For those of you who have an idea of what type of law you want to go in to, how are you evaluating schools in regards to the overall ranking and the specialty ranking? For example, would one be wise, assuming they want to go into health care law, to choose Loyola Chicago over Iowa (both at sticker, for the purposes of this thread)?
Are there certain areas of law in which specialty matters MORE? For example, perhaps if someone wants to go into IP they are better off at a school that has a high ranking IP program, whereas maybe someone who wants to go into environemental law it doesn't really matter where they go, aside from overall ranking?
Finally, should someone even CONSIDER specialty rankings in their decision, being that most of us probably don't have a great idea of what area we want to practice in?
I guess this all ties into the thought in the back of my head about certain areas of law that are considered to be growing or booming right now. I am wondering if it would be wise to choose a school that has a high ranked program in an area of law that is considered growing... not sure what areas those are though. I know IP is going to be in high demand, and I have heard health care law is also expected to grow. Anything else?
Sorry for the lack of coherence haha...
Specialty Rank v Rank Forum
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beesknees
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Re: Specialty Rank v Rank
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Last edited by beesknees on Sun Dec 05, 2010 12:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Blindmelon
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Re: Specialty Rank v Rank
From everything I know and have read this is a resounding no, but with a caveat. There is no reason (barring $) to take any T1/T2 school over the T14 due to some specialty ranking. In fact, I would ignore the specialty rankings all together (as they are BS), and look into the actual specializations and reputations of schools WITHIN the tier of schools you're aiming at (T3, T14, T30, etc).
For example, if you have numbers for only T20-30 schools and want to do health law, BU shines in a big way and I would advise taking that into consideration... same scenario but you want to work in a national security field? Take GW... same scenario again and you want to specialize in IP? Take GW or BU.
For example, if you have numbers for only T20-30 schools and want to do health law, BU shines in a big way and I would advise taking that into consideration... same scenario but you want to work in a national security field? Take GW... same scenario again and you want to specialize in IP? Take GW or BU.
