How important is rank anyways?

[POLL: Would you rather attend.....]

POLL: Would you rather attend.....

T3 law school but you will graduate up 1/3 of your class and have both law Review and Moot Court on your resume

T1 law school (ranked around 30-40th) but might not have oppertunity to be on Law Review and/or Moot Court

[un3que]

Is one better off graduating from a T1 school top 1/3 of class but with NO Law Review or Moot Court  OR  is one better off staying at a T3 school, again top 1/3 of class but also having Law Review and Moot court experience?

[schizm]

Both law review and moot court provide you practical experience that ranking low in a top-tier school will not. It's elementary my dear Watson.

[jack24]

I understand this is a hypothetical, but it's based on a faulty premise. 
I had the same question and I took the more highly ranked school.  (My UGPA was in the 75th percentile at the T3 and in the 25th percentile at the T2.)  I made the law review board and moot court.
UGPA and LSAT are loosley correlated to law school performance, but there are plenty of exceptions.  You can probably have your cake and eat it too if you are diligent enough.

That being said, I'd much rather be at the higher ranked school.  I would take all that time I could have used for law review and moot court and I'd hunt for a job.  The so-called practical experience you get from moot court and law review equal about three weeks of a good summer internship or clinic, so I believe that argument is a bit weak (sorry to say).  There are two reasons to be on law review, #1-To improve our resume and get a job, and #2-to fulfill your dream to be a super law geek.  I know, I know, you'd be stupid not to crave hours and hours of time spent on editing a poorly written faculty paper on class certification in complex lit cases.

Seriously though, law review opens doors.  Employers love it and some of your fellow members will extremely smart.  You share ideas with these brilliant people and you make friends that will open doors in the future.  Nevertheless, if you spend the 10-15 hours a week you will use for law review to network with attorneys your job chances will shoot up. 

[Thane Messinger]

Is one better off graduating from a T1 school top 1/3 of class but with NO Law Review or Moot Court  OR  is one better off staying at a T3 school, again top 1/3 of class but also having Law Review and Moot court experience?

Along the lines of the other comments, consider that it is not at all automatic (or even probable) that the options are doing-well-in-a-lesser-school OR doing-less-well-in-a-greater-school.  That's not how law school grades (or law review or moot court) work.   

These are separate factors, and are best viewed in light of how each affects the individual student.  What is your goal, and how will each (rank, law review, etc.) affect you?

[FalconJimmy]

Is one better off graduating from a T1 school top 1/3 of class but with NO Law Review or Moot Court  OR  is one better off staying at a T3 school, again top 1/3 of class but also having Law Review and Moot court experience?

One thing I'd like to add:

When you say top 1/3, you mean like the 68th %ile?

If you would be 68th %ile at a T1, you would not be 68th %ile at a T3.  You'd probably be more like top 10% or top 15%. 

The higher ranked schools have a higher number of high quality students.  So, if you are in, say, the 85th %ile at a T3, that is not at all the same as being in the top 15% at a T1. 

So, the appropriate question is probably more like, would it be better to be top 1/3 at a T1, or top 10% at a T3. 

Even so, I'd say T1.  More recruiters on campus.  More people showing up with more jobs. 

[Hamilton]

I think the fact of the matter is that you have much more interview opportunities from a T1 than a T3.  The T3 law review and moot court are nice but count for little, the T1 trumps them.