DC area law schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that Howard hasn't been mentioned yet...

Howard has a law school?

Yes. And stop being a racist jerk.

Ppl on this board don't go beyond their bubble. I know MANY Howard Law grads and grads from "low tier" schools that live great lives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want Biglaw your only realistic choices are Georgetown and GWU. Mason may be highly ranked but its reputation doesn't match its ranking. As for AU, virtually all of its top students end up transferring.

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Scalia law has done amazing things since it started unaccredited around 1976. Today, it hovers between 25-34. It sends a lot of its students to conservative judges and justices, who also teach there. It has sent six students to clerk in the Supreme Court. And,it is with great with merit (offered my son free tuition)

Well, five not six but who's counting. And nothing you said contradicts my post. GMU is highly ranked but doesn't place in Biglaw commensurate with its ranking. My guess is that it doesn't precisely because, as you imply, it's faculty and students are [b]super Trumpy and Biglaw skews liberal.

I’m there today at an antitrust conference and can say there is no one here “super Trumpy”. You are confusing the fact that there are all sorts of moderate to far right beliefs that have nothing to do with Trump. Even the judges appointed by him are, imho, not Trumpy.

It’s Trumpy AF.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, The current USNWR rankings are
Georgetown 14 (tied with others)
GW and Mason tied at 31 (with several others, including W&M)
Catholic 71 (tied)
American 104

I went to AU law when it was ranked in the top 50 and liked it, have had good jobs since graduation. But it was outrageously expensive then and seems to be so now. I can’t fathom what it has done to fall so far in the rankings.

If I had it to do all over again and wanted to be in this area, I would live in VA and go to Mason law school. Well ranked and a lot less expensive.

Yeah, what's going on at AU Law?

Likely nothing is "going on at AU Law," the rankings have never meant much beyond top 15 or so and they have shifted like crazy for many, many schools in recent history, and usually for no obvious reason. I attended Tulane when it was just inside the first tier at 40 and now it's 78. Nothing "going on" (although there were some issues when Katrina hit, that was over 20 years ago).

LOL. The "first tier" stops way short of no. 40.

Not when I went to law school it didn't. It referred to the top 50, not the top 14 like now.

When did you go to law school? Fifty years ago?

No, not 50 years ago.

When did you go to law school? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Never. You’re one of the mommies, right? Obsessing over things like this because you want your kid to go to law school? Yep. That’s what I thought.

I am a law school graduate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ill be sure to tell the managing partner of our DC office that as a Mason graduate I shouldn't be here. LOL.

The law and economics class aside which was a waste of time the education was first rate. Oh, I also had my loans paid off in two years while I had fellow associates trying to pay off their loans 6 and 7 years in. Damned tuition at GW is 3x more than Mason. I dont think they got a 3x better education for that cost.

Never said you can't get a job with Biglaw out of GMU. Just that Biglaw doesn't hold the law school in as high regard as its current ranking.

GMU, GWU and William & Mary are all tied at 31st in the latest rankings, for example. But 34 percent of the GWU Class of 2024 secured either a job with Biglaw or a federal clerkship at graduation, compared to 24 percent of William & Mary grads and only 18 percent at GMU grads.

One thing that affects biglaw placement rate is that GMU has a larger percentage of part timers / evening students than does William and Mary (which has none) and GW whose part timer percentage is 5%. The part timers / evening students are typically significantly older and have no desire to go onto the BigLaw hamster wheel. Many of them are either second career people or are already in a professional service and want to increase their ceiling by adding a JD and a license to practice.

And lets also remember BigLaw encompasses a huge tier of firms - basically most all of the AmLaw 200. Most of those firms pay "Cravath" scale in DC.

The statistics I cited are for full time students and are readily verifiable. Just search for each school’s required 509 filings and see for yourself.

GW also has a part time program btw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that Howard hasn't been mentioned yet...

Howard has a law school?

Yes. And stop being a racist jerk.

Ppl on this board don't go beyond their bubble. I know MANY Howard Law grads and grads from "low tier" schools that live great lives.

Many top law firms recruit at Howard ISO good minority talent. I wouldn’t recommended going there if you’re white for the simple reason that firms that recruit there aren’t looking for the likes of you. And I don’t mean this in any pejorative sense. It’s just the reality of the situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, The current USNWR rankings are
Georgetown 14 (tied with others)
GW and Mason tied at 31 (with several others, including W&M)
Catholic 71 (tied)
American 104

I went to AU law when it was ranked in the top 50 and liked it, have had good jobs since graduation. But it was outrageously expensive then and seems to be so now. I can’t fathom what it has done to fall so far in the rankings.

If I had it to do all over again and wanted to be in this area, I would live in VA and go to Mason law school. Well ranked and a lot less expensive.

Yeah, what's going on at AU Law?

Likely nothing is "going on at AU Law," the rankings have never meant much beyond top 15 or so and they have shifted like crazy for many, many schools in recent history, and usually for no obvious reason. I attended Tulane when it was just inside the first tier at 40 and now it's 78. Nothing "going on" (although there were some issues when Katrina hit, that was over 20 years ago).

LOL. The "first tier" stops way short of no. 40.

Not when I went to law school it didn't. It referred to the top 50, not the top 14 like now.

When did you go to law school? Fifty years ago?

No, not 50 years ago.

When did you go to law school? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Never. You’re one of the mommies, right? Obsessing over things like this because you want your kid to go to law school? Yep. That’s what I thought.

