Vanderbilt 1L Taking Questions Forum

[gogators]

I am interested in public interest, environmental law, development, public policy, etc - how do you guys think Vandy is for students with those interests? Is there much institutional support? Many students with shared interests? Or is it more of a private practice, go big or go home kind of culture at Vandy?

I honestly don't know a whole lot about what you are interested in (PI, environmental, etc.). I have never sought it out, and my best friends are all pursuing the firm route. That said, I don't feel like it is "go big or go home" at all--at least if "go big" means go to NYC/DC biglaw. There is great diversity here in terms of what people want to do. Like anywhere, the majority will go into private practice, but even then people seem to geographically disperse (by choice) a fair amount.

As to your PI/environmental, this is me summoning observationalist...

Personally, some of best friends are crazy interested in enviro law and I can say that there is definately a large contingent of 2L's who aren't going with the traditional firm route at least in terms of what you're thinking. Many of these will be working for firms, however, they will be doing solely enviro work. For the other areas you mentioned, I know some interested in those routes, with some of those avoiding firms to pursue, however this is the minority in my opinion. Hope that helps.

[observationalist]

I am interested in public interest, environmental law, development, public policy, etc - how do you guys think Vandy is for students with those interests? Is there much institutional support? Many students with shared interests? Or is it more of a private practice, go big or go home kind of culture at Vandy?

I honestly don't know a whole lot about what you are interested in (PI, environmental, etc.). I have never sought it out, and my best friends are all pursuing the firm route. That said, I don't feel like it is "go big or go home" at all--at least if "go big" means go to NYC/DC biglaw. There is great diversity here in terms of what people want to do. Like anywhere, the majority will go into private practice, but even then people seem to geographically disperse (by choice) a fair amount.

As to your PI/environmental, this is me summoning observationalist...

I've arrived... was down in southern Chile this weekend for an annual meeting of one of the NGO's I'm working with. Such an amazing group of people, and it looks like they've identified a funding source for the next year which means more opportunities to work on projects and travel around with them.

Whitman, sent you a few PMs. I don't know if any of the current vandy students are involved with LSSJ, but if you are it would be a big help if you jumped on to update on what the group is up to this year. Also, summoning any Brew Guild members because I want you see if our fledgling group did anything notable this year. (Please at least tell me if it still exists?)

Thanks, and drylo hope everything's going well for you in Nashvegas.

[whitman]

I am interested in public interest, environmental law, development, public policy, etc - how do you guys think Vandy is for students with those interests? Is there much institutional support? Many students with shared interests? Or is it more of a private practice, go big or go home kind of culture at Vandy?

I honestly don't know a whole lot about what you are interested in (PI, environmental, etc.). I have never sought it out, and my best friends are all pursuing the firm route. That said, I don't feel like it is "go big or go home" at all--at least if "go big" means go to NYC/DC biglaw. There is great diversity here in terms of what people want to do. Like anywhere, the majority will go into private practice, but even then people seem to geographically disperse (by choice) a fair amount.

As to your PI/environmental, this is me summoning observationalist...

I've arrived... was down in southern Chile this weekend for an annual meeting of one of the NGO's I'm working with. Such an amazing group of people, and it looks like they've identified a funding source for the next year which means more opportunities to work on projects and travel around with them.

Whitman, sent you a few PMs. I don't know if any of the current vandy students are involved with LSSJ, but if you are it would be a big help if you jumped on to update on what the group is up to this year. Also, summoning any Brew Guild members because I want you see if our fledgling group did anything notable this year. (Please at least tell me if it still exists?)

Thanks, and drylo hope everything's going well for you in Nashvegas.

Huge help to me. Thanks a lot.

[ktg808]

Do professors ban laptop use in 1L classes?

[gogators]

Do professors ban laptop use in 1L classes?

Possibly. I've only had one professor ever at Vandy who banned laptops (Brandon) and it was Con Law I. The funny thing is that it worked VERY well for Con Law as we were able to have really great discussions and more people were truly engaged in the conversation. As my section was the first to try this for Brandon, we were told afterwards that the level of excellence on our exams was unparrelled for any of his previous Con Law classes. I don't think this would work well in certain other classes but to my knowledge I haven't heard of any other professors who've tried it.

