Top Law Schools

I had previously decided on Utah, but then got a call from Lewis & Clark with increase in scholarship. These numbers include all tuition + living expenses for all 3 years:

Lewis & Clark COA: 81k
Utah COA: 90k

- No stipulations on scholarships
- I don't really care where I end up living/working
- Mostly interested in having good job prospects in whatever regional market I graduate in

Can anyone who voted comment on why you voted the way you did?

With (relatively) equal cost of attendance, I'm looking at employment prospects. Does anyone have thoughts on why you think employment prospects will be better from one school than the other? (i.e. better/worse/smaller/larger market, less T14 grad competition, etc.)

Voted L&C because I'd rather live in Oregon than Utah.

Hannibal wrote:Voted L&C because I'd rather live in Oregon than Utah.

Thanks, but this is supposed to be neutral to geography -

Assume Utah Law was located in Portland. Where would you go?

fragged wrote:

Hannibal wrote:Voted L&C because I'd rather live in Oregon than Utah.

Thanks, but this is supposed to be neutral to geography -

Assume Utah Law was located in Portland. Where would you go?

The difference in quality of school and chances at employment is almost certainly determined by the market rather than the school. So basically, if you don't care about what area you're in, it's almost a coin flip. Utah and Oregon are really different, hard to imagine them being equal in someone's mind. If they're equal, I'd probably go Utah.

I chose between Utah and L&C a few years ago. I had similar scholarships at both. I lived in Utah at the time. I chose L&C. The truth is I thought I'd like Portland much more than I do. I don't regret my decision, as I've done well at L&C, and because I have a good 2L job lined up back in the Utah region. I don't really like Portland very much. Oregon is beautiful, and some of it is great, but Portland is not really my cup of tea. It's alright, but I prefer Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, etc. I think that choosing between Utah and L&C is tough though (just in terms of pure employment prospects), if you have no preference for where to live. L&C is a much more liberal school, so if politics matters to you that might make a difference. Oregon does not have good legal prospects at all right now. I think that Utah, overall, would be better for job prospects even with competing with BYU. However, that is just a guess.

When I talk to people about L&C I tell them that I like the school overall (and I do), and that I think it does a good job trying to find jobs for its students. However, I also hear from all the people in the legal community that the job market is very tough in Oregon. Plus it rains a lot. The big negative about SLC, for me, is the pollution caused by inversion in the winter. It is dreadful.