Top Law Schools

Any schools have particularly strong programs in this area?

Yale, Harvard, and Stanford.

Love the Debbie Wasserman Schultz avatar, by the way.

Tom Joad wrote:Yale, Harvard, and Stanford.

Love the Debbie Wasserman Schultz avatar, by the way.

Thanks! It's actually Enid Wexler from Legally Blonde, but really - same thing.

Barring HYS, any other schools?

Describe what you mean by "civil rights law" please.

enidwexler wrote:Barring HYS, any other schools?

Columbia, Chicago, NYU

Bildungsroman wrote:Describe what you mean by "civil rights law" please.

Post-JD, I'm hoping to be working for an organization like the ACLU, Lambda Legal, National Abortion Federation, etc.

enidwexler wrote:

Bildungsroman wrote:Describe what you mean by "civil rights law" please.

Post-JD, I'm hoping to be working for an organization like the ACLU, Lambda Legal, National Abortion Federation, etc.

Yeah the schools that will give you the best shot at these things goes in this order...

http://www.top-law-schools.com/rankings.html

enidwexler wrote:

Bildungsroman wrote:Describe what you mean by "civil rights law" please.

Post-JD, I'm hoping to be working for an organization like the ACLU, Lambda Legal, National Abortion Federation, etc.

Unlike undergrad, law school specialty rankings are meaningless. But since you are trying to work for a public interest job, consider going to a law school where you have a significant, if not full tuition scholarship.

ph14 wrote:

enidwexler wrote:

Bildungsroman wrote:Describe what you mean by "civil rights law" please.

Post-JD, I'm hoping to be working for an organization like the ACLU, Lambda Legal, National Abortion Federation, etc.

Unlike undergrad, law school specialty rankings are meaningless. But since you are trying to work for a public interest job, consider going to a law school where you have a significant, if not full tuition scholarship.

Why? LRAP FTW!

On the off-chance that this is a serious question, what people are trying to say is that jobs with the ACLU and like organizations are INCREDIBLY competitive. You need impeccable credentials and probably a lot of public-interest experience volunteering and interning and such. The best schools possible would give you the best shot at actually getting one of the jobs (and even that shot is pretty slim).

ph14 wrote:

enidwexler wrote:

Bildungsroman wrote:Describe what you mean by "civil rights law" please.

Post-JD, I'm hoping to be working for an organization like the ACLU, Lambda Legal, National Abortion Federation, etc.

Unlike undergrad, law school specialty rankings are meaningless. But since you are trying to work for a public interest job, consider going to a law school where you have a significant, if not full tuition scholarship.

That's what I figured. Thanks, all!

enidwexler wrote:

ph14 wrote:

enidwexler wrote:

Bildungsroman wrote:Describe what you mean by "civil rights law" please.

Post-JD, I'm hoping to be working for an organization like the ACLU, Lambda Legal, National Abortion Federation, etc.

Unlike undergrad, law school specialty rankings are meaningless. But since you are trying to work for a public interest job, consider going to a law school where you have a significant, if not full tuition scholarship.

That's what I figured. Thanks, all!

LRAP at a highly-ranked school with PI placing power is arguably a better deal than a full scholarship at a school unlikely to get you the job you want.

rinkrat19 wrote:

enidwexler wrote:

ph14 wrote:

enidwexler wrote: Post-JD, I'm hoping to be working for an organization like the ACLU, Lambda Legal, National Abortion Federation, etc.

Unlike undergrad, law school specialty rankings are meaningless. But since you are trying to work for a public interest job, consider going to a law school where you have a significant, if not full tuition scholarship.

That's what I figured. Thanks, all!

LRAP at a highly-ranked school with PI placing power is arguably a better deal than a full scholarship at a school unlikely to get you the job you want.

Noooo way. These are often the people who end up hating law practice. Take the full tuition scholarship so you aren't locked into law for the next 10+ years.

ph14 wrote:
Noooo way. These are often the people who end up hating law practice. Take the full tuition scholarship so you aren't locked into law for the next 10+ years.

If that's the case they should do something other than law school...

ChampagnePapi wrote:

ph14 wrote:
Noooo way. These are often the people who end up hating law practice. Take the full tuition scholarship so you aren't locked into law for the next 10+ years.

If that's the case they should do something other than law school...

But they don't realize they hate practicing law until they go to law school...

Bildungsroman wrote:Describe what you mean by "civil rights law" please.

OP has a burning desire to file s 1983 police brutality claims en masse.

ph14 wrote:

ChampagnePapi wrote:

ph14 wrote:
Noooo way. These are often the people who end up hating law practice. Take the full tuition scholarship so you aren't locked into law for the next 10+ years.

If that's the case they should do something other than law school...

But they don't realize they hate practicing law until they go to law school...

