Drawbacks to transferring?

[MalachiConstant]

What are the ways that transferring after one or one and a half years can negatively affect your legal education and career prospects? Visiting the city where I'll be going to school this fall has given me serious doubts about my choice to attend it (a choice based almost solely on financial reasons). I know some law firms frown on students at highly ranked schools who were transfers from lower ones. But let's assume the schools in question are relatively equal in rank. What other problems are there likely to be? Thanks

[BikePilot]

You generally won't be eligible for law review, some student loans/grants or some fellowships or some types of graduation honors.

Also, it can be difficult to integrate socially, as 1L year is when a lot of friendships are made and it will be harder to break into your class a year late. Not that it can't be done, it will just be harder.

My friends at HLS who have transferred have had no problems finding jobs at all.

I really would advise against going to a school that you don't really want to attend. I would also caution against letting location be too big a factor (other than to the extent its a regional school and you wouldn't want to work in the region). You won't be there all that much (chances are you'll be wherever you want to be in the summers and school breaks) and when you are there you'll be working your butt off.

[LawDog3]

Well, the law review issue does exist, but that's beginning to change. And you lose your class rank, but I have heard that Berkeley has figured out a way to combine former school rank with some type of probablility formula and calculate a new ranking for transfers. Don't know if schools are actually doing it.