Top Law Schools

I'm a high school student and I'm kind of interested in law. I really like English and I love to read and write. My teachers also tell me I'm a very strong writer. I'm kind of interested in law because I know lawyers write and read a lot. I guess I'm wondering which type of lawyers spend almost all of their time writing and reading instead of going to court? Like writing contracts and small print for advertisements and those terms of service things?

Yes, there are lawyers that do contract works or work with businesses who never set foot in a courtroom. But focus on your grades for now. Worry about law school in like 6 years.

Off topic, but don't take out a lot of undergrad debt. Seriously.

You're in high school. Get better dreams. If you wanted to be Atticus Finch, I could see it, but writing the small print on advertisements and the like? Come on man you're young. Have the audacity to hope for greater things!

If you're really a strong writer, have you considered pursuing writing? There are much better ways to flex the reading/writing organ than becoming a lawyer to write contracts.

Booklover wrote:I'm a high school student and I'm kind of interested in law. I really like English and I love to read and write. My teachers also tell me I'm a very strong writer. I'm kind of interested in law because I know lawyers write and read a lot. I guess I'm wondering which type of lawyers spend almost all of their time writing and reading instead of going to court? Like writing contracts and small print for advertisements and those terms of service things?

A huge amount of lawyers don't go to court. Even lawyers who litigate spend most of their time writing (at least in the civil context). When I was a litigator, I spent the majority of my time writing briefs (arguments to a judge about how he should rule on something) and memos (analysis of how the law applies to certain facts).

Rigo wrote:Off topic, but don't take out a lot of undergrad debt. Seriously.

+1 Unless you get into a nationally renowned college—Ivies, Stanford, Duke, etc.—don't even think about paying sticker price. Take the scholarship at your local state school.

RZ5646 wrote:

Rigo wrote:Off topic, but don't take out a lot of undergrad debt. Seriously.

+1 Unless you get into a nationally renowned college—Ivies, Stanford, Duke, etc.—don't even think about paying sticker price. Take the scholarship at your local state school.

It's a trade off, because the more prestigious/hard the school, the lower your GPA will likely be, but the greater access you'll have to getting your foot in the door at great companies and not having to go to law school at all.

Rigo wrote:

RZ5646 wrote:

Rigo wrote:Off topic, but don't take out a lot of undergrad debt. Seriously.

+1 Unless you get into a nationally renowned college—Ivies, Stanford, Duke, etc.—don't even think about paying sticker price. Take the scholarship at your local state school.

It's a trade off, because the more prestigious/hard the school, the lower your GPA will likely be, but the greater access you'll have to getting your foot in the door at great companies and not having to go to law school at all.

Idk if I agree with this for two reasons.
(1) I don't think it's a gradual scale. I think, like the post you quoted, it's more of a dichotomy. You either go to a really good school (Princetons and Harvards, maybe the Dukes and Georgetowns too) or you go to any other college. If it's not one of those top schools then you might as well go to big state U or wherever else is cheapest. Certainly if you want to go to law school, it doesn't matter where're you went to college, all that matters is your GPA. But as the above poster says, if you go to say Harvard and have a great gpa, though it doesn't matter for law school admissions purposes that your gpa is from Harvard rather than State U, it might mean you can get a great job without going to law school.

(2) I don't think it's true at all that the more prestigious a school is the harder it is/lower gpa. Even Princeton, the one school that might lend credence to such a theory, has begun to address its stance against grade inflation.

OP, my advice is enjoy college and get the highest gpa possible. If you are dead set on law school, just worry about your gpa and don't worry about being the president of the pre-law club or whatever (unless you just think that's fun) because nobody cares. If, 3 years from now, you are still interested in law school then come back to this website and ask about how you should study for the LSAT.

Speaking from my own experience at a state school, where I racked up A's without going to class and partying 3-4 nights a week. I doubt I could have pulled that in Ivy League or elite LAC, but ymmv.

Rigo wrote:Speaking from my own experience at a state school, where I racked up A's without going to class and partying 3-4 nights a week. I doubt I could have pulled that in Ivy League or elite LAC, but ymmv.

I don't know why you'd assume that to be the case though.

Br3v wrote:

Rigo wrote:

RZ5646 wrote:

Rigo wrote:Off topic, but don't take out a lot of undergrad debt. Seriously.

+1 Unless you get into a nationally renowned college—Ivies, Stanford, Duke, etc.—don't even think about paying sticker price. Take the scholarship at your local state school.

