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I want to go to school in state (Louisiana) and I was wondering if I could get feedback from people about anything they may know. I thought Tulane was my first choice, but recently, I've been hearing I may want to rethink that.


So just anything relevant to Louisiana Law schools would be appreciated. I don't know what I'm doing here with this whole process.

Assuming you meant that you are a Louisiana resident, I think LSU might be the better bet. You'll be able to take advantage of in-state tuition and also I have heard they place pretty well around Louisiana, excluding New Orleans.

Is there any criteria for taking admissions in Louisiana law school? Please help.
SPAM

Based on LST,
LSU > Tulane

Tulane '11 wrote:•58.1% of graduates were known to be employed in long-term, full-time legal jobs. This figure includes an unknown number school-funded jobs.
•72.2% graduates were employed in long-term jobs.
•71.8% graduates were employed in full-time jobs.

--LinkRemoved--

LSU '11 wrote:•81.3% of graduates were known to be employed in long-term, full-time legal jobs. This figure includes no school-funded jobs..
•88.1% graduates were employed in long-term jobs.
•87.5% graduates were employed in full-time jobs.

--LinkRemoved--

Nova wrote:Based on LST,
LSU > Tulane

Tulane '11 wrote:•58.1% of graduates were known to be employed in long-term, full-time legal jobs. This figure includes an unknown number school-funded jobs.
•72.2% graduates were employed in long-term jobs.
•71.8% graduates were employed in full-time jobs.

--LinkRemoved--

LSU '11 wrote:•81.3% of graduates were known to be employed in long-term, full-time legal jobs. This figure includes no school-funded jobs..
•88.1% graduates were employed in long-term jobs.
•87.5% graduates were employed in full-time jobs.

--LinkRemoved--

If you are absolutely sure you want New Orleans, then you need to go to either Tulane or Loyola. But go with substantial scholarships. Unfortunately both schools are less than stellar in placement into full time, long term legal employment and are both expensive without a scholarship. However, they both place into the city and have loyal alumni networks.

If I were you, I would go to LSU, get that in state tuition and possible scholarship money. As shown above they have great placement percentages into legal jobs in general, even if they are not in NOLA. I would be curious if there were statistics on how many LSU grads end up in NOLA, but from my experience, firms like Tulane and Loyola over LSU for the city.

Op, if you don't want to leave the state after graduation and don't want New Orleans, LSU. If you want either or both of those things, Tulane would certainly be better.

SuperCerealBrah wrote:If you are absolutely sure you want New Orleans, then you need to go to either Tulane or Loyola. But go with substantial scholarships. Unfortunately both schools are less than stellar in placement into full time, long term legal employment and are both expensive without a scholarship. However, they both place into the city and have loyal alumni networks.

If I were you, I would go to LSU, get that in state tuition and possible scholarship money. As shown above they have great placement percentages into legal jobs in general, even if they are not in NOLA. I would be curious if there were statistics on how many LSU grads end up in NOLA, but from my experience, firms like Tulane and Loyola over LSU for the city.

This.

Nova wrote:Based on LST,
LSU > Tulane

Not this.

Aberzombie1892 wrote:Op, if you don't want to leave the state after graduation and don't want New Orleans, LSU. If you want either or both of those things, Tulane would certainly be better.

+1

ambiTTTTion wrote:

Aberzombie1892 wrote:Op, if you don't want to leave the state after graduation and don't want New Orleans, LSU. If you want either or both of those things, Tulane would certainly be better.

+1

More or less. LSU has a tiny chance of getting you to Texas. Back in the day Tulane used to spread its seed far and wide

togepi wrote:

ambiTTTTion wrote:

Aberzombie1892 wrote:Op, if you don't want to leave the state after graduation and don't want New Orleans, LSU. If you want either or both of those things, Tulane would certainly be better.

+1

More or less. LSU has a tiny chance of getting you to Texas. Back in the day Tulane used to spread its seed far and wide

Tulane still does, just to a lesser extent. In the old days, only ~25% (or less) of the class stayed in state, ~33% went to New York and Texas combined, and the rest went elsewhere. Now, it's ~40% in state, ~20% at New York and Texas combined, and the rest elsewhere.

