Top Law Schools

Alright, I take the LSAT in September so choosing a school is a long ways away, but I can't help thinking about fallback plans (fallbacks to the goal of T14 so I can secure biglaw) in case I need one.

Notre Dame has a pretty good large firm score on LST at 32%. Why aren't they considered more often by TLSers? Am I missing something when looking at their LST report?

Also, could we safely speculate that a significant majority of that 32% biglaw is Chicago biglaw? If most of that 32% goes to Indy and Ohio, then Notre Dame is no longer a viable backup thb.

ND with a substantial scholarship(think close to full) is talked about as a very respectable option if you're looking for Chicago area BL. It's nowhere near a guarantee, but with a good scholarship you wouldn't necessarily need BL to service your debt load. ND is a great school

I would also add Illinois Law.... It has similar, if not slightly better Chicago placement but more generous scholarships wise than ND.

ND student here. ND has national placement you can check their stats, most biglaw is chicago because most students are from the midwest. However everyone who gets a job ends up getting a job back in their home market. Doesn't matter if that market is in California or Florida

Calbears123 wrote:ND student here. ND has national placement you can check their stats, most biglaw is chicago because most students are from the midwest. However everyone ends up getting a job back in their home market. Doesn't matter if that market is in California or Florida

"""""""""""""""""everyone"""""""""""""""""""""""

"""""""""""""job"""""""""""""""""""

Calbears123 wrote:ND student here. ND has national placement you can check their stats, most biglaw is chicago because most students are from the midwest. However everyone ends up getting a job back in their home market. Doesn't matter if that market is in California or Florida

http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/notredame/

Everyone gets a job in their target market? Really?

Shows here that 76% get a full time legal job. So that's already not EVERYONE. Also of those 76% are you telling me they all got the job they want in the market they want? Also false.

ND is a great respectable school. But don't blow it out of proportion when giving an 0L advice


E: 76% on LST is an amazing score compared to most schools. I just want to make sure OP realizes you are over exaggerating a bit

I forgot to add the most important part of my post

in addition to above, of those able to land firm jobs, 33% were at firms <100 attorneys, including double digit number of grads to firms sized 2-10 attorneys.

I think the reason ND is not the choice a lot of the time here is that U of I and WUSTL often offer more money and are considered peer schools.

For those at Notre Dame- is the school still predominantly Irish and Catholic from your perspective?

Nachoo2019 wrote:

Calbears123 wrote:ND student here. ND has national placement you can check their stats, most biglaw is chicago because most students are from the midwest. However everyone ends up getting a job back in their home market. Doesn't matter if that market is in California or Florida

http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/notredame/

Everyone gets a job in their target market? Really?

Shows here that 76% get a full time legal job. So that's already not EVERYONE. Also of those 76% are you telling me they all got the job they want in the market they want? Also false.

ND is a great respectable school. But don't blow it out of proportion when giving an 0L advice


E: 76% on LST is an amazing score compared to most schools. I just want to make sure OP realizes you are over exaggerating a bit

To be fair, home market and target market aren't necessarily the same.

There should be no such thing as a "back up" or "safety school" in law school admissions. This is not undergrad. You need to attend a school that gives you a reasonable shot at your goal (biglaw) at a reasonable price. ND's LST score is too low for my taste and you probably shouldn't attend if your goal is biglaw.

ND gets less attention on here than schools like WUSTL because of $$$$. ND's big law + fed clerk numbers are generally a few percentage points higher than WUSTL and the comparison with Illinois isn't even a fair one. The vast majority of Illinois graduates probably target Chicago. Most ND students are not targeting Chicago (although a large number are). For any market other than Chicago, ND is a much better choice than Illinois.

With 40% of students getting big law or federal clerkships, ND is not a bad choice for someone who wants a decent shot at big law. You don't have to be on law review or at the very top of the class. That being said, ND students are most successful at getting jobs back in their home market. Don't go to ND if you're from Georgia and want a job in Colorado.

To answer the Irish/Catholic question: ND undergrad is heavily Irish Catholic (although you'll find plenty of Italian, Polish, German last names too). The law school is a bit more diverse. I would say that only a minority of law students are actually practicing Catholics (i.e., regularly attend mass).

Mullens wrote:There should be no such thing as a "back up" or "safety school" in law school admissions. This is not undergrad. You need to attend a school that gives you a reasonable shot at your goal (biglaw) at a reasonable price. ND's LST score is too low for my taste and you probably shouldn't attend if your goal is biglaw.

agreed with this. if you aren't going to be happy with another outcome, I wouldn't go at all. but this should be even more motivation to get a great LSAT score. also noticed that you have a 3.9 GPA, nothing is out of reach with that GPA and it makes it much easier for you to get into a T14. with a 166+ score.

Don't go to Notre Dame with a 3.9 under any circumstances. That would be wildly misguided. Any COA you can get there could be had at the lower T14 with literally a couple more multiple choice questions right.

proteinshake wrote:

Mullens wrote:There should be no such thing as a "back up" or "safety school" in law school admissions. This is not undergrad. You need to attend a school that gives you a reasonable shot at your goal (biglaw) at a reasonable price. ND's LST score is too low for my taste and you probably shouldn't attend if your goal is biglaw.

agreed with this. if you aren't going to be happy with another outcome, I wouldn't go at all. but this should be even more motivation to get a great LSAT score. also noticed that you have a 3.9 GPA, nothing is out of reach with that GPA and it makes it much easier for you to get into a T14. with a 166+ score.

This is true. Like I said, I can't help my mind wandering to worst case scenarios sometimes so I was looking to see what schools still have high-ish biglaw scores outside the T14. But I suppose it's t14 all the way!