Thoughts on My List for Florida / Pennsylvania Forum

[fourwinds]

I am in my final year of undergrad in Florida, about to graduate in May. I'm looking to apply to law school for Fall 2018. My LSAT is 156. I've lived in Florida for the past 10 years, but most of my family lives in south-central Pennsylvania. All of my professional connections are in Florida and all of my family connections are in Pennsylvania. I'm planning on applying to law schools in both places to compare my options. Being a FL resident gives me some pretty cheap options down here.

I'm interested in estate planning / tax law at a small to medium-sized firm. If I stay in Florida I want to work in Miami; if I go to Pennsylvania I want to work in Pittsburgh or Philadelphia, leaning towards Pittsburgh at this point. I realize with my LSAT and the schools below that biglaw / biglaw money is not going to happen, but I'd like to be employed where I will fit. Open to government work as well if it's related to tax.

Here are the nine schools I'm looking at broken down by market.

Miami Market: (in preference order)
1. University of Florida
2. University of Miami

Florida government: (I've read FSU doesn't place well in Miami)
- Florida State University

Tampa / St. Petersburg market (where I live now)
- Stetson University (will get $$$ and have local connections in area, making it a good safety)

Pittsburgh Market:
1. University of Pittsburgh
2. Duquesne University (will get $$$$)

Hopefully has reach to Pittsburgh:
- Dickinson Law (my parents live 30 minutes from campus and I can live with them for free)

Philly Market:
1. Temple University
2. Villanova

[FamilyLawEsq]

My post on your other thread:

If you want to practice in PA, forget the FL schools. If your LSAT was 160, you would get free tuition from Dickinson, and can live free in Carlisle with your parents, which seems like a no brainer to me. So, consider a second shot at the LSAT. If not, your first step after graduating from law school is to clerk in one of the Orphan's Courts in PA: Chester, Bucks, Berks, Montgomery Counties, or Philly, if you do not want to be in central PA. Make sure you take federal income tax and wills & trusts, if not mandatory, and estate tax, and estate planning, as electives. Dickinson is better than Penn State.

[fourwinds]

I read that post on the other thread and it doesn't really answer any of my questions. I'm not going to school in FL to practice in PA. If I went to a Florida school I'd take the Florida bar. I'm applying to both to keep my options open, which is what this post is about.

Specific questions to be answered: is this a well-rounded list for my LSAT score and goals? Am I overlooking any schools that should be on my list? Are any of these schools useless for my goals?

[cavalier1138]

Your post history is throwing up all kinds of red flags for me. Your career goals have gone pretty much everywhere they can in the space of a few months, and you're rushing all of your decision making to keep to some ridiculous timeline you've constructed for yourself.

If you want to keep your options open, then retake and go for a school that actually lets you keep your options open. Your current plan keeps your options open between Florida and Pennsylvania right up to the moment you matriculate. And as it stands, you're not going to get money at any of the legit law schools (read: not scams) on your list. You can't afford to take on much debt from any of these schools with the salary in the jobs you're interested in for this thread.

[lavarman84]

I'd recommend retaking the LSAT. Your Florida school list includes every school worth attending except for FIU. I'd apply there as well for negotiation purposes at minimum (although, it's not a terrible option if you get $$$$ since you want to work in Miami).

However, if you want to do tax law, UF is your best option. Your current LSAT won't cut it unless you have an unreal GPA. Even then, you'd be better off raising your LSAT to get a full-ride. UF is being generous with scholarship money. Improve your LSAT to take advantage of that. If you can go to UF for next to nothing, you'll set yourself up well to go get your Tax LLM (assuming tax is still what you want to do) at UF. That'll put you in a great position for tax law in Florida.