Aberzombie1892 wrote:

togepi wrote:

ambiTTTTion wrote:

Aberzombie1892 wrote:Op, if you don't want to leave the state after graduation and don't want New Orleans, LSU. If you want either or both of those things, Tulane would certainly be better.

+1

More or less. LSU has a tiny chance of getting you to Texas. Back in the day Tulane used to spread its seed far and wide

Tulane still does, just to a lesser extent. In the old days, only ~25% (or less) of the class stayed in state, ~33% went to New York and Texas combined, and the rest went elsewhere. Now, it's ~40% in state, ~20% at New York and Texas combined, and the rest elsewhere.

Those were the good ole days

What is the general consensus between LSU vs Loyola? I was at this bar the other day and my buddy admitted to me that he went to Loyola LA (he put me under the pretenses he went to Georgetown) and he was claiming that Loyola > LSU. Is that only true for New Orleans? And how hard is it to get to New Orleans from LSU?

Togepi:


Yes, from my understanding, Loyola>LSU for New Orleans only. LSU is a lot better for the rest of the state.

How hard is it to get New Orleans from LSU? There are definitely LSU grads down here. If you are at the top of your class at LSU, I imagine you would be pretty competitive for a New Orleans big firm job. Aside from that, I think it just depends on the firm. Some firms prefer Loyola. Some prefer Tulane. However, as mentioned above, a sizable portion of Tulane grads end up leaving the state. And there are also firms I am sure that Like LSU. However, for the most part, yes, Loyola on average is better for New Orleans placement than LSU is.

togepi wrote: What is the general consensus between LSU vs Loyola? I was at this bar the other day and my buddy admitted to me that he went to Loyola LA (he put me under the pretenses he went to Georgetown) and he was claiming that Loyola > LSU. Is that only true for New Orleans? And how hard is it to get to New Orleans from LSU?

Loyola is better for New Orleans, but not better overall. The guy who told you otherwise probably also attended Loyola for undergrad, and (wrongfully) assumed that Loyola law is equally well regarded.

As to the difficulty of getting New Orleans from LSU, it can vary. As for smaller employers anywhere in the nation, data seems to indicate that law school graduates will most likely be hired by alumni from their school. Because LSU does not have a huge alumni base in New Orleans as compared to Loyola and Tulane, it would be fairly difficult to break into it.

What kind of job are you looking for in New Orleans?

Aberzombie1892 wrote:

togepi wrote: What is the general consensus between LSU vs Loyola? I was at this bar the other day and my buddy admitted to me that he went to Loyola LA (he put me under the pretenses he went to Georgetown) and he was claiming that Loyola > LSU. Is that only true for New Orleans? And how hard is it to get to New Orleans from LSU?

Loyola is better for New Orleans, but not better overall. The guy who told you otherwise probably also attended Loyola for undergrad, and (wrongfully) assumed that Loyola law is equally well regarded.

As to the difficulty of getting New Orleans from LSU, it can vary. As for smaller employers anywhere in the nation, data seems to indicate that law school graduates will most likely be hired by alumni from their school. Because LSU does not have a huge alumni base in New Orleans as compared to Loyola and Tulane, it would be fairly difficult to break into it.

What kind of job are you looking for in New Orleans?

October LSAT score dependent, I'll be most likely choosing from Alabama/UGA/LSU/Tulane, etc. It'd like to stay somewhere in the South (undergrad from Auburn, AL). I'm mainly looking for patent litigation or working for the district attorney. My Bachelors is in Civil Engineering and I qualify for applicant A for the patent bar. I'm not too sold on utilizing the degree but for now it's the plan.

togepi wrote:

Aberzombie1892 wrote:

togepi wrote: What is the general consensus between LSU vs Loyola? I was at this bar the other day and my buddy admitted to me that he went to Loyola LA (he put me under the pretenses he went to Georgetown) and he was claiming that Loyola > LSU. Is that only true for New Orleans? And how hard is it to get to New Orleans from LSU?

