Top Law Schools

How important are specialties when choosing my LS? I'm interested in civil, litigation and criminal law, but I'm finding many of the schools I'm interested in have neither. Does this pretty much mean I won't have the ability to become a civil or criminal attorney? Just not sure how it works. Also, any reason why there's such a small amount of schools that have civil and criminal studies? Thanks!

specialties don't matter at all, don't base any law school decisions based on them

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You will learn about and have the same ability to practice these areas of law from all schools. Any "specialty programs" that are marketed are essentially meaningless and should have very little influence on your school search.

ETA: Scooped

Also, the reason there aren't specialties in civil or criminal law is because those are the two basic things that every law school in the country teaches you. Pretty much every class you take will have something to do with civil or criminal law, or both. (Unless by civil you mean "not the common law," in which case you'll have to go to Louisiana, or France.) It would be sort of like going to medical school looking for a specialty in anatomy or diagnosis.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:Also, the reason there aren't specialties in civil or criminal law is because those are the two basic things that every law school in the country teaches you. Pretty much every class you take will have something to do with civil or criminal law, or both. (Unless by civil you mean "not the common law," in which case you'll have to go to Louisiana, or France.) It would be sort of like going to medical school looking for a specialty in anatomy or diagnosis.

LOL.

Thanks guys! Sure wish all the rankings websites would point that out. So why do they list them? I mean, they have comparable charts and give the impression you should consider what types of law they teach. Weird.

So why do some have 10 types of law and some have 3? You guys are saying there's no difference between the two? Thanks for clarifying, just a little confused. Two of the pre-law books I've read suggested I should consider what types of law they teach, but guess not.

tangelo wrote:Thanks guys! Sure wish all the rankings websites would point that out. So why do they list them? I mean, they have comparable charts and give the impression you should consider what types of law they teach. Weird.

So why do some have 10 types of law and some have 3? You guys are saying there's no difference between the two? Thanks for clarifying, just a little confused. Two of the pre-law books I've read suggested I should consider what types of law they teach, but guess not.

Some schools probably *are* stronger in some speciality areas than others, but none of that matters if you can't find a job. Look at Santa Clara University - USNWR ranks their Intellectual Property law program as #3 in the country, but only about 40% of their graduates get a legal job at all, never mind IP.

If you already had a tech job in San Jose, and your employer wanted to pay for you to go to Santa Clara so that you could advance within the company, then it might not be a bad choice, but most of us aren't in that situation (free/subsidized JD with a job waiting for us afterwards), so employment stats always have to be first priority, well ahead of specialty rankings.