Top Law Schools

I am interested in going into human rights law and have been checking out a number of schools. Besides the obvious HYS, NYU, and Columbia (I've heard that Columbia has a more corporate drive - though most schools do - and people going into PI or human rights tend to feel marginalized - does anyone else agree/disagree?), I have also read (and checked out sites) for Minnesota, American, Northeastern, UC Hastings, Cornell, Michigan, Georgetown, Boston College, and Fordham.

I haven't seen Northwestern recommended for human rights on the boards, but was very impressed with their clinics, programs, HR journal, and possible LLM in IHR. Any thoughts? I know that they are a very good school. How would a degree in their program stand up for going into HR (in terms of employment, networking, experience, etc.)?

The consensus is that human rights is close to impossible to get into given how competitive the jobs are. I imagine Northwestern will give you a similar chance as other top schools, which is to say, a very small one, although with the journal and the JD/LLM it could be better than others.

One TLS poster who seems to be the most knowledgeable about this stuff is chris0805. You may want to PM him or search through his posts, they're always very informative.

I think it depends on where you see yourself ending up being employed. I know NYU is basically THE place for human rights employers, but I honestly think you'd be fine with any t-14... only the cream of the crop are selected to be the minions of neoliberalism.

Edit; What I mean is do you want to work for amnesty international and help Africans who are being brutalized by dictatorships in the pay of multinational corporations? Or do you want to work for those less sexy "humans" whose "rights" are being violated by slum lords and employers in urban American cities? If the former, go for the best school you can. For the latter, pick a school know for its dedication to public interest (i.e. NYU).