First Term at Cooley

[Bill Amadeo]

Good morning guys.

To begin, I'm not a staff member.
I have my own tutoring business with many Cooley students, I am an Alumni and I just want to reinforce the point that many people are struggling in this economy and unless you have connections it is not easy to find a job.  I know guys who are out in the field fro 5 years from some pretty big named schools and have done well and are now unemployed because of cutbacks.  The point to stress is that I don't care where you go to school things are not as easy as they used to be but they will get better in time for people across the board.

Cooley, as any School, should be doing more for their graduates and while services are offered to help students such as Career Services etc., I cannot say that Cooley goes above and beyond but it does give a great education that is far more practical than most of their competitors and I can say that because I walked right out of Cooley and was handling major situations for the wrong firm while many friends from other schools were not as prepared.  That is not to slight the other schools this is simply to say Cooley did throw some practical stuff our way and should not be slighted so much for ALL aspects.


Bigs, with no disrespect, I have an issue directed towards your analogy about Kobe and Luke Walton.
To say WE (3t/4t) are Walton and the 1T i Kobe is bothersome because many of us have beat those big named schools in court and while I understand you analogy there seems to be an image issue where the Harvard's of the world believe they are better than the Cooley students of the world.  They may come from a school with a better reputation but that doesn't mean they are better at what they do and I would hope all Cooley students had a chip on their shoulder about the image of the school.

[Morten Lund]

Also, unrelated to anything: I don't like the name baby lawyer.  It seemed like a good idea at the time, but it annoys me now.   

You know, I hear that on the internet people sometimes change their names at will.

Just sayin'.

[bigs5068]

Maybe Luke Walton to Kobe is a bad analalogy. I will say this a 7'0 person playing basketball compared to a 6'6 one. The 7'0 will get more attention and have doors opened for them easier in basketball. A 6'6 player can be better than the 7'0 guy, but needs to work harder.  There are plenty of tier 4 grads that have Ivy League grads working under them just like there are successful 6'0 guys in the NBA. However, this is the exception and not the rule. My main point was that an Ivy League student would have a lot higher expectations going in than someone who went to Cooley.

[pacelaw2013]

To say WE (3t/4t) are Walton and the 1T i Kobe is bothersome because many of us have beat those big named schools in court and while I understand you analogy there seems to be an image issue where the Harvard's of the world believe they are better than the Cooley students of the world. 

They are better? Im comming froma  T3, but I fully believe Harvard, on average, produces some of the best lawers. I have no doubt they do. Also, just becuase you may have beaten a Harvard lawyer, doesn't mean Cooley is any bit as good of a school as Harvard, and when people compare Cooley to Harvard, they loose a lot of credibility. I will be honest, I would pay full tution at Harvard before going for free at Cooley in a heartbeat. That will never be an option for me however. I

Look, there are some strong points to Cooley, but please, don't try and compare it to Harvard, its not. It is what it is. I understand you are going to defend your alma matter, but lets keep it reasonable.

Also it is a good analogy, Harvard will come out superstars, no doubt about it. T3/T4 will need to fight thier asses of to beat a Harvard grad, possible, but not easy. That was the analogy. T4 students 99% of the time are not better than Harvard admits, not matter how much you want them to be. There are plenty of very smart people at Cooley, Pace, and every law school, and what I say is not meant to knock those schools, but please tell me one person who chose Pace (or Cooley) over Harvard. There is a reason for that.

[BrennanFrankel]

First let me say to Bill thank you for all of the help you have provided me already.
My plan is to use Bill Amadeo to help me get into a Tier 2 school closer to home.  That's my agenda but the first thing he told me was to have a chip in my shoulder and everything said here reinforces this.

At Harvard they don't even give grads anymore.
Why should I believe Anybody is better than me?
I'm going to Cooley to fight to get closer to home and not to be a better lawyer because I've seen what is expected at Cooley and I know what is expected at Harvard.  The only thing that makes Harvard better is the connections you have.  They do not give you some magic potion to be a better litigator.

For you Harvard people out there, take your LSAT and shove it.
Looking forward to seeing you in court in a few years.

[CooleyL3]

I'm not sure why people want to transfer from Cooley?

