Law School of the Week: Hofstra Law School

Hofstra Law School is located in Hempstead, NY. Being less than an hour away from New York City, its location offers students opportunities without the potential stress of an overwhelming environment.

What does it take to get in to Hofstra Law? Although letters of recommendation are not required, a five hundred word personal statement and LSAT scores are. In the entering full-time class of 2009, LSAT scores at the 25^th and 75^th percentiles were 155 and 159, while GPA’s were 3.27 and 3.70 at those same percentiles. Hofstra’s acceptance rate for that year was 38.5%.

Hofstra’s tuition is costly, and with the living expenses of New York City, the price tag can be even higher. Full-time students should expect to pay around $42,000 a year in tuition alone, and around $60,000 a year if other fees and living expenses are included. However, the school does offer financial aid. According to the last data reported to the ABA, 496 of the 870 full-time students received aid, although only 60 out of the 272 part-time students received aid. Hofstra also offers scholarships and grants, but one should know that most of their scholarships require that a GPA of 3.25 be maintained.

Similar to most other law schools, Hofstra’s first year curriculum consists of required classes covering topics such as torts, contracts, and property. In their second and third years, students have nearly two hundred courses to choose from. There is also the option to specialize with degrees being offered in both Family Law and American Legal Studies. Furthermore, Hofstra offers a joint JD/MBA degree and a joint JD/MA degree in Applied Social Research and Policy Analysis.

Outside the classroom, Hofstra offers several fellowships, which are an excellent way to get hands-on experience and receive further financial aid. Some of these fellowships include the Child and Family Advocacy Fellowship and the Fellowship for Health Law and Policy.

Students can also get involved in Hofstra’s clinics, such as the Child Advocacy Clinic and the Community and Economic Development Clinic.

For those interested in studying abroad, Hofstra offers four programs in the Dutch Antilles, Italy, Germany, and Australia.

According to the most recent data from the class of 2008, Hofstra’s bar passage rate (in New York) was 84.86%, and 93.6% of students were employed within nine months of graduation. However, prospective students should beware that these statistics, like many other law schools today, are subject to misleading interpretation due to incomplete or deceiving data. Given this reality, and taking into account the economic downturn that has occurred since 2008, prospective students should not expect Hofstra’s career prospects to be so promising.

All in all, Hofstra Law School is not highly competitive, and with today’s economic climate, the tuition is high and job prospects are limited. Students who are interested in the school should prepare to work especially hard, both in and out of the classroom, in pursuing opportunities so as to reduce debt and the risk of unemployment after graduation.

Quick Reference

U.S. News Ranking: 100

LSAT 
Median: 157

GPA Median: 3.56

Multiple 
LSAT scores: Higher score used

Application Deadlines: 04/15 (Priority RD), 11/15 (EA)

Application fee: Free online, $75 if paper application

Entering class size: combined 400

Yearly 
Tuition: $41,780 (full-time), $31,259 (part-time)

Bar passage rate in NY: 83.86%

Percent of graduates employed 9 months after graduation: 93.7%

Median private sector starting salary: $160,000 (Class of 2007, 23% reporting)

Contact Information:

Office of Enrollment Management

121 Hofstra University, Joan Axinn Hall

Hempstead, New York 11549

516.463.5916

http://law.hofstra.edu/JDAdmissions/index.html

lawadmissions@hofstra.edu

Sources:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/hofstra-law-school.html

http://www.admissionsdean.com/law_schools/hofstra-university-school-of-law/bar-exam-performance

“The Bootcamp of Universities”

Right before his excellent presentation last week, alumnus Fred Crawford spoke with me briefly about how he explains graduating from Carnegie Mellon with a major in Humanities.

Mr Crawford said Carnegie Mellon was the “bootcamp of universities” and that CMU is rigorous enough in any discipline to prepare graduates for their next steps. For more on Mr Crawford’s talk, please see Ema’s insightful post.

Photo by mikeyexists, from flickr, licensed under Creative Commons

Where I’m Applying to Law School

At the beginning of October, I went to the New York law forum with the pre-law society. There, I sat in on a panel and heard some shocking news: apparently, the average law applicant applies to upwards of 15 schools.

