Top Law Schools

KissMyAxe wrote:

Texas2Step wrote:

A. Nony Mouse wrote:OP, have you started law school yet?

Yes, and no. I am about to go to YLS. But took ~20 law school classes in undergrad...

So the answer is no. Those don't count for anything. Counting your chickens pretty early, aren't you? You're an introverted misanthrope who wants an appellate boutique and two COA judges, and you're a 0L. Seems legit. Why don't you get here, see how you do next year (quick warning, there are no grades first semester, but for judges, there really are). If you want a top clerkship you need to be acing your courses. This is like a kid in high school coming on here asking what he needs to do to get into YLS. It sounds like you know nothing about appellate practice. You fit an all too common mold at YLS. You're a high achieving kid whose always chasing the next gold star. Youll be happier if you stop chasing prestige for prestige's sake. Ask this question next year. Or at least ask me in a PM so we don't clutter the site.

Texas2Step wrote:

RaceJudicata wrote:

Texas2Step wrote:

A. Nony Mouse wrote:OP, have you started law school yet?

Yes, and no. I am about to go to YLS. But took ~20 law school classes in undergrad...

Not "yes, and no." The answer to the question is a resounding no.

If you interpret the question strictly maybe. But, he was probably asking the question as a proxy for assessing my familiarity with the profession. I'm working as an SA right now and have more law school classes on my transcript that most 1Ls. Why the hell can't I ask a question about law firm culture - especially when I only get 2 chances to find the right place and other 0Ls don't even know firm names?

rpupkin wrote:

Texas2Step wrote:In any event, I have about ~10 moot courts scheduled for 1L year and 7 pro bono groups so this train is about to leave the station. Finally, I was tentative about the 2 CoA clerkships - my advisor told me it would make more sense to do one at the district level and then clerk for a CoA.

I have no idea what the bolded is about. Are you sure you're talking about law school?

cron1834 wrote:Wait, you've taken 20 law CLASSES? Or do you mean 20 *credits* of undergrad coursework that involve the law somehow?

LOL, this has gone from a little smug to full-on bizarre.

Texas2Step wrote:

cron1834 wrote:Wait, you've taken 20 law CLASSES? Or do you mean 20 *credits* of undergrad coursework that involve the law somehow?

LOL, this has gone from a little smug to full-on bizarre.

Yeah, I said classes. I have wanted to be a lawyer since I was six. Went to Palo Alto, found some SLS folks, networked, one thing lead to another next thing you know I'm Tax, habeas corpus, and 14th amend. as a senior. The sky is the limit when you have a plan - which is why I am asking for everyone's input.

Texas2Step wrote:

cron1834 wrote:Wait, you've taken 20 law CLASSES? Or do you mean 20 *credits* of undergrad coursework that involve the law somehow?

LOL, this has gone from a little smug to full-on bizarre.

Yeah, I said classes. I have wanted to be a lawyer since I was six. Went to Palo Alto, found some SLS folks, networked, one thing lead to another next thing you know I'm in tax, habeas corpus, and 14th amend. as a senior. The sky is the limit when you have a plan - which is why I am asking for everyone's input.

blueapple wrote:

Texas2Step wrote:

cron1834 wrote:Wait, you've taken 20 law CLASSES? Or do you mean 20 *credits* of undergrad coursework that involve the law somehow?

LOL, this has gone from a little smug to full-on bizarre.

Yeah, I said classes. I have wanted to be a lawyer since I was six. Went to Palo Alto, found some SLS folks, networked, one thing lead to another next thing you know I'm Tax, habeas corpus, and 14th amend. as a senior. The sky is the limit when you have a plan - which is why I am asking for everyone's input.

Seems you've got it all figured out, so why are you asking us?

Anyway, as someone already pointed out, you can't be posting in the legal employment forum until you are in law school. Come back in a few months.

