Submitted Question:

Corey:

The NALP does not allow member firms to contact law students before December 1st, so this date has become the “go” date in regards to first year hiring. For large firms, judicial clerkships and government internships is a very good idea to have your cover letters and resumes ready to go on December 1. Very few 1Ls, even at top schools, are landing summer associate positions at large firms right now, but you might as well maximize this small chance by applying early. Some will argue that you should wait until you have first semester grades before sending out these resumes, but if the firm is interested in your application, they will reply to your resume with a request for your grades.

Also, sometime between the beginning of December and the end of February, your school will open up on-campus interview (OCI) applications. Be sure to submit your resume to as many potential employers as your law school will allow.

The above is directed at summer employers who have a very structured application procedure (the government, large firms, the judiciary.) Small/Medium sized firms are a different beast entirely. Your small/medium sized firm job search started yesterday. Immediately start contacting your friends, family, colleagues, ex-frat brothers, etc – ask each of them – “Hey, do you know a lawyer?” No matter who you are or what your background, your network of attorneys will balloon. Don’t ask any of these attorneys for a job – yet. Simply talk to them about law school and the legal profession. I’ve never encountered a lawyer who doesn’t have a great law school story that they love to tell prospective law students! Don’t worry too much about keeping these contacts open during the school year, you will be consumed by school. Once December 1st rolls around, though, start contacting these attorneys. If they don’t need someone for the summer, odds are good that they know someone who does…

As for the traditional “backup” summer jobs, those that involve you working for/at your law school (primarily as a research assistant), each school has a separate policy regarding these positions. Keep your eyes open for career services office emails early in your second semester.

This analysis is oversimplified and your career services office will unload tons of more detailed information upon you during the first semester. The most important advice I can give is to apply early and often. Get your resume in front of as many people as you can and see which opportunities arise.

Corey:

Nearly every law school scholarship has a conditional GPA requirement attached. The most relaxed, and therefore most desirable, condition requires the scholarship recipient to “maintain good academic standing;” most often meaning that the student must maintain the minimum GPA required to graduate in order to keep the scholarship. The most stringent scholarship conditions require recipients to maintain a GPAs in the top 10-15% of the class. (New York Law School is guilty of granting such scholarships.) Notorious rumors about certain law schools granting more scholarships to the incoming class than could possibly be kept have circulated prelaw message boards for years.

So how can you quantify these conditional scholarships when deciding which law school to attend? If the scholarship has the “good academic standing” requirement, assume that you will have the scholarship all three years. If your scholarship has a more-stringent GPA requirement, use this simple expected value formula:

For example, if your $20,000 scholarship is conditional on a 3.0 GPA and the law school uses a 3.0 curve (meaning that about 50% of the class falls above 3.0), the formula would fill out as follows:

After including your condition, the scholarship is worth $42,000. The $18,000 left on the table could be a deciding factor when making your ultimate law school choice.

Note the extra five percent added to your required class percentage; this is an attempt to quantify your “scholarship level” academic capabilities and the extra effort you will exert to maintain the scholarship. I debated whether or not to include this arbitrary number in the calculation, but something small belongs in the equation. Also, recognize that the formula is very simple and does not account for school specific scholarship retention scenarios.

In a real world example, New York Law School often awards $30,000/year scholarships conditional on the student maintaining a GPA within the top 15% of the class.

What once looked like a near-full scholarship loses quite a bit of its luster after adjusting for the required condition. This example may be one of the most extreme available, but it illustrates the importance of considering each scholarship’s attached strings before making your law school decision.

[Editor's Note: This is an unscheduled analysis article written by Corey - expect more in the future. All linked text redirects to the source text.]

Corey:

Founding:
In August 2007, Donald Bren donated 20 million dollars to UC Irvine to finance a new California-supported law school. Despite initial agreement that the school would be named after its benefactor, the Regents of the University of California ultimately chose to follow the established naming standards within the UC system and the University of California Irvine School of Law resulted.

Dean:
Erwin Chemerinsky is Constitutional Law superstar. One of the most cited law professors year-in year-out, Chemerinsky’s liberal views brought about a roller coaster hiring controversy where Chemerinsky was hired, fired, and rehired over a 12-day period. Chemerinsky plans to introduce a “new” type of legal education at UC Irvine with a greater focus on hands-on experience. (A note to prospective applicants: “Experiential learning” is in vogue and most law schools have already incorporated a large “hands-on” segment into their standard curriculum.)

Faculty:
The current faculty listing may appear tiny compared to most law schools you have seen, but remember that the first UC Irvine law class will be made up of only 60 students. UC Irvine plans to have a 3-to-1 faculty-to-student ratio on the first day of class. Further, despite their small number, the faculty has been rated as one of the top ten in scholarly impact. (That ranking, though, is merely indicative of the fact that the faculty is prolific in publishing, and means relatively little as to their talents as educators.)

Accreditation:
UC Irvine has placed a priority on obtaining ABA accreditation, but the initial UC Irvine class will be entering an unaccredited law school. There is no reason that UC Irvine will not be able to receive ABA accreditation, but they must wait until their second year of operation to apply. If the school was unable to gain this accreditation (again, very unlikely) the graduates would be unable to sit for the bar in most states. It will be interesting to see if UC Irvine encourages their first class to take the California “Baby Bar“, which would allow their students to sit for the California Bar even if the school fails to gain accreditation. Again, I fully expect UC Irvine to gain ABA accreditation as soon as possible, but it is something each applicant should consider.

Cost:
UC Irvine originally intended to provide full tuition scholarships to each student in the founding class, but the school has since updated their website to reflect the possibility that some students who will not receive a full scholarship. Actual tuition rates have yet to be established, but expect the rates to fall in line with UC Davis ($28,511) and UC Hastings ($29,383).

Numbers:
UC Irvine will utilize its small class size and large scholarships to attract a class that will rival the LSAT/GPA numbers to UC Hastings (3.6/163 Median) or UC Davis (3.5/162 Median). A quick look at the UC Irvine LSN page shows mostly 166/3.7+ acceptances and three “attending” applicants with a 167/3.7 average. LSN, though, is notorious for over representing the upper half of the accepted class numbers. A further examination at the LSN applicants reveals that UC Irvine might be using their Los Angeles proximity to focus on the local high LSAT applicants who plan on staying near LA.

Rankings:
Whatever your feelings on the USNews Rankings, they are representative of the law school’s status in the legal community. Unfortunately for UC Irvine, the US News methodology utilizes both employment rates and bar passage rates, something UC Irvine will not have until late 2012. Once UC Irvine has these numbers, expect the school to be ranked within the top 100. UC Irvine is courting the Los Angeles area firms and I would bet money that UC Irvine’s job placement will be only slightly worse than UC Hastings or Davis for the initial graduating class.

Advice:
This section addresses UC Irvine vs. other California law schools and assumes that the applicant is receiving a full scholarship at UCI. Remember, this is broad advice and that every situation is different. Do not attend UC Irvine over Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, or USC. Even with the full scholarship at UC Irvine, you are sacrificing too much. Do not attend UC Irvine over a large scholarship at UC Hastings or UC Davis. Attend UC Irvine over full price UC Davis or UC Hastings. Attend UC Irvine over every other California law school yet mentioned.