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From what I understand, it would be pretty difficult to get to Seattle by way of UT, Vandy, or USC. I would be happy to know that I am wrong on this as I wouldn't mind finding myself in Seattle after law school, but my impression is that you need to be at a Seattle (maybe WA) school to break in.

I had a couple classmates get big law in Seattle from my non-t14, but both went to UW undergrad and were from Seattle. So not impossible to get back to Seattle from UT, Vandy or USC but will be more difficult. What is COA at UW? If it is pretty cheap and you don't get into any t13s (or sticker at them) I would go with UW

Your career goals seem a little dichotomous. Environmental law practice would likely not go art. III, Biglaw, in-house at an outdoor industry company (are we talking like REI?). Companies like that will look for people with corporate law experience, not environmental law. Fed. Gov. makes more sense to fit there, but I'm generally not aware of much environmental law work (assuming you mean environmental conservation and not things like energy law or oil and gas) being done by BigLaw firms.

Back to your general question, depending on costs being limited, UW for Seattle is the play here. What kind of COA are you looking at for UW? If you want Seattle BigLaw, it's law schools with national placement power (Twhatever that equates to for you)>UW>>>USC/UCLA>Seattle U.

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On a kind of related note, would it be totally crazy for an IP-eligible person to go to UW if they weren't completely committed to staying in the PNW? Not sure how COA will stack up or what my other options will be at this point, but I was wondering if a STEM graduate degree might make a UW JD a bit more portable? or is this wishful thinking?

I dont have any connections otherwise to the PNW, so I am kind of attracted to the idea of being able to make inroads in a fairly insular market, just as long as there is some modicum of portability, and of course depending upon the COA...

BobBoblaw wrote:On a kind of related note, would it be totally crazy for an IP-eligible person to go to UW if they weren't completely committed to staying in the PNW? Not sure how COA will stack up or what my other options will be at this point, but I was wondering if a STEM graduate degree might make a UW JD a bit more portable? or is this wishful thinking?

I dont have any connections otherwise to the PNW, so I am kind of attracted to the idea of being able to make inroads in a fairly insular market, just as long as there is some modicum of portability, and of course depending upon the COA...

I went to UW and got offers to summer in several external markets - SV, DC, and Texarrrs to name a few. IME, the portability of a UW JD will depend on (roughly in order of importance): your law grades, IP (patent, I presume, based on the STEM comment) background, the degree of influence PNWers have in the external market, and what sort of IP you want to do (lit/pros).

You have a great chance at environmental law from UT - if by environmental law you mean helping huge oil conglomerates cheat their way out of federal environmental regulations.