Top Law Schools

Interested in public interest work either as PD or ADA.

UCLA (105k)
USC (120k)
UVA (probably sticker maybe some money)
Do not have undergraduate debt

Even though I could do the LARP for Virginia not sure it is worth it if I am going to be looking for jobs in CA, UT, or CO. Can anyone speak to the reach of t14 specifically, UVA, for public work?

Any opinions are appreciated.

Are the numbers debt you will have on graduation or scholarships? You should post the estimated debt you will need to take out along with each school.

Also, look at the PD/DA offices that you are interested in and see where most of the newest attorneys went to school. It might make more sense financially to go a little farther down the law school ladder for free than to take borrow $100,000 to make $45-60K in with the PD or DA.

jumpingjack wrote:Are the numbers debt you will have on graduation or scholarships? You should post the estimated debt you will need to take out along with each school.

Also, look at the PD/DA offices that you are interested in and see where most of the newest attorneys went to school. It might make more sense financially to go a little farther down the law school ladder for free than to take borrow $100,000 to make $45-60K in with the PD or DA.

Those are scholarship numbers.
My understanding is with the LARP the school will cover most if not all of the associated debt if you make less than 75k, is this not accurate/something I'm missing?
Ok, I will look into where new attorneys for the offices I am interested in went to school. Thanks for the advice.

Take the money and run at USC. PD/DA offices are more concerned with demonstrated interest (criminal law courses/internships) than class rank and school prestige.

if you want to work out west, go to school out west.

Id aim to keep the debt low- so I would lean towards USC.

thanks for the responses,
can anyone speak to loan assistance repayment programs? all the advice seems to revolve around debt, but my understanding is that loan assistance repayment programs pay for if not all then most of your law school debt, is this not accurate?

i cant provide information regarding loan repayment, but I can offer this question:

why go into debt for a degree, which limits your portability, for a school on the other side of the USA when you can go to a school in one of your target areas, at a significantly lesser cost, that may be just as reputable in CA?

If you disregard USNEWS rankings for a second- look at attorney profiles from the firms in your region. What schools do you see a lot of attorneys graduated from?

I do not know where you are from, but firms in CA, UT and Co may view someone with a UVA degree as a greater flight risk ( especially if they do not have significant ties to their market) than someone from UCLA or USC, as the latter two schools are at least in neighboring-ish states, and you have a better chance at networking in California from UCLA and USC .

raetheon wrote:Interested in public interest work either as PD or ADA.

UCLA (105k)
USC (120k)
UVA (probably sticker maybe some money)
Do not have undergraduate debt

Even though I could do the LARP for Virginia not sure it is worth it if I am going to be looking for jobs in CA, UT, or CO. Can anyone speak to the reach of t14 specifically, UVA, for public work?

Any opinions are appreciated.

USC forsure.

LA is a great place for public work, a lot of opportunities throughout the year. U might want to keep your debt low in the event you change ur mind about public work.

The "check hired JD backgrounds" suggestion is a good one. I did that myself this afternoon, and it appears that once you get outside of the elite departments, offices are almost always dominated by local-yokel schools. Proximity and interest seem to be the best predictors.

Sadly, lots of counties and ADAs aren't good about publicly posting this info, though. And lots of people don't do LinkedIn, etc. Is there a workaround for this? State bar info, perhaps?

Take the scholarship money from UCLA or USC since you want PI work in the West.

UVA at sticker is a bad investment (IMHO). I would do USC if you want CA.

I think the prestige factor matters far less in public interest work (v. private sector/Biglaw). This knocks out UVA at sticker because the increase in price just doesn't justify the slight bump in prestige. Also, there are fewer UVA alum in Cali as opposed to UCLA/USC alum (although they do exist!), which will likely matter in hiring decisions for the few spots available in PI work. There just isn't much reach UVA has for PI work in the markets you're looking at (CA, UT, CO)

As someone from Socal who actually attends UVA (no qualms eliminating my own school), UCLA strikes me more as PI friendly than USC in Southern Cali. My unsubstantiated and anecdotal sense is that more people with JDs from UCLA go into PD/DA work than from USC (I'd imagine more private sector oriented).

sipy26 wrote:As someone from Socal who actually attends UVA (no qualms eliminating my own school), UCLA strikes me more as PI friendly than USC in Southern Cali. My unsubstantiated and anecdotal sense is that more people with JDs from UCLA go into PD/DA work than from USC (I'd imagine more private sector oriented).

Looks like this is the case, although it's probably due in part to UCLA having slightly better job prospects overall.

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school= ... =employers
http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school= ... =employers

Also, if you really want UCLA v. USC, negotiate! Take your USC offer letter and send it to UCLA. They ask you to do that in their welcome email. Take them up on it! In-state tuition after 1L is no joke!