Lewis & Clark Law Forum

[A@M_or_bust]

So, here are my stats,

155 LSAT- I took the test three times. I took a good and comprehensive class, although my score improved on practice tests(160-162 consistently) not so on the actual test day. I do not feel that retaking will lead to a better score.

3.3 GPA at UT Austin - 3.8 and 3.9 my junior and senior years. I had significant improvement from a very bad sophomore year.

I'm also Hispanic.

Waitlistsd at Boston College, SMU, Cardozo, American. (I feel uncomfortable sneaking into one of these schools and paying sticker), have yet to hear from Tulane although I feel I have an outside chance of getting in at sticker. Only other school I've gotten into is Texas A&M at 45% scholarship which I posted about earlier today and I very much appreciated the huge amount of feedback unanimously saying not to consider it. Too risky, too new, not good enough. Understood.

I have 18k per year scholarship at L&C, making tuition about 25k.

I'm interested in criminal law, as well as litigation, potentially litgiation at a big law firm although I realize that at L&C this is quite unlikely. I am most concerned with getting just a decent 70K job in general, I know I want to be a lawyer and that sort of salary range is fine with me for the foreseeable future.

So, I visited L&C and and I really loved the place. I loved Portland. I am perfectly fine with starting a career in Portland and Seattle. I've only heard good things from alum, every enjoys the quality of life. But honestly, the stats are not great and although the rankings are not important really, they L&C has slipped in the last five years or so and is now behind U of Oregon. The alumni network in Portland and to some extent, Seattle, seemed strong so I suppose I want to know for lets say if you have a solid rank is it safe to say there's a good chance you can get a decent 70k job? I realize big law is probably limited to like the top 10%. And since L&c dropped behind Oregon in rank, is this something to worry about? Is there a reason for this? I would just appreciate a general idea of the prospects at Lewis & Clark. I like the idea that there's not many schools in the NW and I just really did love the school itself.

I am a 1L here at UT Law. Message me if you want to talk about your prospects. Friends don't let friends go to Lewis & Clarke.

[NickAwesome]

From this thread, it seems like the clear consensus is that taking on 6 figure debt and coming from out of state to attend Lewis & Clark or any Oregon school is a foolish plan. But as a life-long Oregonian who wants to stay in Oregon and practice law in Oregon, what is the best option for someone with genuine ties to the area/legal market and wants to stay in the area?

Is going to the University of Washington (the highest ranked school in the PNW) really going to better help me find an attorney job in Oregon than attending either L+C, Oregon or Willamette?

Is attending an Ivy League or even a T-14, and the potential significant debt that comes with that really going to better help me find an attorney job in Oregon? At that point, it would seem like it would be better to settle somewhere else in the country. If you really want to make the big bucks and work in big law, why would you come to Oregon where Big Law is nearly non-existent? I worked at a top "big law firm" in Portland for 3 years, they had about 100 attorneys. Starting associates started at 110k, seems like best-case scenario for the 1% graduates.

It's pretty clear from Oregon school employment numbers that Oregon is a incredibly difficult market to break into whether you are a local or out of state student. And by the philosophy of this website, all the advice here is clearly aimed at directing people to giving themselves the best possible chance of finding a long-term attorney job out of school. Getting a high LSAT score and applying to a top school and getting near or close to full tuition is the optimal outcome of the debt/employment chance ratio. It's pretty obvious that attending a PNW school to find a PNW job does not fit into anyone's optimal outcomes or would be recommended as a good approach over attending a different regional school and finding a regional job in other parts of the county.

So I guess I'm asking what is the optimal direction for a local Oregonian. People are generally directed here to go to a school in the region they wish to practice. Is the PNW an exception to this rule?

[BigZuck]

If you're from Oregon and want to practice in Oregon, just go to the best local school for as cheap as possible. If you're good with the likely outcomes and the price is acceptable then knock yourself out.

It's not rocket surgery

[cron1834]

There are about 25 SAs that open up in Portland each year and pay market or close (market in Portland being $110 or $105) . If you want one of them, I'd suggesting going T14; you'll still have an uphill battle, but at least you won't have to be top 5% just to get a callback. If your grades are basically decent at a T14, you'll get a sniff.

If you don't want one of those jobs, and just want to be like your typical $50k a year lawyer, then go to whichever is cheaper between L & C and U of O. If they're tied I'd tiebreak in favor of L&C just b/c it's literally in Portland instead of 2 hours away.