I am a law school graduate.

Sure, Jan.

[Anonymous]

The Above the Law Rankings are heavily weighted by outcomes—e.g. employment after graduation—and GMU is not ranked in the top 50. It wasn’t ranked in the top 50 last year either.

Georgetown, GWU, William & Mary and Howard are all ranked both years.

https://abovethelaw.com/2025/06/2025-top-50-law-school-rankings/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, The current USNWR rankings are
Georgetown 14 (tied with others)
GW and Mason tied at 31 (with several others, including W&M)
Catholic 71 (tied)
American 104

I went to AU law when it was ranked in the top 50 and liked it, have had good jobs since graduation. But it was outrageously expensive then and seems to be so now. I can’t fathom what it has done to fall so far in the rankings.

If I had it to do all over again and wanted to be in this area, I would live in VA and go to Mason law school. Well ranked and a lot less expensive.

Yeah, what's going on at AU Law?

Likely nothing is "going on at AU Law," the rankings have never meant much beyond top 15 or so and they have shifted like crazy for many, many schools in recent history, and usually for no obvious reason. I attended Tulane when it was just inside the first tier at 40 and now it's 78. Nothing "going on" (although there were some issues when Katrina hit, that was over 20 years ago).

LOL. The "first tier" stops way short of no. 40.

Not when I went to law school it didn't. It referred to the top 50, not the top 14 like now.

When did you go to law school? Fifty years ago?

No, not 50 years ago.

When did you go to law school? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Never. You’re one of the mommies, right? Obsessing over things like this because you want your kid to go to law school? Yep. That’s what I thought.

I am a law school graduate.

Sure, Jan.

Why on earth is that so hard to believe? This board—like this town—is full of lawyers.

If you disagree with what I’m saying, fine, prove me wrong. Simply writing me off as a non-lawyer when it isn’t true is hardly a lawyerly approach to an argument.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you attended law school in the DC region (GWU, AU, Georgetown, Catholic, UDC, GMU), or your kid currently attends/graduated recently from one in the DC area: do you recommend the law school and why?

I would add UVA, W&M to the mix. They are just a few hours away and send tons of grads to DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't bother with law schools unless you can get into top 5 - not even top 10.

Not true, top 14 will do great

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ill be sure to tell the managing partner of our DC office that as a Mason graduate I shouldn't be here. LOL.

The law and economics class aside which was a waste of time the education was first rate. Oh, I also had my loans paid off in two years while I had fellow associates trying to pay off their loans 6 and 7 years in. Damned tuition at GW is 3x more than Mason. I dont think they got a 3x better education for that cost.

Never said you can't get a job with Biglaw out of GMU. Just that Biglaw doesn't hold the law school in as high regard as its current ranking.

GMU, GWU and William & Mary are all tied at 31st in the latest rankings, for example. But 34 percent of the GWU Class of 2024 secured either a job with Biglaw or a federal clerkship at graduation, compared to 24 percent of William & Mary grads and only 18 percent at GMU grads.

I would agree with this. It takes reputations time to catch up. Older lawyers remember law schools from their own time. Also the alums need time to fan out into biglaw as they fuel hiring. Everyone is going to favor their own law school in hiring

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, The current USNWR rankings are
Georgetown 14 (tied with others)
GW and Mason tied at 31 (with several others, including W&M)
Catholic 71 (tied)
American 104

I went to AU law when it was ranked in the top 50 and liked it, have had good jobs since graduation. But it was outrageously expensive then and seems to be so now. I can’t fathom what it has done to fall so far in the rankings.

If I had it to do all over again and wanted to be in this area, I would live in VA and go to Mason law school. Well ranked and a lot less expensive.

Yeah, what's going on at AU Law?

Likely nothing is "going on at AU Law," the rankings have never meant much beyond top 15 or so and they have shifted like crazy for many, many schools in recent history, and usually for no obvious reason. I attended Tulane when it was just inside the first tier at 40 and now it's 78. Nothing "going on" (although there were some issues when Katrina hit, that was over 20 years ago).

LOL. The "first tier" stops way short of no. 40.

Not when I went to law school it didn't. It referred to the top 50, not the top 14 like now.

When did you go to law school? Fifty years ago?

No, not 50 years ago.

When did you go to law school? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Never. You’re one of the mommies, right? Obsessing over things like this because you want your kid to go to law school? Yep. That’s what I thought.

Hi! Not the PP, but I went to law school 20+ years ago and first tier was definitely not top 50. At least not for any major market - DC, NY, etc. Maybe different in a smaller town but I don't have experience with law firm hiring in Podunk USA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you attended law school in the DC region (GWU, AU, Georgetown, Catholic, UDC, GMU), or your kid currently attends/graduated recently from one in the DC area: do you recommend the law school and why?

I would add UVA, W&M to the mix. They are just a few hours away and send tons of grads to DC.

If you are going to add schools that are a few hours away, why not add ones even closer: University of Maryland law school and University of Baltimore law school. There could be more law schools closer than UVA and W&M. But OP says ones in DC (with the exception of GMU which is in Northern Virginia about 15 minutes car ride from Georgetown).

[Anonymous]

Georgetown
GWU
Mason
Howard/AU/Catholic
UDC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Georgetown
GWU
Mason
Howard/AU/Catholic
UDC

What's the profile of a Georgetown law student? And one at GWu law?