Florida schools that are worth going to. UM FSU or UF Forum

[itachiuchiha]

So I guess the consensus here is that UF, FSU, and UM are the only schools in florida that offer at least a sub par chance at getting a job and all the others are almost trash. But if one does indeed wish to practice in South Florida and does have ties and has gotten to know a few lawyers in the area and has lived here all their lives, which of those schools offer the best chance at getting a job in Miami. And which of those schools are best suited to get you a big law job in Miami?

I already checked LST and I would like to hear y'all thoughts.

In this situation, lets imagine that you would be paying the exact same amount and COL to go to any of those schools.

[nebula666]

If COA is the same go to UF. Still gives you the best chance for Biglaw including in Miami. Don't go to UM unless it is significantly cheaper than UF or FSU.

[jbagelboy]

Why do you have to go to school in Florida. Vanderbilt or Emory would be better choices if you have ties. Just because the schools are located in Florida doesn't mean they offer a great chance of employment there.

[sublime]

..

[Cicero76]

Everything except UF and FSU is a trap. UF still has more brand name recognition with boomers, big employers, etc but for all intents and purposes FSU is just as good (better for local/state gov't) and often cheaper.

Unless you're doing nautical law, Miami is a giant trap for its price tag and notoriously terrible with fin aid/ scholarship stips.

Stetson is kind of trap-ish like Miami in that it costs a million, but you can get a decent scholarship and it's respected in randomly weird places like Tampa and Orlando, although those markets are horrendously flooded right now. At least the law school isn't in the same terrible city as the UG though.

The other 12 million law schools in Florida are such a joke that it's truly terrifying that they convince anyone to attend. (Cue hate from my thread in the Law School Admissions Forum...)

TLDR: Pick UF or FSU, whichever is cheaper. I'm a UF undergrad alum, so I'd advise UF all things being equal. Tallanasty blows.

[sublime]

..

[suralin]

Why do you have to go to school in Florida. Vanderbilt or Emory would be better choices if you have ties. Just because the schools are located in Florida doesn't mean they offer a great chance of employment there.

+1

[rad lulz]

,

[untar614]

Why do you have to go to school in Florida. Vanderbilt or Emory would be better choices if you have ties. Just because the schools are located in Florida doesn't mean they offer a great chance of employment there.

Here's the thing:

A school like Vandy does really well with biglaw firms and the firms that hire like biglaw firms ("FL biglaw" like Lowndes in Orlando or HWH in Tampa and boutique-y firms). These firms tend to do SA programs and like prestige, but they are not salivating over medianbros at Vanderbilt. These firms will dip deeper into Vandy's class but usually also want to hire the tippity top of the class kids at UF and FSU (and to a lesser extent Stetson and UM) so the competition is fierce.

But say you strike out at OCI. When you are away you lose the opportunity to clerk during the school year w local firms or be a certified legal intern at the DA or whatever. That stuff is vitally important outside of OCI. Outside of OCI, your advantage lessens, because those larger firms are pretty much done. Firms that do plaintiff PI (a favorite of Stetsonbros) or whatever will hire their Stetson clerk who has worked with them for a couple years over you.

So if you are DEAD SET on FL (ie you'd prefer any law job in FL to biglaw anywhere) I'd seriously consider UF and FSU for sure

edit: DA = State Atty

How easy would it be to clerk while at UF or FSU though? Neither are in a large city, and wouldn't most firms be in jax, tampa, orlando or miami? The gov work out of FSU then doing gov work in another city I can understand as I have a cousin who did just that, but otherwise, idk.

[sublime]

..

[nebula666]

Why do you have to go to school in Florida. Vanderbilt or Emory would be better choices if you have ties. Just because the schools are located in Florida doesn't mean they offer a great chance of employment there.

Here's the thing:

A school like Vandy does really well with biglaw firms and the firms that hire like biglaw firms ("FL biglaw" like Lowndes in Orlando or HWH in Tampa and boutique-y firms). These firms tend to do SA programs and like prestige, but they are not salivating over medianbros at Vanderbilt. These firms will dip deeper into Vandy's class but usually also want to hire the tippity top of the class kids at UF and FSU (and to a lesser extent Stetson and UM) so the competition is fierce.

But say you strike out at OCI. When you are away you lose the opportunity to clerk during the school year w local firms or be a certified legal intern at the DA or whatever. That stuff is vitally important outside of OCI. Outside of OCI, your advantage lessens, because those larger firms are pretty much done. Firms that do plaintiff PI (a favorite of Stetsonbros) or whatever will hire their Stetson clerk who has worked with them for a couple years over you.