When I decided I wanted to go to law school, Dr. Devine had me make a list of all the things that were important to me in the school I went to, and then showed me where I could look up schools that had those characteristics. (For reference, the LSAC publishes profiles on all the law schools they accredit.) I used the book and came up with a list:

1. Georgetown law (my absolute dream school)
2. Harvard Law
3. New York University Law
4. Notre Dame Law
5. Pitt law (I can’t wait to visit!)
6. Washington University in Saint Louis Law

That’s 6. Not 15. Naturally, I was a little worried right off the bat. I mean, if I’m supposed to apply to 15 schools and I have only 6, I must be doing something wrong, right? Maybe my criteria were too specific, maybe I was looking for entirely the wrong things, and maybe I just had unrealistic expectations.

But, as I walked through the forum and asked questions, the answers I got comforted me. All of the law schools I talked to were really upfront about answering my questions, so while many of them brought up new programs I had never heard of and sounded awesome, many also said that maybe their programs weren’t the best for me. One alum even suggested somewhere else for me to look.

So, while the average law school applicant may choose 15 schools, I have decided to stick with my 6 unless something jumps out at me. You never know, it might. Carnegie Mellon did. And if it doesn’t, that means I picked the right six initially.

So what do you think? Where are you applying?

What Do the Rankings Really Mean? Part 1

You and I, we’re Carnegie Mellon students, and that means we know rankings. We love rankings almost as much as we hate rankings. We particularly like our ranking, and we’d be very sad to settle for anything less than something US News and World Report approved. But when it comes to law school, should a school’s ranking be the primary factor in determining whether it’s right for a wonderful and talented CMU alum like you?

I would be lying if I said that rankings didn’t matter, because they do matter. To me. To you. To law schools. To the guy or gal who will decide whether or not to give you a job. However, it is important to understand that rankings are not the ONLY thing that matter to your law school search. And it’s important to understand them.

Have you ever taken the time to read US News and World Reports’ Methodology for law school rankings? Here’s are some Cliffnotes: 40% of any ranking is a “Quality Assessment by law school officials (specifically: “law school deans, deans of academic affairs, chairs of faculty appointments, and the most recently tenured faculty members”) and prominent legal professionals. They rate peer institutions on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being “outstanding,” and they are given a “don’t know” option. 25% is made up of a school’s “Selectivity,” or computations of a school’s median LSAT, median undergrad GPA, and acceptance rate. Yet another 20% is based on a school’s “Placement Rate,” which factors in Employment Rates for Graduates (taken at graduation and again 9 months later) and Bar Passage. Finally, there are other smaller factors like Faculty Resources, Expenditures per Student, Library Resources, and Student/Faculty Ratio.

Many of these factors make sense as far as statistical analysis goes, but since we are all aspiring lawyers here, it’s important to point out some logical flaws. Perhaps number one of these is: Where’s the student’s opinion? Without it, we cannot know the quality of professors or student satisfaction with job prospects. And not only are students not directly involved in the methodology, but they are actively hurt by the system it creates. For example, the rankings are designed such that a school can improve its own ranking by admitting only students with the best GPAs and the best LSAT scores. This makes law school more competitive for you and me (sigh…) and leaves less room for schools to admit well-rounded students with a low score but high potential.

Some other less-than-honest ways the system can be worked include the ability of law school officials to vote down other schools in order to increase their own standing and the potential for law schools to offer stipends to students still searching for jobs to increase their employment rates (which we mentioned in a previous blog post). You can find a circa 1998 legitimate analysis of the US News and World Report methodology here.

Despite these possible pitfalls to the US News and World Report system, the value that law firms place on these rankings is not going to go away by the time we receive our acceptance offers. Currently, there is no better alternative (despite what many slighted applicants may write on their blogs), and it’s hard to dismiss US News and World Report’s methodology when it is the best on the block. So what should we do? What percent of our decision should be made up by the rankings? Tune in next week to find out…

Law School of the Week: Boston College Law School

Located in Newton, MA, Boston College Law School has a prime location for the law school experience. Not only are Harvard and Boston University law schools nearby, but also being within the Boston area opens plenty of opportunities, both educational and social.