I think if you're concerned there's a significant chance you're going to hate the profession that law school is going to prepare you for, it might be wise to try to intern or work at one of these places at an assistant to see up close if you're going to be okay with that kind of work.

rinkrat19 wrote:

enidwexler wrote:

ph14 wrote:Unlike undergrad, law school specialty rankings are meaningless. But since you are trying to work for a public interest job, consider going to a law school where you have a significant, if not full tuition scholarship.

That's what I figured. Thanks, all!

LRAP at a highly-ranked school with PI placing power is arguably a better deal than a full scholarship at a school unlikely to get you the job you want.

In the end, I know this is the dilemma I'm going to be facing when I ultimately have to pick a school. But right now, I'm more so curious about what schools I should be thinking of applying to in the first place. When I first started narrowing my list down, I was worried that I was picking schools for the wrong reasons - namely, rankings and location. But it seems to me that the consensus is that this is actually an okay method?

rad lulz wrote:OP has a burning desire to file s 1983 police brutality claims en masse.

Spot on.

enidwexler wrote:

rinkrat19 wrote:

enidwexler wrote:

ph14 wrote:Unlike undergrad, law school specialty rankings are meaningless. But since you are trying to work for a public interest job, consider going to a law school where you have a significant, if not full tuition scholarship.

That's what I figured. Thanks, all!

LRAP at a highly-ranked school with PI placing power is arguably a better deal than a full scholarship at a school unlikely to get you the job you want.

In the end, I know this is the dilemma I'm going to be facing when I ultimately have to pick a school. But right now, I'm more so curious about what schools I should be thinking of applying to in the first place. When I first started narrowing my list down, I was worried that I was picking schools for the wrong reasons - namely, rankings and location. But it seems to me that the consensus is that this is actually an okay method?

rad lulz wrote:OP has a burning desire to file s 1983 police brutality claims en masse.

Spot on.

Rankings and location are really important, especially for the prestigious PI jobs out there. I think there's a pretty good argument for accepting a free ride over a top school with a good LRAP, but the top school with a good LRAP might be a better choice.

Besides places like the ACLU, I don't know how many smaller firms exist that do this type of work. I do know of one since a law professor at my school used to work there (and this law professor was #1 in her class at Columbia and clerked for Calabresi before working there): http://www.nsbcivilrights.com/category/attorneys/ . Glancing over the profiles, it seems like the other associates are pretty awesome too.

If your goal is to do constitutional civil rights claims all day, then you might want to make sure you have a back-up plan in law before going to law school. Most lawyers don't do this sort of thing (and that's not because of a lack of interest).

Another question: any use in applying for a joint degree if I want to end up in this field of work?

ph14 wrote:

ChampagnePapi wrote:

ph14 wrote:
Noooo way. These are often the people who end up hating law practice. Take the full tuition scholarship so you aren't locked into law for the next 10+ years.

If that's the case they should do something other than law school...

But they don't realize they hate practicing law until they go to law school...

I would agree with this. Especially if the only reason you're going into law is for a niche practice, you can't know the reality until it's too late. For example, while you still may be passionate about civil rights after law school, you might realize that you hate practicing law. But the general advice of try out a legal internship might not help since if you hate it you'll think you just hate tax law or whatever. It's not until you get your dream job that you'll figure out if you like it or not.

rad lulz wrote:

Bildungsroman wrote:Describe what you mean by "civil rights law" please.

OP has a burning desire to file s 1983 police brutality claims en masse.

Haha, this is exactly what civil rights law is in the real world.

Four years later, this thread was really helpful for me. Thanks!

ph14 wrote:

ChampagnePapi wrote:

ph14 wrote:
Noooo way. These are often the people who end up hating law practice. Take the full tuition scholarship so you aren't locked into law for the next 10+ years.

If that's the case they should do something other than law school...

But they don't realize they hate practicing law until they practice...

FTFY

Even though this thread is really old, I thought I'd throw my two cents in regarding wanting to do Civil Rights law not knowing if you like practicing law until you practice: I fully intend to do PI work in Immigration Law (not quite the same as civil rights, but still PI), and for the past year, I've worked as a legal assistant at a small consumer law firm.

While I still don't have any interest in practicing consumer law, the experience of working there has shown me that even though I certainly would prefer and hope to practice immigration law, other types of law (such as consumer law) don't bore me to tears. This increases my confidence that law is the right choice for me, because part of what I like about it is the process and manner of work. Yes, I realize as a legal assistant that I don't have nearly the responsibility of an attorney, but I do draft pleadings and memorandums of law for my supervising attorneys fairly regularly, as well as complete legal research for cases, and because it's such a small firm, I am able to get a really good idea of what the day to day responsibilities of our attorneys are. They even bring me to court sometimes, just so I can get the experience!

TD;LR - If you're not sure if you'll actually like practicing law if you can't get your dream job at the ACLU (or somewhere similar), I highly recommend getting even an entry-level legal assistant job at a firm that specializes in a kind of law you think you have no interest in. Try to learn as much from the attorneys as you can, get a feel for their work, and then you'll have a better idea of what practicing is like.