So if you are DEAD SET on FL (ie you'd prefer any law job in FL to biglaw anywhere) I'd seriously consider UF and FSU for sure

edit: DA = State Atty

How easy would it be to clerk while at UF or FSU though? Neither are in a large city, and wouldn't most firms be in jax, tampa, orlando or miami? The gov work out of FSU then doing gov work in another city I can understand as I have a cousin who did just that, but otherwise, idk.

UF has externships for 1L summer with judges and SAOs from Jacksonville to Miami. Everyone I know who wanted/ needed to stay in Gainesville this summer found a job there. Tally does offer more opportunities for jobs without having to find additional housing. If you are looking to work in another city other than Tally or Gainesville, they both offer similar opportunities. This is definitely something I considered before I chose UF.

[jbagelboy]

Why do you have to go to school in Florida. Vanderbilt or Emory would be better choices if you have ties. Just because the schools are located in Florida doesn't mean they offer a great chance of employment there.

Here's the thing:

A school like Vandy does really well with biglaw firms and the firms that hire like biglaw firms ("FL biglaw" like Lowndes in Orlando or HWH in Tampa and boutique-y firms). These firms tend to do SA programs and like prestige, but they are not salivating over medianbros at Vanderbilt. These firms will dip deeper into Vandy's class but usually also want to hire the tippity top of the class kids at UF and FSU (and to a lesser extent Stetson and UM) so the competition is fierce.

But say you strike out at OCI. When you are away you lose the opportunity to clerk during the school year w local firms or be a certified legal intern at the DA or whatever. That stuff is vitally important outside of OCI. Outside of OCI, your advantage lessens, because those larger firms are pretty much done. Firms that do plaintiff PI (a favorite of Stetsonbros) or whatever will hire their Stetson clerk who has worked with them for a couple years over you.

So if you are DEAD SET on FL (ie you'd prefer any law job in FL to biglaw anywhere) I'd seriously consider UF and FSU for sure

edit: DA = State Atty

true

I tend to assume on TLS that people are gunners for NLJ250 or AIII after 3L, in which case the florida schools are inadvisable as stated. usually this is true but sometimes wrong --

I know at these kinds of schools (UF ect) only a minority of jobs are obtained via OCI so esp for DA/PD offices the local contacts are more well established. Still, T14 grads with ties can swoop in on these positions too. it's just a different approach

I wish we had more data for how well ppl who go for courtroom PI experience after graduation do 3-5 years out with getting private firm positions. I hear on an anecdotal basis that some big firms like to draw their top litigators, esp appellate, from those with practicing court exp like a DAs or prosecutors office rather than their third/fourth yr associates who have barely stepped foot in a courtroom. have you seen this rad?

[rad lulz]

,

[jbagelboy]

I wish we had more data for how well ppl who go for courtroom PI experience after graduation do 3-5 years out with getting private firm positions. I hear on an anecdotal basis that some big firms like to draw their top litigators, esp appellate, from those with practicing court exp like a DAs or prosecutors office rather than their third/fourth yr associates who have barely stepped foot in a courtroom. have you seen this rad?

For the firms I'm familiar with appellate is not a "practice group" and people don't describe themselves as "appellate litigators" because there's no money in it. Clients generally won't pay for it, and appeals will be extremely rare if you go to binding arbitration (which is becoming more common in commercial situations) or enter some sort of white collar deal with the govt or whatever.

but most big firms will have ppl that do chiefly trial and ppl that do appellate. it's a slightly different skill set. I don't understand the bolded. there's plenty of money in it if your client will pay for the appeal decision. I understand its far more rare, but it exists, and if you become a partner who does appellate litigation, you will definitely be making money on those cases

In the markets I know, DA types usually exit to other govt, private crim defense, and plaintiffs firms (especially those firms which do state court stuff). Going to a larger firm is rarer but not unheard of. I don't know if this is self selection or not but I don't get the sense that large firms "actively recruit" former state prosecutors (especially if the firms do a lot of work in federal court, which is a world apart from state ct). Also keep in mind that "top litigator" means very different things to people who do securities (lots of arbitration, federal court, work with Fed agency) all the way to general commercial lit (state court, common law, maybe fed ct. if diversity depending on what type of clients the firm has).

interesting -- from the supply side, that's what I expected, but as far as demand from firms I guess as you said there could be self selection at the higher level and its too hard to gauge.

[rad lulz]

,