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I just graduated from a state school in West Texas which is really close to New Mexico. I like New Mexico and am thinking about going to the law school there. My concern is that I've heard the New Mexico legal market is incredibly tough on outsiders. Will my coming from right across the state line in West Texas be considered ''local'' enough if I got a law degree from UNM? My main interest would be work in the public sector btw.

Would it be safer to not apply there at all?

UNM is a pretty solid school if you want to work in New Mexico, 78% of graduates in 2014 are employed as lawyers and the vast majority of them are employed in New Mexico, as long as you go to law school at UNM it should be enough to break in to the New Mexico legal market.

I am from Albuquerque and went to UNM undergrad then Notre Dame Law. I got hometowned out of my hometown. Albuquerque and Santa Fe are completely run by UNM grads. I was a summer at one of the very few "big" firms and was grilled every single day about wanting to be in New Mexico. Another summer from Georgia who went to UNM didn't get any questions about it. West Texas would present no problems.

The thing about UNM is that you won't go unemployed. There are jobs in the distant corners of the state that are right now unfilled because no one applies. The bad news is that UNM has produced exactly 1 SCOTUS clerk in its history and places very few people in traditional biglaw. High floor, low ceiling.

YOLO

be sure to watch Better Call Saul before you commit to new mexico law

ED UNIVERSITY OF AMERICAN SAMOA

rundontwalk wrote: Would it be safer to not apply there at all?

I don't see why this would be the case.

So is your goal to work in NM or not? If it is, why would you not apply there?