Top Law Schools

I'm new here, so a few of the known acronyms do not work for me

Anyhow, I'm about to graduate for my second undergrad-degree as my first degree was really not going anywhere after I graduated and decided to work overseas. I came back, and went back to school, into Politics, international relations. I took a course in public law in my undergrad and found it exciting and something I would enjoy doing everyday. My mother, being the concerned mother she is decided to ask her relatives for a diplomatic posting for me, which would (if it starts in september) drive me out of my last year in my second degree and put it on hold. I would come back and do it, but then I want to go to law school in order to complement my undergrad.

Which law schools are better geared towards foreign affairs? and if I want to specialize in an area of law, does anyone know which schools offers maritine law? As I also work with exports / imports and customs and this would be further specialize me in these affairs.

Thank you!

ALTHANI wrote:I'm new here, so a few of the known acronyms do not work for me

Anyhow, I'm about to graduate for my second undergrad-degree as my first degree was really not going anywhere after I graduated and decided to work overseas. I came back, and went back to school, into Politics, international relations. I took a course in public law in my undergrad and found it exciting and something I would enjoy doing everyday. My mother, being the concerned mother she is decided to ask her relatives for a diplomatic posting for me, which would (if it starts in september) drive me out of my last year in my second degree and put it on hold. I would come back and do it, but then I want to go to law school in order to complement my undergrad.

Which law schools are better geared towards foreign affairs? and if I want to specialize in an area of law, does anyone know which schools offers maritine law? As I also work with exports / imports and customs and this would be further specialize me in these affairs.

Thank you!

Go to the best law school you can. Specialty rankings are misleading. They don't matter.

Martime law - Tulane, U of Miami, or Roger Williams University School of Law.

International relations- American University.

Your mom casually secured you a diplomatic posting? Wow.

but then I want to go to law school in order to complement my undergrad.

Whatever school offers you a full ride with no stipulations. Better solution, don't go to law school at all if your mom can casually get you a embassy posting.

HRomanus wrote:Your mom casually secured you a diplomatic posting? Wow.

Yes, she did. But I spoke to one of my professors and he said that even if I have a diplomatic posting it is better also to secure a professional degree. So, :/

University of Virginia Law School is an excellent law school for maritime law.

http://www.virginia.edu/colp/

HRomanus wrote:Your mom casually secured you a diplomatic posting? Wow.

Just skipping all that pesky civil service exam bullshit? Neato!

ALTHANI wrote:

HRomanus wrote:Your mom casually secured you a diplomatic posting? Wow.

Yes, she did. But I spoke to one of my professors and he said that even if I have a diplomatic posting it is better also to secure a professional degree. So, :/

This is bullshit. Work experience/building connections in a diplomatic posting >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> listening to some egghead prof and paying 250k in tuition.

Don't listen to anything profs say about hiring. They are full of shit.

Do the diplomatic thing, work hard, make connections, and in a few years reassess whether you need a law degree or a different degree.

rinkrat19 wrote:

HRomanus wrote:Your mom casually secured you a diplomatic posting? Wow.

Just skipping all that pesky civil service exam bullshit? Neato!

Its not for the USA. Its for my home country, so it works different. There is an exam and I am not sure how the USA does it, but for us its sort of like an aptitude test. Since I studied outside of my country for both my undergrad degrees, and I speak more than three languages, its a fairly easy connection with my mothers diplomatic connections anyhow.

I wonder though when is too old to come back to law school?

You are smart to get good work experience.
There isn't a real.cutoff of how old is too old. You may not need a law degree. If you do decide to go, go to the best school at the best price you can get. Don't look at specialties.

Desert Fox wrote:Martime law - Tulane, U of Miami, or Roger Williams University School of Law.

International relations- American University.

We can't give you advice -- at least not without more information.

Do you plan to continue working as a diplomat for your home country? If so, a U.S. law degree isn't going to help. But if you're set on getting one anyway, it probably doesn't really matter where you get it from. There aren't many U.S. universities that are truly famous overseas, so unless you can get into one of those (Harvard, Yale, etc), it probably makes no difference. Maybe you should go to somewhere like American University or New York Law School, since at least people in your home country will have heard of those locations.

Do you want to work in customs or maritime law, using the connections and experience you mentioned? I doubt anyone here knows anything about that. People in this thread have said that specialty rankings are meaningless, because they won't help to get you a job, but you already have a job (through connections), maybe it does make sense to go to a school that specializes in that area of the law.

We can only really help if you plan to get a job in America, working for a large law firm or following another common career path.

Harvard probably if you want to go back and forth between the states and your home country. Carries the most international weight. I'm a little confused about your goals though - if you want to practice law in your home country/internationally, why not get an LLM? We have a huge LLM program here at Columbia, Harvard and NYU have decent programs too (although I suppose you would need a law degree from your home country then as well ;/)

money probably isn't an issue here (if we can infer anything from context) so I'm not even going to address it.

AntipodeanPhil wrote:Maybe you should go to somewhere like American University or New York Law School, since at least people in your home country will have heard of those locations.

Lol. The classic "New York [University] Law"!

AntipodeanPhil wrote:Maybe you should go to somewhere like American University or New York Law School, since at least people in your home country will have heard of those locations.

I'm from here and I'd never heard of them until I applied to law school.

rinkrat19 wrote:

AntipodeanPhil wrote:Maybe you should go to somewhere like American University or New York Law School, since at least people in your home country will have heard of those locations.

I'm from here and I'd never heard of them until I applied to law school.

Of course not, but if you're foreign and you haven't heard of any U.S. universities (outside of Harvard, Yale, etc), you've at least heard of New York, and America. "New York Law School" sounds like it's the law school for the city of New York. And "American University" sounds like a national university. They both sound much more important than somewhere like the "University of Virginia."

jbagelboy wrote:

AntipodeanPhil wrote:Maybe you should go to somewhere like American University or New York Law School, since at least people in your home country will have heard of those locations.

Lol. The classic "New York [University] Law"!

I actually stopped an international student from applying to New York Law School a couple of years ago. She was really excited that a top 6 school had given her a fee waiver.