SMU Law back into Tier 1

[tristatecoog]

Alabama is #21 and George Mason (!!) is in the top 30. UH has been in the Top 50 for quite a while and left when a diversity push (ie, less LSAT emphasis) was put in place. Health care law is #1 and the affordability is also a draw. That said, yes, SMU should be in the top 25. Hopefully a new dean helps.

[CalallenStang]

Alabama is #21 and George Mason (!!) is in the top 30. UH has been in the Top 50 for quite a while and left when a diversity push (ie, less LSAT emphasis) was put in place. Health care law is #1 and the affordability is also a draw. That said, yes, SMU should be in the top 25. Hopefully a new dean helps.

I'm somewhat familiar with Alabama law school, as I had a friend that went there. Good school, but not #21. Something is fishy about that ranking.

George Mason is capitalizing on its location. Nowadays, going to law school in DC means having unparalleled access to government internships, which is huge as firm hiring has decreased dramatically. Since George Mason is the third or fourth best school in the DC area (behind Georgetown, GWU, and maybe American), they get students who are solid but just didn't make the cut at the older schools.

[Digetydog]

Alabama is #21 and George Mason (!!) is in the top 30. UH has been in the Top 50 for quite a while and left when a diversity push (ie, less LSAT emphasis) was put in place. Health care law is #1 and the affordability is also a draw. That said, yes, SMU should be in the top 25. Hopefully a new dean helps.

I'm somewhat familiar with Alabama law school, as I had a friend that went there. Good school, but not #21. Something is fishy about that ranking.

George Mason is capitalizing on its location. Nowadays, going to law school in DC means having unparalleled access to government internships, which is huge as firm hiring has decreased dramatically. Since George Mason is the third or fourth best school in the DC area (behind Georgetown, GWU, and maybe American), they get students who are solid but just didn't make the cut at the older schools.

The George Mason Law school has a few good scholars and a great location. In addition to the large number of government internships, there are a huge number of private firms with offices in DC.

With the brutal legal economy, the most important thing is to get a "training job" in years 1-3. Even if you don't stick with that firm, government agency, company, you end up an experienced "attorney" with value to other firms.

If you end up unemployed/underemployed (document review, paralegal), you will never catch up.

[PonyKai]

It's a good school

[Digetydog]

DC Law Schools:

1- Georgetown
2- GWU
3- George Mason
4- Richmond
5- American
6- UMD
7- Catholic
8- UDC

Anyone thinking of law school right now, my advice is don't, unless you're 110% certain you're going to kick the living sh*t out of it, even if you're at a Georgetown or George Washington. It ain't worth it unless you're completely prepared to beat the hell out of everyone else. Mason's a very good school, but they're still competing with 2 locals above it, and about 38 other schools above it that all have kids who want to come to DC. It's tough; local schools capitalize on academic externships.

+1.

It is a brutal job market. There are people in NYC who graduated from NYU and Columbia law school who cannot find a "real" job as a lawyer. At best, they are stuck doing document review (the legal equivalent of working in a call center) on a contract basis.

If you aren't in the Top 10% of your class, you are dead meat in the legal job market. Before you invest 3 years and $150,000, you need to know the truth.

[NavyCrimson]

Hate to say it but - no I don't. I have very little sympathy for this profession. And I mean little to none.

[PonyKai]

.

[couch 'em]

Sounds a lot like engineering

[East Coast Mustang]

Hate to say it but - no I don't. I have very little sympathy for this profession. And I mean little to none.

Seems like you're painting with a broad brush there. Sure there are some attorneys that are sleazy and get all of the publicity, but the vast, vast majority are not.

[SMU2007]

Hmm so you are saying there are way too many attorneys without a real demand? That's crazy talk.

Here's an idea. Why don't law schools stop admitting everyone with a pulse and reign in the supply

[Digetydog]

Hmm so you are saying there are way too many attorneys without a real demand? That's crazy talk.

Here's an idea. Why don't law schools stop admitting everyone with a pulse and reign in the supply

Answer: Money

Law schools bring in enough money that they subsidize other parts of the universities.

[PonyKai]

Like Georgetown, with 1,625 law students at 48K a pop, per year.

[Pony^]

DC Law Schools:

1- Georgetown
2- GWU
3- George Mason
4- Richmond
5- American
6- UMD
7- Catholic
8- UDC

Anyone thinking of law school right now, my advice is don't, unless you're 110% certain you're going to kick the living sh*t out of it, even if you're at a Georgetown or George Washington. It ain't worth it unless you're completely prepared to beat the hell out of everyone else. Mason's a very good school, but they're still competing with 2 locals above it, and about 38 other schools above it that all have kids who want to come to DC. It's tough; local schools capitalize on academic externships.

If you are going to include Richmond and Maryland (located in Baltimore) then you should also include University of Virginia (#7), William and Mary (#33) and perhaps Washington and Lee (#26). All three Virginia law schools are ranked above George Mason (#41) (also in Virginia), have many students from Northern Virginia and have many alumni working in the DC market. You also left out Howard and University of Baltimore.

[PonyKai]

Neat.

[Mustangsabu]

Texas has surprisingly few law schools which is odd in many ways but Baylor and UT are most assuredly the premier schools and in Baylor's case I can understand it to a point since they provide by far the best practically prepared lawyers out of the gate. And the point is well made about the need to excel in your class or your chances of a job dwindle rapidly, although SMU is very strongly backed by the Dallas community. I went to law school in fort Worth to save money and I know 90% of the resumes I submitted in Dallas met the trash can pronto. There is a lot if smoke and mirrors about the law school recruiting process.

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