Top Law Schools

I'm pretty sure that what I want coming out of law school is to clerk, and then to go into federal government through the Honors program.

I've read a lot on here. I know it is very competitive. I've also read that school prestige, while a factor, matters less, especially for the smaller departments. I've also read that connections can be important, and if the hiring folks know they like you and you work well, you've got a huge advantage.

Given all of this, cost aside, where is the best place to go to school? I'm assuming it is still HYS, so disregarding them--where next? It seems like Gtown, with such easy access to internships and building connections, would be the logical choice. But I've never seen people give that advice. Is that because all other T14 schools can get you the same opportunities if you're willing to travel?

Obviously I'd want a school that has a high clerk rate, to achieve that goal.

I saw someone mention data about Honors hires by school--does that exist?

Threads or even Google suggestions would be helpful. I've googled a lot but it seems like most threads about Honors are for current law students-- not a 0L trying to figure it where to go to school.

The most recent list of hires by school is here: https://www.justice.gov/legal-careers/law-schools

Frankly I don't think the precise flavor of T14 matters - you can get relevant experience from all of them (and plenty of honors hires aren't from T14s at all, but going to a national school isn't ever going to hurt you). As you say, you can travel, and you can get relevant experience without working directly for the Feds.

Some things to consider though: DOJ is huge and contains lots of very very different agencies. What do you actually want to do in DOJ? Tax is very different from BOP which is very different from Civil Rights which is very different from Crim. So to a large extent you don't make yourself competitive for DOJ Honors, you make yourself competitive for a specific component (that's not always true in that there can be some overlaps in skill sets that would make someone competitive for both, say, civil programs and antitrust. But you're a lot less likely to see someone interviewing for both, say, ENRD and Crim).