Top Law Schools

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7

fatduck wrote:7

Seven*

2014 wrote:

fatduck wrote:7

Seven*

Should be tied at 6 with NYU.

dpk711 wrote:

2014 wrote:

fatduck wrote:7

Seven*

Should be tied at 6 with NYU.

Don't start this shit.

Lawyer1234 wrote:What are Penn Law, its Profs, and its Students especially known for. I hear it is one of the biggest feeders of BigLaw, true? Does this mean most Penn students specialize in corporate law? What is Penn's reputation among law firms, academia, and TLSers?

Since nobody else wants to be helpful... I'm far from the best person to answer this, but I'll try to combine TLS stereotypes with my very limited observations (I don't go to Penn, though I have visited it). Feel free to disagree unless you go to Chicago, in which case YES YOU ARE ALL LIKE THAT.

• Urban campus in "University City", a really nice neighborhood sandwiched between the Fresh Prince part of Philly and the Ben Franklin part of Philly.
• There are some cool upscale restaurants and gastropubs in the area, along with all the typical street chains you'd expect.
• The campus can feel kind of sterile in places, but there are enough vagrants to make it feel like a Gotham City backlot.
• The law school has fairly well-rounded student body, leaning slightly nerdy if anything (laid-back and social nerdy, not Total Aspie like Chicago).
• It's "interdisciplinary", whatever the hell that means.
• Seriously, though, they do seem to love JD/MAs, JD/MBAs, JD/PhDs, and courses on "X and the Law".
• You can take 12 hours outside of the law school. That's fairly common in T14 land, but it's worth noting because Wharton is down the street.
• You'll get Ivy Cred with certain types of people, somewhere below Harvard and Yale but somewhere above Cornell.
• The law school is really pretty... it's four interconnected buildings arranged around a closed courtyard.
• There's a [goat] statue they're quite fond of. IMO, Badass [Goat] > Thomas Jefferson. YMMV.
• There's a security guard who knows what all the students look like, and will call you out if you aren't one.
• The campus bookstore is just a Barnes & Noble with red-and-blue signs instead of green signs. It's kind of weird.
• The NYC corporate placement is really solid, both because of the school's reputation and because of the easy commute for networking and interviews.
• People below a certain education level will forever confuse your school with the place up the road where they rape kids.

On the whole, I was pretty impressed by it. If you like cities, it's a good place to be. If you don't, it's probably not.


(EDIT: Turns out it's a goat, not a dragon. Oops.)

Their reputation is hurting with this whole Joe Paterno scandal.

DaleCooper wrote:

Lawyer1234 wrote: • There's a dragon statue they're quite fond of. IMO, Badass Dragon > Thomas Jefferson. YMMV.

Is there another dragon, or is this the Drexel Dragon?

Bildungsroman wrote:Their reputation is hurting with this whole Joe Paterno scandal.

Outstanding trolling, two thumbs way, way up.

Bildungsroman wrote:Their reputation is hurting with this whole Joe Paterno scandal.

The law school is going to be really hurting if the university loses some of its state funding. First program to go will be the law school.

NJPitcher wrote:

DaleCooper wrote:

Lawyer1234 wrote: • There's a dragon statue they're quite fond of. IMO, Badass Dragon > Thomas Jefferson. YMMV.

Is there another dragon, or is this the Drexel Dragon?

I think this person meant the penn goat.

I know people want the school to take down the Sandusky and Paterno statues, no word if this is for sure happening, though.

top30man wrote:

NJPitcher wrote:Is there another dragon, or is this the Drexel Dragon?

I think this person meant the penn goat.

Oh wow, it was a goat. Oops.

really solid Biglaw placement, but it doesn't really have some defining factor, like "Chicago is nerdy," or "NYU is PI." Other than that, it's just an all-around solid school, a bit of an up and comer.

JamMasterJ wrote:really solid Biglaw placement, but it doesn't really have some defining factor, like "Chicago is nerdy," or "NYU is PI." Other than that, it's just an all-around solid school, a bit of an up and comer.

Best clerkship placement outside HYS. Best big law placement outside HYSC. I'd consider those pretty defining factors.

rayiner wrote:

JamMasterJ wrote:really solid Biglaw placement, but it doesn't really have some defining factor, like "Chicago is nerdy," or "NYU is PI." Other than that, it's just an all-around solid school, a bit of an up and comer.