Once you make it through the hell of the few few terms and get the system down why leave?

Cooley does make you better.

I used to want to go back home but I know that I'll pass the Bar on my first try and that may not be the case at some other schools.

[bigs5068]

Really? I mean I am a tier 4 student, but lets be real getting into Harvard is a lot more work than getting into Cooley. It is kind of weird they don't have grades, but it is because the people that get into those schools are ultra competitive and they probably needed to tone it down.  Cooley is not Harvard and neither is my school. Not to say GGU or Cooley can't produce great lawyers and they do, but Harvard is Harvard. It was like those ridiclous signs at my Division II basketball school that said I choose DII nobody chose DII if Duke called me to play basketball I would have been on the first flight out.

Tier 3/4's are not on the same level as Harvard or Yale. It is almost ridiculous to argue that. If you want to say Cooley is every bit as good as the 64 U.S. News Ranked school then I don't have much of a problem with because 64 or 112 who the hell cares, but there are ELITE schools and there are non-elite schools. The top 20 or so are pretty impressive and it is ridiculous to argue otherwise. 

[REALITY]

Yes it harder, so what? Does it suprise you that the largest lawschool in the country has more open seats to fill than the rest?
Besides if you are in, then are you going to want to transfer just because its "hard" to get in?
Once in the "hard" school its a cakewalk. Once in the "easy" school you have to try.


"but,I proved myself in undergrad.........don't make me try...........my boss in real life would NEVER make me do that......  " 

Really? I mean I am a tier 4 student, but lets be real getting into Harvard is a lot more work than getting into Cooley. It is kind of weird they don't have grades, but it is because the people that get into those schools are ultra competitive and they probably needed to tone it down.  Cooley is not Harvard and neither is my school. Not to say GGU or Cooley can't produce great lawyers and they do, but Harvard is Harvard. It was like those ridiclous signs at my Division II basketball school that said I choose DII nobody chose DII if Duke called me to play basketball I would have been on the first flight out.

Tier 3/4's are not on the same level as Harvard or Yale. It is almost ridiculous to argue that. If you want to say Cooley is every bit as good as the 64 U.S. News Ranked school then I don't have much of a problem with because 64 or 112 who the hell cares, but there are ELITE schools and there are non-elite schools. The top 20 or so are pretty impressive and it is ridiculous to argue otherwise.

[the white rabbit]

Bigs, with no disrespect, I have an issue directed towards your analogy about Kobe and Luke Walton.
To say WE (3t/4t) are Walton and the 1T i Kobe is bothersome because many of us have beat those big named schools in court and while I understand you analogy there seems to be an image issue where the Harvard's of the world believe they are better than the Cooley students of the world.  They may come from a school with a better reputation but that doesn't mean they are better at what they do and I would hope all Cooley students had a chip on their shoulder about the image of the school.

First off, let me point out that winning in court, in and of itself, isn't simply a matter of who did the better lawyering.  It's not like a tennis match (see bigs?  I can use sports analogies too!), where winning and losing come down to who's better on a given day: the facts and the law involved in the case itself matter.  You can be the best tennis player in the world and still lose if one of the conditions of the match is that you play with a broken tennis racket.

Second, in what forum are Cooley grads and Harvard grads regularly seeing each other in court?

[mrpopos10]

Bigs, with no disrespect, I have an issue directed towards your analogy about Kobe and Luke Walton.
To say WE (3t/4t) are Walton and the 1T i Kobe is bothersome because many of us have beat those big named schools in court and while I understand you analogy there seems to be an image issue where the Harvard's of the world believe they are better than the Cooley students of the world.  They may come from a school with a better reputation but that doesn't mean they are better at what they do and I would hope all Cooley students had a chip on their shoulder about the image of the school.

First off, let me point out that winning in court, in and of itself, isn't simply a matter of who did the better lawyering.  It's not like a tennis match (see bigs?  I can use sports analogies too!), where winning and losing come down to who's better on a given day: the facts and the law involved in the case itself matter.  You can be the best tennis player in the world and still lose if one of the conditions of the match is that you play with a broken tennis racket.

Second, in what forum are Cooley grads and Harvard grads regularly seeing each other in court?

The food court at the local mall I reckon: P