Top Law Schools

So to get to the point:

I'm interested in Public Interest law. I found a topic here that was from March-April 2010 where the consensus was basically "Best PI schools are the same as top 20 in US News rankings". This is not really helpful to me since my GPA essentially locks me out of the T20. ):

Here're my questions:

1) on a general note: what are some GREAT PI schools that are not in T20? I've heard Northeastern a lot...any others?
2) on a personal note: given the fact that I'm a splitter, I'm unsure as to what range of schools I should apply for. I don't want to waste time/$$ on schools I have 0% chance of getting into, but I don't want to sell myself short either. Based on your experience/knowledge, what do you think are some schools that are good reaches for me? Or any schools that are more lenient on GPA or focus more on LSATs?


Thanks a million ahead of time! Sorry this post is so long (:

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Look into UNC

Your GPA will lock you out of a few schools, but here are the ones with a strong public interest program that I'd say you have a shot at (though some are more likely than others). These are in no particular order:

American
Northeastern
University of Maryland
Brooklyn Law School
Univ of Illinois
Lewis and Clark
University of Wisconsin

Hastings. Their LRAP is really really good.

I don't know how they treat splitters, but I'd think it'd be wroth the app fee, especially if you apply early.

ozarkhack wrote:Hastings. Their LRAP is really really good.

I don't know how they treat splitters, but I'd think it'd be wroth the app fee, especially if you apply early.

Do you know if they've got a good program for PI? (clinics, academic focus etc etc)