Schools for the West Coast? Forum

[ricekrispies]

I have lived in the western United States my whole life. Been to the east coast quite a few times and it just isn't really my cup of tea. Unfortunately (for me), all but Stanford of the T-14 are out east. I see UCLA at #15, but the feeling that this forum gives off is "Not T-14, disregard and retake." What are the best schools on the west coast (preferably California or Arizona) to go to if I want to do BigLaw? Are there even many BigLaw firms out west? If so, do they prefer the west coast schools or the T-14 schools?

[Golden Bear 11]

Uhhh....Berkeley?

[domori]

Uhhh....Berkeley?

[ricekrispies]

Uhhh....Berkeley?

I am an idiot. Thanks. I totally missed that one somehow.

So the main two are Standford and Berkeley. Is UCLA worth going for if I want to do biglaw?

[dproduct]

Uhhh....Berkeley?

I am an idiot. Thanks. I totally missed that one somehow.

So the main two are Standford and Berkeley. Is UCLA worth going for if I want to do biglaw?

Stanford -> Berkeley -> UCLA/USC -> Schools where biglaw should not be the goal.

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?r=ca

[Lasers]

usc/ucla is the lowest i would go if you want big law.

usc is arguably better than ucla for big law, btw.

[M458]

http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNL ... 1112085215

USC does fairly well for BigLaw (comparable to Georgetown and Michigan, at least for 2011).

[JamMasterJ]

yeah USC/UCLA are OK for Biglaw, but you definitely want a decent scholly given that your chances of striking out are still reasonably high

[ricekrispies]

Thanks for all the help everyone. All in all, if west coast BigLaw is the goal, is it recommended to go to school out west or just go live in the east for a few years and hope to get hired out here?

[rinkrat19]

FWIW, like 1/3 of my class at Northwestern is from California and many if not most of them want to return there, not stay in Chicago.

[Lasers]

Thanks for all the help everyone. All in all, if west coast BigLaw is the goal, is it recommended to go to school out west or just go live in the east for a few years and hope to get hired out here?

if you break into the top 10, i would go to one of those schools, regardless of location.

however, as you go lower into the t14, i would probably prefer to go to usc/ucla over the lower t14's since chances for big law are not much worse (if at all) and the goal is CA.

i myself chose usc over georgetown as a transfer and i never really even considered gtown since i only wanted CA.

[bk1]

if you break into the top 10, i would go to one of those schools, regardless of location.

however, as you go lower into the t14, i would probably prefer to go to usc/ucla over the lower t14's since chances for big law are not much worse (if at all) and the goal is CA.

I'm not going to agree or disagree that USC/UCLA would be better for CA than some T14's, but the reasoning here is odd. Why are Michigan or Virginia better than NU or Duke for CA?

[Lasers]

if you break into the top 10, i would go to one of those schools, regardless of location.

however, as you go lower into the t14, i would probably prefer to go to usc/ucla over the lower t14's since chances for big law are not much worse (if at all) and the goal is CA.

I'm not going to agree or disagree that USC/UCLA would be better for CA than some T14's, but the reasoning here is odd. Why are Michigan or Virginia better than NU or Duke for CA?

i should have clarified i mostly meant georgetown. cornell is another school i think enjoys only a marginal advantage in overall big law hiring and i would assume most of it occurs on the east coast, so that may be another school i would choose usc/ucla over. also, looking at the numbers, it seems michigan didn't do so well last year as well.

i guess the answer is it's just not all that clear cut, especially if OP is willing to work on the east coast for a couple of years before moving back west. in that case, OP may be better off simply choosing whichever school gives him the best chance at big law, anywhere.

[Lincoln]

Anecdotal, but everyone I know from Cornell who wanted CA BigLaw got it. Nonetheless, UCLA/USC are probably better options if you're dead-set on that outcome. T14 is better than any place below UCLA/USC, however.

[bk1]

Thanks for all the help everyone. All in all, if west coast BigLaw is the goal, is it recommended to go to school out west or just go live in the east for a few years and hope to get hired out here?

The answer is that you need to figure out what is more important to you: west coast or biglaw. If you'd rather work in biglaw anywhere than west coast non-biglaw then take the T14. If you'd rather work in CA non-biglaw than biglaw anywhere else, take USC/UCLA.

[BigZuck]

<------- Strong possibility will be gunning for CA big law (and has ties to the state), consensus is that USC/UCLA is better than Duke for this purpose? Haven't heard from USC yet but am in at both Duke and UCLA and thinking that I'd rather take Duke's combined biglaw and clerk score of 55% according to LST versus UCLA's combined score of 30%. For the sake of the argument let's take COA out of the equation.

Bad plan? Or should I just refer back to bk's answer? Because I'm pretty confident that even if I strike out then a Duke degree could get me a non-big law job in California. Am I wrong to think that?

[igo2northwestern]

<------- Strong possibility will be gunning for CA big law (and has ties to the state), consensus is that USC/UCLA is better than Duke for this purpose? Haven't heard from USC yet but am in at both Duke and UCLA and thinking that I'd rather take Duke's combined biglaw and clerk score of 55% according to LST versus UCLA's combined score of 30%. For the sake of the argument let's take COA out of the equation.

Bad plan? Or should I just refer back to bk's answer? Because I'm pretty confident that even if I strike out then a Duke degree could get me a non-big law job in California. Am I wrong to think that?

Yeah, Duke gives you a far greater chance at any biglaw even if you strike out in CA. And actually, I think that even if you were targeting CA exclusively, I'd still recommend Duke; the general consensus seems to be that UCLA and USC have an advantage (marginal?) in LA, and not throughout the entire California state.

FWIW, nearly all the people I know (at NU) who wanted CA got it.