[jenesaislaw]

A visiting professor did it in 1L torts in Fall 2008. I wasn't in the class, so I can't speak to how it was. I definitely get more out of classes when I don't have my laptop. I just rarely do that...

[fingersxd]

I'm still deciding where to attend. For the current students, can you give me a sense of why you chose Vandy over some of the schools you declined to attend?

Personally, I'm also looking at BU/BC/Fordham and am considering Big Law in NYC so I am very torn...was wondering if anyone had similar schools and if so, why they chose Vandy?

[gogators]

I'm still deciding where to attend. For the current students, can you give me a sense of why you chose Vandy over some of the schools you declined to attend?

Personally, I'm also looking at BU/BC/Fordham and am considering Big Law in NYC so I am very torn...was wondering if anyone had similar schools and if so, why they chose Vandy?

Well you seem to be targeted very much towards ending up in the Northeast so this becomes a little harder to answer than the simple why should I go to Vanderbilt question. Normally, I could answer that of all the schools you mentioned, Vanderbilt by far has the most portable degree and has a greater value for the amount of tuition money nationwide. However, it's hard to argue that BU is a worse choice for a person that knows they want to do big law in NYC. I wouldn't really bother personally with BC or Fordham in this conversation, but there is likely a decent argument for BU I would think. If you choose Vanderbilt, you're going to get an awesome education. Of all the law schools I've visited or heard of, we have the most laid back and colegial of the top 20 law schools. Additionally, the major selling point to me now is that we have the future Harvard and Yale law school professors of the legal world, but in their relative youth. They have to start somewhere, and at Vanderbilt you get to have them while they truly love to teach and want to interact with students.

When talking about the job market, I can tell you that Vanderbilt statistically has done well in terms of getting students into Big Law that want to. However, there are markets we're better at than others. NYC, while not one of our best markets, has been a growing area for graduating 3Ls. However, you're likely to run into the question of "Why did you choose to go to a southern school instead of a school in NYC if you wanted to be here?" If you have a natural connection to NYC then this matters less, but if you don't then you have less of a margain for error when attending a school not naturally in a certain market.

Bottom line is this: if you go to Vandy, you're going to get a great education, and I promise an amazing time. However, to get into NYC Big Law you're likely going to have to be higher in the class than if you were looking at say D.C. This of course has to be balanced with BU were its ranked lower but its closer to the market. Personally, I choose Vanderbilt because although I thought that I knew what I wanted after law school, having a very portable degree from a school that has a great reputation nationwide and a greater margin of error for where I would end up in the class rankings (although we don't rank) mattered more. Sorry for the long post but it was a good break from studying for Corporations.

[jenesaislaw]

Just to add one note to the above post, I would actually choose BC over BU. I think it's a tossup between the two. I also think that BC places a bit better, though probably not enough to make a decision off of (I'd focus on $ offered and how much I liked both schools).

[drylo]

Additionally, the major selling point to me now is that we have the future Harvard and Yale law school professors of the legal world, but in their relative youth. They have to start somewhere, and at Vanderbilt you get to have them while they truly love to teach and want to interact with students.

To be honest, a major selling point for me was that Vanderbilt has so many world-class faculty who are probably not going to be Harvard and Yale professors because they are so content with their lives here at Vanderbilt/in Nashville. I had this conversation with several Vanderbilt professors when I was trying to make my decision, and I was impressed by the sense that they were here because they liked it here (just like much of the student body, honestly). Just like every sports fan wants coaches to look at their program as a destination job, I really liked that I felt like so many professors here viewed Vanderbilt as a destination job. Obviously some will go on to Harvard and Yale (see, e.g., Goldberg), and that's fine too, but there are an awful lot of profs here who I don't see going anywhere (see, e.g., Blumstein and Schoenblum--who each probably taught like 90% of all currently practicing Vandy alumni).