Best clerkship placement outside HYS. Best big law placement outside HYSC. I'd consider those pretty defining factors.

I mean that it's just really great all around, rather than having one thing that jumps to the front of your mind when you think of it. I would say that the fact that you mention two different things is fairly indicative of that well-roundedness.

JamMasterJ wrote:

rayiner wrote:

JamMasterJ wrote:really solid Biglaw placement, but it doesn't really have some defining factor, like "Chicago is nerdy," or "NYU is PI." Other than that, it's just an all-around solid school, a bit of an up and comer.

Best clerkship placement outside HYS. Best big law placement outside HYSC. I'd consider those pretty defining factors.

I mean that it's just really great all around, rather than having one thing that jumps to the front of your mind when you think of it. I would say that the fact that you mention two different things is fairly indicative of that well-roundedness.

Are we conflicting gimmicky (e.g. Michigan's "holistic admissions") with defining?

lawyerwannabe wrote:

Bildungsroman wrote:Their reputation is hurting with this whole Joe Paterno scandal.

The law school is going to be really hurting if the university loses some of its state funding. First program to go will be the law school.

They would never get rid of the law school. When all the alumni donations stop pouring in because there is no football, the law school will probably be the only profitable part! If anything they will expand it Cooley style...

rayiner wrote:

JamMasterJ wrote:really solid Biglaw placement, but it doesn't really have some defining factor, like "Chicago is nerdy," or "NYU is PI." Other than that, it's just an all-around solid school, a bit of an up and comer.

Best clerkship placement outside HYS. Best big law placement outside HYSC. I'd consider those pretty defining factors.

Umm...no numbers do I see Penn ahead of Chicago or NYU for clerkships.

Law School Transparency has YSH, then Duke, NYU, Michigan, UVA, Vandy...then Penn after a few more.
--LinkRemoved--

Doorkeeper wrote:

rayiner wrote:

JamMasterJ wrote:really solid Biglaw placement, but it doesn't really have some defining factor, like "Chicago is nerdy," or "NYU is PI." Other than that, it's just an all-around solid school, a bit of an up and comer.

Best clerkship placement outside HYS. Best big law placement outside HYSC. I'd consider those pretty defining factors.

Umm...no numbers do I see Penn ahead of Chicago or NYU for clerkships.

Law School Transparency has YSH, then Duke, NYU, Michigan, UVA, Vandy...then Penn after a few more.
--LinkRemoved--

I stand corrected. I came to that conclusion based on earlier estimates before ABA data came out.

rayiner wrote:

JamMasterJ wrote:

rayiner wrote:

JamMasterJ wrote:really solid Biglaw placement, but it doesn't really have some defining factor, like "Chicago is nerdy," or "NYU is PI." Other than that, it's just an all-around solid school, a bit of an up and comer.

Best clerkship placement outside HYS. Best big law placement outside HYSC. I'd consider those pretty defining factors.

I mean that it's just really great all around, rather than having one thing that jumps to the front of your mind when you think of it. I would say that the fact that you mention two different things is fairly indicative of that well-roundedness.

Are we conflicting gimmicky (e.g. Michigan's "holistic admissions") with defining?

yeah, I think so
My (pointless) point was that one specific thing doesn't come to mind when you think of Penn, not that they don't do one or several things incredibly well relative to their peers.

JamMasterJ wrote:yeah, I think so
My (pointless) point was that one specific thing doesn't come to mind when you think of Penn, not that they don't do one or several things incredibly well relative to their peers.

first thing that comes to mind when i think of Penn is Veyron. so, yea, Penn PR staff, might wanna get on that.

fatduck wrote:

JamMasterJ wrote:yeah, I think so
My (pointless) point was that one specific thing doesn't come to mind when you think of Penn, not that they don't do one or several things incredibly well relative to their peers.

first thing that comes to mind when i think of Penn is Veyron. so, yea, Penn PR staff, might wanna get on that.

I just think of R6Philly

JamMasterJ wrote:

fatduck wrote:

JamMasterJ wrote:yeah, I think so
My (pointless) point was that one specific thing doesn't come to mind when you think of Penn, not that they don't do one or several things incredibly well relative to their peers.

first thing that comes to mind when i think of Penn is Veyron. so, yea, Penn PR staff, might wanna get on that.

I just think of R6Philly

see above