It's a trade off, because the more prestigious/hard the school, the lower your GPA will likely be, but the greater access you'll have to getting your foot in the door at great companies and not having to go to law school at all.

I think, like the post you quoted, it's more of a dichotomy. You either go to a really good school (Princetons and Harvards, maybe the Dukes and Georgetowns too) or you go to any other college.

Yeah that's what I was trying to say. There are a lot of schools in the middle of the rankings that are only as valuable as the low-ranked schools but cost as much as the prestigious schools. Don't fall into the trap of that anti-goldilocks zone.

Br3v wrote:

Rigo wrote:Speaking from my own experience at a state school, where I racked up A's without going to class and partying 3-4 nights a week. I doubt I could have pulled that in Ivy League or elite LAC, but ymmv.

I don't know why you'd assume that to be the case though.

Just comparing the amount of work it took to get A's at state schools versus the amount of work at my friends' more prestigious schools.
I don't know why you're adamant it's not the case though. I'm not saying it's absolutely true that it's easier to get A's at non-public ivy state schools than elite ungrads, but it's hard to say that it's not true either.

It doesn't really matter. OP should go to the undergrad that makes the most sense for him.
Looking back, I'm glad I went the in-state public route because I easily paid off my loans and cake walked (IMO) to a really good GPA. At the time, I desperately wanted to go to the more prestigious schools I got into for silly Keeping Up With the Jones's optics as an immature 18 year old, but in retrospect I'm glad I didn't for financial reasons and perceived (maybe falsely, maybe not) GPA reasons.

I want to go to an ivy league law school (like Yale, Harvard or Stanford) and work at a big law firm like Baker & McKenzie. What should I do during undergrad in order to get into an ivy league law school besides getting high grades?

Booklover wrote:I want to go to an ivy league law school (like Yale, Harvard or Stanford) and work at a big law firm like Baker & McKenzie. What should I do during undergrad in order to get into an ivy league law school besides getting high grades?

Do stuff you're passionate about. Have fun. Try to actually learn stuff in class. Play a club sport. Make friends. Do dumb stuff.

If you are in high school, then you have absolutely no idea what you are going to want to do in four years. And you shouldn't, because if you come out of college the same person you went in, then what was the point of college? Enjoy your life, college is super fun if you do it right. I would relive those years in a second if I could.

Now, in a few years, if you still want to go to law school then make sure to take the LSAT seriously. But that is so far in the future that it's silly to worry about it now. But don't try to structure your life around going into law. Structure it around being a good person.

ETA: And as far as I know, there is a difference between the tippy top undergrad schools and the absolute bottom schools. The rest are basically the same as far a expected income. And if you live in a state with really good public schools, eg, VA, TX, FL, CA, then there is absolutely no reason to go into crazy debt for a super elite private one.

Booklover wrote:I want to go to an ivy league law school (like Yale, Harvard or Stanford) and work at a big law firm like Baker & McKenzie. What should I do during undergrad in order to get into an ivy league law school besides getting high grades?

Miminize debt and study hard for the LSAT your junior year.

Also, Stanford isn't Ivy League, and the Ivy League doesn't mean much in the law school world anyway.

Booklover wrote:I want to go to an ivy league law school (like Yale, Harvard or Stanford) and work at a big law firm like Baker & McKenzie. What should I do during undergrad in order to get into an ivy league law school besides getting high grades?

Don't worry about "Ivy League." If you're going to prestige-out about something when it comes to law schools it's the t-14, or top 14 law schools. Any t-14 would allow you to work at a firm like Baker & McKenzie, though I wouldn't worry about specific firms until you are already well into law school.


As far as what you can do to get into a top school, admissions are over 95% determined by two things: (1) your undergraduate GPA (regardless of what your major is or what school) and (2) your LSAT score. If you are a racial minority that will play a big role too, and if you have work experience between college and law school that will give you a small advantage as well, but like I said 95% is gpa and LSAT.

Br3v wrote:

Rigo wrote:Speaking from my own experience at a state school, where I racked up A's without going to class and partying 3-4 nights a week. I doubt I could have pulled that in Ivy League or elite LAC, but ymmv.

I don't know why you'd assume that to be the case though.

Did a year and a half at a state school before transferring to an Ivy. Similar story to Rigo at the state school, but a fair amount of grade deflation at the Ivy (some classes were graded to a curve)/almost everyone went to class. Had to work much harder for the same grades.

This thread is a flame, just so you guys know.

lmfao @ all the srs replies