[fingersxd]

Well you seem to be targeted very much towards ending up in the Northeast so this becomes a little harder to answer than the simple why should I go to Vanderbilt question. Normally, I could answer that of all the schools you mentioned, Vanderbilt by far has the most portable degree and has a greater value for the amount of tuition money nationwide. However, it's hard to argue that BU is a worse choice for a person that knows they want to do big law in NYC. I wouldn't really bother personally with BC or Fordham in this conversation, but there is likely a decent argument for BU I would think.

Sorry for the long post but it was a good break from studying for Corporations.[/quote]

Why no love for Fordham? Despite its lower ranking it appears to place better than Vandy/BU/BC in the NY market and is very well regarded locally...am I mistaken? I'm from the NY area so there's a lot of love for Fordham here and I think it has skewed an objective calculation of a Fordham degree for me! Ha.

Also, what are job prospects for lawyers like in Nashville now? Is there ANYTHING? I have a SO and her preference is NYC>Boston>Nashville (at least for work purposes)...so while I think I liked Vandy the most, I don't know that I can drag her down South (particularly with the substantially lower salary she could expect to earn even if she were to get a job).

P.S. - good luck on corporations!

[stylishlaw]

Why no love for Fordham? Despite its lower ranking it appears to place better than Vandy/BU/BC in the NY market and is very well regarded locally...am I mistaken? I'm from the NY area so there's a lot of love for Fordham here and I think it has skewed an objective calculation of a Fordham degree for me! Ha.

Also, what are job prospects for lawyers like in Nashville now? Is there ANYTHING? I have a SO and her preference is NYC>Boston>Nashville (at least for work purposes)...so while I think I liked Vandy the most, I don't know that I can drag her down South (particularly with the substantially lower salary she could expect to earn even if she were to get a job).

P.S. - good luck on corporations!

Fordham has good placement in NYC and I don't think anyone would argue otherwise. Vandy's strength in NYC placement comes from the fact that a small percentage of the class wants NYC. That, combined with still strong NYC firm OCI turnout, means there is much less competition for people who want NYC placement. Fordham is dominated by NY firms and the entire class wants to go to NY. You have to perform extraordinarily well grade-wise in order to distinguish yourself from classmates.

[gogators]

Also, what are job prospects for lawyers like in Nashville now? Is there ANYTHING? I have a SO and her preference is NYC>Boston>Nashville (at least for work purposes)...so while I think I liked Vandy the most, I don't know that I can drag her down South (particularly with the substantially lower salary she could expect to earn even if she were to get a job).

P.S. - good luck on corporations!

Breaking into the Nashville legal market out of law school is tough. Very tough. You really need to have ties to the city to get in. Lateral transfers admittedly I don't know much about. I know that at a local law firm last summer there were interviewing some laterals (most of which were SO of someone who had to move to Nashville). But I don't know much more than that.

Note: while the salary is less, the COL in Nashville is incredibly low. Punch the numbers into a COL calc on the internet and you can see the major differences between Nashville and other major cities.

[drylo]

Also, what are job prospects for lawyers like in Nashville now? Is there ANYTHING? I have a SO and her preference is NYC>Boston>Nashville (at least for work purposes)...so while I think I liked Vandy the most, I don't know that I can drag her down South (particularly with the substantially lower salary she could expect to earn even if she were to get a job).

P.S. - good luck on corporations!

Breaking into the Nashville legal market out of law school is tough. Very tough. You really need to have ties to the city to get in. Lateral transfers admittedly I don't know much about. I know that at a local law firm last summer there were interviewing some laterals (most of which were SO of someone who had to move to Nashville). But I don't know much more than that.

Note: while the salary is less, the COL in Nashville is incredibly low. Punch the numbers into a COL calc on the internet and you can see the major differences between Nashville and other major cities.

While I definitely agree with the first bolded part generally, I will add that it is possible (because I have friends who did it) to get a Nashville job without ties if you are married and can sell the whole "we came here because we would like to settle here" thing.

Also, I whole-heartedly agree with the second bolded part.

[fingersxd]

Also, what are job prospects for lawyers like in Nashville now? Is there ANYTHING? I have a SO and her preference is NYC>Boston>Nashville (at least for work purposes)...so while I think I liked Vandy the most, I don't know that I can drag her down South (particularly with the substantially lower salary she could expect to earn even if she were to get a job).

