Northeastern University School of Law Forum

[KatyMaria]

I would really love to know some people's ideas on this school, seeing as I am comming from Seattle, and have never even been to boston. Some frank information would be much apreciated! Thanks

Katy

[jeff2486]

*****

[KennyinGrinnell]

I'm not a student at Northeastern... yet, but I am from the Boston area. Northeastern is in a decent location near the Fens (that’s where Fenway park is) and symphony Hall. There is excellent access to the T (both Green line and Orange Line) in the general vicinity. Actually you can get to many law schools in Boston from the green line, (BU, BC, NE, and even Suffolk) Sometimes when there are concerts or games going on at Fenway park you can go out into the swampy area, the Fens, and listen it is crystal clear.

[StanfordHopeful]

I did my undergrad at Northeastern....I mean its a decent school. Their bread and butter lies in their co-op program. Sometimes the jobs are not as good as they would like you to believe, other times they are phenomenal. I mean I would base my decision on a total package, dont just look at their co-op program and automatically be sold on the school...that was my thought process undergrad.

[Corsair]

..

[kmoneys]

However I will say that Boston is an awesome college town. With so many colleges and universities (undergraduate and graduate), living in Boston and the Boston area is great. It's got big city feel, but without the overpowering immensity that a city like New York has.

totally agree. i was really happy doing my undergrad in the boston area.

[Guest]

But it's so cold isn't it? I don't know I just picture a perpetual snow storm when I think of those New England States. Brrrrr!

[kmoneys]

it was extremely cold, but those were the days/nights you holed yourself up in the library with your friends "studying" with hot chocolate.

[Corsair]

..

[Lamadorje]

Northeastern is cool.

[greentree]

This is what I was thinking about N.Eastern, however, so maybe someone can answer my qualms:
-No law review
-4 3 mo. internships = 12 mos of internship
-Most schools do externships for credit, plus 2 summers of work = the same thing? It seems like you can get the Northeastern experience with initiative wherever a person goes. Anyone know why their Co-op is so amazing?

[prizm77]

Any Northeastern students on this board?

I really want to go to school and practice in Boston but don't quite have the numbers for BU or BC. If do not want to go into public interest, would NUSL be a bad choice if I have a strong desire to go into corporate law wishing to practice in a big/mid sized firm in Boston? Trying to get some actual opinions from current students.

Do far more employers participate in the co-op program versus OCI? Can anyone speak on placement with such firms for co-ops and post grad employment?

[ndiggity67]

Any Northeastern students on this board?

I really want to go to school and practice in Boston but don't quite have the numbers for BU or BC. If do not want to go into public interest, would NUSL be a bad choice if I have a strong desire to go into corporate law wishing to practice in a big/mid sized firm in Boston? Trying to get some actual opinions from current students.

Do far more employers participate in the co-op program versus OCI? Can anyone speak on placement with such firms for co-ops and post grad employment?

Would ove to hear the answer to this as well

[thanks4shopping1978]

I think that NEU is an excellent choice for any type of law. Even thought they have a public interest focus, and send a lot more of their graduates into public interest law, they still have a much higher percentage go into firms, including large firms in Boston, NY, DC, etc The co-op is fabulously well respected in Boston, and among anyone who his familiar with it. They have active relationships w/800+ co-op employers, but if you want to do a co-op with an employer that they don't have a relationship with you can still do it -- it's simply a question of having to put a bit more work into it yourself. I've gone to a couple of open house events at NEU, and have been extremely impressed.

[SouVitor]

Two former supervisors and a coop student at the nonprofit I used to work at were the reason I applied to Northeastern. They talked to me about the students and the coop program. They liked their experiences a lot. However, they were very clear that the school is very liberal... "the hippie law school" as they called it. They were very clear to say that most people there are activist, very liberal and don't have good opinions about those students pursuing BIGLAW. They also said that, although the coop program is great, having to move every three months for a job gets very annoying. By observation, I have to say that the students come up well prepared for the workforce. The coop intern I mentioned was very prepared for the job because she had taken courses in the area (immigration), participated in the law school clinics, and done a coop at a for profit immigration firm in Boston before coming to work for us. She required little training and, two years later, she applied for a job opening and was offered a job.

I got accepted and I would love to attend Northeastern since I am interested in public interest jobs. However, I have to say that the price tag is a little high. I got a scholarship, but not a big one. I would love to hear what a current student has to say.

[angiejolie]

i am almost 100% positive i will be waitlisted at northeastern and will have to make a decision between waiting that out or attending suffolk.

Any comparison between the 2, both good and bad would be greatly appreciated.

i think i will be visiting the 2 in march sometime, but would love to hear what anyone has to say about that.

[knberger]

From what I could tell Northeastern does not give out grades which can really hurt in the job prospects. I liked Suffolk a lot better than Northeastern, even though it was ranked higher. Looks like angie and I are looking at some of the same schools. I got waitlisted at Iowa, other than that I think Suffolk is my best bet.

[prizm77]

They were very clear to say that most people there are activist, very liberal and don't have good opinions about those students pursuing BIGLAW.

Really? Care to elaborate?

