Family law: Pepperdine v. Colorado v. Vanderbilt Forum

[Willpower]

I want to practice family law (but we all know things change). Which school should I go to? Or, should I just give up on life because I can't get into a t14 school? Here are the requested details.

-The schools you are considering
Pepperdine, Boulder, Vanderbilt

-The total Cost of Attendance (COA) of each. COA = cost of tuition + fees + books + cost of living (COL) + accumulated interest - scholarships.
Irrelevant. Full ride from the VA. Books. Housing. Everything.

-Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any)
I am from Las Cruces, NM. I will probably work in Nashville due to my significant other's aspirations in the music business. But, I really do not care where I end up working. I just want to do family law really, and I can do that anywhere.

-Your general career goals
I'd like to practice family law. The size of the firm does not really matter to me. I want to practice under someone else for about 5 years before I even think about hanging my own shingle.

-Your LSAT/GPA numbers
I have a 155/4.0+. I would take the LSAT again, but I have some medical conditions from my involvement in the war. They limit what I can do on that silly test. I took a kaplan course and everything.

-How many times you have taken the LSAT
Just once. No more please.

Pepperdine is great for dispute resolution. That's a big part of family law. Malibu is awesome.
Colorado has a great clinical program for family law, and they are ranked relatively highly. Colorado is awesome.
Vanderbilt has a high ranking, but does not seem to have any specialty programs that interest me. I also really do not want to live in a big city (at least not yet if I can help it).

[Willpower]

.

[lymenheimer]

Where do you want to practice.

[BigZuck]

You have to post all this information before people can help you choose a law school

http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 1&t=206299

[Willpower]

Where do you want to practice.

Nashville probably, but anywhere will do. I wouldn't mind living in Colorado. That's for sure.

[Willpower]

You have to post all this information before people can help you choose a law school

http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 1&t=206299

Edited my original post. I apologize for not being more attentive.

[BigZuck]

Vanderbilt sounds like a no brainer given that you want to work in TN and you won't have to pay for it

Ignore speciality rankings, they are completely and utterly useless

Going to Pepperdine/Colorado with a desire to work in TN would be on the short list of "Worst Decisions in the 2015/2016 Application Cycle." Both those schools are non-starters here.

[landshoes]

Vanderbilt. But honestly, you should strongly consider the University of New Mexico if you're really unwilling to go to Vandy.

[Clearly]

You could prob do better on a retake if only because Kaplan is just awful. That said for once it's not super important here because you're going for free and you want to do non-biglaw in Nashville and have Vandy. That's absolutely 110% your best option. I do hope you know a lot about the family law market in Nashville, including salary, hiring etc. I don't, but it's important that you do!

[Big Red]

Have you been to Nashville? I honestly can't imagine anyone who has spent time in the area describing it as a "big city." The thing I like most about Nashville is the small town feel

With that GPA and LSAT and the VA I feel like I need to suggest, strongly, that you retake. But your hesitations about Vandy "specialized" programs and Nashville are misguided

[mynameismyname]

Have you actually been accepted to all of these schools yet?

[Willpower]

Have you actually been accepted to all of these schools yet?

Waiting to hear from Vandy.

[Willpower]

Vanderbilt sounds like a no brainer given that you want to work in TN and you won't have to pay for it

Ignore speciality rankings, they are completely and utterly useless

Going to Pepperdine/Colorado with a desire to work in TN would be on the short list of "Worst Decisions in the 2015/2016 Application Cycle." Both those schools are non-starters here.

What makes Vanderbilt so valuable? The attitude here on TLS seems to be that the higher the overall rank, the better. I ask attorneys (none of which went to a t14 school) and they claim that where your school ranks does not really matter unless you want biglaw. Thoughts?

[Willpower]

Vanderbilt. But honestly, you should strongly consider the University of New Mexico if you're really unwilling to go to Vandy.

I'm not really unwilling to go to Vandy. I am just not sure what makes it such a great choice. What makes you suggest those schools over the others?

[A. Nony Mouse]

Vanderbilt is better since you said you want to work in TN. It's not because it's ranked higher than Colorado or Pepperdine. Going to UT(Tenn) would be better than Colorado or Pepperdine, if you want to work in TN. If you're not looking at biglaw you want to go to school in the location where you want to work so you can develop ties to the region and network with local attorneys who can get you a job.

[BigZuck]

Vanderbilt sounds like a no brainer given that you want to work in TN and you won't have to pay for it

Ignore speciality rankings, they are completely and utterly useless

Going to Pepperdine/Colorado with a desire to work in TN would be on the short list of "Worst Decisions in the 2015/2016 Application Cycle." Both those schools are non-starters here.

What makes Vanderbilt so valuable? The attitude here on TLS seems to be that the higher the overall rank, the better. I ask attorneys (none of which went to a t14 school) and they claim that where your school ranks does not really matter unless you want biglaw. Thoughts?

What Nony said

Also, many (most) practicing attorneys knew very little about the current job market and dole out a lot of bad advice. Unless it's a recent grad you need to be very skeptical about what they say.

