Though I've never been of the type to discuss politics, I couldn't help but catch this little tidbit at How Appealing, which discusses in brief Volohk's displeasure with a particular New York Times article (I'd link that but I really didn't read it).
What caught my eye were two things. The entry mentioned my law school, and that one of Bush's darling nominees to the DC court had some negative things to say about the law review. Granted, I'm not the biggest fan of my law school or the law review, and the title is atrocious, but the faculty is decent, and they are not going to publish trash. Second, courts have relied on secondary sources in the past in forming their decisions. Not primarily, but they have influence, especially when technology is involved because the field is so new. It is very unprofessional of a California Supreme Court Justice to say something like that, let alone publish it, and it makes me ill to find out that she's a nominee for a federal position now.
Which leads me to another thing that's related to this topic and that I've seen mentioned at Sua Sponte and Effinchamp in regard to choosing the right law school, since I noticed mine was rather discredited. Here's my two cents.
I've made no secret about disliking my school St Mary's University School of Law. I was deceived about it being ADA compliant, and my second semester there the administration decided to change the handbook after the bar results came out with disaterous results, and our mean went from a B- to a C+, among other things. The administration basically stopped treating it's students decently, and right now many of us have no market potential whatsoever. But prior to this, I wanted to come here. Why? Reputation.
You can go anywhere in the state of Texas, and if they ask you where you graduated from and you say St. Mary's, it's almost as good as saying Notre Dame. Sure, it's not the same, but it's on par. People's eyes open a little wider, and you know that they know that they've just met a good lawyer.
What I've loved about St Mary's is that we take care of each other. We're a smaller school, and even though we're still a competitive bunch, we're still there for each other to help out in times of need; ie, the finals crunch and now the bar. And the Alumni Association makes it its business to try and hire new graduates each year.
The problem is the administration, especially the dean, has ruined our oppourtunities in the job department, which I could elaborate upon but I care not to at this time, and of course it doesn't help that the bar passage rate has been very low for the past two years. But you'll see, my class will change all that.
If you're looking for a law school, pick what fits you best. If your grades and lsat scores are great, and you're competitive, go for the big leagues. If you like the smaller schools, those are great too. Just make sure you do your research. Investigate the schools. Look into their policies, what their specialties are. I think schools with clinics are great, and if you want to do law review look into the schools with the more reputable ones. If you're physically disabled, please, please, please do not accept to go to that law school until you have visited the campus and they have given you in writing the accomodations they have promised to make for you. Especially if you're going to live on campus.
