Top Law Schools

Indiana
pro: 120K!!, I would only have COA plus a little bit of tuition each year. They also seem to work hard to get graduates jobs.
con: Outside of the top 10-15%, the above mentioned jobs don't seem to include many Biglaw or Fed. clerkships opportunities (less than 16%). They don't seem to extend their reach into Chicago. Smallest city/town, which could make it difficult for my wife to find a job.

Notre Dame:
pro: Best Biglaw plus Fed. Clerkship numbers of the three (37%). While I know its not a "national school", it seems to have a slightly more national reach then it's peers. Probably the best support network for married law students of the three schools (I'd like to not add to the broken law school marriage statistics).
con: ~75K more expensive than Indiana

Emory:
pro: Atlanta would be the easiest location for my wife to find a job. Second best Biglaw plus Fed. Clerkship numbers of the three (28%).
con: A little more money than Notre Dame, though the higher COA may make up for it. While I am open to Atlanta for a little while, I'm not sure that I want to end up there long term.

I'm assuming you and your wife are in a stable, happy marriage. Based on the fact that you'll have solid opportunities in ATL, and she'll DEF have great work opportunities in ATL, I would go to ATL.

Think about it - what are you going to do if she can't find a job? So you take on more debt. Won't the two incomes offset the debt?

Most importantly, think about her feelings. How will she feel being a smaller market where she can't find a job?

Then again, if you guys are planning on you working and she would stay home with the kids, then IUB might be the way to go.

FYI - I'm older and I have a kid, so I'm speaking from experience.

Good luck!

anyone else?

What are your career goals? Are you big-law or bust?

Definitely Indiana. I don't think either ND or Emory is worth $70k more than Indiana, especially in this economy. None of these schools are going to have significantly better placement than the others. ND's biglaw + federal clerkship placement will not be close to 37% when the new numbers come out (more like 25%, based on the rumblings of ND students on here). And Emory doesn't even appear to be doing well in Atlanta, let alone elsewhere.

If your wife can't find a job in Bloomington, IU is close enough to Indianapolis where you can live in between the cities and commute. It would only be ~30 minutes for both of you. Undesirable, but manageable. Well worth the $70,000 in savings.

What's with all these law school battles popping up? Can you not pick a region you want to practice in?

1L at ND here. I'm not going to compare ND to Emory, but I think that if you can get some extra money it might be worth it compared to IU. We far outplaced IU pre-ITE and I doubt that's changed much. Whether it's worth that much to you is something that you have to decide. Ask ND for some more money, they might care about the IU offer (I leveraged them with a similar offer from UIUC, actually only 90K not 120). And PM me if you have any questions about ND.

Oh, and if you decide you really want to work in Atlanta and your wife would have much better prospects there anyway, of course Emory FTW.

Seems as if this thread as much about you as your wife's job prospects. What is her field & will it replace the $25,000 after taxes that you will lose by declining Indiana's offer ? In my opinion, I agree with other posters' suggestion that you need to decide whether the Midwest or the Southeast is your preferred location. Otherwise Notre Dame is the most portable degree.

P.S. Ask Emory & Notre Dame for more money.