Good Universities for Law in the States?

Hello!
Wondering whether there are any good Law Universities back in the States. Not super expensive ones. Ones that are affordable and have a good reputation.
What do you think? Will you please lend me a hand?

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Reply 1

Napalm

"affordable law school" is an oxymoron. There's no such thing </rant> ;p. There are lots of highly regarded universities like Harvard, Columbia, Yale, Stanford et al. Google and research top law schools and you'll find the lists. You might also want to consider what kind of law you want to study as there are schools that have excellent reputations in a particular field. Also, think about where you want to study as that will probably have an effect on how expensive it will be for you.

Reply 2

Miu Miu

Good luck finding an 'affordable' law school. All the good ones (Ivy League or otherwise) are private and therfore are very expensive!

Reply 3

bona fide purchaser

As Miu Miu has pointed out, law school in the US is rarely affordable (in-state tuition rates for in-state residents aside). For most students, law school means incurring debt - sometimes, a lot of it.

The traditional answer to the 'best law schools' question is comprised of the top 14 law schools as ranked by US News & World Reports. The same schools make up the top 14 each year, though there may be minor variations in ranking within this group. Within the 'T14' (as they are known), there are different 'sub-tiers'. Without further ado, here is the list, grouped into sub-tiers (although within the sub-tiers, the law schools are not ordered or ranked):

Harvard, Yale, Stanford; Chicago, Columbia, NYU; Michigan, Virginia, Penn, Berkeley; Duke, Georgetown, Northwestern, Cornell

Reply 4

Agneisse

The top law schools (T14) are all very expensive. The justification they have for this is that a degree from them opens many doors to high-paying jobs.

"Good" law schools that are "affordable" for international students (I'm assuming you're not a US citizen/green carder?) are virtually non-existent. There are some with good debt payment plans, but these are often only limited to citizens.

Reply 5

DrAtomic

The current (2009) ranking of law schools from US News is:

1 Yale
2 Harvard
3 Stanford
4 Columbia
5 NYU
6 UC Berkeley
7 UChicago
7 UPenn
9 Northwestern
9 U Michigan
9 U Virginia
12 Cornell
12 Duke
14 Georgetown
15 Vanderbilt
16 UCLA
16 U Texas Austin
18 USC
19 Washington St Louis
20 George Washington

Reply 6

royale_sufi

Where can you find university rankings in the states?

Reply 7

Miu Miu

royale_sufi

Where can you find university rankings in the states?

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/law/search

Reply 8

ILIGAN

As far as I am concern, thre is such a thing as the Great Trioka (for Law) in the US, and this is comprised of Harvard, Yale and Stanford. These 3 law schools are considered the best law schools in the US. Below then are: Columbia, NYU, UC Berkeley, UChicago, UPenn, Northwestern and U Michigan. They comprise the top 10 law schools in the US.

However, there's also such a thing as T14 and they include: U Virginia, Cornell, Duke and Georgetown, in addition the the top 10.

Reply 9

TheMassiveTribulation

Wow. But what are the chances for any of you getting there in the first place? I've been seeing some familiar flags. ILIGAN being from the Phillipines but also being in USA and then DrAtomic being from Ukraine is also in USA. How did you do it?

Reply 10

ILIGAN

I am an American citizen ( I was born in the US) thus I'm not considered an international student despite that my father is Italian and my mother is Filipina. :smile:

If studying in the US would be costly for you, try to apply as a Fulbright scholar. Fulbright awards scholarship to all citizens. There must be a Fulbrigh office in your country.

Reply 11

DrAtomic

Same for me.

Reply 12

TheMassiveTribulation

You are lucky. Both of you. I wish I was born in the States, because that is pretty much the only place that I want to be in. But I guess things are different and one can't want everything. Fulbright scholar. I will keep that in mind.

Reply 13

ILIGAN

^ To be honest with you, I would have loved it more if I was born and raised in Australia. I've been to Australia a couple of times and I can't stop thinking of settling there when I get the chance.

Sydney and Melbourne are fantastic places to live in. The people there are generally friendlier than most of the people at places I've been to around the world. If you want to travel, Europe would still be the best place for tourists. But, still, I would never change my experience at Stanford. Attending Stanford as an undergraduate student was probably the best thing that happened to my life. :smile:

DrAtomic, are your parents both British?

Reply 14

DrAtomic

No. My father is Russian/Ukranian, and my mother is Japanese/Maltese.

Reply 15

Bmoody

Basically, as long as your school is a "Tier 1" school, you will be alright. Tier 1 schools are the top 100 law schools. Try to go for schools that are by the Pacific or Atlantic ocean, are in port cities, or government centers... such as New York, the Northeast US, San Diego, Chicago, or Washington DC. Anywhere you can imagine plenty of international trade will most likely mean a good law school with good international departments for you.

Maybe a question you should be asking as well is what sort of law do you want to practice? Las Vegas' William S. Boyd School of Law is better for gaming law than Buffalo.