West Virginia UNiversity College of Law Forum

[baileybd2]

Does anyone on this forum attend West Virginia for law? Somewhat interested in the school, just seeing if anyone could answer a couple questions for me.

[jk148706]

If you want to work in WV and get $$$ it's actually a pretty good option.

[hephaestus]

It definitely punches above its weight in NLJ250 placement, but keep in mind that the WV market is $75,000 for big firms.

[mephistopheles]

It definitely punches above its weight in NLJ250 placement, but keep in mind that the WV market is $75,000 for big firms.

yeah, but col is a pittance

[hephaestus]

It definitely punches above its weight in NLJ250 placement, but keep in mind that the WV market is $75,000 for big firms.

yeah, but col is a pittance

No argument there. Just something to be aware of.

[john1990]

It depends on the scholarship

[IpleadtheFiF]

Wow, WVU is the only law school in the state. Furthermore, they place 76.8% of their graduating class into bar-passage required positions, which is pretty strong for their rank.

OP, do you live in WV? If you can crush the LSAT and get scolly $ on top of in-state tuition, it seems like a great choice for practicing near home.

[nebula666]

Total COA is only $110k for residents so if you want to work in WV and get a decent scholarship (which shouldn't be difficult considering their 154 / 3.3 median) it's a solid option.

[baileybd2]

Wow, WVU is the only law school in the state. Furthermore, they place 76.8% of their graduating class into bar-passage required positions, which is pretty strong for their rank.

OP, do you live in WV? If you can crush the LSAT and get scolly $ on top of in-state tuition, it seems like a great choice for practicing near home.

I currently live in Richmond Va and attend VCU. My ties to the state is that my entire family is from there (I was born in VA) and I was hoping after living there possibly for attending this law school I could change my address and get in state tuition but I would need to check how that works.

[baileybd2]

Total COA is only $110k for residents so if you want to work in WV and get a decent scholarship (which shouldn't be difficult considering their 154 / 3.3 median) it's a solid option.

My only qual is maybe not wanting to stay in the state. But I guess where this becomes problematic is the surrounding law schools (Penn, ect) would be hard to break into other firms based on the prestigiousness of other schools compared to WVU. I am an accounting major at VCU and going to WVU would be nice but their economy as a state is pretty sad so I would have to do some research on a form of law to study with my accounting degree that I could cut out a better than average living for myself.

[IpleadtheFiF]

My only qual is maybe not wanting to stay in the state. But I guess where this becomes problematic is the surrounding law schools (Penn, ect) would be hard to break into other firms based on the prestigiousness of other schools compared to WVU. I am an accounting major at VCU and going to WVU would be nice but their economy as a state is pretty sad so I would have to do some research on a form of law to study with my accounting degree that I could cut out a better than average living for myself.

If you genuinely like accounting, why not consider being a CPA? The national median salary is $73k and the unemployment rate among them is around 4% (much lower than the national rate and MUCHMUCHMUCH lower than the rate amongst law school grads). Plus, you can take the money you would have spent on tuition and buy a Ferrari. Or y'know, something lame and responsible like depositing it in a Roth IRA.

[john1990]

You could do tax law

[BigZuck]

Going to a school like WVU and not wanting to live and work in state sounds like a disaster in the making.

dontdoit.jpeg

[cotiger]

Going to a school like WVU and not wanting to live and work in state sounds like a disaster in the making.

dontdoit.jpeg

WVU sounds like exactly what a state law school should be. An inexpensive option that provides residents with very good job prospects for working in-state. OP is neither a resident nor wants to work in-state. I'm confused as to why WVU would be the choice here.

[jk148706]

WVU sounds like exactly what a state law school should be. An inexpensive option that provides residents with very good job prospects for working in-state.

Exactly. People get on TLS for ripping TTts, but I don't think wvu falls in that category, despite ranking prestige etc.

[jk148706]

You could do tax law

Got to luv John1990

[BigZuck]

WVU sounds like exactly what a state law school should be. An inexpensive option that provides residents with very good job prospects for working in-state.

Exactly. People get on TLS for ripping TTts, but I don't think wvu falls in that category, despite ranking prestige etc.

You're missing the point here

[jk148706]

WVU sounds like exactly what a state law school should be. An inexpensive option that provides residents with very good job prospects for working in-state.

Exactly. People get on TLS for ripping TTts, but I don't think wvu falls in that category, despite ranking prestige etc.

You're missing the point here

Lolzz how. I agree with u OP should look elsewhere breh

[BigZuck]

WVU sounds like exactly what a state law school should be. An inexpensive option that provides residents with very good job prospects for working in-state.

Exactly. People get on TLS for ripping TTts, but I don't think wvu falls in that category, despite ranking prestige etc.

You're missing the point here

Lolzz how. I agree with u OP should look elsewhere breh

You never said that. And your first two posts in this thread made it sound like WVU could be a good option for the OP.

[jk148706]

You never said that. And your first two posts in this thread made it sound like WVU could be a good option for the OP.

