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Want to know about the best law schools in America?
Curious as to what an elite legal education gets you?
Stay to the end, as I provide you with the list of law schools, and the pro’s
and con’s of attending one.
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Hi, this is Beau Baez, and today I want to discuss the best law schools in America.
First, I will provide you with the list of the best law schools.
Second, the advantages of graduating from one of these law schools.
And third, the downside of attending a top law school.
Over the years, out of the approximately 200 law schools in America, the elite law schools
have become known as the Top 14, or T14.
In alphabetical order they are: Berkeley, Chicago, Columbia, Cornell, Duke, Georgetown,
Harvard, Michigan, New York University, Northwestern, Stanford,
University of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Yale.
There is generally some movement amongst the T14, which is why I am listing them alphabetically.
That being said, Yale, Harvard, and Stanford are usually in the Top 3,
and they are known as the Top 3.
If you are wondering how I came up with this list, I am using the yearly ranking system
created by U.S. News & World Report.
Though there are other ranking systems out there, almost every law student
uses this ranking system in deciding where they're going to law school.
Now, to the advantages of graduating from a top law school.
One: job opportunities.
Graduates from the T3 get the best jobs, including high paying jobs at prestigious law firms,
judicial clerkships, government positions, academia, and non-profit organizations.
Because of their advantage right out of law school,
they also tend to rise faster into better positions.
For example, as of today, every single member of the Supreme Court of the United States
went to either Harvard or Yale law school.
Graduates from the remaining T14 are also sought after and end up with great positions
and good salaries.
And as with the Top 3, they go on to do great things.
For example, seven U.S. Presidents that went to law school did so at T14 institutions.
In addition to better job outcomes, there are other advantages of attending an elite
law school.
Two: name recognition.
The T14 are recognized by other lawyers, and many educated people, as elite law schools.
This helps give graduates credibility not only in the practice of law, but also when
they do other things, like volunteer at non-profit organizations.
Three: success perception.
There is a perception that T14 lawyers will be successful, so they are often given opportunities
not provided to other lawyers.
Four: there is what I call the wow factor.
This occurs when you tell someone where you went to law school and they say “wow, you
went to that law school?”
When this happens to me it always catches me off guard.
Oddly, the farther away you are from your alma mater, the larger this wow factor.
This is because a very large percentage of graduates don’t move very far from their
law school.
For example, when I lived in Washington, DC, I rarely met anyone impressed with my law
school because of the many alumni that practiced in Washington, DC.
But when I moved to North Carolina, suddenly more people noticed my law school degree.
So if you go to Duke law school, which is located in North Carolina, you will experience the wow
factor more often in Wisconsin rather than in North Carolina.
Five: the alumni network.
Because graduates of T14 end up with better jobs and move up the ranks faster,
this means that they can help alumni.
Though there are many advantages to going to Yale, Columbia, Harvard, Georgetown,
or any of the other T14, the downside is the cost.
While scholarships are available, most law students at these schools pay full tuition.
This means borrowing hundreds of thousands of dollars for a three-year legal education.
And that is in addition to any undergraduate loans a student may already have.
But looking at the return on investment over a lifetime, it's usually a good idea for
most students to borrow the money.
Of course, if you have the scores to get into an elite law school, you also have the ability
to get a full scholarship at many lower ranked law schools.
And if you are planning to go into a low paying field, like criminal defense,
then it is probably better for you to attend one of these other schools with a full scholarship,
rather than borrowing the money at a T14.
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