Top Law Schools

Greetings, friends whom I've never met in real life. I have a decision to make that does not involve what I am going to have for dinner tonight (though, I'm leaning on having an epic sandwich).

I want to go to law school next year. Luckily, I've been accepted to a few of them, which are listed below along with their respective merit scholarship offers (over three years).

University of Virginia (Sticker (three stickers I can put on my Con Law case book; I hope one of them depicts Clarence Thomas))

Duke University(~$45,000)

I'm also considering Georgetown at sticker and UCLA and USC with $$$, but, considering my career plans, I am really only seriously considering the former two.

Fortunately, I sort of know what I want to be when I grow up. I would first like to clerk for an Article III. Then, I would like to work in biglaw somewhere in the Northeast, but preferably in New York. I am interested in litigation and am especially enamored with appellate litigation and soft IP. If I don't like biglaw (hey, maybe I will), I can see myself wanting to lateral to in house counsel or bigfed.

I have good ties in New York and Boston and minimal ties in LA. You are free to message me concerning my numbers.

Thank you, my anonymous friends.

Your chances of an article III clerkship and the clerkship placement differential between UVA and Duke do not make foregoing $45k worth it IMO. Go to Duke.

Are you a splitter? Retake June for more scholarship money if not.

What's the cost differential between UVA and Duke? Unless its close Duke is the obvious choice there.

Your career goals are just about as lofty as can be (clerkship, appellate litigation) and probably won't happen. But NY big law certainly could.

I am what some people here may call a semi-reverse splitter. As much as taking the LSAT again makes me want to jump off a building, I will seriously consider it.

The cost differential, other than that created by the merit scholarship differential, is minimal.

Well, those goals are high, but why not have high goals (as long as one is realistic about them)? It will take a lot of work to attain them and more than a little luck, but I may as well as try to. I would certainly be happy to practice law in a different area.

I guess my point was you might try your damnedest to get into Harvard if you want to make your highly unlikely goals a tiny bit less unlikely. If you're cool with "only" getting NY big law then by all means knock yourself out.

Definitely retake. A $200 test could save you tens of thousands.

Duke easily.

Yes, it certainly could. Thanks for that advice, Big Zuck (of course, if you just want to fork over some of that Facebook money, I wouldn't need to retake the LSAT).

By the way, for those of you who either voted for Cliff Paul or UVA, could you please explain your decision?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_kgOloVFQQ