How well does Hastings place in Bay Area BigLaw? Forum

[Jockin Jay-Z]

Yeah, that's basically my question. I'd have to take on a debt of about $45k (parents would help out a little with tuition, no COL as I could live with them, merit scholarship) to go to Hastings. I'm trying to figure out if the chances at Bay Area BigLaw and the associated income are good enough to pass up an opportunity to graduate debt-free from Cardozo--my parents would pay COL and I have a guaranteed full-tuition scholarship. (I'd be fine working in New York, although it is not ideal.) My other option right now is a generous scholarship from WUSTL, but where I would still have to take up a debt of probably $55k. I have no desire to work in the midwest.

I applied late so I'm still waiting for decisions from T14/18 schools, any of which I would pick over these three choices, so hopefully this remains a hypothetical.

What do you guys think?

[bconly]

Q: How well does Hastings place in Bay Area BigLaw?

A: Not as well as Berkeley, Stanford, Davis, UCLA, or USC

[BoomBoom1986]

Q: How well does Hastings place in Bay Area BigLaw?

A: Not as well as Berkeley, Stanford, Davis, UCLA, or USC

Really? Hastings places just as well as Davis (both schools send the same percentage to BigLaw, but a lot of Davis grads to work in Sacramento) in the Bay (maybe even a bit better) and in NorCal it's just as good as USC. Boalt and Stanford, though, are superior for Bay Area BigLaw, however.

Anyway, OP, as someone who has done some research (and who is considering Hastinsg as well), UCH is great for the Bay Area. It's a solid school, but more importabntly, ther alumni network is huge and well entrenched there. I talked to an attorney practicing there who even claimed that it is as good as USC (and maybe even UCLA) for San Francisco, especially. Take a look at some of the firms and see, too.

[fortissimo]

Q: How well does Hastings place in Bay Area BigLaw?

A: Not as well as Berkeley, Stanford, Davis, UCLA, or USC

Not as well as all of the top 14, UCLA, or USC. Biglaw firms in SF recruit from most, if not all of the top 14, at OCI and they already have pretty high GPA reqs from these schools as SF is a pretty competitive market.

But I think Hastings does place better than Davis. If you really want biglaw though, I wouldn't bet on Hastings. I wouldn't be surprised if you needed to be top 10% to have a solid shot ITE. Luckily though 45k isn't a crazy amount of debt, so even if you don't get biglaw from Hastings (and you probably won't), you will be okay.