Top Law Schools

Please indulge me. I didn't do a "what are my chances thread" since that is pretty clear cut. However, I'd like to draw on the common wisdom of TLS, especially current students and practicing attorneys but all are welcome


-The schools you are considering: HLS, SLS, and Penn with a full-ride.
-$$$: Pretty much looking at ~$80k debt for H and S, and $0 debt but 0 savings for Penn (maybe +$80k in my bank account rather than $0 if my parents give me the money that would have gone toward school, but that is doubtful)
-How you will be financing your COA, i.e. loans, family, or savings: I have saved up enough from working and my parents will help me out such that I will only have to take out loans for the last year.

Main Question
Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any): So, I've been pretty dead set going to the Bay Area, working on the transactional side ideally, so Silicon Valley (but still open to litigation in SF). I have ties there. However, lately I've been thinking about wanting to work on the bigger transaction deals--M&A and possibly capital markets. NYC seems like the best option for that kind of work. I used to think of NYC biglaw as a death sentence (not that CA biglaw is much better), but I'm coming around to the idea of it.

I guess I'm trying to balance my goal of Silicon Valley with the option of NYC biglaw, which seems to point me toward SLS but I would love to hear everyone's thoughts.

Does anyone have any idea how SLS fares compared to HLS for NYC?

Thanks!

..

Where did you do ur undergrad? If it was Berk or Stanford, u can take any listed school and easily get back to the Bay. If it wasn't those 2, take SLS and enjoy the Bay.

Any of the listed schools can get u NYC.

With that kind of family money, I would take SLS over Penn

Thanks for the responses, to clarify I did not go to Stanford or Cal for undergrad, I was on the east coast. But I've been working and living in California if that makes a difference.

SLS not worth that $$ for NYC biglaw. Penn easily

james.bungles wrote:SLS not worth that $$ for NYC biglaw. Penn easily

Because OP said he was deadset only on NYC biglaw.

Enjoy Stanford.

jselson wrote:

james.bungles wrote:SLS not worth that $$ for NYC biglaw. Penn easily

Because OP said he was deadset only on NYC biglaw.

Enjoy Stanford.

Thanks sorry I'm not sure if I worded it in such a way that it's confusing.

If your parents would give you the money and you were cool with NYC, I'd take Penn. If it's an $80k difference (they won't give you the money) and you really are unsure about SF or NYC, then I think SLS hands down.

Penn seems like the clear cut choice to me. Sure, if you had no ties to SF, and wanted to open doors there, I'd say go SLS. But you have ties to the area, so once you add that to a T10 school degree, you can absolutely get back to SF if you desire to do so. And of course Penn is killer for NYC biglaw. And on top of that you get an insane scholarship that will open so many doors for you by eliminating all that debt. I'd pick Penn in a heartbeat based on these choices.

P.S. Seek out advice from grads as opposed to 0L's. Try and gather the consensus of grads, and that should help you most. As a 0L, I may have been more torn, and may have even recommended SLS. But if I could make that same choice now, it would be Penn in a heartbeat

It sounds like you want to keep your options open between the coasts. I'd take Stanford in that case, especially if your parents are bankrolling it either way.

So, I've been pretty dead set going to the Bay Area, working on the transactional side ideally, so Silicon Valley (but still open to litigation in SF).

Stanford is a no-brainer. (It will also give you the flexibility to go Big in NYC if that is what you decide to do.)