Texas2Step wrote:

blueapple wrote:

Texas2Step wrote:

cron1834 wrote:Wait, you've taken 20 law CLASSES? Or do you mean 20 *credits* of undergrad coursework that involve the law somehow?

LOL, this has gone from a little smug to full-on bizarre.

Yeah, I said classes. I have wanted to be a lawyer since I was six. Went to Palo Alto, found some SLS folks, networked, one thing lead to another next thing you know I'm Tax, habeas corpus, and 14th amend. as a senior. The sky is the limit when you have a plan - which is why I am asking for everyone's input.

Seems you've got it all figured out, so why are you asking us?

Anyway, as someone already pointed out, you can't be posting in the legal employment forum until you are in law school. Come back in a few months.

Okay, I'll come back in August. Seems a bit arbitrary. I just wanted help navigating the law firm cultures in NYC and DC...

tripu11 wrote:And this thread is why going to law school at Yale is a disadvantage one has to overcome when I interview a person from Yale during a callback. It's pretty obvious when a person doesn't want to work in biglaw and that's a clear auto-ding in my book. Every person I've ever interviewed from Yale looked like a deer in headlights at the prospect of actually having to work hard.

PeanutsNJam wrote:You're not working as a SA right now because law firms only hire SAs from law schools. You may be an intern at a law firm, but you are not a SA.

It's Yale Law Journal, not Law Review.

You seem very oddly uninformed and presumptuous for someone with acceptance letters from YLS and Oxford and a BA from Stanford.

Just to be clear, you claim to have taken SLS classes as an undergrad? Particularly, non-1L classes? And ~60 credits worth?

UVA2B wrote:

Texas2Step wrote:

blueapple wrote:

Texas2Step wrote:

cron1834 wrote:Wait, you've taken 20 law CLASSES? Or do you mean 20 *credits* of undergrad coursework that involve the law somehow?

LOL, this has gone from a little smug to full-on bizarre.

Yeah, I said classes. I have wanted to be a lawyer since I was six. Went to Palo Alto, found some SLS folks, networked, one thing lead to another next thing you know I'm Tax, habeas corpus, and 14th amend. as a senior. The sky is the limit when you have a plan - which is why I am asking for everyone's input.

Seems you've got it all figured out, so why are you asking us?

Anyway, as someone already pointed out, you can't be posting in the legal employment forum until you are in law school. Come back in a few months.

Okay, I'll come back in August. Seems a bit arbitrary. I just wanted help navigating the law firm cultures in NYC and DC...

That's part of the problem: you don't need to navigate any of it for quite a long time. The absolute earliest time you could possibly even need to start consider things like firm culture is December 1st, and realistically it'll be even later than that because the types of work you want to find yourself in won't be bringing you on as a 1L SA (I still want to know how on earth you consider yourself an SA when you haven't even started law school yet, but that's a separate discussion).

There are a lot more important things you need to be thinking about right now than whether Cleary DC or Cravath are a better fit for your personality. You're off to a great start by going to YLS, but you're still putting the cart in front of several horses.

Texas2Step wrote:

tripu11 wrote:And this thread is why going to law school at Yale is a disadvantage one has to overcome when I interview a person from Yale during a callback. It's pretty obvious when a person doesn't want to work in biglaw and that's a clear auto-ding in my book. Every person I've ever interviewed from Yale looked like a deer in headlights at the prospect of actually having to work hard.

This is not who I think it is...

Texas2Step wrote:

PeanutsNJam wrote:You're not working as a SA right now because law firms only hire SAs from law schools. You may be an intern at a law firm, but you are not a SA.

It's Yale Law Journal, not Law Review.

You seem very oddly uninformed and presumptuous for someone with acceptance letters from YLS and Oxford and a BA from Stanford.

Just to be clear, you claim to have taken SLS classes as an undergrad? Particularly, non-1L classes? And ~60 credits worth?

First point, yeah.

