Question of the Week - August
August 22, 2007
Q: What is the median LSAT score and GPA for a Lewis and Clark Law School incoming student?
A: Last week we took a break from addressing the "Question of the Week," to welcome our Fall 2007 class! The Student Profile of our Fall 2007 class provides statistics and other helpful information, including the median LSAT and GPA for our first year class.
August 16, 2007
We're taking a break as we gear up for Orientation and the start of school. Check back in a couple of weeks! Thank you.
August 9, 2007
Q: Can you tell me why Lewis & Clark Law School is better than _____ Law School?
A: This is a question the admissions office is asked on occasion, but I have to say that we are not the best people to answer it. Only you can answer this question after you have clearly identified your goals, determined what kind of law school experience you want, researched & compared information from a number of different schools, and visited those you’re seriously considering.
You'll want to consider what's going to be most important to you (not your parents, friends, colleagues, etc.). This could inlcude class size, location, cost (taking into consideration scholarships & cost of living), curricular offerings, access to professors, opportunities to gain practical experience, placement and bar passage rates, student retention, alumni satisfaction, etc.
To help you understand if L&C is a good fit, you might refer to the "Why Choose L&C" page. When I have little information about one's particular interests I believe it's best to talk about why some of our students & alumni chose to come to L&C over other law schools.
1)Location -- Location seems to be the #1 factor for students deciding where to go to law school. This is true also for those that choose to attend L&C. Whether the west coast is where they call home (or want to), or whether Portland
is the kind of city they enjoy and they like the legal opportunities they can get here (while in law school and after), or whether it's the Lewis & Clark campus in a forested state park that lures them here, location is very important. Portland itself is a huge draw and luckily, we’re the only school here! I think many people like the easy access to downtown, the legal community here and in the NW, the reasonable cost of living, the transportation options, and the general lifestyle that one can have in Portland. Over half of our students come from outside the Northwest so we're able to attract students from all over the country. The campus is also quite beautiful and some people fall in love with it too.
2) Faculty & Curriculum -- Lewis & Clark professors are very interested in the quality of their teaching and developing relationships with their students. It's much like what you might have experienced in undergrad if you went to a smaller school. Professors know their students on an individual basis and care about what their students are learning.
While we prepare students to practice any type of law, some students come to L&C because they want to study areas in which we are considered to be particularly strong. Some of these include business & commercial law, environmental & natural resources law, intellectual property law, public interest law, Indian law, animal law, criminal law & crime victim advocacy, and tax law. These tend to be the subjects in which we really shine, but even so, the curriculum is full of many other types of courses so you can be a generalist, or even create your own focus. Our graduates practice everything under the sun, so we don’t encourage people to limit themselves only to areas in which we offer certificates of specialty.
Finally, some students are attracted to the flexibility in our curriculum with our evening program, and part-time program options.
3) Cost -- while law school tuition is admittedly high, we do offer scholarships to 40% of our incoming class making the cost more manageable. In comparison to other private law schools, we also are on the lower end and the cost of living in Portland is definitely reasonable. Overall cost of attendance is a deciding factor for many people. Sometimes they choose L&C because our financial aid package is more doable for them; sometimes they choose to go elsewhere because of a more enticing offer somewhere else. Obviously, scholarships are helpful, but they don’t always make a school more affordable. Whether you’re competitive for them will also often depend on where you fall within a school's applicant pool. And on that note....
4) Student body -- L&C's student profile is exceptionally strong, meaning that in comparison to many other law schools, our GPA & LSAT ranges, bar passage rates, employment rates are all on the higher end. Our attrition rate is also on the low end which is a testament to high student satisfaction. Our average age is slightly higher (about 27) so many of our students have impressive work experience prior to coming to law school. We also attract the kind of student who wants a supportive & friendly learning atmosphere and doesn't want to have an experience where their peers are secretive, competitive, and too intense. L&C is definitely known as being a pretty laid-back place and to be fair, most of the other NW law schools are the same way. In any case, considering who one will be in class with is important to many folks.
5) Opportunities -- getting a job and being able to gain practical skills while in law school is also very important. Our career services office is top notch and offers a wide range of services and programs to help students find summer jobs, internships, externships, and jobs after graduation. Our faculty and administrators are also very helpful to students with regard to this. We have some fantastic clinical opportunities as well as strong moot court/mock trial teams and law reviews. It is crucial that students develop their resumes while in law school and there are a lot of ways to do that at L&C. Our high placement rates are reflective of the fact that students are able to get some experience while in law school. At the same time, learning how to market yourself, network, create a strong cover letter & resume, interview, etc. is a big part of getting a job too!
There are many other reasons why Lewis & Clark is a wonderful place to study law, but as I mentioned before, it is not going to be the best place for everyone. You may find that any one of the schools you're looking for is a place you could see yourself attending. If that happens after you've done all your research and visited all the schools, then you'll have to look closer at the finer details and go with what YOU feel is best.
August 1, 2007
Q: I notice that law schools specialize in various areas of the law. Do I have to pick a specialty when I apply to law school or do I have to do that once I’m in school?
A: You never actually have to pick a specialty if you don’t want to. Law schools have specialized, or “certificate”, programs which they award to students who complete certain requirements, but not all students are going to take advantage of this option.
The best way I can explain what a specialty is, is to compare it to getting a minor, or an emphasis within your major, in college. You should look at it as though law is your “major” and if you want to focus your electives in a certain area then you can get an emphasis, or “certificate”, in that area. It is not required to specialize in law school, just as it is not required to ever get a minor in college. It is simply a way to show that you have pursued a particular area of interest. It is also a way for law schools to promote an area of law in which it feels it is particularly strong.
For example, at Lewis & Clark Law School we have five certificate programs – business & commercial law, criminal law , environmental & natural resources law, intellectual property law and tax law. While we offer five specialties, our students can study several other subject areas and our graduates end up practicing many different types of law, including employment law, international law, health law, immigration law, family law, Indian law, civil rights law, and much, much more.
About one-third of our students pursue a certificate in one of the five areas mentioned above. Although they are taking focused classes, they also still have room to take courses outside of their specialty area. The other two-thirds are taking a mix of courses in many different subject areas. Students are also welcome to take courses within specialized areas without having to follow the set requirements for the certificate. In sum, there is a lot of flexibility to pursue many interests.
Generally, it can be a good idea to look at a school that has a specialty of interest to you if practicing in that area is really the main reason why you want to go to law school. For example, if you are set on practicing tax law and that is the motivating factor for you in going to law school, then you probably will want to attend a school with a specialty in tax law (you’ll want to make sure to compare specialties at various law schools as some schools’ specialties are more substantive than others). If you aren’t sure what kind of law you want to practice and you would like to keep your options open, then the specialties offered at a law school may not be as important to you. All ABA-accredited law schools are going to be able to prepare you to practice any type of law, so if you decide you want to practice entertainment law at a school that doesn’t have a specialty in it, then you should still be able to take a couple of courses and get some exposure to entertainment law even though you won’t have a specialized curriculum in that area.
For employment purposes, it may be even more important to gain an internship/externship, get clinical experience, or build up your resume other ways in your area of interest than it is to get a certificate; both, of course, would be ideal, but not always necessary.
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