Loyola is better for New Orleans, but not better overall. The guy who told you otherwise probably also attended Loyola for undergrad, and (wrongfully) assumed that Loyola law is equally well regarded.

As to the difficulty of getting New Orleans from LSU, it can vary. As for smaller employers anywhere in the nation, data seems to indicate that law school graduates will most likely be hired by alumni from their school. Because LSU does not have a huge alumni base in New Orleans as compared to Loyola and Tulane, it would be fairly difficult to break into it.

What kind of job are you looking for in New Orleans?

October LSAT score dependent, I'll be most likely choosing from Alabama/UGA/LSU/Tulane, etc. It'd like to stay somewhere in the South (undergrad from Auburn, AL). I'm mainly looking for patent litigation or working for the district attorney. My Bachelors is in Civil Engineering and I qualify for applicant A for the patent bar. I'm not too sold on utilizing the degree but for now it's the plan.

I don't think New Orleans or Louisiana in general has much of a patent law market. That is not to say that it is non-existent though. I could be wrong, it just seems most patent type people want to be in Houston or Texas in general. I have no clue about the other southern states you mentioned though.

Tulane is good for the DA's office in New Orleans. As for patent, from my experiences, out of state employers don't care so much about ties as long as a patent candidate has the appropriate degree(s) and attended a good law school. Here, Tulane qualifies as a good school.

I'm not familiar with LSU's placement in DA's offices, but I imagine it would be good for the DA's office in Baton Rouge. As for patent from LSU, I'm not sure how out of state employers view the school for that.

As for the LA patent market in state, I'm simply not familiar with it. However, it is going to expand over the next few years with the rise of entrepreneurship and the arrival of the new medical center.

Aberzombie1892 wrote:Tulane is good for the DA's office in New Orleans. As for patent, from my experiences, out of state employers don't care so much about ties as long as a patent candidate has the appropriate degree(s) and attended a good law school. Here, Tulane qualifies as a good school.

I'm not familiar with LSU's placement in DA's offices, but I imagine it would be good for the DA's office in Baton Rouge. As for patent from LSU, I'm not sure how out of state employers view the school for that.

As for the LA patent market in state, I'm simply not familiar with it. However, it is going to expand over the next few years with the rise of entrepreneurship and the arrival of the new medical center.

I think LSU places a decent bit in government jobs. Obviously it would be more lucrative but I'm fine with either depending on the amount of debt I accrue.

Can anyone answer this? - My buddy told me that if you have a degree that qualifies for applicant a for the patent bar, employers keep an eye on you? He said that such a small percentage of people that attend law school qualify that many know who you are. It sounds kind of ridiculous but I was wondering if there was any truth to that.

I wouldn't mind Texas, and I know both schools send a handful that way. I have friends in Houston so that would be nice.

togepi wrote:

Aberzombie1892 wrote:Tulane is good for the DA's office in New Orleans. As for patent, from my experiences, out of state employers don't care so much about ties as long as a patent candidate has the appropriate degree(s) and attended a good law school. Here, Tulane qualifies as a good school.

I'm not familiar with LSU's placement in DA's offices, but I imagine it would be good for the DA's office in Baton Rouge. As for patent from LSU, I'm not sure how out of state employers view the school for that.

As for the LA patent market in state, I'm simply not familiar with it. However, it is going to expand over the next few years with the rise of entrepreneurship and the arrival of the new medical center.

I think LSU places a decent bit in government jobs. Obviously it would be more lucrative but I'm fine with either depending on the amount of debt I accrue.

Can anyone answer this? - My buddy told me that if you have a degree that qualifies for applicant a for the patent bar, employers keep an eye on you? He said that such a small percentage of people that attend law school qualify that many know who you are. It sounds kind of ridiculous but I was wondering if there was any truth to that.

I wouldn't mind Texas, and I know both schools send a handful that way. I have friends in Houston so that would be nice.

It depends a lot on your specific undergrad science degree. If it is bio, you pretty much need a PhD to be competitive for a biotech related patent job. If you have an undergrad in electrical engineering, then you would be very competitive for patent prosecution jobs. What is your degree in?

