Submitted Question:

Corey:

Not too late at all. Start studying ASAP for the June LSAT. Generally, you should take the earliest LSAT that you are prepared to take. If you under-perform on the June LSAT, you will be able to retake the September LSAT in time for most Early Admission deadlines. Do not sleep on this, start working today!

Jane:

First, take a deep breath. Ten years ago, I would have told you to spend the summer preparing for the September test. Now that the ABA allows the schools to report only the top LSAT of matriculating students, you can retake with limited consequences. Like Corey said, shoot for the June test.

Title: Authors: Pages: zeroL Rating:

Getting to Maybe Richard Michael Fischl & Jeremy Paul 348

In last week’s review, we wrote that, despite being worth a read, Law School Confidential is not the “law school guide” it claims to be. This week, we review a book that comes much closer to being the mythical law school guide, Getting to Maybe. The genius behind Getting to Maybe is that it does not attempt to be a guide at all, rather it explains how to “think like a law student”. This book will give you an advantage over every other law student in your class (except, of course, those who also read Getting to Maybe). That’s really all there is to say, if you are going to law school – read Getting to Maybe.

Bottom line: Buy it.

The NALP released the wonderful, stat-filled “Perspectives on Fall 2008 Law Student Recruiting” today. It confirmed what everyone already knew, that the legal job market is not immune to the faltering economy and, accordingly, hiring has substantially decreased. So what does this mean to prospective law students? It depends. Hiring is down across the board, so you can’t use this information to pick one school over another, everyone is suffering. This information, though, could help guide a previously unsure prospective law student. A prospective law student with bearable, stable employment might (should) stick with the job until the legal job market rebounds.

But is law school a suitable place to hide from the economy? Again, it depends. The legal job market might not be any stronger in a few years, and a six-figure debt load would do nothing to help an unemployed law graduate’s financial well being. That said, an unemployed or underemployed prospective student could use a smart balance of school prestige and debt to successfully weather the economic storm.

Submitted Question:

Jane:

There will be classmates with you at Harvard who were not awarded the Darrow, but they will be your classmates at Harvard nonetheless. The Darrow scholarship includes full tuition and a stipend for all three years you would have been a student at Michigan, and you are right to be tempted away from Harvard, but the Harvard JD will be $130,000 well spent. If you do well at Michigan, many legal paths will be open to you; but if you do well at Harvard, all legal paths will be open to you.

Winner:

Corey:

I have anecdotal evidence that suggests multiple second year students at the University of Michigan could not find a job that would pay the market biglaw salary, and despite speaking with dozens of Harvard second year students, none suffered from a similar problem. Admittedly, the Darrow carries its own prestige, but it is nothing compared to what the Harvard name carries. Graduating at the bottom of the Harvard class will present significantly better job prospects than graduating at the bottom of Michigan. And, as Jane said, graduating at the top of Harvard will open you up to any legal career path. You are 7.5 times more likely to be a US Supreme Court Clerk graduating from Harvard compared to Michigan. Your law school will follow you for the rest of your life, and at the end of the day, Harvard is worth the extra $130,000.

Winner:

[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.

[Editor's Note: You can submit your questions here.]

Submitted Question:

Corey:

I’m betting the Wayne State scholarship is subject a difficult to maintain GPA requirement. If this is true, you should first contact Wayne State and try to get this retention GPA removed/reduced.

That said, even if Wayne State removes the GPA requirement, I would advise against attending. If you are serious about your legal career, you need to put yourself in the best possible environment for success. No matter what legal path you wish to follow, you will be doing yourself a disfavor if you attend Wayne State. The first thing any legal employer will look at early in your career is the law school you attended. Even in Detroit, your other three acceptances will take you much further with prospective employers.

If she hasn’t already started, have your wife start looking for a job in Boston and Indianapolis. Pick your school based on the job opportunities for your wife. You would save yourself a brutal commute if your wife found gainful employment in Boston. If it has to be Indianapolis, visit IU-B and Notre Dame and attend the school where you feel most comfortable.

