Top Law Schools

I'm choosing between the following schools:

UPenn
UCLA (9k/year scholarship)
USC
Berkeley
Hastings (15k/year)
Vanderbilt (25k/year scholarship)
Fordham (10k year/scholarship)
Irvine (20k/year scholarship)
Pepperdine (40k/year scholarship)

I've only visited a handful of the above schools (and plan on visiting the rest), but based on career prospects/rank/strength of program/reputation of school/other relevant factors, what school would you choose, keeping in mind that I want to practice in Los Angeles?

Berkeley

moonman157 wrote:Berkeley

If you want CA. Although, I would try to leverage that Vandy scholly to see if UCLA will match. If they do, I'd go with UCLA.

prospective2015 wrote:I'm choosing between the following schools:

UPenn
UCLA (9k/year scholarship)
USC
Berkeley
Hastings (15k/year)
Vanderbilt (25k/year scholarship)
Fordham (10k year/scholarship)
Irvine (20k/year scholarship)
Pepperdine (40k/year scholarship)

I've only visited a handful of the above schools (and plan on visiting the rest), but based on career prospects/rank/strength of program/reputation of school/other relevant factors, what school would you choose, keeping in mind that I want to practice in Los Angeles?

If you want to practice in LA, you want to go with either UCLA, USC, or Berkley. Take away the rest. Then start negotiating for scholarships, especially between UCLA and USC.

1) UCal-Berkeley or UCLA
3) USC
4) Penn
5) UC-Irvine

For Los Angeles placement, it would be foolish to go beyond this list among your options.

keeping in mind that I want to practice in Los Angeles?

We would need to know more about what you want to do in Los Angeles. For example, are you hoping for BigLaw or do you want to be a public defender?

If you want biglaw in LA, your best bet out of your current options is easily Berkeley.

Berkeley -> UCLA/USC (but price may be a deciding factor)
Don't even consider the other schools

Does anyone have current knowledge of Penn's recent placement opportunities in LA ?

Thank you all for your responses. I am hoping for Biglaw. How do you all feel about Penn? I know they're great at placing people in top New York firms, but only a small percentage of their students practice in CA. I wonder if that's because of self-selection or lack of clout in CA. Would love your thoughts. Thanks.

prospective2015 wrote:Thank you all for your responses. I am hoping for Biglaw. How do you all feel about Penn? I know they're great at placing people in top New York firms, but only a small percentage of their students practice in CA. I wonder if that's because of self-selection or lack of clout in CA. Would love your thoughts. Thanks.

Both - self selecting out of a market leads to having less clout there
Go to Berkeley or USC/UCLA with money