SuperCerealBrah wrote:

togepi wrote:

Aberzombie1892 wrote:Tulane is good for the DA's office in New Orleans. As for patent, from my experiences, out of state employers don't care so much about ties as long as a patent candidate has the appropriate degree(s) and attended a good law school. Here, Tulane qualifies as a good school.

I'm not familiar with LSU's placement in DA's offices, but I imagine it would be good for the DA's office in Baton Rouge. As for patent from LSU, I'm not sure how out of state employers view the school for that.

As for the LA patent market in state, I'm simply not familiar with it. However, it is going to expand over the next few years with the rise of entrepreneurship and the arrival of the new medical center.

I think LSU places a decent bit in government jobs. Obviously it would be more lucrative but I'm fine with either depending on the amount of debt I accrue.

Can anyone answer this? - My buddy told me that if you have a degree that qualifies for applicant a for the patent bar, employers keep an eye on you? He said that such a small percentage of people that attend law school qualify that many know who you are. It sounds kind of ridiculous but I was wondering if there was any truth to that.

I wouldn't mind Texas, and I know both schools send a handful that way. I have friends in Houston so that would be nice.

It depends a lot on your specific undergrad science degree. If it is bio, you pretty much need a PhD to be competitive for a biotech related patent job. If you have an undergrad in electrical engineering, then you would be very competitive for patent prosecution jobs. What is your degree in?

I'm screwed both ways haha. Mine is in Civil Engineering. It still qualifies for Category A but it is not very desirable. My goal would be patent litigation and I heard EE/CS is preferred for prosecution. There was a thread earlier about a guy who worked in patent lit and he said civil would be fine, but others have said it would just be a minor bump.

togepi wrote:

SuperCerealBrah wrote:

togepi wrote:

Aberzombie1892 wrote:Tulane is good for the DA's office in New Orleans. As for patent, from my experiences, out of state employers don't care so much about ties as long as a patent candidate has the appropriate degree(s) and attended a good law school. Here, Tulane qualifies as a good school.

I'm not familiar with LSU's placement in DA's offices, but I imagine it would be good for the DA's office in Baton Rouge. As for patent from LSU, I'm not sure how out of state employers view the school for that.

As for the LA patent market in state, I'm simply not familiar with it. However, it is going to expand over the next few years with the rise of entrepreneurship and the arrival of the new medical center.

I think LSU places a decent bit in government jobs. Obviously it would be more lucrative but I'm fine with either depending on the amount of debt I accrue.

Can anyone answer this? - My buddy told me that if you have a degree that qualifies for applicant a for the patent bar, employers keep an eye on you? He said that such a small percentage of people that attend law school qualify that many know who you are. It sounds kind of ridiculous but I was wondering if there was any truth to that.

I wouldn't mind Texas, and I know both schools send a handful that way. I have friends in Houston so that would be nice.

It depends a lot on your specific undergrad science degree. If it is bio, you pretty much need a PhD to be competitive for a biotech related patent job. If you have an undergrad in electrical engineering, then you would be very competitive for patent prosecution jobs. What is your degree in?

I'm screwed both ways haha. Mine is in Civil Engineering. It still qualifies for Category A but it is not very desirable. My goal would be patent litigation and I heard EE/CS is preferred for prosecution. There was a thread earlier about a guy who worked in patent lit and he said civil would be fine, but others have said it would just be a minor bump.

For patent litigation you do not even technically need to be a science major. You just need to either go to a very elite school or be at the top of your class and get into a big firm. It is patent prosecution where technical degree is super important.

I've heard as of late, many firms are heavily preferring employees with a science background for lit. I know that there is a slim chance, if any that I could do prosecution. Hopefully it'll give me a leg up

I am a Tulane 1L and while a have a horse in this race, I will drop in my 2 cents anyway.
Tulane is entirely unique in its situation as a law school, which hurts its numbers greatly. It is a law school in the only civil law state with a disproportionately high number of out-of-state students. Couple this with the fact that it is in the South (with it's good-ole-boy mentality) and you have a recipe for disaster for many students and Tulane's overall employment stats.

