POLL: MIchigan vs. UW vs. UCLA for WA/OR/NorCal Forum

[amputatedbrain]

I had a thread like this, and I noticed a few others, but they didn't have a poll and I'm really curious as to what the voting will look like. Obviously HYS trumps all, but this assuming that most people just don't get there.

[mattymatt]

I'm at UW undergrad, and as far as I can tell, the Law School here has a pretty good lock on the PNW market. The only competition in Seattle itself is Seattle U, which isn't really competition at all.

As far as the rest of the region goes, in Oregon, you'll have Lewis & Clark to contend with, which has a pretty good stronghold on the Portland market. I don't think you'd lose out to any U of O students w/ a degree from UW. There are too many CA schools for me to even begin to guess how UW stacks up against them, but as far as the PNW goes, UW will put you in a good situation to get a good job in the region.

[SamSeaborn2016]

Just to get a rough idea you may want to check the NALP directories for the cities you'd like to work in such as Portland and Seattle. Off the cuff I would say Michigan followed by UW and then UCLA for Oregon and Washington. I'm not sure but If you want to work in California I'd swap UW and UCLA. UW is the strongest school in the NW and seems to dominate the local big firms (such as Perkins Coie) but it still not really pushing into T14 prestige.

[amputatedbrain]

I didn't include the Oregon schools because it's so obvious where they fall in the hierarchy, and if those are your target schools none of the above 3 are probably much of an option

[Chicklets]

Just to get a rough idea you may want to check the NALP directories for the cities you'd like to work in such as Portland and Seattle.

I've seen the suggestion to check the NALP directories before, but not sure how to get information about where the partners/associates went to school... I can find only where they did OCI's. Am I searching incorrectly?

[UCInfo]

Different markets, so you're asking at least two different questions. In particular, I'm referring to NW market vs. Northern California. UW is a great school for NW placement. But Michigan is better than the other two schools if you want San Francisco/Northern California, in my opinion.

[Anonymous Loser]

Sort of difficult to evaluate this without knowing your residency status for tuition purposes.

[stuffnuff]

I would say Michigan followed by UW and then UCLA for Oregon and Washington.

^^^ agreed. If you're looking at Cali, I would definitely take a hard look at UCLA because it has a lot of West Coast strength in general and especially within its own state. But, in general, I'd say Mich is the one to go with imo.

EDIT: If you're just looking for the most portability on the West Coast in general, I think it's going to be Mich > UCLA > UW

[amputatedbrain]

I was intentionally broad both because mobility is something that's important to me personally, and also I've seen different threads comparing UW vs. UCLA and UW vs. Michigan, so I wanted it to be as helpful as possible to the most people. Tuition doesn't matter for me, so I didn't include it. My two main concerns are mobility and career options.

[Helmholtz]

Tuition doesn't matter for me, so I didn't include it. My two main concerns are mobility and career options.

Then I would say Michigan is the easy choice. It is by far the superior school, places well in California, has great mobility, and will more than likely open many more doors than UW or UCLA.

[sccjnthn]

Does anybody know how UVA and Penn compare to Michigan for Nor Cal? I noticed that UVA has about half the number of California placements as Michigan but don't know how much of that is self-selection.

[UCInfo]

I agree with Heimholtz. If you kept the options broad because you want mobility and career options, the obvious choice is Michigan.

UCLA does well in California, but its real strength is Southern California. People who don't live in California may not realize how different Northern and Southern California are. I've asked SF-based lawyers the Michigan/UCLA question for Northern California before, and they've given the advantage to Michigan.

[Helmholtz]

Does anybody know how UVA and Penn compare to Michigan for Nor Cal? I noticed that UVA has about half the number of California placements as Michigan but don't know how much of that is self-selection.

I'd say the schools are about equal academically. If there's one of them that feels right for you, then go for that, but otherwise, I would go to the school that would have the larger alumni base in the area. If I felt the same about all of them and wanted to go to NYC, I would go to Penn. If I felt the same about all of them and wanted to go to DC, then I would go to UVA. If I felt the same about all of them and wanted to go to California, then I would go to Michigan.

[bees]

FWIW OP:

I'm from Seattle and imagine at some point I'd like to return here or to CA where I did my UG and I'll be going to Michigan. I also applied to UW and UCLA but withdrew those applications after I was accepted. Portability was the main factor in my decision (also ZOMG T10).

[Helmholtz]

I agree with Heimholtz. If you kept the options broad because you want mobility and career options, the obvious choice is Michigan.

UCLA does well in California, but its real strength is Southern California. People who don't live in California may not realize how different Northern and Southern California are. I've asked SF-based lawyers the Michigan/UCLA question for Northern California before, and they've given the advantage to Michigan.

I've never visited California, but I got the opportunity to talk to an attorney who does work there while he was visiting in my area. We talked a little about LS and I was really impressed by how highly he said the legal community in his area holds UMich Law. Again, that's just one attorney and I'm not acting like he speaks for everybody in CA. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I think it's something like one in five UM Law grads head out west for CA. Over time, that has to account for a pretty considerable alumni base.

[im_blue]

Tuition doesn't matter for me, so I didn't include it. My two main concerns are mobility and career options.

Then I would say Michigan is the easy choice. It is by far the superior school, places well in California, has great mobility, and will more than likely open many more doors than UW or UCLA.

+1. Michigan outplaces UCLA/USC in Norcal, and likely outplaces UW in the PNW as well.

[Chicklets]

+1. Michigan outplaces UCLA/USC in Norcal, and likely outplaces UW in the PNW as well.

Sorry if everyone else knows this, but how do you find that kind of information? What is the source to figure out where attorneys at a particular law firm, or public institution for that matter, graduated?

[Helmholtz]

What is the source to figure out where attorneys at a particular law firm, or public institution for that matter, graduated?

Often bigger firms will let you search attorneys by which law school they went to. For example, Morrison & Foerster, the largest firm based in CA lets you do this. There are a total of 37 UM Law grads working for the firm, and 21 of them work in one of MoFo's CA offices, and 14 work in the SF/Palo Alto market, which is more than UCLA. There are a total of 44 UW Law grads working for the firm, and 12 of them work in one of the CA offices. UVA, a peer of UMich, has a total of 20 grads working at the firm, with 9 of them working in CA. Obviously, these are just small sample sizes, but once you start working your way through more and more of the firms, you start to get a better idea.