Top Law Schools

Hi, was wondering if any NC people could help me out. I specifically want to work in the Triangle region in the future. Are there any law schools I should specifically target? Is Duke/UNC/Wake Forest clearly the top 3 schools for NC, or would better-ranked schools outside the state be acceptable alternatives? Would greatly appreciate any advice! If not those three, is it T14 or bust? Are there any schools in the top 50 that place well in NC (in particular, schools in the Southeast that are not T14)?

Duke, UNC & Virginia should all be considered.

If you cannot get into Duke or UVA (preferably with $$), you should not go anywhere else besides Carolina.

I'd consider Vanderbilt as well

Do you actually have ties to the Triangle area / NC more generally? Without them, even if you go to UNC and do quite well it can be tough to land desirable work without significant ties.

BlackAndOrange84 wrote:Do you actually have ties to the Triangle area / NC more generally? Without them, even if you go to UNC and do quite well it can be tough to land desirable work without significant ties.

This is true. I would pretty much forget about working in NC if you don't have legitimate ties.

Yes, I have strong ties. My main concern is that Duke, UVA, and maybe UNC are not options for me (very low GPA).

Then WFU is a reasonable option if willing to consider Winston-Salem as well.

CanadianWolf wrote:Then WFU is a reasonable option if willing to consider Winston-Salem as well.

The Triad is not much of a legal market, outside of Womble. Wake places decently in Charlotte, too. But Carolina is probably superior throughout the state (it certainly has a much stronger alumni base). My source is spending a year in the state as an outsider.

stupendous_sea_lion wrote:Yes, I have strong ties. My main concern is that Duke, UVA, and maybe UNC are not options for me (very low GPA).

My guess is that if you score high enough on the LSAT either UNC or Wake could throw you some cash despite a rough GPA. That said, I'm not a splitter myself. Any splitters out there who applied to WF/UNC?

Nc native, splitter. Got good money at wake, wl'ed at unc, went to law school out of state. Back in nc this week interviewing for 2L sa positions. Feel free to pm me.

with the right LSAT you should be able to get UNC/Wake with good money despite a low GPA.

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ndirish2010 wrote:

CanadianWolf wrote:Then WFU is a reasonable option if willing to consider Winston-Salem as well.

The Triad is not much of a legal market, outside of Womble. Wake places decently in Charlotte, too. But Carolina is probably superior throughout the state (it certainly has a much stronger alumni base). My source is spending a year in the state as an outsider.

I agree with most of this, but I don't think being at Wake places you at a huge disadvantage simply because it's not in the Triangle/Charlotte. The Triad is only an 60-90 minutes from Charlotte and less than 2 hours from Raleigh. A number of my classmates and I got internships this summer in Raleigh.

But yeah, UNC has the larger alumni base in NC by a good margin. If you do well at either Wake/UNC and have a convincing reason for wanting to be in NC, you'll probably be fine. I'd probably go to whichever is cheaper; if similar cost and if you want to stay in state, I'd probably do UNC.

Otherwise, the T6, Duke, UVA (maybe Vandy), and UNC/Wake with $$$ are probably the only options you should consider if your goal is NC.

Edit: If you really want biglaw, I'd stay away from NC. There just aren't many biglaw SAs available in the state. Make sure you have some non-biglaw goals before aiming here.

AT9 wrote:

ndirish2010 wrote:

CanadianWolf wrote:Then WFU is a reasonable option if willing to consider Winston-Salem as well.

The Triad is not much of a legal market, outside of Womble. Wake places decently in Charlotte, too. But Carolina is probably superior throughout the state (it certainly has a much stronger alumni base). My source is spending a year in the state as an outsider.

I agree with most of this, but I don't think being at Wake places you at a huge disadvantage simply because it's not in the Triangle/Charlotte. The Triad is only an 60-90 minutes from Charlotte and less than 2 hours from Raleigh. A number of my classmates and I got internships this summer in Raleigh.

But yeah, UNC has the larger alumni base in NC by a good margin. If you do well at either Wake/UNC and have a convincing reason for wanting to be in NC, you'll probably be fine. I'd probably go to whichever is cheaper; if similar cost and if you want to stay in state, I'd probably do UNC.

Otherwise, the T6, Duke, UVA (maybe Vandy), and UNC/Wake with $$$ are probably the only options you should consider if your goal is NC.

Edit: If you really want biglaw, I'd stay away from NC. There just aren't many biglaw SAs available in the state. Make sure you have some non-biglaw goals before aiming here.

Yeah didn't mean to say Wake was a bad option (especially not because of its location in Winston). Firms obviously know Wake. But it just seemed to me like the Carolina network was so much stronger (and I was working in Winston). Definitely both are solid options for both Charlotte and the Triangle with significant scholarship.