While the school has no official cutoff scores for either the LSAT or GPA, its most recent entering class set the standards high. Their LSAT scores at the 25^th and 75^th percentiles were 163 and 167, respectively, while GPAs were 3.34 and 3.68 at those percentiles. In reviewing applications, the admissions at Boston College are most definitely looking for a strong interest in their programs specifically, especially within the personal statement. With such a competitive admissions process, the acceptance rate is about 20.2%.

With yearly tuition approaching $40,000 a year, more than half of students receive grants, which were about $18,000 at the median. 88% of the most recent graduating class had to take out loans to pay for law school expenses, so, many graduate with a fair amount of debt.

However, with strong academics, especially in environmental law, intellectual property law, tax law, and an impressive clinical training program, most students find that attending Boston College Law School is a solid investment.

In terms of curriculum, students spend their first year taking the required coursework, which is typically split into three 90-student sections. In their second and third years, students have three more required courses before specializing into their field of interest. Throughout their years at Boston College Law School, students can enjoy a much more cooperative, rather than cutthroat environment, which is pretty rare to find among most law schools.

Upon graduation, 94% of students passed the Massachusetts bar exam. The employment prospects are even more promising: almost 98% of students in the 2008 class secured jobs within nine months of graduation. This class enjoyed a median salary of $160,000 in their first year, with 65% accepting jobs in the private sector and about 15% taking on judicial clerkships.

With the growing environmental concerns of today, Boston College Law School enjoys a new, green campus. Both the friendly academic environment and the school’s location make Boston College Law School a very appealing option for prospective law students.

Quick Reference

U.S. News Ranking: 26th
LSAT at 25^th and 75^th percentiles: 163, 167
GPA at 25^th and 75^th percentiles: 3.34, 3.68
Application Deadline: 3/1
Application fee: $75
Entering class size: 264
Yearly Tuition: $39,490
Bar passage rate in Massachusetts: 94.0%
Percent of graduates employed 9 months after graduation: 97.4%
Median private sector salary: $160,000 (Class of 2008)

Contact Information

Boston College Law School
Admissions & Financial Aid Office
885 Centre Street
Newton, MA 02459
(617) 552-4351
bclawadm@bc.edu
http://www.bc.edu/schools/law/

Sources:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/boston-college-law-school.html

http://www.ilrg.com/rankings/law/index.php/1/desc/Bar

http://lsr.nellco.org/

Fred Crawford on “The Policy of Intelligence Law”

Last Friday, Fred Crawford, a Carnegie Mellon alumnus (class of 1983) gave a lecture on “The Policy of Intelligence Law: ‘This Shall Never Happen Again’”. Crawford, who received his law degree from Georgetown University, has had many impressive accomplishments thus far, including obtaining his undergraduate degree from Carnegie Mellon in only three years. He also served as an intelligence officer to the United States Navy for twenty years. Crawford currently works as a lawyer for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

In his lecture, Crawford brought up the idea of a “reverse history lesson” multiple times. He used this phrase to describe what he saw as today’s policy of intelligence law. What does he mean by this, exactly? Well, as he sees it, intelligence agencies today often act in a reactive more than a proactive way. It is only when a problem comes up that they address it, and through efforts of finding solutions, they seem to claim, “This shall never happen again”.

He also acknowledged from the lecure’s start that the typical citizen is often under the false impression that the law is a perfect set of rules. However, he clarified that in reality, the law is quite the opposite; he related it to a patchwork quilt, a piece of work that is ever-changing. He also emphasized the importance of understanding the historical context when addressing these issues. Without this, it is impossible to propose a solution that takes into account everything that must be considered.

Crawford focused the discussion on three controversies. The first took place in the 1970s, when a CIA report was released that described some of their practices. The Frank Church of Idaho (also known as “the Church Committee”) argued that the CIA and other intelligence agencies were undermining citizen’s constitutional rights.

The second event took place in the 1980s, when controversy arose regarding Nicaragua. At the time, Nicaragua faced the chaos resulting from the resistance of rebel groups, “Contras”, against their government. Both the U.S. government and the CIA supported these rebel groups, but it became problematic when some of these covert relations were not truthfully communicated with Congress. In an investigative report released by Congress, it stated that these events portrayed “secrecy, deception, and disdain for the law”.

The final event Crawford discussed, one that still faces us today, is the global war on terrorism. Crawford focused on the historical context arising since 9/11, and described how being in a war both changed policies and puts previous rules/laws into question in regards to how a country addresses these issues.

