Top Law Schools

UC-Irvine seems to punch WAY outside it's weight class WRT federal clerkship numbers. #2 after Yale in 2012 with 29%. #3 behind Yale and Stanford with 18% in 2013. #9 in 2014, still very impressive at 11%.

I realize these probably aren't the most preftigious of federal clerkships, but is there some explanation as to why they consistently beat out "better" schools? How does a school whose grads are unemployed 1/4 to 1/3 of the time pull this off consistently? Even accounting for it's higher admissions requirements WRT its ranking due to the new school weirdness, it beats out schools like UT (comparable entrance stats) that have huge alumni bases and a stranglehold on large markets. Is it the quality/connections of the faculty? Am I missing something?

From what I've heard, it's all about Erwin Chemerinsky using his personal connections.

WinterComing wrote:From what I've heard, it's all about Erwin Chemerinsky using his personal connections.

This.

Yup. Also I don't think the classes are very large, and for the first few years, students who enrolled got full scholarships (it tapered down from full to less to less with each year), so the school was able to attract very competitive applicants (not knocking current students or anything, that was just how the school got people with good stats to go to a brand new law school). And a lot of competitive clerkship applicants bring a lot of pre-law school accomplishments to the table.

But mostly Chemerinsky.

Hey, now.

Student quality in general has a lot to do with it.

i was about to make a thread about this topic, but i just came across this one. the fed clerkship number i see on LST for Irvine is about 13%. is this not astronomically high for a school outside of the top 20? is it really because of the founding dean?

vcap180 wrote:i was about to make a thread about this topic, but i just came across this one. the fed clerkship number i see on LST for Irvine is about 13%. is this not astronomically high for a school outside of the top 20? is it really because of the founding dean?

At the end of the day a recommendation only goes so far, even if it's from Chemerinsky. Realistically it's some combination of judges' interest in the program at UCI, the career office's focus on getting students clerkships, the connections of the faculty (not just Chemerinsky), and probably the students themselves.

kingwhereofis wrote:

vcap180 wrote:i was about to make a thread about this topic, but i just came across this one. the fed clerkship number i see on LST for Irvine is about 13%. is this not astronomically high for a school outside of the top 20? is it really because of the founding dean?

At the end of the day a recommendation only goes so far, even if it's from Chemerinsky. Realistically it's some combination of judges' interest in the program at UCI, the career office's focus on getting students clerkships, the connections of the faculty (not just Chemerinsky), and probably the students themselves.

I mean... why do you think judges are interested in a program that only received full ABA accreditation in 2014?