Top Law Schools

Against my better judgment (and TLS wisdom) I went to TTT law school in a secondary market on a large scholarship. First let me just say that I pretty much hate law school. I am not interested in any of my classes, I have reservations about some of the people I go to school with, and everything I hate about academia is back in full force, multiplied 10 times over. That being said, I look forward every week to volunteering at legal services and I find my time spent with professionals in the field to be very enjoyable. I can definitely see myself enjoying a life-long career in law.

Which brings me to my question, where will I get the best career options? I got a 3.78 first semester, which is somewhere in the top 5% of my class (not officially ranked until after the 1st year). Legitimate shot at Texas? Other schools in the T14? I am pretty comfortable in my secondary market, potential ties to biglaw, writing prof was biglaw associate for 8+ years and will (hopefully) be writing me a letter of rec come OCI. I am also pretty risk averse to taking out any more loans and I really hate the idea of spending time and money moving myself across country (again).

Then again, no income tax in Texas and higher salaries in other markets look pretty attractive. How realistic is biglaw from transferring? Not set on biglaw or bust, but really, who wouldn't take biglaw job given the opportunity? Family ties to Texas, went to undergrad in Texas, but no legitimate ties to any firms.

tl;dr: top 5% at TTT, transfer to Texas or other T14? Is it worth extra tuition from giving up scholarship?

I'd say you have a shot at the lower to mid T14s, maybe slightly greater with compelling reason to be at the new school. Thing about Texas, though, is that their transfer numbers are consistently low, and those people generally have ties to Texas. I'm not advising you to trade one TTT for another, but if you're dead set on practicing in Texas, also take a look at SMU (Dallas) and maybe UH (Houston) for regional cred, i.e. a job in that city--obviously, a riskier route though.

I actually have ties to Texas, family lives in Texas, I'm a resident and I did my undergraduate in Texas. No real reason to be back in Texas besides no income tax and higher starting salary/better economy. Any insight on Texas transfers would be much appreciated.

PM'ed ya.