UC Davis V. UC Hastings V. UC Irvine V. Loyola LA Forum

[Attorney at Play]

What is the best school overall? Best school for biglaw?

I know there are the USN rankings. But biglaw employment data seems to slightly favor Hastings over Davis. Irvine has no data nor alumni network, but seems to have the support of OC firms. Loyola seems to have plenty of alumni in big firms. So what's the deal? Why is Davis ranked in the 20s? Why is Hastings in the 40s? Any projections on Irvine? Is Loyola underrated? Opinions welcome.

Thanks

[Attorney at Play]

anyone?

[Nammertat]

All depends on where you want to practice.... Davis/Hastings for SFO, Loyola/Irvine for LA... Between those, look at total cost of attendance and make your choice where you want to live.

[blurose]

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[PaoloMatteo]

Honestly, the record isn't quite there yet to show it but I would say Irvine. Great startup team. Seems as though a lot of Irvine businesses are hiring Irvine grads and it's a great area. Also the lowest cost of the three at sticker (if that applies) I myself am going to notre dame with ($$) but honestly I wish. Had applied to Irvine. It feels like one of those schools that gets is students employed well above what is rankings would suggest based upon preliminary evidence.

[blurose]

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[apollo2015]

Why is Davis ranked in the 20s? Why is Hastings in the 40s?

Hastings used to be ranked #19. One year it didn't submit information to USN&R. That implies 1) pissing off the people who rank the schools and 2) a lack of interest in catering to the whims of the rankers. The new regime at Hastings is working on getting better at sucking up to USN&R. Hence the massive drop in class size this fall.

Davis is building some sweet new buildings apparently.

[Plastir]

UC Hastings produces more California Judges, managing partners and SuperLawyers in California than any law school in the nation, and also runs the largest (20% of the school) Legal Education Opportunity Program in the nation. The USN rankings are not scientific, and are based more on the amount of money spent per student than on the quality of the qualify of the lawyers produced. Every other ranking service (there are at least 7) ranks UCH higher than USN, and even the USN peer ranking stats confirm that UCH grads are highly regarded by lawyers and judges.

[law2015]

UC Hastings produces more California Judges, managing partners and SuperLawyers in California than any law school in the nation, and also runs the largest (20% of the school) Legal Education Opportunity Program in the nation. The USN rankings are not scientific, and are based more on the amount of money spent per student than on the quality of the qualify of the lawyers produced. Every other ranking service (there are at least 7) ranks UCH higher than USN, and even the USN peer ranking stats confirm that UCH grads are highly regarded by lawyers and judges.

Can you please explain, how do you figure that Hastings produces better quality lawyers than its rank? Also if you are going to discredit USN by saying that their metrics to rank schools is flawed and that Hastings is better than USN ranks them, don't use other rankings to bolster that claim without distinguishing between the methodologies. Bottom line, Hastings has terrible job prospects that are much worse than those of peer schools so obviously employers don't think so greatly of Hastings lawyers.

[Borhas]

Bottom line, Hastings has terrible job prospects that are much worse than those of peer schools so obviously employers don't think so greatly of Hastings lawyers.

Not sure where you get this. The latest NLJ 250 reports I've seen show that Hastings' job prospects are equal to UC Davis. Some years better, some years worse, but they are basically equal. They are slightly better than Loyola LA.

UC Irvine is a bunch of hype and marketing.

[splitbrain]

UC Hastings produces more California Judges, managing partners and SuperLawyers in California

This crap again?

[top30man]

UC Hastings produces more California Judges, managing partners and SuperLawyers in California

This crap again?

Trolltastic.

[ocajavati]

Irvine.

I didn't apply and I regret the decision.

Their dean is working hard to make sure everyone is happily employed coming out (at least of now), and that should be in your consideration.

Might be marketing hype, but, seeing as they want to place well coming into USN&R... You get the idea.

[Nammertat]

To me Irvine was too much of a gamble.... they have no track record, no alumni base, no rank to speak of, just talk. It COULD turn out to be a great things... or it could bust. In this job market I wasn't up for a gamble on that kind of $$.

[lowereastside]

I can't speak for the Socal schools, but in the Bay Area, Davis and Hastings are indistinguishable. Davis has the higher ranking, while Hastings has more a legacy in the Bay Area. My old boss at a small litigation firm viewed both schools about equally, and wasn't even aware of the ranking difference. He'd be happy to look at graduates from either school. My current summer job takes both UC Davis and UC Hastings students. I think my summer class has more Hastings students than Davis students, but that is probably because Hastings just has more students than Davis. Also, my old mentor from high school doesn't preference for either school, but said that he's only willing to look at top students from either school. With the skyrocketing tuition and very unstable legal market in the bay area, you should really think long and hard about coming to either school, cause you cannot bank on doing well enough to snag one of the biglaw positions.

I think in picking between Davis and Hastings, its comes down to fit. Do you want to be on a college-type campus? Part of a larger University system? Enjoy a smaller student population? Small-town community feel? Davis is going to be great for you. Do you want to be in the middle of the city? Don't mind a commuter feel? Be near all the courthouses and networking opportunities? Go Hastings! most importantly, who is giving you more money? For me, the decision came down to the fact that I am from the Bay Area, so Hastings was just logistically easier for me. Had things been different? I probably would've been very happy at Davis too.

Hope that helps!

[rad lulz]

Cost?