Second, don't lecture me about the title of the law journal at my own school..

Third, yes I have and I have the transcript to prove it.

Texas2Step wrote:

RaceJudicata wrote:

Texas2Step wrote:

A. Nony Mouse wrote:OP, have you started law school yet?

Yes, and no. I am about to go to YLS. But took ~20 law school classes in undergrad...

Not "yes, and no." The answer to the question is a resounding no.

If you interpret the question strictly maybe. But, he was probably asking the question as a proxy for assessing my familiarity with the profession. I'm working as an SA right now and have more law school classes on my transcript that most 1Ls. Why the hell can't I ask a question about law firm culture - especially when I only get 2 chances to find the right place and other 0Ls don't even know firm names?

Texas2Step wrote:

Texas2Step wrote:

tripu11 wrote:And this thread is why going to law school at Yale is a disadvantage one has to overcome when I interview a person from Yale during a callback. It's pretty obvious when a person doesn't want to work in biglaw and that's a clear auto-ding in my book. Every person I've ever interviewed from Yale looked like a deer in headlights at the prospect of actually having to work hard.

This is not who I think it is...

If it is, you know right well that I have stayed past 10PM more times than all the junior associates and summers in the office the last two weeks.

Texas2Step wrote:

Texas2Step wrote:

tripu11 wrote:And this thread is why going to law school at Yale is a disadvantage one has to overcome when I interview a person from Yale during a callback. It's pretty obvious when a person doesn't want to work in biglaw and that's a clear auto-ding in my book. Every person I've ever interviewed from Yale looked like a deer in headlights at the prospect of actually having to work hard.

This is not who I think it is...

If it is, you know right well that I have stayed past 10PM more times than all the junior associates and summers in the office the last two weeks.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:

Texas2Step wrote:

RaceJudicata wrote:

Texas2Step wrote:

A. Nony Mouse wrote:OP, have you started law school yet?

Yes, and no. I am about to go to YLS. But took ~20 law school classes in undergrad...

Not "yes, and no." The answer to the question is a resounding no.

If you interpret the question strictly maybe. But, he was probably asking the question as a proxy for assessing my familiarity with the profession. I'm working as an SA right now and have more law school classes on my transcript that most 1Ls. Why the hell can't I ask a question about law firm culture - especially when I only get 2 chances to find the right place and other 0Ls don't even know firm names?

Actually, she was asking because as a 0L you're not allowed to post in this forum, so I'm moving it.

Like others, I don't get your statements that you're currently a SA or have set up 7 moot courts for next year, and they don't actually inspire confidence in your familiarity with the profession, but you do you I guess.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:

Texas2Step wrote:

Texas2Step wrote:

tripu11 wrote:And this thread is why going to law school at Yale is a disadvantage one has to overcome when I interview a person from Yale during a callback. It's pretty obvious when a person doesn't want to work in biglaw and that's a clear auto-ding in my book. Every person I've ever interviewed from Yale looked like a deer in headlights at the prospect of actually having to work hard.

This is not who I think it is...

If it is, you know right well that I have stayed past 10PM more times than all the junior associates and summers in the office the last two weeks.

Also what on earth do you mean by this? (And if you're an intern why on EARTH are you staying past 10 more than others? And do you know whether they're logging in from home and working later?)

Texas2Step wrote:

rpupkin wrote:

quiver wrote:If you want to do high-level appellate work in DC, you should probably put in some effort (read: you'll likely need an appellate a SCOTUS clerkship).

It's very difficult to do only high-level appellate work as an associate in big law, even if you're coming off of a decent COA clerkship. These firms make their money off of trial-level litigation. I've had so many friends who were hired into the "appellate lit group" but who spend over half their time doing the same boring trial-level litigation tasks (discovery, evidentiary motions, etc.) that all associates do.

Is Pro-Bono or Government the way to go then? I have been thinking about DOJ Civil Appellate or the Texas OSG.