Jane:

Ask Wayne State to remove the scholarship retention requirement, but even if they don’t – go to Wayne State! You are financially and emotionally stable in Detroit. A happy law student is a successful law student. The placement advantage of the other schools will be less dramatic in Detroit, where there are Wayne State graduates at every major law firm.

You also might consider retaking the LSAT in hopes of increasing your chances at admission to University of Michigan. If you think you could increase your LSAT score by 5-6 points, you would have a great chance at studying law at a top school and keeping your family anchored in Detroit.

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Law School Confidential Robert H. Miller 352

Purportedly a “complete guide to the law school experience”, Law School Confidential (LSC) does an satisfactory job getting a prospective law student ready to enter the strange new world that is law school. LSC familiarizes the reader with law school items such as: briefs, outlines, journals, moot court, casebooks, statute books, etc. Everything you should know on day one (which isn’t much) can be found in the book.

As you should with any similar book, take LSC’s study advice with a grain of salt. There is no “right way” to study in law school and the same things that worked for the author might not work for you. Don’t buy out your local highlighter supplier simply because LSC tells you to. Also, don’t let the aggressive, fear-inducing tone of the book rattle your already fragile nerves. Constantly remind yourself that, despite LSC is saying the opposite, you are not going to war, you are going to law school.

Bottom line: Law School Confidential is not a guide to law school (such a thing, sadly, does not exist), but it contains plenty of useful information about law school and is worth the quick read.

[Editor's Note: Yes, that is Dean Stanley Gable.]

Twenty Seven Law Schools in a Dean Search [NLJ] Iowa Dean to Step Down [DMR] Chicago Dean to Step Down [ATL] University of Maryland Dean Finalists Announced! [UM]

Submitted Question:

Jane:

The Fordham rejection is shocking, I’m truly sorry. Your Tulane scholarship requires you to maintain a 3.0 GPA, which means you will lose your scholarship if you are not in the top 55% of your class. At this point, you do not know how well you will do in law school and losing the Tulane scholarship would be devastating. Boston University places very well in New York City and you will not be burdened with the added scholarship pressure as a 1L.

Winner:

Corey:

Scholarship retention at Tulane has decreased in recent years, but it is still quite high (greater than 70%). Tulane also uses a graduated scholarship reduction system, not a “poof” scholarship gone system. This really comes down to how well you could tolerate not living in NYC after law school. While Tulane places well up north, NYC firms go quite a bit deeper into the BU class. Still, neither school guarantees that you will end up at your NYC dream job. If you could deal with ending up in the south (think Houston, NOLA, Atlanta), go to Tulane. If, and only if, you need NYC above all else, go to BU.

Winner:

[Editor's Note: You can submit your questions here.]

Submitted Question:

Corey:

Vanderbilt scholarship news should begin hitting mailboxes in the next two weeks. Based on last year, you are in line to receive some scholarship money but nothing near what UT gave you. While you will save a lot of time and stress staying in Nashville, the cost savings at UT will be very difficult to turn down. To make staying in Nashville more financially feasible, you will need to contact the Vandy admissions office and attempt to have your scholarship increased.

I have found that the best scholarship negotiation approach is a casual email to the Director of Admissions. First, tell the director that you appreciate your acceptance and, hopefully, your scholarship. Next, fully disclosure your situation, that your life is in Nashville and that you want to attend Vandy more than any other school. Then, inform them of your full tuition scholarship at the University of Texas. Ask if there are any additional scholarship funds available that would allow you to make a sound financial decision and still attend Vanderbilt. Conclude with some more appreciation.

If you are unsuccessful and your Vandy scholarship is less than $50k combined, go to UT.

Jane:

First, congratulations on your success thus far. It sounds as though your family is in Nashville and that no matter what happens you will be at Vanderbilt next year. A good support network is worth all the scholarship money in the world. Don’t be afraid to follow Corey’s advice, the Vandy admissions office receives hundreds of scholarship negotiation requests each year, this is just another part of the law school admissions process. My only addition to the advice is to make sure you inform Vanderbilt that any additional scholarship would be extremely helpful. Good luck and keep us informed!