U of Washington - Career prospects outside of WA? Forum

[PetitBonaparte]

I know that UW is the top law school in the Pacific Northwest, but does anyone have any insight on how their grads do outside of this region? What are some factors that might give a UW Law grad a boost in applying for jobs on the East Coast, for example? Or are UW Law career prospects pretty much restricted by geography?

[QueueToo]

This may be relevant... http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=113523

[PetitBonaparte]

This may be relevant... http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=113523

Thanks. That was helpful but seemed geared towards Fordham more. Anyone else have any insight? Anecdotes would work too.

[Paratiel]

I would not bank on UW giving you much leverage outside of Seattle, but it depends greatly on your place in the class.

You should take a look at who interviews at the school's OCI. There is a strange geographic mix, but it seems like UW has the most traction in the West.
Link: --LinkRemoved--

UW also releases data on the geographic location of its graduates. Judging by the few people who make it out of the West, you might have difficulty finding a sufficient alumni base in another market.
Link: http://www.law.washington.edu/Career/Profiles.aspx

Also, there is another thread regarding NW big law. It provides some insight into UW and one person posted a link to a discussion board in which a few people discuss UW grads being forced to leave Seattle due to the small size of the market.
Link: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=112304

I hope this helps!

[PetitBonaparte]

I would not bank on UW giving you much leverage outside of Seattle, but it depends greatly on your place in the class.

You should take a look at who interviews at the school's OCI. There is a strange geographic mix, but it seems like UW has the most traction in the West.
Link: --LinkRemoved--

UW also releases data on the geographic location of its graduates. Judging by the few people who make it out of the West, you might have difficulty finding a sufficient alumni base in another market.
Link: http://www.law.washington.edu/Career/Profiles.aspx

Also, there is another thread regarding NW big law. It provides some insight into UW and one person posted a link to a discussion board in which a few people discuss UW grads being forced to leave Seattle due to the small size of the market.
Link: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=112304

I hope this helps!

Thanks! That was tremendously helpful.

[jcl2]

I have heard from current students that those who have sought employment outside of the NW (especially CA) have actually had an easier time getting biglaw jobs than those looking to stay in the NW. This is probably due to the relatively small biglaw market in Seattle and Portland, and the fact that most top UW grads want to stay here. For non-biglaw jobs, your best bet will probably be jobs in the NW, simply because networking and local connections are the key to getting most non-biglaw legal jobs. However, UW is generally well respected nationally, particularly in the West, so if you have some local connections in another market you want to work in and are willing to put in the leg work, it probably would be possible to get a job anywhere in the country.

That said, if you have a particular region where you want to end up living and working, and you are in at a school in that region ranked in the 20-40 range, you should probably take the in-region school. The only exception I can think of is if you are deciding on Davis/Hastings or UW and you want to end up in northern CA, it would be reasonable to give UW serious consideration in that situation since UW is so much less expensive and seems to place relatively well in northern CA.

If you had no regional preferences and were deciding between UW and similarly ranked schools I think UW would be a pretty good choice because of cost, QOL, and degree portability relative to other schools in that range.