The first issue with Tulane is that other Louisiana law grads know they are staying here, where many Tulane students entertain notions of leaving the city even when they are outside the top 25%.
Because of this, LSU, Loyola and SULC students overwhelmingly choose to learn civil law and are prepared for the Louisiana bar. When Tulane students are given the choice between civil and common law, many choose the latter and are prepared for the MBE. This leads to a situation where most of the upper portion of the class leave the state, and many who did not perform as well get stuck in an LA market and having to pass a bar based on a different form of the law than they studied throughout law school. Many of those students are bright enough to just BarBri it and pass with no problem, but many of these students will not, and for the same reasons they were in the bottom of their class.

In terms of employment, for students in the situation mentioned above, another problem is that many lack roots in Louisiana or New Orleans, which doubly hurts them when trying to overcome their low class rank. Combined with a focus on common law you signal that you weren't planning on staying in LA, and may have a hard question to answer in an interview for an employer to whom ties to the community are important (a sentiment much more common in the south, and particularly in New Orleans.)

I could go on about this, but I have to do actual writing for actual class so I don't end up in that exact scenario I just described (although I did grow up here, and will be studying Civil Law.)

So let me sum up in a TL;DR

If you want to practice in New Orleans:
Go to Tulane unless you get substantial help from Loyola. Here are some ballpark figures based on my personal debt-averseness, YMMV.
If Tulane is more than $20k a year over Loyola for you, strongly consider Loyola, but I would suggest visiting both and choosing your preference.
If Tulane is more than $30k a year over Loyola, then go to Loyola.

If you want to practice anywhere else in LA go to LSU, unless Tulane gives you at least 3/4 tuition.

If you want an opportunity to practice outside of LA (particularly NY, DC or TX, but not West Coast or Mid-West) Go to Tulane. But compare to regional schools and how much they will cost you.

If you don't want to work in LA, TX, NY or DC, then don't go to school in LA.

Don't go to Southern unless you have a job lined up, they give you a full scholarship and no one else will and you don't really care about anything but passing the bar so you can claim your desk.

I am a Louisiana lawyer and my son just graduated from law school at a T10 and applied to firms down here so I know a little about the market. I basically agree with the Tulane 1L's advice. It would have been the perfect advice thirty years ago when tuitions at private law schools hadn't increased geometrically. Now that Tulane costs as much as Harvard, even New Orleans people (lawyers and law students) understand that LSU is a great alternative if only because of the tuition. Besides that LSU has upgraded its whole operation so much in the past 20 years that it is, for civil law, absolutely the equal if not better than Tulane. In the past LSU had fabulous civil law professors but it had such a weak curriculum otherwise that Tulane was always the best choice.

But I wanted my son to go to law school out of state so he would have a choice and that's what he did. It was a good way to hedge his bets. He was offered jobs both in Louisiana and in DC. The fact that he went to an out-of-state law school but was from Louisiana made his application to Louisiana firms stand out. So if I had to give advice to anyone I'd say study hard for the LSAT, get a great score, and go to a T10 if you can. If not, then follow the Tulane 1L's advice if you can afford Tulane. If you can't afford Tulane, don't despair because LSU is a great alternative.

This is all great advice. I have been looking at some out of state schools, however, I fully intend to return to LA. I grew up about 20 minutes out of the city of New Orleans. I don't have much interest in Loyola, so for in-state it's either Tulane or LSU, but the tuition at LSU is looking pretty enticing.

An update on my son who went to law school outside of Louisiana--he passed the bar. Pass rate was about 62% but only 48% from non-Louisiana schools. However who knows whether those people really took the time to study as they should have. It's a full-time assignment from May through the July exam if you haven't had the Civil Code courses. Law practice doesn't involve that many of the concepts the bar tests, but for the bar exam they expect you to know all sorts of minutiae. Probably even those who take civil law courses find the detail-oriented questions (especially the poorly worded multiple choice questions) difficult. Luckily now they score the whole exam and so if you do well on one part it can compensate for doing poorly on other parts. In the past each subject was scored as a separate test and an "A" paper on one subject wouldn't help even out a flunk on another subject.