Berkeley vs. Duke - ADVICE NEEDED ASAP Forum

[stillswimming72]

Hey all,

I got very lucky this admissions cycle and got into both Berkeley (off the waitlist) and Duke. I have to make a decision in the next day or two.

Here's the deal: both will cost about the same when scholarship, tuition, and cost of living add up. I am fortunate enough that I will not need to take out loans for law school. I am interested in IP and corporate law. My medium-term goal is to work in big law in NYC (open to clerking possibly) and then my ultimate goal to end up in entertainment law.

I need your advice. Given that costs are essentially the same, which would be better for what I want to do?

Thanks.

[ithrowds]

Full disclosure I go to Duke and love it. Trying to be as unbiased as possible, if your #1 goal is clerking or NYC biglaw - with all else equal Duke should be the answer.

[LurkerTurnedMember]

Full disclosure I go to Duke and love it. Trying to be as unbiased as possible, if your #1 goal is clerking or NYC biglaw - with all else equal Duke should be the answer.

I mostly agree with this given the biglaw + fed clerkship numbers of each school. But I hesitate because I'm not too familiar with exactly where each school sends their future biglaw associates. So for example Duke might have higher biglaw numbers but might send less specifically to NYC. So check their public disclosures/employment data real quick and it should tell you the breakdown of where they send their students. Also, you said you're interested in entertainment and for some reason I think of Hollywood automatically and the LA scene. So if you're thinking of going to Cali long term, which I think is a market harder to get into than New York, then Berkeley has the edge in that respect.

[Lavitz]

If you're sure that you want to be in NYC, then Duke.

But what do you imagine entertainment law entails, and where you do you see yourself doing it?

[UVA2B]

If you're sure that you want to be in NYC, then Duke.

But what do you imagine entertainment law entails, and where you do you see yourself doing it?

Beat me to the punch. What you imagine your career looking like could make a difference, but if we just keep it at NYC Biglaw, Duke.

[existentialcrisis]

Your goals seem all over the place, but I guess Duke.

[SmokeytheBear]

If you're sure that you want to be in NYC, then Duke.

But what do you imagine entertainment law entails, and where you do you see yourself doing it?

Beat me to the punch. What you imagine your career looking like could make a difference, but if we just keep it at NYC Biglaw, Duke.

Yeah your goals are a bit all over the place. While there is some overlap with IP and entertainment (in the trademark space), they are different paths and firms that do well in entertainment might have little to no IP practice.

If you want to do NYC big law, then Duke.

If you want to do entertainment, then maybe Boalt for better placement in LA so you could do IP or entertainment. Many of the offices here have varying degrees of involvement in the entertainment field--Latham has a good film finance group, OMM has a good film finance group and general entertainment rep, Sheppard Mullin does a bit of everything for entertainment, Loeb does a good amount, and then there's all the medium sized firms that specialize in entertainment which are staffed with attorneys who came from the aforementioned firms.

[UVA2B]

If you're sure that you want to be in NYC, then Duke.

But what do you imagine entertainment law entails, and where you do you see yourself doing it?

Beat me to the punch. What you imagine your career looking like could make a difference, but if we just keep it at NYC Biglaw, Duke.

Yeah your goals are a bit all over the place. While there is some overlap with IP and entertainment (in the trademark space), they are different paths and firms that do well in entertainment might have little to no IP practice.

If you want to do NYC big law, then Duke.

If you want to do entertainment, then maybe Boalt for better placement in LA so you could do IP or entertainment. Many of the offices here have varying degrees of involvement in the entertainment field--Latham has a good film finance group, OMM has a good film finance group and general entertainment rep, Sheppard Mullin does a bit of everything for entertainment, Loeb does a good amount, and then there's all the medium sized firms that specialize in entertainment which are staffed with attorneys who came from the aforementioned firms.

0Ls interested in IP and entertainment seem to want to get into copyright infringement and/or talent representation mostly. I'm willing to bet this is an entertainment law play without fully understanding what that practice entails. There's nothing wrong with that as a 0L not knowing anything yet, but it'll be good if they clarify what they mean by IP, corporate, and eventually entertainment law.

[stillswimming72]

Thanks for all your advice. I went with Duke. Woohoo!