don't get to say their goal is IP

I understand what you mean. As i said, i chose IP / Patent law based on my experience with laywers who are in the field.

After all, we get to choose which law to focus on. Right? Just because i majored Philo. does not mean i should limit myself to certain areas of law.

It should be risky to think about IP as a philo major with no science background. But for now, nothing else comes up in my mind.

I will have to find that out once i test the water.

If nothing else comes to mind, then how are you so sure you want to study law?

[xael]

people who major in philosophy don't get to say their goal is IP

I understand what you mean. As i said, i chose IP / Patent law based on my experience with laywers who are in the field.

After all, we get to choose which law to focus on. Right? Just because i majored Philo. does not mean i should limit myself to certain areas of law.

It should be risky to think about IP as a philo major with no science background. But for now, nothing else comes up in my mind.

I will have to find that out once i test the water.

I mean, for a lot of IP stuff no, you literally can't do it because you aren't patent eligible.

And for the soft IP stuff, you aren't going to have that option from the schools you are at.

You realize what IP lawyers do, right? And why they usually have science backgrounds?

[BigZuck]

You don't really get to test out interests as a 1L, you're stuck taking torts like every other law student in America.

Are you ESL? I think that plus needing a work visa will make for an extremely uphill battle, not to mention the caliber of school you're talking about.

[MaestroK]

people who major in philosophy don't get to say their goal is IP

I understand what you mean. As i said, i chose IP / Patent law based on my experience with laywers who are in the field.

After all, we get to choose which law to focus on. Right? Just because i majored Philo. does not mean i should limit myself to certain areas of law.

It should be risky to think about IP as a philo major with no science background. But for now, nothing else comes up in my mind.

I will have to find that out once i test the water.

I mean, for a lot of IP stuff no, you literally can't do it because you aren't patent eligible.

And for the soft IP stuff, you aren't going to have that option from the schools you are at.

You realize what IP lawyers do, right? And why they usually have science backgrounds?

I thought that attending Schools with Certificates of Concentration on IP law could help me to practice soft IP stuff after graduation.

I guess i was wrong. I wll do more research.

[MaestroK]

people who major in philosophy don't get to say their goal is IP

I understand what you mean. As i said, i chose IP / Patent law based on my experience with laywers who are in the field.

After all, we get to choose which law to focus on. Right? Just because i majored Philo. does not mean i should limit myself to certain areas of law.

It should be risky to think about IP as a philo major with no science background. But for now, nothing else comes up in my mind.

I will have to find that out once i test the water.

If nothing else comes to mind, then how are you so sure you want to study law?

I have taken few law related courses (U of Toronto where i got my undergrad. don't have pre-law) and i have really enjoyed them.

I very much enjoyed reading / stduying legal precedents and case laws

[stego]

Soft IP/copyright law is a much smaller field than patent law/hard IP. You are very unlikely to get a soft IP job from a T3 or T4.

You can't do patent prosecution because you're not eligible to sit for the patent bar.

I might be wrong but I think theoretically you could do patent litigation, but without a hard science or engineering background I don't think anyone would hire you.

You went to a good undergrad. Maybe try to get a good job and get some work experience, if you don't already have one?

Think a bit more about what kind of law you would want to practice. The 1L curriculum is more or less the same standard set of courses at every law school in America. You don't get to take electives until 2L and 3L.

[MaestroK]

Soft IP/copyright law is a much smaller field than patent law/hard IP. You are very unlikely to get a soft IP job from a T3 or T4.

You can't do patent prosecution because you're not eligible to sit for the patent bar.

I might be wrong but I think theoretically you could do patent litigation, but without a hard science or engineering background I don't think anyone would hire you.

You went to a good undergrad. Maybe try to get a good job and get some work experience, if you don't already have one?

Think a bit more about what kind of law you would want to practice. The 1L curriculum is more or less the same standard set of courses at every law school in America. You don't get to take electives until 2L and 3L.

Thank you very much for your advice. All of the comments here are valuable and helpful.

Now i should seriously start from the beginning and plan my way to legal career more carefully and precisely.

I will first ace my LAST, apply to T1/T2 and then comeback here.

Again, thank you all !!

[pancakes3]

There are 2 graduates each year for every job opening so though in theory you can pick and choose what area of law you're interested in, you also have to factor into the competition. Going to a T1/T2 school without a science background, hoping to do soft IP is more or less a pipe dream.

http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/ ... yers/2014/

Golden Gate. 35% unemployed. 1 person out of the class of 2014 got into a firm that would even have a soft IP practice. So transfer.

https://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/Std5 ... t_2014.pdf

1 person out of the class of 2017 transferred into Boalt - and it's effectively a 0% chance that person a) got an offer b) did IP c) did IP without a science background

So basically, you need to figure out where you want to live, and what you want to do before committing a year of your life to studying the LSAT much less 3 more years of your life going to law school for a dream that is unobtainable.

for your benefit: http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2 ... el-income/

[stego]

did soft IP without a science background

I mean there are very very few soft IP jobs, but why would you need a science background to do soft IP?

[pancakes3]

did soft IP without a science background

I mean there are very very few soft IP jobs, but why would you need a science background to do soft IP?

Good catch. Meant to say "IP without a science background" or "soft IP" and combined the two.

[celtslaw]

OP, even with your current numbers you could definitely get into T2s, and probably a couple regionally strong ones (Villanova comes to mind). I have no idea why on earth you're aiming so low. You need to do more research before almost throwing yourself into the chasm that is T3/T4. Don't go to Cooley- that's absolutely absurd advice, especially for someone with your numbers. Sure, your GPA is low, but a lot of T2s would kill for your LSAT since applicants and median scores at T2s have been dropping.

If you have no geographical preference and do not wish to retake, here are your best bets:

Cardozo
Brooklyn
Villanova
Georgia St
Michigan St
Rutgers (both campuses)
St. John's
Syracuse
Temple
UConn
UDenver
UNM
Pitt