Top Law Schools

At this time I think I want to be a prosecutor. What is the best T14 school for this career goal? I have no idea where I want to end up practicing, except that I know where I don't want to practice. Does your law school even matter much in this case?

Of course it matters. Yale. Or Harvard!

Go to the best school you can get into. And in a city you wouldn't hate to work in.

People like to be condescending to posts like this but one thing that might interest you is the sort of clinics your school has (although obviously going to the best school is what matters most). For example I believe that NYU has some excellent clinics aimed at those who want to be criminal prosecutors; UVA has an excellent prosecution clinic as well. This might help you to decide between schools with similar reputations.

SuichiKurama wrote:People like to be condescending to posts like this but one thing that might interest you is the sort of clinics your school has (although obviously going to the best school is what matters most). For example I believe that NYU has some excellent clinics aimed at those who want to be criminal prosecutors; UVA has an excellent prosecution clinic as well. This might help you to decide between schools with similar reputations.

The one thing I wonder about is pigeon holing yourself. So say ya, I think being a prosecutor would be great, but than I have the grades for biglaw but maybe not for the most prestigious PI jobs. If i've done all criminal speciality wouldn't that hurt me in trying to find work in a firm?

Patriot1208 wrote:

SuichiKurama wrote:People like to be condescending to posts like this but one thing that might interest you is the sort of clinics your school has (although obviously going to the best school is what matters most). For example I believe that NYU has some excellent clinics aimed at those who want to be criminal prosecutors; UVA has an excellent prosecution clinic as well. This might help you to decide between schools with similar reputations.

The one thing I wonder about is pigeon holing yourself. So say ya, I think being a prosecutor would be great, but than I have the grades for biglaw but maybe not for the most prestigious PI jobs. If i've done all criminal speciality wouldn't that hurt me in trying to find work in a firm?

I wouldn't know. However, I've seen too many firm bios (especially at lit heavy firms) where people worked for the DOJ first as a criminal prosecutor and then lateraled to a major firm and made partner for me to think it would be a big issue.

YHS

CCN

MVPB

DCN

G

VU..uh... GW? Some other schools

The Abyss

Florida Coastal
Cooley
Ave Maria

People's College of Law

SuichiKurama wrote:

Patriot1208 wrote:

SuichiKurama wrote:People like to be condescending to posts like this but one thing that might interest you is the sort of clinics your school has (although obviously going to the best school is what matters most). For example I believe that NYU has some excellent clinics aimed at those who want to be criminal prosecutors; UVA has an excellent prosecution clinic as well. This might help you to decide between schools with similar reputations.

The one thing I wonder about is pigeon holing yourself. So say ya, I think being a prosecutor would be great, but than I have the grades for biglaw but maybe not for the most prestigious PI jobs. If i've done all criminal speciality wouldn't that hurt me in trying to find work in a firm?

I wouldn't know. However, I've seen too many firm bios (especially at lit heavy firms) where people worked for the DOJ first as a criminal prosecutor and then lateraled to a major firm and made partner for me to think it would be a big issue.

This is where my concern is. DOJ is my goal, but getting the DOJ is harder than getting into a lot of biglaw firms. So if I tailor my law school experience for the DOJ and then don't end up with the grades for the honors program, does this hurt me at OCI?

SuichiKurama wrote:People like to be condescending to posts like this but one thing that might interest you is the sort of clinics your school has (although obviously going to the best school is what matters most). For example I believe that NYU has some excellent clinics aimed at those who want to be criminal prosecutors; UVA has an excellent prosecution clinic as well. This might help you to decide between schools with similar reputations.

disco_barred wrote:YHS

CCN

MVPB

DCN

G

VU..uh... GW? Some other schools

The Abyss

Florida Coastal
Cooley
Ave Maria

People's College of Law

See what I was talking about?

This is where my concern is. DOJ is my goal, but getting the DOJ is harder than getting into a lot of biglaw firms. So if I tailor my law school experience for the DOJ and then don't end up with the grades for the honors program, does this hurt me at OCI?

This may not align exactly but I was told by the head of Career Services at a top 10 that switching back and forth between those two paths is not a big deal as long as you are skilled at what you do.

SuichiKurama wrote:See what I was talking about?

No. That was the credited response.

Patriot1208 wrote:

SuichiKurama wrote:

Patriot1208 wrote:

SuichiKurama wrote:People like to be condescending to posts like this but one thing that might interest you is the sort of clinics your school has (although obviously going to the best school is what matters most). For example I believe that NYU has some excellent clinics aimed at those who want to be criminal prosecutors; UVA has an excellent prosecution clinic as well. This might help you to decide between schools with similar reputations.

The one thing I wonder about is pigeon holing yourself. So say ya, I think being a prosecutor would be great, but than I have the grades for biglaw but maybe not for the most prestigious PI jobs. If i've done all criminal speciality wouldn't that hurt me in trying to find work in a firm?

I wouldn't know. However, I've seen too many firm bios (especially at lit heavy firms) where people worked for the DOJ first as a criminal prosecutor and then lateraled to a major firm and made partner for me to think it would be a big issue.

This is where my concern is. DOJ is my goal, but getting the DOJ is harder than getting into a lot of biglaw firms. So if I tailor my law school experience for the DOJ and then don't end up with the grades for the honors program, does this hurt me at OCI?

You tailor your law school experience for the DoJ by getting good grades.

OCI happens after 1 year of law school. Everyone takes the same courses, and there are so few summer jobs that you can just RA for a prof and nobody will give two shits. You're basically undifferentiated going into OCI.

Except by grades. You should get some good ones of those.

mallard wrote:

SuichiKurama wrote:See what I was talking about?

No. That was the credited response.

That part of the answer is common sense.

OP,

If you're still planning on attending University of Iowa this fall, it's probably best to just focus on getting epic grades; don't get your hopes up right now for any one school or build up a whole game plan for transferring before you have any idea of how well you'll do.

Also, obligatory note about how it's a bad idea to go into a school planning to transfer.

OP. You likely won't get DOJ out of school. If you want to work w/ for them down the line, some luck is required. There are 3 rough paths to get to be a AUSA: biglaw, prosecutor, and miscellaneaous. You likely won't pigionhole urself to prosecutor in law school b/c biglaw OCI hiring is before prosecutor hiring ur 2L year. After law school, don't expect to jump from a prosecutor office (except maybe Manhattan) to biglaw w/ a stop at some federal agency first.