I have also been told that the written evaluations/no-grades policy is not a problem at all in Boston. However, for those searching for jobs outside of Boston and with firms unfamiliar with Northeastern's system, it may prove to be a nuisance. I recently read that upper-level classes at Northeastern will now be graded according to a "high honors/honors/pass/fail" scale..

I plan to live and work in Boston and with that in mind I do not think you can go wrong with Northeastern. Public interest or not.

[SouVitor]

SouVitor wrote:
They were very clear to say that most people there are activist, very liberal and don't have good opinions about those students pursuing BIGLAW.


Really? Care to elaborate?

Sure. Everytime we spoke about their law school experience, they emphasized that there were a lot of public interest opportunities at the school and that the students brought with them a lot of experience in community service and activism. Some of them mentioned that they worked for coops at private immigration and criminal defense firms in Boston, but that was not their career goal and wanted to pursue jobs in non profit organizations. As to the comment about Biglaw, I was exaggerating. Having said that, a common theme about our conversations about Northeastern was that there was some tension between those interested in public service and those in Biglaw. I still want to hear what a current student thinks of the school.

[SizeMatters]

Do they place well internationally with NGOs or is it just mostly domestic public interest?

[SizeMatters]

anyone?

[aguyingeorgia]

I have no idea. However, Northeastern has killed 100 trees with just the mail they have sent me in the past week. Dear God.

[fuzzydunlop]

I'm late to the party, I know, but I'm a current Northeastern Law student (2L), I'd be happy to try (emphasis on try) to answer questions people have.

Overall I'm sort of ambivalent about my decision to come here. There's definitely a huge focus on public interest here, and the students are generally all extraordinarily leftist (many of the professors, too). Myself I'm not terribly political; when I do have opinions about things, I tend to lean slightly left of center, and that probably makes me one of the top 10 most right wing people in the school. That's an exaggeration of course, but yeah, there are a lot of activists about. If you're into that then my god, is this ever the school for you, but if you're not, it can get a little frustrating now and then. For example, during one review session for constitutional law, we were going over a practice exam which had a fact pattern about the Nation of Islam being classified as a terrorist group or something like that. We must have spent a good 20 minutes complaining about why the professor (he was a guest professor from BU, he didn't know) had to pick the Nation of Islam and wouldn't it have been more sensitive of him to just make something else up. I found myself learning nothing about constitutional law in that review session, so I got up and left. Me, I just want to graduate and get a job. Still, it's not like people are going to spit on you in the hallway if you aren't a socialist or anything. Everyone's very friendly and surprisingly unpretentious about their political leanings. And there are plenty of people who seem to take co-ops at corporate jobs and more traditional firms, so it isn't like that's not an option for you if you come here. Just don't tell your friends about it.

No grades: This, I don't like about the school. Rather than grades, we get "evaluations", which are written descriptions of our performance in the class. I think they're changing it for new 1Ls, but the way it currently works is the evaluations center around "buzzwords" like "good", "excellent" or "student demonstrates a general competency with a working knowledge of the rules of civil procedure". The thing is though, one professor's "good" might be another professor's "very good", so you're constantly guessing about exactly how well you did in the course. I believe for the new entering classes though, they're revising the system to make it a bit more uniform, but I'm not completely sure.

Anyway, the whole thing about not having grades is that there's no class rank. I think that's a noble goal for the school, trying to make law school more about co-operation rather than competition. The problem though, is that you still have to compete with everyone else when you graduate, and if you come out of the school with a stack of evaluations rather than a GPA and a class rank (oh and a law review, we don't have a law review), I really don't know what employers think about you compared to other applicants. I wish I could answer that question, but I can't, and in fact it's one I have myself. I asked about it during orientation and I didn't really get a straight answer, so I don't know. I imagine that graduating with four co-ops (and therefore at least four solid connections in the legal community) helps compensate a little. On that note...

Co-op: This, I love about the school. After your first year, you alternatively spend 3 months in classes and 3 months at an internship. Some are paid, some aren't (and the school has a program that provides limited funding to unpaid public interest co-ops). Co-ops are all over the place. Firms, public interest organizations, judges, administrative agencies, public defenders, district attorneys, a friend of mine even did a co-op with some human rights organization in Geneva. You get experience, you get credit for doing it, and you walk away with some connections too (which is very handy if you've co-opped for a judge, I'm told). I've learned infinitely more about being a lawyer in my two co-ops than I have in any of my classes, that's for sure (that's not a put-down on NUSL's faculty mind you, it's a put-down on law school after 1st year in general). I think the co-op program is a great idea, and I hope it catches on in schools outside of NUSL, too. Everyone I've interviewed with that's had co-op students in the past has been really impressed with the program, and I'm happy to hear that someone else in this thread has heard the same thing. You don't have to move for each one unless you want to. There are loads of co-ops available in Boston. For my first co-op, I got shot down by every employer I applied to in my first resume mailing. I don't think I even got an interview until my 3rd mailing, and even then, I got a great co-op in Boston. I'd be surprised if anyone ever found themselves having to move for a co-op if they didn't want to.

