Top Law Schools

Some background, I have strong ties in NY, and multiple connections in the legal community that would willingly help my find internships/jobs so I'd be a little more reluctant to leave just because of that. Wouldn't mind biglaw ( I fully realize my chances are next to nothing ) but mostly I would be happy working for a medium sized firm, not really set on any particular field.

So here are my best options

Brooklyn 33k/yr (out of 48k) top 80% stip and I have essentially free COL
St Johns full schol top 45% stip
hofstra 40k/yr (out of 48k) top 40% stip and again essentially free COL
U Richmond 25k/yr (out of 38k) good standing stip
Wake forest 25k/yr (out of 40k) good standing stip

in the process of trying to negotiate for more money with all of the schools

what do you all think?

I think Wake is the clear choice here. 45k in tuition and COL. You'd pay that back a lot easier than paying back the debt coming out of Brooklyn or any of the other schools.

And I think it would give you better job options as well.

Get ready for 9/10 of the next responses to be "retake". Just trying to give you advice other than that.

Medium sized firms are often more difficult to get than big firms because they usually (1) offer better partnership prospects, (2) have tiny or nonexistent summer classes and (3) not as many of them are out there as you think.
What kind of connections? Like one of them could hire you at their firm? Is it guaranteed? Many people have connections. A connection that has promised to hire is a whole different kind of connection.