<p>I'm not a future lawyer (trying to keep my head above water in school), but I was wondering what are the best public interest/public service law schools?</p>
<p>I know Michigan is one of the top ones. </p>
<p>How does a Public Policy degree differ from a Law Degree if you want to work for non-profits, advovacy groups? NO corporate law here.</p>
<p>No one is interested in public interest law???</p>
<p>you'll probably want to look into schools that will either give you lots of merit aid (so places where your gpa and lsat score are well above their 75th percentile) or places with good loan repayment assistance programs (NYU, Mich, Harvard,Yale,Georgetown are particularly well-known for being generous...but there are lots of catches everywhere; after all, a bunch of lawyers devised each LRAP!). Some schools have public-service related scholarships...I know NYU, Penn, and Georgetown do, but they are VERY competitive.</p>
<p>if there's a particular subfield of public interest work you might want to practice, you might want to look for classes, clinics, and journals that fit in with those. But it seems like a law degree is a fairly general degree and once you get through the required courses and those that are recommended for bar prep, you don't get all that much room for electives.</p>
<p>Whether a JD or an MPP is your best bet depends on what you want to do...maybe look at the web sites of some places you think you might want to work and see what they're asking for in their job listings, or what their current staff's educational background is. You could do a joint MPP/JD, but I've heard there's so much overlap that it might not really be worth the extra year (with that said, it looks like i might end up doing a dual degree in law and urban planning, so what do i know?)</p>