Temple v.s. Penn for criminal law?

[bamf]

that is a question for Penn's CSO ... but really, put your research time in, I think you'll find that - if you are interested in private criminal defense - Penn will give you more opportunities.

[Kirk Lazarus]

Temple.

[Special Agent Dana Scully]

i'd say Temple as well, as long as your are as certain as you can be that your aspirations won't change.

[laur0212]

FWIW, Leiter's faculty rankings lists Penn as tied with Columbia for the best Criminal Law & Procedure faculty.

http://www.leiterrankings.com/faculty/2003faculty_criminal.shtml

that also is very intriguing thank you cady...i guess my main concern is the salary i can expect to make my first year out of school...what opportunities would I have to make a high salary in criminal law coming out of penn...if i could get into a private firm that pays well that would be great rather than public defender

I think that even if your goal is to get into a private criminal defense firm Temple may still be the better fit.  Their trial ad program is great and shouldn't be underrated simply because the school isn't Penn.  Also, I don't know how it works with big criminal defense firms, since there really aren't any where I live and most of the defense attorneys are either solo practitioners or in small partnerships, but you should look into how much trial experience you'll be getting at a firm right off the bat as compared with the huge amount of court time you'll be getting working at a public defender's office.  In my opinion that should be a consideration as well.

[whitesupremacist]

these are all great responses that have unfortunately left me more confused than when i started this thread haha...this debate may all become moot when i don't get into penn which i guess wouldn't be such a bad thing since it will make my decision that much easier...thx

[laur0212]

these are all great responses that have unfortunately left me more confused than when i started this thread haha...this debate may all become moot when i don't get into penn which i guess wouldn't be such a bad thing since it will make my decision that much easier...thx

Think positively!  Your numbers are great!  And don't worry too much about it now, you have plenty of time to decide and there are plenty of people out there you could talk to who would have more of an informed opinion on the topic than we do.  Career services people at the two schools for instance.  And don't forget, you might change your mind while you're in law school.  Other than myself, I don't know all that many people who haven't changed their direction and jumped on the money train (I'm one of the lone holdouts who is content with working for a prosecutor's office for peanuts because I love the work).  You've got time, don't stress yourself too much over it just yet.

[RedWine]

these are all great responses that have unfortunately left me more confused than when i started this thread haha...this debate may all become moot when i don't get into penn which i guess wouldn't be such a bad thing since it will make my decision that much easier...thx

I felt exactly the same way this past cycle...I hope you have better luck with Penn than I did!

(Although I'm happy enough to be going to Temple, there just isn't really a comparison between the two.)