Top Law Schools

Hey, so I'm currently extremely indecisive about where I want to go. Here are my options:

Rutgers- about $15,000 with scholarships
Brooklyn- about $20,000 with scholarships

I'm not interested in BigLaw. I would like to work in government as a prosecutor or public interest. Which school would give me better opportunities? Is Brooklyn worth the extra $5,000 a year? Their stip is to stay in the top 80% of the class, which seems extremely doable. I'm not sure that I would want to work in NJ. What do you guys think?

Retake

Don't go to Rutgers if you don't want to be in NJ.

Yeah retake for better options, not just saying school options but these schools are defensible on full rides. Though do not go to Rutgers if you don't want to stay in NJ

Well, if you don't want to work in New Jersey, then Brooklyn is clearly the right choice of the two.

The only major potential benefit that Rutgers brings to the table is it looks like they place a much larger portion of their class in local clerk positions. But those are likely all in New Jersey and may or may not be desirable clerkships.

And as mentioned, retaking and reapplying to give yourself better options (financially and academically) is far and away your best option.

Does anyone know- would I have better employment opportunities coming out of Brooklyn?

indecisivelawstudent wrote:Does anyone know- would I have better employment opportunities coming out of Brooklyn?

Better employment opportunities in terms of what?

In terms of working in the government or PI? They both place about the same number of students in that field.

In terms of working in New York? Brooklyn will be infinitely better at that.

In terms of working for a New Jersey district court judge as a clerk? Rutgers.

http://employmentsummary.abaquestionnaire.org/

Check out each school's report. These are the stats that matter. For the lower price and better employment output, I would go Rutgers.

Indeed as someone else has pointed out, about 1/4-1/3 of the class goes into clerkships, largely state court. State court clerkships reliably feed NJ firms and government.

Now, I realize it seems you do not want to work in NJ. You should be aware that the placement statistics reflect a selection bias. There's a high correspondence of people at Rutgers wanting to be in NJ. But you can generally place in NY if that's what you want and you do halfway decent. You should ask them about who recruits from OCI. Another thing to consider: the most recent ABA is for the merged RU entity. If you select the Newark campus, then the rate of people going to NY is much more substantial.

Good luck. PM me if you have any detailed questions.

Going to either of these schools with that much debt is literally insane. If you want to work in government then retake the LSAT, reapply, and get a good scholly. These schools at full rides w/ no stips are defensible for certain goals, but 15/20k per year is not enough at all unless you're filthy rich but even then it's still a bad idea.

Disclaimer: I don't know anything about Brooklyn law (but I go to Rutgers).

If your goal is prosecution, you may want to dream a little higher than these schools. Most people who want to do criminal work end up in the PDs office, not prosecution. The prosecutor's office tends to be more selective and more prone to take students from better schools.

However, with any advice on here, this is not an absolute. There are exceptions to everything. But generally, the prosecutor's office is more selective which is not great news for Rutgers or Brooklyn.

Considering OP's government service goals, either is a competitive choice in my experience. I am losing track of just how many RLS-N alums (just that I know) are in a prosecutor's office. Obviously they are throughout the various NJ county prosecutors, tons in the state AG, a couple in Manhattan, a couple in Brooklyn and Bronx. The 10-month employment stats don't tell the full picture because so many people will clerk or do a quick private sector stint first. And as to U.S. Attny, your hopes but mostly be in DNJ, and they hire basically exclusively people with 4/5 years of lawyering experience at a minimum.

Considering the public service goal, you've got to go with the school that will ensure lower debt and at least marginally better employment outcomes, and currently that is RLS (which also has a pretty fine reputation for public service/interest law). Or retake and get closer to a full ride from these places.

LafayetteJeff wrote:retake and get closer to a full ride from these places.

Definitely this. It's not that hard to get those LSAT scores.
I heard a few years ago Brooklyn section stacks. Not sure if this is true or if they still do though. But beware of scholly stipulations.

indecisivelawstudent wrote:Their stip is to stay in the top 80% of the class, which seems extremely doable.

It's about 80% doable