In all three of these events, Crawford emphasized the importance on the part of both the government and intelligence agencies to reflect on the outcomes and identify “structural and performance level flaws”. Overall, he presented this idea of reacting to aftermath as the main reason why the policy of intelligence law is the way it is today. In some ways, it seems acting “reactively” is the only possible way, but Crawford was confident that the CIA was working hard to act more proactively, especially in identifying “friends vs. foes” in today’s war on terrorism.

5 Law Blogs You Should Know

by inju on flickr, licensed through Creative Commons.

Here at the CMU Pre-Law society we don’t endorse particularly law schools, application strategies, or LSAT prep companies–but we do like to give you the occasional cultural resource. Not all lawyers read these, and you probably won’t enjoy all of them, but here are 5 law blogs we think you should know about:

1. The Volokh Conspiracy. The facts: written by law professors. The problem: badly formatted and dense at times. The fun: extreme law geekiery.
2. Balkinization. The facts: hosted by a Constitutional Law professor at Yale. The problem: if you’re not interested in torture and erudite comments, this might be too much. The fun: amazing cross-posts.
3. Groklaw. The facts: written by journalists interested in Free and Open Source Software. The problem: if you don’t know what FOSS is, you might get confused here. The fun: dramatic writing about intellectual property minutiae.
4. SCOTUSblog. The facts: the Supreme Court of the United States and nothing but. The problem: much of the court’s docket may not be to everyone’s taste. The fun: when the cases are to my taste.
5. Above the Law. The facts: written by folks with law degrees. The problem: if SCOTUSblog is your speed, this gossip-hub will give you whip-lash. The fun: it’s the Desperate Housewives of New Jersey of legal blogs.

Did I miss someone you love? Leave a complain in the comments.

Why I Chose a JD/LLM

Before we get too much farther, I feel like I should catch you all up on my law school decision process. I decided to go to law school in first grade, when my family would play “court.” I know, I know, it was ridiculous, but on days when we didn’t have school and they had to work, my parents would drop me and my little sister off at our grandparents’ house so they could watch us. Inevitably we’d eat peanut butter and banana sandwiches on white bread (which, let me tell you, was a commodity since my Mom never let us have anything but wheat at home) and play court. My Grandpa would pretend to have committed some terrible crime – which were typically no more terrible than taking too many free samples at the grocery store – and we’d put him on trial. My sister would judge, my Grandma would be the defense attorney, and I’d play the part of the hardball prosecutor with a vendetta against societal wrongs.

The older I got, however, the less I wanted to be the prosecutor and the more I wanted to be the defense attorney. After all, who actually wants to have a vendetta against societal wrongs? I began to want to help people, not necessarily to get out of crimes, but to right some wrong society had done to them. On top of that, both of the grandparents who so graciously let me rant my little heart out at six years old about people who broke the rules were immigrants to the United States, and their stories inspired me. By the time I graduated high school, I wanted to be an immigration lawyer.

Immigration law is an interesting field, or so I’ve learned. It involves a lot of cases and a short amount of time, and most of the time you don’t get to help any one person too much. That, I suppose, is its downside. It does, however, still give me the chance to go to court and rant a bit, and I get to know people whose backgrounds and experiences are quite different from mine. I get to be a part of the transition process, answering all those questions that people think are really inane and in actuality are quite helpful, and I get to go home at the end of the day feeling like I contributed something. I’ve had a very global experience to boot, so I am more than willing to foster travel and time abroad.

So the JD/LLM. Joint degree programs in law schools are a great way to not only combine interests, but also direct your law experience toward a certain career. To recap, the JD is the actual law degree (a juris doctorate,) while the LLM is a masters-level degree in law. It doesn’t lead to a bar exam, but it does allow you to study the laws of some other country. So, in being an immigration lawyer with a JD/LLM I’ll be well versed in American immigration law and hopefully the legal system of another place so I can specialize. It just made sense for me. And hopefully that’s why I’ll make a lot of my law school decisions: because they make sense.

