Law School Choice? (Where should I go?)

Which is the cheapest, most trails, most runner friendly, best running weather, with best law school out of these schools. I've applied been accepted and need to choose.

University of Oregon (Eugene, OR)

Lewis and Clark University (Portland, OR)

University of New Mexico (Albuquerque, NM)

University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ)

University of Colorado (Boulder, CO)

Golden Gate University (San Francisco, CA)

Willamette University (Salem, OR)

Help a runna-brotha out.

CU

Why? The trails, the cost of living? Give me something more to chew on, porfavor.

Where do you want to practice? For the most part, the shools you mentioned don't have national reputations. This is not to say that they are not fine schools, but coming out of one of the schools you mentioned your job prospects may be strongest in the local market.

A J.D. is not a liberal arts degree. Thus, at least in my opinion, the most important thing you can get out of three years in law school is a job.

Things such as running and trails should be secondary, to be considered after you have found a number of schools that will provide a good fit academically and professionally. In any event, all of the schools you mentioned seem as though they would be great for running and outdoor activities.

Just me two cents. Good luck with your decision!

The answer to question requires some further questions of you first:

1. Where do you want to practice law following law school?

2. What area of practice do you think you are interested?

3. Where do you want to see yourself as an attorney in 2, 5, 10+ years after graduation from law school?

As far as pure law school rankings are concerned, here are the rankings.

University of Oregon (Eugene, OR) [69th]

Lewis and Clark University (Portland, OR) [77th]

University of New Mexico (Albuquerque, NM)[69th]

University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ) [41st]

University of Colorado (Boulder, CO) [48th]

Golden Gate University (San Francisco, CA) [4th tier]

Willamette University (Salem, OR) [3rd tier]

I recruit attorneys for many of the Top 500 law firms in the world. I also practiced in a large firm for several years and am very familiar with the profession. If you want to discuss further, please feel free to email me.

I'm really interested in International Law especially the Human Right's aspect. I can speak Spanish so I'd most like to work in Latin America. I'm flexible though as far as the direction goes, because I know things will most likely change once I know more about the law and the different options.

If you have any questions about Lewis and Clark, feel free to contact me at craigjATlclarkDOTedu. I teach at the law school. As you probably know, we're ranked #1 in environmental law. Our campus is also built right into a State Park, with some of the best and least crowded running trails you'll ever come across in a city of this size.

That's excellent advice for a soon-to-be law student.

Chances are, you don't know what type of practice you'll be interested in at this point, nor do you know "where" you'll want to be in 2, 5, or 10 years. But he's right on the money about going to a place where you want to practice, especially if you're planning on attending a school without a national reputation. If you want to be in NYC, Boston, or DC, for instance, the schools you listed aren't going to help you, unless you're No. 1 or 2 in your class.

Dougruns26: Out of the top 500 firms, which are the top two in your mind? (None of this "depending on the area of law" stuff).

to know what is the cheapest, it would also help to know whether you've received any scholarship/grant money or are a resident of one of those states.

you don't need to worry about running trails, you'll do nothing but study in law school.

If you end up in SF let me know. I should be at UCD or University of Santa Clara, God's willing. I also hope to be studying human rights law. I don't know much about the schools you mentioned though. You'll get some good advice on here though. Just try to avoid the negative people (see post about "you will only study in law school"). The people that seem to have been most succesful and are most helpful with their advice (see most responses to your question) are a lot more optimistic about running through law school. Good luck.

Chuck already gave me some great advice, but what is your take on how important it is to go to a high ranking law school if I plan to study human rights law? I've pretty much narrowed my choices down to Santa Clara and UCD. UCD is ranked much better, but there are a lot of personal factor that make SCU appealing. They both also have ties to the Center for Justice and Accountability which does work in Somaliland (the country that I am most passionate about). It's basically personal factors vs. high ranking at this stage... the cost is about the same (after SCU scholarship).

JOB wrote:

you don't need to worry about running trails, you'll do nothing but study in law school.

Did you go to law school? I'm a 2L. You work hard the first year then bore yourself to death your second and third years. There's plenty of time to run even in the first year though.

What about scholarships?

I would go to Arizona, they have an amazing faculty

i echo what others said about running and law school: there is plenty of time to run, even in your first year. all you have to do is learn a bit more about time management than you did in undergrad (if you worked full-time after law school this will be no problem). don't believe the horror stories. law school isn't THAT bad.

It's true, in general there's plenty of time to run in law school, if you manage it well. Those who say otherwise either are really slow readers or total dominator-types. It's also true that you need to think hard about where you want to wind up working, because in most instances, firms and other jobs recruit regionally. From personal experience, even a high class rank at a lower tier school counts for very little outside of your immediate region. That said, most of your choices are in areas with high quality of living, and maybe they have some good programs for what you're interested in (although your interests will likely change as you're exposed to more areas of the law, like you said).

I attended the University of New Mexico law school , it is decent . their clinical law program is ranked in the top 5 in the nation. My advice is make a visit to the law schools that are at the top of your list and see if you like the area as well as the school itself.

Good luck

hawaii for a three year vacation. Cheap is a school in St.Pete ,Fla.

Thanks for all the good advice. I think I've narrowed it down somewhat. I'm between Oregon, Lewis and Clark, and New Mexico. U of A seems awesome, but I don't have any family there and AZ is hot as hell in the summer. I don't know if I can handle that kind of heat.

As far as running in law school goes, I have to run while I'm in school. Running is one of the best ways to get through hard courses. You can think about a LOT of stuff while you are running, and figure out some different solutions to hard problems. That's how I got through a double major, one of which was Math. Without running, I would have lost my sanity. Ans it's not time consuming. That's what's so cool about running. Take an hour or two out of your day and you can get some pretty solid training in. I'm just looking for a place that I can step out the door and be on a trail. A place where everything is relatively close so I can walk or ride my bike to the store, school, etc.