<p>I am currently an undergraduate sophomore. I haven't decided what I want to do post-graduation, but I am becoming very interested in going to law school. I am wondering if anybody has advice about where exactly to go. I'm not asking which specific schools are best, but rather what location I should go to. I currently go to school on the East Coast, but I know that I want to eventually end up in Chicago. If I want to work and live in Chicago, do I need to go to a law school there? I'm interested in some Chicago schools, but also some in New York and surrounding areas. If I stay on the East Coast for law school, will I still be able to eventually work in Chicago?</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter where you go to law school, if you attend a T14 you can get a job in Chicago. But if you were planning on going to law school in Chicago, aim for northwestern, uchicago, or at least Illinois.</p>
<p>In today’s job market, being a T14 won’t guarantee you a job in any particular location. It obviously won’t hurt, though. With luck you’d be able to tap into your alumni network. </p>
<p>If you’re not in the top of your class, IMO it obviously helps to go to school where you plan to work. You can network, look for part-time clerking opportunities with employment possibilities, and otherwise hunt down job opportunities and get to interviews more conveniently than if you are going to school in another city or state. It might also help with studying to pass the Illinois bar exam. I’d agree with Doziem’s list of schools.</p>
<p>“If you’re not in the top of your class, IMO it obviously helps to go to school where you plan to work. You can network, look for part-time clerking opportunities with employment possibilities, and otherwise hunt down job opportunities and get to interviews more conveniently than if you are going to school in another city or state. It might also help with studying to pass the Illinois bar exam.”</p>
<p>I don’t think this is very good advice. Yes I’d go to Northwestern over Cornell or Duke if I wanted to end up in Chicago but I wouldn’t go to Northwestern over Columbia just because it’s in Chicago. Most big firms in Chicago will go deeper in the Columbia class than the Northwestern class. U. of Chicago is a different story If I knew I wanted to work in Chicago the only places I’d place above Chicago are Harvard, Yale and Stanford. I currently attend one of those schools and I’m a median student and I got offers from the top three firms in the city. This is a hard question to answer without knowing how much money the schools have offered and where you will be admitted. If I was you I’d concentrate on getting the best grades possible and worry about the law school thing in a couple of years.</p>
<p>Thank you for all the advice. That helps a lot!</p>
<p>What are your connections to Chicago? If it’s a city that you’ve visited and like for various reasons, but you’ve never lived there, have no family there, and your fiance doesn’t live there, then go to school in Chicago if you want to get a job in Chicago. (Note: this advice does not apply to Manhattan, as New Yorkers assume that anyone with any sense will want to live in NY.) If you’re from Chicago, you can make the straight-faced argument that you want to return (especially if you do your 1L summer there), but, again, it might help to be in school in Chicago. </p>
<p>At least back in the dark ages (mid-aughts) when I interviewed with firms, many of them wanted to know why that city or state. One of my classmates joked that she was going to invent a boyfriend who lived in whatever city the firms she was interviewing for were located.</p>
<p>I grew up there, and my whole family lives there. I went to undergrad on the East Coast knowing that I wanted to end up back there.</p>