The Pros and Cons of a Joint Degree

When it comes to joint degrees, let’s start at the beginning. In legal studies, a joint degree program is a program that offers students the opportunity to work toward their JD and a degree in some other field at the same time, usually in less time than it would take to earn the two degrees separately. This could mean a JD/MBA, a JD/MSW, or even a JD/LLM.

Most universities have pre-established joint degree programs at the graduate and professional levels, but others will allow students to negotiate “JD/(subject of choice)” joint study with any graduate or professional degree offered by the university as long as the student is qualified for both.

A joint degree can be a great choice if you want to distinguish yourself in a particular legal specialty or for opening doors to non-traditional legal positions. For example, a JD/MSW can provide a great background for anything from family to health law, but it can also allow for a smooth transition to a career in government, human services, or non-profit leadership. And a JD/LLM, of course, cuts down on the time one might have to spend specializing if they have a strong sense of an area of law they want to work in.

On the surface, this joint degree business sounds like a good idea – how could some extra specialization hurt? There is no doubt that a joint degree can save you some time (and in legal profession, time matters!), but it doesn’t save you any money (and money also matters…).

It is also important to not use the law degree to simply boost your competitiveness in another field. For starters, not everyone agrees that it boosts your competitiveness in the first place. In the story “Is the Versatility of a Law Degree Just a Myth” on lawjobs.com, individuals with joint degrees found that some employers are not only not impressed, but are convinced that the applicants are unfocused or confused. Conversely, applicants are sometimes viewed as overqualified and are priced out of nontraditional positions. Many individuals are left asking whether the law school price tag (and, consequently, the burden of law school debt) was worth it.

All is not gloom and doom for the joint-degree hopeful, however. After all, can you be an effective corporate lawyer without an MBA (or at least some business experience)? And if you want to practice law, purely and simply, a legal degree with some extra somethin’ somethin’ might not be a bad idea.

You’re just going to want to be sure. Really sure.

And on that note, are you sure about pursuing a joint legal degree? Are you not so sure? Leave a comment and let us know what Carnegie Mellon students are thinking!

Law School of the Week: Albany Law School

Not everyone knows that Albany Law School is actually the “oldest independent law school in North America”. Founded in 1851, it is also the only law school in Albany. With New York’s highest court, federal courts and state legislature nearby, it is no wonder that it offers an excellent master’s program in government administration and regulation.

Albany Law School is a third tier law school, and typically accepts 43% of all applicants. It also, like most law schools, has an expensive price tag. Tuition is over $39,000 per year, although it does offer grants; the median grant provided is $18,000.

In their first year at Albany Law School, students will take required classes in lawyering, civil procedure, contracts, constitutional law and property law. “Incoming classes are split into sections of about 80 students who spend the majority of their first year working and studying together”.

Aside from Albany’s specialty in governmental administration and regulation law, it also offers joint degree programs in law and bioethics, business administration, public administration, regional planning and social work. Furthermore, students can choose from fourteen different concentration areas, including civil, tax, labor, family, health, and business, among others.

For students who aren’t so interested in the big city lifestyle, Albany Law School is a good choice. While benefitting from a student-faculty ratio of about 14:1, students can also enjoy excellent residences, facilities, and other buildings, in addition to wireless Internet throughout the law school.

Upon graduation, 85.8% of students passed the New York State bar exam (in 2009), which is above the state average. Employment rates are even better: in 2008, 93.9% of students were employed within nine months of graduation. Most graduates tend to stay in the region, working in New York, New Jersey, or Pennsylvania. Being the only law school in Albany gives certain advantages in the way of opportunities for internships with state government jobs. There is living proof of that in Albany Law’s impressive alumni, which include: President William McKinley and two Supreme Court Justices, David Brewer and Robert H. Jackson.

Quick Reference:

U.S. News & World Report ranking: Tier 3

LSAT Median: 155

GPA Median: 3.30

Application Deadline: March 1

Application fee: $60

Entering class size: 255 (Class of 2012)

Yearly Tuition: $39,050 (2009-2010)

Median private sector salary: $63,000 (Class of 2008, 55% reporting)

Contact Information

Albany Law School of Union University

Office of JD Admissions

80 New Scotland Avenue

Albany, NY 12208

(518) 445-2326

admissions@albanylaw.edu

http://www.albanylaw.edu

Sources: http://www.top-law-schools.com/albany-law-school.html