P.S. - good luck on corporations!

Breaking into the Nashville legal market out of law school is tough. Very tough. You really need to have ties to the city to get in. Lateral transfers admittedly I don't know much about. I know that at a local law firm last summer there were interviewing some laterals (most of which were SO of someone who had to move to Nashville). But I don't know much more than that.

Note: while the salary is less, the COL in Nashville is incredibly low. Punch the numbers into a COL calc on the internet and you can see the major differences between Nashville and other major cities.

While I definitely agree with the first bolded part generally, I will add that it is possible (because I have friends who did it) to get a Nashville job without ties if you are married and can sell the whole "we came here because we would like to settle here" thing.

Also, I whole-heartedly agree with the second bolded part.

That makes sense...I guess it's more of getting a decent job generally, rather than specific salary concerns, that is the real issue. Not sure how I can convince them we intend to settle, but I'll be there for at least 3 years, right? Should be a start! Ha.

[thelawyler]

Can anybody give me an idea how hard it is to qualify for a summer stipend for PI work for the 1L summer?

[pleasetryagain]

Can anybody give me an idea how hard it is to qualify for a summer stipend for PI work for the 1L summer?

hard, very. and its a pretty early deadline (thugh if you are good enough to qualify you probably have a job by the deadline)

[doublefocus4]

Excuse me if this question has been asked already. How early should prospective students start looking for housing? I don't think I'll be able to make it to Nashville before July, so I'm a little worried that most of the good spots would have been taken by then.

[jenesaislaw]

Excuse me if this question has been asked already. How early should prospective students start looking for housing? I don't think I'll be able to make it to Nashville before July, so I'm a little worried that most of the good spots would have been taken by then.

Don't worry, there are some decent shelters for the lively homeless population.


But seriously, you'll be fine. You may not get the spot you would have wanted had you started a month earlier, but there are a lot of good spots in and around Nashville. What kind of place are you looking for? How much you looking to spend? How far are you willing/wanting to live from school? If you give us some basic information, we may be able to help you narrow your search. Then you can call specific places and ask about the risk yourself.

[doublefocus4]

Thanks for the response. My budget is around $600-$700/month. If I can't get a good 1br apt with that, I'll be willing to split in a 2br apt. The closer to campus, the better but I don't want to go beyond a 15min drive from campus.

[pleasetryagain]

Thanks for the response. My budget is around $600-$700/month. If I can't get a good 1br apt with that, I'll be willing to split in a 2br apt. The closer to campus, the better but I don't want to go beyond a 15min drive from campus.

you should be able to find a place. The Americana isn't much more than that: $795/1 br. There aer also plenty of independently owned places around here. The building I live in (which I wouldnt recommend for purely landlord related reasons) is $695 and it was pretty common when I was first looking. Just exhaust craigslist and call/email everyone you can. You be abl;e to split a two bedroom for $400-500 if you looked but the end is neigh for searching for roomates.

[fingersxd]

but the end is neigh for searching for roomates.

Is this really true? It's only Mid-May...I can't imagine EVERYONE has already figured out their housing, have they?

[pleasetryagain]

but the end is neigh for searching for roomates.

Is this really true? It's only Mid-May...I can't imagine EVERYONE has already figured out their housing, have they?

I would say most roommates (via the school matching system) will be taken close to the end of June. Most people will move into their apartments July-August. So you still have time, but finding a place, visiting a place, getting a roommate who you have never met to agree to the place, and getting all of this done from a distance takes time. Call admissions and asks about the roommate list to see what your options are.

Also just FYI, I found out the Americana is booked solid.

[jenesaislaw]

There will be young professionals and other grad students looking for people on Craigslist in July and August. I found my 1L roommate this way. He graduated from Vandy the year prior.

[thelawyler]

So I am planning on living as very close to the law school but I can't for the life of me find the nearest grocery store. I searched on google but all I get are places 2 miles away or more. Not really that far away, is it? I found a list in the Obiter Dictum but all of those are far from where I am planning on living without a car.