Hamline or St. Thomas (MN)?

[SplorkyFish]

For what it is worth, the most recent career placement statistics from these three schools has Mitchell's average starting salary at 62K and Hamline and UST at 50K. 

As far as I can tell, this is worth quite a lot.

[MSP1]

I'm with JD33.  I'm not arguing that prospective students who don't choose William Mitchell are idiots.  Quite the opposite.  There's an excellent attorney at my firm who's a Hamline alum.  All I want to do is give applicants the big picture on the Twin Cities legal community, and my earlier (rhetorical) post goes to the big picture.  WM is unquestionably more well-established and places equally, and oftentimes better, than UST.  I think WM generally places better than Hamline. 

And while it's true that UST's law school has only been open for ten years, while WM has been around for almost 110, I get the impression that UST believes money will buy them immediate respect and credibility.  If I were a prospective law student, I'm not sure if that's an institution I'd want to be associated with.   

 

[MSP1]

And trust me, Donovan Frank got his law degree from Hamline University School of Law.  Go the the FJC website to check his bio:

http://www.fjc.gov/public/home.nsf/hisj

[SplorkyFish]

And trust me, Donovan Frank got his law degree from Hamline University School of Law.  Go the the FJC website to check his bio:

http://www.fjc.gov/public/home.nsf/hisj

Hm.  Don't know why I was so sure he went to WM.

[MSP1]

You might be thinking of Paul Magnuson (WM '63), who's a senior judge on the U.S. District Court.

[jbakguy]

One other consideration that has not been touched upon is the variance in class sizes between the three schools. WM had 323 1l's entering in 08, St Thomas 151 and Hamline 230. (U of M 230ish)

Also, an experience I had may be somewhat illuminating.  When I moved to Minneapolis, I told a woman showing me an apartment that I was attending law school and her reply was "Oh, Mitchell is a great school."  In the Twin Cities market, for some reason when people think law school they think Mitchell. The U is obviously a better school,and as of last year Hamline was the "2nd school" in the USNWR rankings (from the briefly published set of rankings that ranked T3's & T4's last year). But to people on the street The U and Mitchell are on a level playing field and Hamline and UST are the "other" schools.

I think the question that the 0L's considering which school to attend need to ask themselves how they are going to distinguish themselves and what school gives them the greatest opportunity to achieve that.  B/C in the Twin Cities market, where nearly 100 people graduate top 10% every year, something more is necessary to seperate yourself from the pack.

[Bosox]

Please don't go to a law school based on public perception.  The only perception that matters is what the lawyers think, which is largely based on US News.  This is why we (lawyers) rely on US News; its the only real benchmark we have, even though it is flawed.

[SplorkyFish]

Please don't go to a law school based on public perception.  The only perception that matters is what the lawyers think, which is largely based on US News.  This is why we (lawyers) rely on US News; its the only real benchmark we have, even though it is flawed.

Are you from the Twin Cities, Bosox?  Previous posts on this thread indicate that the law market in the Twin Cities looks past the US News rankings.  It's a sophisticated market that does most of its hiring from 4 schools.  I think firms think they know more about the 4 schools than the US News does.

If you work at a Twin Cities firm that you know prefers Hamline grads to WM grads, that'd be an interesting counter point, but as far as I can tell overall employment data would make such a firm seem like an outlier. 

[MSP1]

Please don't go to a law school based on public perception.  The only perception that matters is what the lawyers think, which is largely based on US News.  This is why we (lawyers) rely on US News; its the only real benchmark we have, even though it is flawed.

As the saying goes, perception is reality.  I think most lawyers in the Twin Cities still view the four law schools like this:

1. U of M
2. William Mitchell
3. UST (closing fast)
4. Hamline

[Bosox]

Please don't go to a law school based on public perception.  The only perception that matters is what the lawyers think, which is largely based on US News.  This is why we (lawyers) rely on US News; its the only real benchmark we have, even though it is flawed.

As the saying goes, perception is reality.  I think most lawyers in the Twin Cities still view the four law schools like this:

1. U of M
2. William Mitchell
3. UST (closing fast)
4. Hamline

lol, no.  Only william mitchell alum would think so.