Top Law Schools

Any thoughts on attending a lower T14 with full scholly before heading to YLS for the PhD if one is intent on academia? Is it still too early to bet on Yale's Phd, or do you think we can just bet that it's surefire, cuz it's YLS? Also, any thoughts on the selectivity of admission? I suspect that a T14 law degree isn't a bad start.

I believe the incoming 5 students of the YLS PhD in Law program all had T14 JD's already: EDITED; I stand corrected, some Harvard JD's, some Michigan JD's, some Yale JD's.

I just looked at this - I think it was 3 Yale JDs, 2 Harvard, and 1 Michigan.

2 x Harvard undergrad, YLS JD
Pomona undergrad, YLS JD
Georgia undergrad, Mich JD

See a pattern here?

http://www.law.yale.edu/graduate/phd_candidates.htm

My thought is you better be #1 in your class.

deleted

Your time would be much better spent getting a PhD in a field that actually teaches you a distinct methodology to bring to the study of law (philosophy, economics, etc) than basically doing an SJD/VAP by another name.

I really appreciate the discussion everyone, especially the discussion of the current PhD candidates and their likely circumstances. Clearly, legal academia is basically a no go when the legal academy is receding.