But mostly what Nony said. Vandy is a better school that both in basically every scenario other than wanting to get a modest job in Southern CA (then go to Pepperdine) or a modest job in CO (then go to Colorado). Saying you want to work in TN makes both those schools a non-starter.

[Willpower]

Ignore speciality rankings, they are completely and utterly useless

How so? You would think that it would be important to study at a school that has a strong emphasis in your area of interest... Am I wrong?

[A. Nony Mouse]

Ignore speciality rankings, they are completely and utterly useless

How so? You would think that it would be important to study at a school that has a strong emphasis in your area of interest... Am I wrong?

Yes. Specialty rankings are rankings by professors of scholarship by other professors. But law is a professional degree. Professors' academic scholarship has almost no effect on a students' law school experience. Basically every law school will prepare you equally well for every kind of legal job (in an academic sense, not in the sense of providing job opportunities). Every law school is going to offer courses in family law and related stuff like trusts and estates, tax, juvenile law, etc. Probably every law school is going to offer clinics in family law (it lends itself well to student experience). And you will get a job in family law by getting as much real world experience as possible. You don't need a specialization labeled "family law" to go into family law.

[Clearly]

Ignore speciality rankings, they are completely and utterly useless

How so? You would think that it would be important to study at a school that has a strong emphasis in your area of interest... Am I wrong?

Yes. Specialty rankings are rankings by professors of scholarship by other professors. But law is a professional degree. Professors' academic scholarship has almost no effect on a students' law school experience. Basically every law school will prepare you equally well for every kind of legal job (in an academic sense, not in the sense of providing job opportunities). Every law school is going to offer courses in family law and related stuff like trusts and estates, tax, juvenile law, etc. Probably every law school is going to offer clinics in family law (it lends itself well to student experience). And you will get a job in family law by getting as much real world experience as possible. You don't need a specialization labeled "family law" to go into family law.

Listen to this man ^

[Willpower]

Ignore speciality rankings, they are completely and utterly useless

How so? You would think that it would be important to study at a school that has a strong emphasis in your area of interest... Am I wrong?

Yes. Specialty rankings are rankings by professors of scholarship by other professors. But law is a professional degree. Professors' academic scholarship has almost no effect on a students' law school experience. Basically every law school will prepare you equally well for every kind of legal job (in an academic sense, not in the sense of providing job opportunities). Every law school is going to offer courses in family law and related stuff like trusts and estates, tax, juvenile law, etc. Probably every law school is going to offer clinics in family law (it lends itself well to student experience). And you will get a job in family law by getting as much real world experience as possible. You don't need a specialization labeled "family law" to go into family law.

So should I only really focus on location, bar pass rates, and employment stats then?

[TheRealSantaClaus]

.

[A. Nony Mouse]

A good family law clinic can be helpful, but I'm pretty sure every law school will offer clinical opportunities in family law. It's just such a ubiquitous field. And I wouldn't weight a family law clinic over other factors like location.

[FamilyLawEsq]

Many family law attorneys were ADAs or PDs before going into family law. Many clerk for the family law judges. Family law attorneys spend far more time in the courtroom than most people realize. To this end, go to law school in the area of the country you want to practice.

[samwilwerding]

I want to practice family law (but we all know things change). Which school should I go to? Or, should I just give up on life because I can't get into a t14 school? Here are the requested details.

-The schools you are considering
Pepperdine, Boulder, Vanderbilt

-The total Cost of Attendance (COA) of each. COA = cost of tuition + fees + books + cost of living (COL) + accumulated interest - scholarships.
Irrelevant. Full ride from the VA. Books. Housing. Everything.

-Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any)
I am from Las Cruces, NM. I will probably work in Nashville due to my significant other's aspirations in the music business. But, I really do not care where I end up working. I just want to do family law really, and I can do that anywhere.

-Your general career goals
I'd like to practice family law. The size of the firm does not really matter to me. I want to practice under someone else for about 5 years before I even think about hanging my own shingle.

-Your LSAT/GPA numbers
I have a 155/4.0+. I would take the LSAT again, but I have some medical conditions from my involvement in the war. They limit what I can do on that silly test. I took a kaplan course and everything.

-How many times you have taken the LSAT
Just once. No more please.

Pepperdine is great for dispute resolution. That's a big part of family law. Malibu is awesome.
Colorado has a great clinical program for family law, and they are ranked relatively highly. Colorado is awesome.
Vanderbilt has a high ranking, but does not seem to have any specialty programs that interest me. I also really do not want to live in a big city (at least not yet if I can help it).

The University of Tennessee (UT). As has been discussed in other forums, you don't need to go to a school that specializes in family law to practice family law. UT has great employment stats (even better than a lot of tier 1 schools) and your numbers could get you in there (if you write a nice personal statement and submit a standardized test score explanation; be careful with what you say, though--don't give them reason to doubt that you will be able to pass the bar). You won't get into Vanderbilt and probably not Colorado either. Even if you're going to school for free, you will probably have to take out loans to live in Malibu (the cost of living is extremely high). Go to UT.