Good option IF OP wanted to stay in WV and got money.. Now that we know otherwise, OP should look elsewhere.

[john1990]

You could do tax law

Got to luv John1990

OP is an accounting student.

[IpleadtheFiF]

You could do tax law

Got to luv John1990

OP is an accounting student.

Sigh.

1) The top tax law schools are Yale, Harvard, and Stanford. After that are Columbia, Chicago, and NYU. Close on their heels are Berkeley, Michigan, Penn, and Virginia - with Northwestern and Duke right in the same ballpark. Cornell and Georgetown are also terrific, as are UCLA, Texas, and Vanderbilt. There are a few more respectable schools, but for the most part at that point the best tax schools tend to be the well regarded law schools in the area you want to practice.

2) The practice of tax law is NOTHING like the practice of accounting. Tax law very rarely requires a CPA, nor is one especially useful. Tax law (at the medium to large firm level) deals with the precise legal functioning of the internal revenue code, interaction/interface with the treasury department, and monitoring/lobbying of congressional action with respect to the code.

Tax lawyers don't really do any more math than litigators. To the extent that it is a technical area of a law, that is the result of the legalistic functioning of the code and disputes of classifications of various activities, products, and transactions.

Cosigned- with one small caveat. If you are dead-set on tax law, it would be a good idea to choose NYU over Columbia or GULC over Cornell. The reason is that NYU and GULC have the two top tax LLM programs. You don't necessarily need to get a tax LLM, but the existence of the program will enable you to get a more solid foundation in tax due to the wider course offerings and better-known profs. That doesn't mean you should choose GULC over Harvard or anything drastic like that.

A few discombobulated thoughts:

I'm probably going into tax (assuming my firm places me in the tax department). I just finished my J.D. and am doing a one-semester tax LLM as part of a joint degree program during my deferral. Tax is one of those fields that gets more interesting as you know more about the subject.

It's also worth mentioning that tax is a very diverse field. You have everything from estate planning, to ERISA, to International M&A, to tax controversy. Advice regarding one field won't necessarily apply to others. International and M&A practices are pretty much exclusively the domain of biglaw and Big4 accounting. Either requires high-end credentials to get hired. By contrast, estate planning is a bit more accessible- it's mostly (but not exclusively) a small firm practice. Tax controversy can run the gambit from massive corporate tax shelter cases to assisting the indigent with earned-income tax credit denials.

TL;DR:

Focus on the overall highest ranked/regarded schools you could get into in the region you want to practice.

Source: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=123587

[john1990]

Most accounting students have worked with tax accounting and the Internal Revenue Code. Tax law is the most applicable concentration for accounting unless i am mistaken. What other major works with Tax as an undergrad?


"I would have to do some research on a form of law to study with my accounting degree"

[IpleadtheFiF]

Most accounting students have worked with tax accounting and the Internal Revenue Code. Tax law is the most applicable concentration for accounting unless i am mistaken. What other major works with Tax as an undergrad?


"I would have to do some research on a form of law to study with my accounting degree"

As far as I know, an accounting degree serves a unique, niche purpose: to qualify a student to become an accountant.

No one has questioned the validity of studying tax law; nearly everyone in this thread has questioned OP's consideration of attending WVU Law. The school employs roughly 70% of its graduates within West Virginia, which is a little less than the percentage of its graduates that acquire jobs as lawyers. Therefore, a WVU Law degree is only useful if OP wishes to practice in WV, which OP does not.

Again, OP, why not CPA? It seems strikingly similar to being a lawyer in the private sector. Both spend 50-80 hrs/week reading jargon with utmost precision and explaining said jargon to clients, all for good pay.

[baileybd2]

Most accounting students have worked with tax accounting and the Internal Revenue Code. Tax law is the most applicable concentration for accounting unless i am mistaken. What other major works with Tax as an undergrad?


"I would have to do some research on a form of law to study with my accounting degree"

As far as I know, an accounting degree serves a unique, niche purpose: to qualify a student to become an accountant.

No one has questioned the validity of studying tax law; nearly everyone in this thread has questioned OP's consideration of attending WVU Law. The school employs roughly 70% of its graduates within West Virginia, which is a little less than the percentage of its graduates that acquire jobs as lawyers. Therefore, a WVU Law degree is only useful if OP wishes to practice in WV, which OP does not.

Again, OP, why not CPA? It seems strikingly similar to being a lawyer in the private sector. Both spend 50-80 hrs/week reading jargon with utmost precision and explaining said jargon to clients, all for good pay.

Sorry I've been away for a few days studying to let the pot stir, I guess I should've clarified that I wouldn't mind staying in state (it's quite cheap to live there, beautiful state, family, ect) but to my understanding of the state financially which is quite low. I just want to make sure where ever I attend I can carve out a comfortable living for myself. As far a becoming a CPA, that would be fine but I would like to do something else with either business litigation, tax law. If I could get into a law school I would like to enroll in their grad school for accounting to while in In the law school