Top Law Schools

Doorkeeper wrote:If you're sure you want to work in LA or SF, and cost is relatively equal, I would imagine Berkeley to be TCR here. NYU should really be the only other school in consideration.

cebuboy wrote:

Doorkeeper wrote:If you're sure you want to work in LA or SF, and cost is relatively equal, I would imagine Berkeley to be TCR here. NYU should really be the only other school in consideration.

Yeah, Berkeley looks unbeatable here. But I'm curious. Why, what's wrong with a Penn or NU law degree in Cali/LV?

Doorkeeper wrote:If you're sure you want to work in LA or SF, and cost is relatively equal, I would imagine Berkeley to be TCR here. NYU should really be the only other school in consideration.

mushybrain wrote:Just as a note on SF, my understanding of the market is that it is quite insular and very heavily favors Stanford and Berkeley grads.

Dignan wrote:

mushybrain wrote:Just as a note on SF, my understanding of the market is that it is quite insular and very heavily favors Stanford and Berkeley grads.

This is correct. If you're at median or a little below at Berkeley, you still have a legit shot a big law job in SF. I'm not sure that's true of the other three schools you're considering

jim-green wrote:

Dignan wrote:

mushybrain wrote:Just as a note on SF, my understanding of the market is that it is quite insular and very heavily favors Stanford and Berkeley grads.

This is correct. If you're at median or a little below at Berkeley, you still have a legit shot a big law job in SF. I'm not sure that's true of the other three schools you're considering

This is interesting. Why would it be that if you're at median or a little below at Berkeley, you still have a legit shot a big law job in SF, but not if you're at median or below at NYU? Do you have to have better grades than a student at a local law school to get a job in that local area if the quality of your school and the local school are equal?

moonman157 wrote:

jim-green wrote:This is interesting. Why would it be that if you're at median or a little below at Berkeley, you still have a legit shot a big law job in SF, but not if you're at median or below at NYU? Do you have to have better grades than a student at a local law school to get a job in that local area if the quality of your school and the local school are equal?

The Berkeley alumni network In SF probably explains the advantage here.

jim-green wrote:Oh, OK, I was thinking surely in this age of the internet and communication, by now they should know even on the west coast that NYU is comparable to Cal and not some distant far away school that no one has heard of! It's the alumni network, not lack of knowledge of NYU's quality that is at work here.

Dignan wrote:There are more SF firms and offices at Berkeley's OCI because Berkeley is just a 20-minute drive away. And it's easier for these firms to throw a couple of additional callbacks to Berkeley students because they don't have to worry about arranging (and paying) for travel from the east coast. Also, NYU isn't Harvard. NYU's prestige advantage over Berkeley, if it exists at all, is limited to NYC. Out in California, and especially in Northern California, Berkeley's reputation probably exceeds NYU's.

jim-green wrote: understand the logistics and alumni part, but just don't get the prestige issue, why, "NYU's prestige advantage over Berkeley, if it exists at all, is limited to NYC." Without leaving your desk, you can switch on your computer and learn all about NYU, it's profs, classes and news. Why would prestige not carry over distance?

poe wrote:All this talk about NYU being weak on the West Coast is terrifying. I just got denied a matching scholarship at Berkeley, so I feel like I now have no choice but to go to NYU (they offered $60k). I really hope I'm not giving up my best shot at California employment.

Dignan wrote:

poe wrote:All this talk about NYU being weak on the West Coast is terrifying. I just got denied a matching scholarship at Berkeley, so I feel like I now have no choice but to go to NYU (they offered $60k). I really hope I'm not giving up my best shot at California employment.

Just to be clear, I don't think that NYU is "weak" on the West Coast. It's an excellent law school with a strong national reputation. If you do well there, you'll be competitive in the California job market. But it appears to me that law firms in California (and particularly Northern California) will dip deeper into Boalt's class than NYU's class.

I don't think you're making a bad choice by accepting $60K from NYU. Although you may have slightly compromised your chances at landing a California job, you are going to be in better position for a job in NYC. An NYU grad at median will generally have more opportunities in NYC than will a Boalt grad at median.

Dignan wrote:Why would a working lawyer spend time on the internet reading about NYU's (or any other law school's) profs and classes? For the most part, lawyers assess the "prestige" of a law school based on their experiences with that school's graduates over a period of several years. By the way, I think NYU has a spectacular faculty—it's arguably better than any law school outside of HY. But the academic quality of a given school's faculty basically plays no role in biglaw hiring.

poe wrote:

Dignan wrote:

poe wrote:All this talk about NYU being weak on the West Coast is terrifying. I just got denied a matching scholarship at Berkeley, so I feel like I now have no choice but to go to NYU (they offered $60k). I really hope I'm not giving up my best shot at California employment.

Just to be clear, I don't think that NYU is "weak" on the West Coast. It's an excellent law school with a strong national reputation. If you do well there, you'll be competitive in the California job market. But it appears to me that law firms in California (and particularly Northern California) will dip deeper into Boalt's class than NYU's class.

I don't think you're making a bad choice by accepting $60K from NYU. Although you may have slightly compromised your chances at landing a California job, you are going to be in better position for a job in NYC. An NYU grad at median will generally have more opportunities in NYC than will a Boalt grad at median.

Yeah, but I really don't want to work in NYC. So I'm not sure how much good that does me.

moonman157 wrote:

poe wrote:

Dignan wrote:

poe wrote:All this talk about NYU being weak on the West Coast is terrifying. I just got denied a matching scholarship at Berkeley, so I feel like I now have no choice but to go to NYU (they offered $60k). I really hope I'm not giving up my best shot at California employment.

Just to be clear, I don't think that NYU is "weak" on the West Coast. It's an excellent law school with a strong national reputation. If you do well there, you'll be competitive in the California job market. But it appears to me that law firms in California (and particularly Northern California) will dip deeper into Boalt's class than NYU's class.

I don't think you're making a bad choice by accepting $60K from NYU. Although you may have slightly compromised your chances at landing a California job, you are going to be in better position for a job in NYC. An NYU grad at median will generally have more opportunities in NYC than will a Boalt grad at median.

Yeah, but I really don't want to work in NYC. So I'm not sure how much good that does me.

If it's any comfort, you won't face the competition for CA biglaw that you would at a CA school, since most students will self-select into NYC

poe wrote: Just to be clear, I don't think that NYU is "weak" on the West Coast. It's an excellent law school with a strong national reputation. If you do well there, you'll be competitive in the California job market. But it appears to me that law firms in California (and particularly Northern California) will dip deeper into Boalt's class than NYU's class.

I don't think you're making a bad choice by accepting $60K from NYU. Although you may have slightly compromised your chances at landing a California job, you are going to be in better position for a job in NYC. An NYU grad at median will generally have more opportunities in NYC than will a Boalt grad at median.