University of Houston Law School/Other law schools

where you go to law school doesn't define if you will be a good lawyer. It's just a name brand that helps you get a better job if you apply to jobs the same way that everyone else does. If you want to work in Houston only, U of H is your best bet (obviously).

You need some safety schools, law school admissions this year is going to be brutal as a result of lawyer salaries going up to $165,000 for a first year associate position. If only your poor saps knew...

 

those salaries grab most of the headlines - unfortunately the cold reality for most law studentss, save the absolute top of the class students, outside of top 20-30 schools is that even getting a callback for those jobs is unlikely no matter how smart they are, which is unpleasant considering the 120,000+ they are investing for their shiny law degree. A lot of law schools admissions/career offices from outside the top ranks like to play 'bait and switch" and make it seemm like all their graduates are handed massive starting salaries when it's really just a very small number.

 

I heard that Harvard and Columbia have very good law schools. And they are both located in major urban areas.

 

Houston is pretty much the same as San Diego weather wise.

 

True. On another note there is plenty of money to be made with a law degree. My last lawyer had a computer engineering degree combined with his law degree (Boston College/Texas). He was a corporate lawyer at IBM. He quit. Now he works in a small town dealing with petty violations. It pays more.

 

Keep the punches up ...

 

get the logic games bible for the logic games. that should help you gain accuracy in the logic games section.

gpa isn't that critical, though berkeley does care about it so you might need to make that up on the lsat with a point or so. however being instate will help. also they look into socio-economic info a lot...so if you have a sob story that will definitely help.

also keep in mind that unless you're going to a top 15-20 school or get top 15-20% at a top 50 school, its hard to make market. also keep in mind that california actually has three good state schools that are a bit more reasonable in terms of tuition than most other states.

see what you get on the lsat and then decide where you want to go.

if you really want good weather, but don't think you can get into the berkeley/usc/ucla range, try hastings. its a solid school and its lsat range is probably very much within your reach as of now. also the in state factor will help with admissions.

 

I just started as a part-time student at South Texas College of Law 2 weeks ago, and I like it there so far. UH law is in a weird predicament right now. Since their last dean left, their national ranking has been on a free fall. While they're still ranked pretty solidly, I wouldn't know where they would be 3 or 4 years from now when you graduate.

When selecting a law school, you should look at what specialty do they excel at. UH is very good with transactional work, whereas STCL is better for litigation. Granted, you probably don't know what you want to do yet, but this is worth thinking about. A major negative with STCL is that it is VERY expensive,

Another thing... do you plan to practice in Cali or do you want to be in Texas after law school? Throughout your law school curriculum, you will be studying for the BAR exam of the school's state. I was told that I should go to a school where it is located in the state of where I plan to practice.

 

Who was the dean at UH after Dean Zamora? As far as I can see, now it is Ray Nimmer?

 

Ray Nimmer would not be the best choice. He's very non-descript and mediocre - which actually describes many of the professors at UH, at least when I was there.

UH is a good school but not a nationally recognized school. It would not make sense to go to UH if you want to practice in the North.

Most important: Find a school in an area you want to practice after graduation. For example, many attorneys in Houston know South Texas and attorneys in San Antonio know St. Mary's. Outside of Texas, both schools would probably be a liability in finding work as both are ranked near the bottom.

 

its not so bad. they are back up to 60th. also in the second tier there are a lot of ties. so slight improvement can easily mean 5-6 spots.

 

School only matters in getting your first job out of school, the cream always rises, no matter where you go to school.

 

That's true for most professions but not necessarily law. Many firms still want lawyers from top schools as a prerequisite.

Obviously if you are an expert in a particular field or have 30 years experience, it may not matter as much.

 

Why is this in the d & d?
I went to both UH and UT for law school. I found the quality of the education to be the exact same. I preferred UH for probably some of the same reasons that I prefer Houston to Austin. I agree with the others who said go to school, where you want to practice.

 

Quoted for emphasis

 

UT is the best law school in Texas, and the prices is on line with UofH. Given the comparative quality of those schools (#18 in the nation for UT, #60 for UH), I don't know why you would choose an inferior school. I only went to UT, so I can't speak to the relative quality of institution, but employers are going to judge you by where your degree came from even if the education is the same (and I'm not convinced that it is). And not just for your first job - your degree is always going to be part of the package that you are selling to employers should you wish to change jobs (albeit a less influential part of the total package as time goes on). If you want to move back to California at some point, a UT Law degree carries a greater-than-local weight that UofH just doesn't have. Then again, if you want to be in California, Stanford, UC Berkley, USC, and UCLA are all excellent programs that are currently ranked higher than UT.

 

I know you've only done diagnostics, but a 159 won't get you into UT and could keep you out of UH as well. Try for 161+, b/c you're going to be competing for a very limited number of spots at either school since you're not from Texas. Go to the best school you can get into though..it's really important

 

Did you transfer from UH to UT? If so, do they just look at your law school GPA when you apply for the transfer, or does the package of undergrad GPA and LSAT score come into play?