Law School Discussion

Although I'm not a tax attorney, I doubt that the extra five classes in taxation offered at NESL will make much difference when it comes to getting a job. In my experience, employers rarely pay much attention to the specifics of your transcript. Your background in accounting will likely be the prime factor. However, my understanding is that tax is one of the few areas of legal practice where an LL.M is preferred (required for some jobs). Maybe the extra classes would help you get into a good LL.M program.

Here's the thing (and please understand that I don't mean this as criticism): neither school is very prestigious, so you might as well save the money. I'm not sure that I'd agree that NESL's reputation is a lot better than UMass's. NESL has been around a while, and has always been a lower tier school. UMass is new, which means they don't yet have a reputation. However, in my opinion UMass has the potential to become a very good school. Frankly, I think it will quickly surpass NESL, Suffolk, and Northeastern. Remember, "new" doesn't mean "bad". The UMass system is large and well respected, and this will benefit the law school immensly.

In my neck of the woods (CA), we've had two new schools pop up (UC Irvine and Chapman) within the last decade. Chapman quickly passed up its competition in Orange County (Whittier and WSU), and UCI is slated to pass up everyone in southern California except UCLA and (maybe) USC! Not bad for start-ups. 

Lastly, the time you'll save commuting is important. Especially in your first year, law school is almost unbelievably demanding. An easy commute, low stress day will really help. In the end, remember that I have no actual experience with either school. Do what you think is right for you!

Good Luck!

Taitz is a loon, but I had no idea they were blaming Taft for her antics. Did they blame Duke for Nixon? If anything, I guess Taft deserves a little credit, she did pass the bar.

I don't have any personal experience with either school, so keep that in mind as you read this. To me, it sounds like UMass is probably a better bet.

1) It's cheaper, a huge advantage. Since neither school currently has a huge reputation, you might as well save money.

2) The UMass system is fairly well respected, and I think there's a good chance that UMass Law will eventually build up a solid reputation. Having a strong, well recognized parent institution supporting the law school is invaluable. It means that even though the law school is new, the institution already has experience with administration, fundraising, setting up financial aid programs, etc. All of that experience will come into play when the law school applies for full ABA approval. The ABA looks at everything from long term financial viability, to employment policies and administrative stability. Also, UMass has already hired some pretty good people, including Malagrino (formerly of La Verne and USD) for property. All good signs. 

3) NESL, on the other hand, has probably peaked and isn't going any higher.

Of course the LSAT isn't perfect, no test is. However, as you point out, the LSAT is a dependable predictor of academic aptitude (the exact thing it is designed to predict!). It stands to reason that in most cases a student with a high LSAT score will out perform those with lower scores. The LSAT is not supposed to approximate the law school experience, it just measures ability.

To the OP: don't go to ANY law school unless you are prepared to spend all three years there. Once you start you will quickly discover that law school, whether you're at Harvard or Cooley, is nothing like college. The competition is intense and it's  very difficult to predict how you will perform, especially if you're coming in with less-than-stellar numbers.

If you are prepared to spend all three years at Cooley anyway, that's a different story. Research the school's curve and contact the schools you'd like to transfer to. Most importantly, be realistic about your gals and options. If you start law school on day one expecting to be in the top 10% and transferring, you will likely be disappointed and frustrated. This is nothing against you personally, it's just the cold, hard reality of law school. My law school had a brutal curve that made it very difficult to transfer, and I suspect Cooley is the same.

Be realistic about all aspects of law school, not just transferring, be prepared, and be informed. If you do that you'll probably be alright.   

It's good that you're paying attention to the scholarship stipulations, they can be very tricky. Take the time to fully understand how the curve at your school works, and what it will take to maintain the full scholarship. I went to law school with a 75% scholarship and had to stay in the top 15% in order to retain it all. I assume your scholarship has some similar requirement.

Let me tell you, no matter where you go, whether it be Harvard or GGU, ranking in the top 15% (or even top 1/3) is no joke. A lot of people think "I'm going to lower ranked school, and I got this big scholarship, so I must be smarter than the vast majority of my competition. Clearly I'm destined to be on top." I'm sure you've heard this before, but law school is nothing like college.

Here's what they fail to realize: you may be smarter than the vast majority of people matriculating at your school, but you won't be competing against the great unwashed masses for that top ranking. You'll be competing against other people just like you. Smart, ambitious people with big scholarships and lots of motivation. The level of subject matter mastery and writing ability that would have gotten you straight A's in undergrad will get you a C in law school, seriously.

You can make it happen, however. Dedicate yourself entirely to succeeding, and don't waste time. I'm graduating from law school in CA with a small, local reputation only. I went out of my way to make connections and to obtain internships, and have a good job offer. It's not really the type of law I want to work in, but it's better than being unemployed. Like I said before, be flexible and adapt to what the market needs and you'll be two steps ahead of most of your classmates.