Top Law Schools

I have a friend who is trying to decide between Southern Methodist University and George Mason University. She is leaning towards working in Dallas, which is a huge plus for SMU, but is also interested in getting involved in the legal market in D.C. I told her I think it depends largely on where she wants to practice after law school because both schools place strongly in the regions in which they are located, and I decided I'd post her question on here to get more insight. Ask and answer away.

i say smu. they have arguably the best access to the dallas market of any school -- even more so than utexas, though that's debatable. whereas in dc, people from higher-ranked schools all over the country are competing for jobs. if your friend does well at either school she'll be fine. but imo a middle-of-the-pack student at smu is better-off than at gmu. just playing the odds.

Pick a spot. Either school is good for its area.

Like the earlier poster said, there are a ton of grads trying to get to DC. Not so many trying for Dallas and SMU is in a prime position to place a grad at any level in Dallas. GMU just doesn't have those qualities.