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I've always wanted to move to Los Angeles and study entertainment law, but I ended up not getting into Loyola (which I'm still unsure of how that happened) and I've only gotten into Pepperdine (some scholarship $) and Southwestern (with a significantly larger scholarship). I did get into Oregon which has a good sports law program (something I'm also interested in) and has deep ties to Nike/lots of professional sports programs. Southwestern isn't ranked nearly as well but does have deep ties to the entertainment industry and is located in the heart of Los Angeles. Even if I do go to Southwestern and don't transfer it's still not a bad situation to be in, is it?

My dilemma is whether I should go Southwestern and attempt to transfer to a better school in Los Angeles after 1L, or just go to Oregon for sports law, which I'm less interested in but is less risky than going to a third tier school in Los Angeles. Anyone else interested in sports/entertainment law that is choosing between a lesser school in Los Angeles and a better school somewhere else?

None of the above. You need to do more research

None of those schools are likely to get you where you want to go.

With some very limited exceptions, "sports and entertainment law" as an exclusive practice isn't a thing. Plenty of lawyers may represent figures in the sports and entertainment industry, but at the end of the day, the matters are ordinary litigation, corporate, tax, etc. matters that happen to involve a sports figure or entertainment company. Sports and entertainment agency and contract negotiations are a separate field that does not even require a JD.

You can graduate from UCLA, but if you are not a "good" attorney, nobody will hire you.

There are mail rules to choosing a law school:
First: Go to Harvard, Yale, or Stanford if you can get in.
Second: Go to law school in the city you want to work in.
Third: Go to the school that gives you the most scholarship money.

You should follow those three rules in that order.

If you want to work in Sports or Entertainment, you would be crazy not to go to school in Los Angeles. So you are on the right track.

Now, ask yourself, are you really going to reject Southwestern or any other school because some random person on here told you to?

I would call each school and ask them to put you in touch with alumni who do EXACTLY what you want to do. Ask them how they did it. I know people at Southwestern who graduate at the bottom of their class and end up working in-house for some really big entertainment companies. How did they do it? By networking. Any real lawyer will tell you that getting a non-government job is mostly about who you know and how hard you are willing to work.

swjd13 wrote:You can graduate from UCLA, but if you are not a "good" attorney, nobody will hire you.

There are mail rules to choosing a law school:
First: Go to Harvard, Yale, or Stanford if you can get in.
Second: Go to law school in the city you want to work in.
Third: Go to the school that gives you the most scholarship money.

You should follow those three rules in that order.

If you want to work in Sports or Entertainment, you would be crazy not to go to school in Los Angeles. So you are on the right track.

Now, ask yourself, are you really going to reject Southwestern or any other school because some random person on here told you to?

I would call each school and ask them to put you in touch with alumni who do EXACTLY what you want to do. Ask them how they did it. I know people at Southwestern who graduate at the bottom of their class and end up working in-house for some really big entertainment companies. How did they do it? By networking. Any real lawyer will tell you that getting a non-government job is mostly about who you know and how hard you are willing to work.

Are you serious? Southwestern is literally a dumpster fire of a law school and you should be ashamed for even suggesting its a viable option.

https://www.lstreports.com/schools/southwestern/jobs/

Southwestern has an employment rate of 36%. ONLY 36% of the graduates of Southwestern EVER WORK AS LAWYERS. 36%. You have a significantly better chance flipping a coin. THAT IS AWFUL.

Under no circumstances should one attend Southwestern. It is a school that has is even in the target for the ABA to shut it down in the near future.

So according to your sparktrainer's logic, nobody from Southwestern is employable, nobody from Southwestern will get a job this year, and nobody from Southwestern will ever get a job in the near future. There are thousands of lawyers and hundreds of judges in Southern California that would beg to differ.

In fact I challenge anyone to find me a Southwestern, Western, Cal Western, Whittier (etc.) graduate who is now unemployed a year after graduating law school. So to judge a school just by the employment stats at graduation is truly ridiculous.

Is it harder to get that 6 figure salary right of of Law School if you graduate from Southwestern? Yes. But it is completely possible. If you don't have your dream job right out of law school, that doesn't mean you can't get your dream job.

How many lawyers are still working at their first law firm out of law school? Most of the lawyers who start out at big law firms go on to open their own firms. If you are in private practice and you are an amazing attorney, do you really think your clients are going to be asking you what law school you went to?!

And in regard to the ABA targeting Southwestern: that is a pretty bold statement to make with absolutely no evidence. Please do not go to extremes and scare people on here for no reason.

Also, if you want employment statistics, ask the school to disclose to you their official ABA yearly report, before you look at any website.

swjd13 wrote:Also, if you want employment statistics, ask the school to disclose to you their official ABA yearly report, before you look at any website.

Dear Southwestern Law Dean/career services, try harder next time.

That website I linked uses the school's own ABA reported data. You think 36% of a graduating class getting ANY legal job (including jobs such as paralegals, doc review staff, etc) 9 months after graduation is a good thing?

Go shill somewhere else. You are wrong and I hope you stop spreading lies.

sparkytrainer wrote:

swjd13 wrote:Also, if you want employment statistics, ask the school to disclose to you their official ABA yearly report, before you look at any website.

Dear Southwestern Law Dean/career services, try harder next time.

That website I linked uses the school's own ABA reported data. You think 36% of a graduating class getting ANY legal job (including jobs such as paralegals, doc review staff, etc) 9 months after graduation is a good thing?

Go shill somewhere else. You are wrong and I hope you stop spreading lies.

LOL. A reasonable person would not discourage any applicant from obtaining a school's OFFICIAL ABA report.

I'm not shilling for Southwestern, but, yes, I did go to Southwestern. I'm on here because I remembered all the ridiculous posts I saw about "third-tier" law schools when I was applying to law school. People make broad assumptions that contradict reality and I don't think it is right to do that.

You have not offered any evidence that anything I have said is a lie.

From what I have seen, if you work hard in law school, you will get a job. If you go above and beyond in law school you will get the job you want. The only name you should rely on for your future is your own. You have a different opinion. Your statements are nothing more than your opinion.

I graduated from Southwestern Law school in 2016 and it was the worst decision of my life. My degree is totally worthless and I am currently on food stamps; I failed the bar and I can't even find a job in anything to retake the exam; I made a horrific mistake attending this school. Stay away from this diploma mill, please I beg you; my life is ruined because of my poor decision; I will never recover from this.

I graduated from Southwestern Law school in 2016 and it was the worst decision of my life. My degree is totally worthless and I am currently on food stamps; I failed the bar and I can't even find a job in anything to retake the exam; I made a horrific mistake attending this school. Stay away from this diploma mill, please I beg you; my life is ruined because of my poor decision; I will never recover from this.