The faculty here seems really experienced, I've generally been impressed with them (although, this is the only law school I've ever been to, so I have no frame of reference). I've heard that professors have a habit of being very academic, with not a whole lot of practical experience, that they're more comfortable writing treatises than trying cases. I can't speak for every NUSL professor but I know that my criminal law professor was a DA for a decade or two before switching over to defense work, where he defended death row inmates (one of whom came to class one day for a very moving lecture). My contracts professor argued before the Supreme Court. He lost, but still, the Supreme Court! Richard Daynard is a professor here, he's well known for...some tobacco thing, I can't remember what he's well known for, but I know he's well known for it. The faculty has real experience, and I think it shows.

Anyway, I'm happy to answer questions, if I can.

[bjmichel77]

First of all, let me give kudos to fuzzydunlop for possibly the greatest name in a forum, ever. Herc and Carver would be very impressed. Thanks for the unabridged and straight-forward look at NEU as well.

I visited the campus last Feb. I'm from Milwaukee, so I like to have the feel of a city but without the overwhelming size. For such an urban campus, I definitely was impressed with the feel of NEU. It seems like you can get basically anywhere from that location. I didn't get a chance to ride the T, I was stuck driving a rental through the streets of Boston, so I can't speak to that effect, but even in the middle of the day, I didn't have to park very far from the school and the campus felt fairly central to many attractions and parts of the city.

However, this forum is the first I heard of the no-grade system at NEU. I knew of its left-wing tendencies, both an attraction and a drawback for myself, but I'd like to join the others in asking for anyone who has graduated from this system to share their opinion on how it might affect the job search outside the public sector. Also, it seems as if a co-op placement in Boston is nearly guaranteed, but how easy is it to obtain a position in a specific area outside of Mass? Specifically, something back in the Milwaukee/Chicago area. Is there any way to obtain a list of the sponsored co-ops before applying? Also, how about the effects of not having a law review?

And here's an obvious but not-often discussed question...How difficult is it to obtain a JD in one state and pass the bar in another?

Thanks, and I look forward to any responses to this.

[fuzzydunlop]

I wish I could answer your question about how having no grades and a law review affects your post-grad employment opportunities because I'm curious too, but I'm afraid I'm just not sure. I can tell you from hearsay that NUSL's reputation from the co-op program, if nothing else, is rather positive in Boston and Massachusetts. I imagine the effects of that are somewhat diminished the farther you go, however. And I wouldn't count on landing a position in a biglaw downtown firm even in Boston or MA without connections (though the same could be said of any T2 school, I suppose).

As for co-ops in the Chicago/Milwaukee area, I'm not sure if there's an official list out there for applicants. You could try emailing the school's admissions office, or wherever 0Ls are supposed to send questions, they might have something for you. If not, I happen to have access to the e-coop book, which lists all the co-ops, so here's what came up for IL and WI (they're just title headings; I'm not sure what specifically they are, or if they're even hiring).

Illinois:
Cornfield & Feldman Chicago, IL 60602-1803
Federal Defender Program Chicago, IL 60603
Futterman & Howard, Chtd. Chicago, IL 60603
Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago Chicago, IL 60604
Mexican American Legal Defense & Chicago, IL 60603
U.S. Ct. of Appeals for the 7th Circuit Chicago, IL 60604

Wisconsin:
Wisconsin Supreme Court Madison, WI 53701
Wisconsin Supreme Court Madison, WI 53702

That's very slim pickings, but I doubt you're going to have a ton of competition for those slots, at least not much among other NUSL students. And don't forget that you're always welcome to create your own co-ops, so if you know of someone who's hiring, you can always work something out with them. But to be honest, I don't know if I'd count on NUSL's reputation, whatever it may be, to carry you to great heights in the great lakes region. Though I'm not basing that on anything at all, so I could be wrong. Still, I'd assume that if your goal is to practice in the Chicago/Milwaukee area, you'd be better off attending a school in that market (or at least a T1 school somewhere else).

As an aside, if anyone's curious about what our "evaluations" look like, here are two of mine (that range the gamut from great to puzzling)

Intellectual Property:

Your overall performance in the class was excellent, and regularly outstanding.
On the exam, you did an outstanding job on the more difficult copyright issues and in your discussion of trade secrets.
Your policy discussion was also terrific. Elsewhere, your analysis lacked some of the rigor of which you are clearly
capable. In the better parts of your exam, your use of the facts, which was really terrific: often creative, rigorous and
nuanced. You also demonstrated a superior working knowledge of the governing law.
Your work on the drafting exercise, where you were asked to redraft a portion of a complex intellectual property
licensing agreement, was excellent. Your class participation was always thoughtful.
Congratulations on a superb performance!

Evidence (note the lack of buzzwords, or anything that would help an employer decide if you're good or terrible):

You saw most issues raised by the essay portion of the examination. Your treatment of them revealed familiarity with
the course material coupled with the ability to do effective, albeit uneven, legal analysis. Your treatment of the multiple
choice questions was sound. Overall, this was a generally sound job.

I mean I loved my evidence professor, but "generally sound"? What's that supposed to mean?